Thanksgiving MMV.

Eighty-seven minutes later, he is snoring.

He'd called around 2h44 am. His best freind since high school who just got out of jail is out drinking again and he has no idea where he is. Meanwhile this guy's mother blames him for his son's drinking and there's no support even when he does the right thing all the way.

His other freind, the brother of his freind who got arrested, had been a total idiot. A total fucking drama queen incapable of handling anything with no sense of priorities, who having just seen his brother arrested turns a trick in the parking lot at Foxes after closing time, throwing himself at all the drunks as they walk out ready to go with anyone who'll have him. Lucky for him he's the one who got the twenty from the stranger, not his freind, 'cause who knows where they'd be now if his freind had gotten it instead. As it was they managed to get to a hotel room where the trick his freind had turned tried time and again to get him interested in sex and drinking but no, he wasn't being stuck up, he just wasn't interested in that right now because his best freind got arrested. He wound up sleeping on the floor.

They wouldn't have gone to a hotel room in the first place except his freind insisted on it, refusing (now that they had a cab) to go home to his mother and he wasn't willing to abandon him. His freind kept drinking and slept with the trick who'd freeloaded their cab to his hotel in exchange for putting them up for the night. Then the trick tried to talk him out of his change from cabfare, but no, he wouldn't part with it, whatever that guy wanted it for, that's not why it was given by the stranger and they'd need it soon enough. The freind he'd been with in the parking lot was useless and he wound up spending most of the next day on the phone with police and bondsmen.

He'd called the stranger up earlier in the day just as soon as he got his phone back to say thank you and let him know he'd pay him back. But this time he was terrified about his freind who couldn't legally drink but was out drinking somewhere anyway. He didn't know where and felt completely powerless to stop it and tried to reason with him and didn't know why he called except he basically wanted to talk and knew the stranger surely had a million more important things to do at that hour but didn't know who else to call.

About seventy-five minutes later he just wanted to go to bed and sleep. He climbed into bed and asked the stranger to tell him a story.

The stranger told him a story about a little black cat. He recounted the glorious events of the Night of the Thirteen Martinis. By the time the narrative had reached Saturday morning's happy ending with the release of the little black cat from jail, he was sleeping like a child.

The stranger listened to him snore a while before disconnecting the call, then calmly returned to what he had been doing. Listening to music on his computer. Grateful to be alive and to have a computer and cellphone and to be able to help this guy who just felt so alone fall off to sleep with the recounting of a tale so old to him at this point it has become myth in his own mind.

Thus began thanksgiving.

It's a little after two PM now and I just woke up to find two invitations being repeated on my telephone. I am perfectly content at this point just to sit at my computer at my desk by my magical window onto Central overlooking the parking lot with the dirt lot and the fence and the trees and the Victorian houses the skyline a block away. But since I went to the big speaker meeting at the club last night instead of the regular queer meeting I've been going to on Wednesdays I got a call from Billy making sure I knew I was invited to their thanksgiving dinner at John's house, and then another call from Ferdinand offering to take me to the movies before they head out to some other freinds' house. I don't know what to make of this attention but it feels OK so I'll probably call Billy back, get directions and head over there, then wind up joining Ferdinand later on and finally heading into work where we'll have food as well.

This is insane. In a good way, I think, but still insane. At this point I sort of figure what the heck -- I'll have tomorrow and Saturday to sit here by the window too so may as well go get myself stuffed full of turkey and who knows what else.

That last comment was not meant as a double entendre, but now that I see it rereading several hours later I'll let it stand for the amusement of your filthy minds.

So I went to the queer group's thanksgiving. That was really quite nice. Then I went to the Heights Club I dunno exactly why except I was nearby and didn't know how much time I had before Ferdinand would get out of the movie and say he was at the next party. Got into a really weird conversation with a Navaho at the club about how smart sheep really are and the difference between deer and elk liver before he called and I popped over to the next party. By the time I got there he'd left, but what the heck. Another plate of turkey with a bunch of lesbians. It was a lot of fun. Then to the Thursday queer group's meeting because I really did seem to be enjoying these people's company for whatever reason. Then in to Foxes, which *also* had food but cleared out by 10:30 regardless. No more customers for the rest of the night but two couples who came in for one drink each and left again. One guy was staggering so the bartender couldn't really see it (he was only clearly drunk from the waist down, you see) and I told him as he left and said he'd be back sorry man, I really can't, you're staggering.

He actually smiled and thanked me.

One day a year. I enjoyed this thanksgiving. People talk about how "hard" it is yada yada and I've never really understood it, to me it was always more or less just another day I worked wherever serving whatever to whoever had no better place to go. This year I really enjoyed it. From start to finish.