The boyfriend called last Sunday with exciting news from Bako. I know, doesn't seem possible. Oxymoronic even. But it's true!
The boyfriend has been horribly lonely without me and the dogs. He was working in the yard Sunday morning when our crazy neighbor Jim approached him and asked if he'd like to come over for their Super Bowl Party. The boyfriend was noncommittal and called me to ask what I thought.
Initially, I was apprehensive. They seemed like an oil and water combination. Jim is something of an enigma. We know he lives with his father and neither appear to work, unless you count Jim's scavenger hobby - it turns out all the broken down furniture and dead appliances we placed out for the trash are now safely living at Jim's...
"You really throwing out that lamp? Mind if I take it?"
I just assumed both were on "disability", but several times Jim has mentioned "our house on the coast". I know people scam disability all the time, but I doubted you could carry off a heist large enough to afford two houses, let alone one at the coast. Maybe they made a ton of money and retired? Then why would they be in this neighborhood? Or Bako at all? It was a conundrum.
Ultimately I told him to go to the party. He was lonely and could use some company. If he was uncomfortable, he was only across the street and could beg off. At the very least he'd be among familiar belongings, including our lamp.
I ended up watching the Super Bowl with my family in my mom's hospital room. As the first quarter ended, my cell phone lit up with the home number. My heart sank - the party had been a bust for the boyfriend and now he was back home, dejected and alone.
Wrong!
The boyfriend was ecstatic! And a little tipsy.
Long story short - Jim's dad is gay! The house on the coast? It belongs to Jim's dad's gay lover! There were also several of our new neighbors at the party, including a guy who lives just across the street. And guess what? Gay!
Who'd a thunk it - we inadvertently moved into Bako's version of the Castro. OK, that might be a stretch, but still...
And to top everything out, the guy across the street works in advertising and after talking to the boyfriend about me, promised to hook me up with contacts when I return.
So, something to look forward to in Bako... potential work and potential gay friends. It's a start.
And the most important thing to look forward to, the boyfriend. He's driving down for the weekend and it can't come soon enough because I'm about to crack. My hat is off to anyone in the nursing profession, because this is just absolutely draining. You need the patience of a Saint, and that's nothing I've ever been accused of having.
