Boston
In 1988, I decided to move back east. In April of that year, I took a job with
traveling nurses and headed to Martha’s Vineyard to work in their hospital for the
summer. After the summer job, I was going to head to New York City to live. I love
New York City and think it is the best city in the world. I thought it would be helpful
to have a second driver and not drive alone across country, and so I made Dana
accompany me. For all the help he was, however, I should have just driven by myself.
When we reached the east coast, I decided to stop in New York City for a few
days. When living in Las Vegas, I would fly to New York just before Christmas and
spend a week there, shopping, going to shows, and going out to dinner. We tended to
frequent the same few of bars every year, and I would see many of the same people
each time I returned. One bar we spent a good amount of time in was P.J. Carneys on
Seventh Avenue up by 58th near the Park. We became friendly with the owners, the
people who worked there, and some of the regulars. Carneys was a small place, but
during the holidays when we were there, it was always packed and we had a good
time. One of the regulars I had met at Carneys was an opera singer. He had a most
gorgeous voice and was obviously and openly gay. When Dana and I first went to
Carneys, my gay friend immediately came over and wanted to know who Dana was.
The people I had come to know at Carneys had met Dana’s sister on a couple of
previous trips to New York, but Dana had never accompanied me. The place was full,
and my friend was quite drunk, telling us it was his birthday and all he wanted for his
birthday was Dana. Dana immediately wanted to know who he was and how I knew
him. The second night in New York we went back up to Carneys and as we walked in
my friend came running over to us, grabbed Dana and gave him a kiss, and as quickly
as he had come over to us, flittered off talking to someone else. That was typical of
him I thought nothing of it and no one else who knew him did either. I headed to an
empty seat at the bar, and Dana walked past me and went straight into the men’s
room. He was in there forever, and when he came out, I said, “Are you okay? You
were in the bathroom for ten minutes.”