A Mama's Boy

He had to let off steam, otherwise we would never hear the end of it.
-Thomas Mann
"Fallen", a short story, 1894

Twenty-five years ago today

December 16, 1985
Monday

It’s Chad’s Birthday and he’s still asleep in my bed (where I wish I was right now). He may meet me for lunch and we may go to FRIDAY’s in South San Francisco tonight. We’ll see how it goes.

I telephoned Chad periodically throughout the day.  He couldn’t make it in time for lunch in The City.
He did say, “I will be there at five o’clock though!”

At 5PM he still wasn’t anywhere in sight.  I didn’t know what to make of it. He ran into some difficulties.  I waited in front of my building until 5:45PM when he finally appeared. We went to TGIF’s and had a nice dinner.  We called Mary McTiernan who lived nearby and she came over to join us. It was fun until Chad made some snide remarks that I didn’t like.
For instance, he said, “Joan Rivers has a strong gay following.”
I didn’t like WHEN he said it. He said it right after I said, “I’m a big fan of Joan Rivers.”
Chad also said (in front of Mary), “You’re a wuss and a mama’s boy.”
He said this after I said, “I like to eat over at my mom’s house because it’s hard to cook for one person.”

And to top it off, I noticed Mary ordered a Michelob beer and I said with a smile, “Oh, a 'MICHAEL'—Obe!”
Chad responded, “You’re so vain.”
Those little things really do build-up. I got even by making a few comments about his waistline. It was kind of silly since his body is exquisite as far as I’m concerned.

During the drive home I didn’t say a whole lot. Chad followed me home in his car.
Once at my pad, Chad telephoned Larry.  They spoke about little nothings.  I believe Chad only called Larry because he wasn’t enjoying my company. I don’t think he realized that I was just trying to get over his sarcasm from earlier this evening.

I spoke to Larry for a while also.
Larry said, “I’m confused. I don’t know why Chad is calling me to find out if Randy was working. He said he was ‘just curious’ but I don’t get it.”

Earlier, Chad and I were at the San Francisco BART station.
Chad blurted, “I feel like going out for my Birthday. I’ll follow you home and I might call some friends about getting together.”
Perhaps he wanted to see my reaction when he chose to call Larry or whoever…


We started to watch a ‘Cagney and Lacey” TV-episode which I did NOT really want to see.  I managed to persuade Chad to watch the PAPILLON movie.  We did.  We didn’t get to bed until late (12:50PM).  I was beat-tired.  I slept—but not long enough.

We live in a state of dreaming.
...as long as we continue in this dream we are...living in a circle.
-Tony Parson
"As It Is"