Annabelle Montero

"Go into the innermost chamber of your soul and shut the door."
-May Sarton
At Eighty-Two, A Journal

Twenty-five years ago today:

May 24, 1986
Saturday

I woke up this morning and went to work. Mom came over and she helped me rearrange furniture in order to get things ready for the party.

Mark Landreth called me and I think he wanted to go to Santa Cruz. I was glad that he called. I hadn’t spoken to him since Wednesday (the last time I went to the gym).
I said, “I’ll call you later…after I take care of some more party preparation.”

I realized that there were not a lot of things I could do until the actual day of the party.
So I thought, “The hell with it.”

I telephoned Mark and I ended up going over to his house. He was working on replacing a post on his fence in his backyard (with his shirt off). We did lie out to catch some sun while in his backyard for about half an hour.

I tried calling Suzy so that we could hopefully visit her but she wasn’t home. I stayed at Mark’s house for a while when we decided to go to San Francisco to THE OASIS (the place with the glass top over the swimming pool which is used as a dance floor).
Before I left I asked Mark, “Why don’t you call me around six or seven?”
He obliged by saying, “Okay.”

I returned home and mom was gone. She’d gone shopping. Helen, Dennis (Helen’s brother), Lauren and my dad were all at my house. I hung out with them and then went to mom’s house. I think I took a short nap.

I telephoned Mark and said, “Come over around quarter after eight so we can avoid the seven-dollar Cover Charge.”
He arrived late!

We had a great time anyway. I parked in a lot near THE EAGLE (a gay leather bar). We went to THE OASIS and it was funny to see Mark’s shirt light up to show all of the lint on it.
“Why didn’t you warn me about the fluorescent lights?”
“I forgot.”

We both saw a blond we thought was attractive. We compared notes. Our tastes are similar. In fact, I crossed paths with a gal named Annabelle from Downey (a Los Angeles suburb) and her brother, Mike Montero. I asked Annabelle to dance and I lost Mark during the shuffle as the club began to get very crowded.

When I found Mark again he was in a full-throttle excitement mode.
“You won’t believe the girl I just danced with!”
I said, “You should have seen who I was dancing with!”
Yes, we both discovered Annabelle separately. Before long I was talking to Annabelle’s brother, Mike, for a good while. Before I knew it…it was me, Mark, Annabelle and her brother cuddled in a corner of the club. We all left at around 2AM and went for breakfast at The Church Street Station.

As we walked to the car Mark was going to go in to THE STUD or THE EAGLE.
Mark said, “I’ll only go in with Annabelle at my side.”
I laughed and said, “Don’t worry—they’re both closed now anyway.”


The Church Street Station gal who seated us was a transsexual (I think). It was wild. All four of us pretended to be from ‘Fresno’ just for fun. We started singing aloud. We ordered breakfast and just plain had a good time. I really liked Annabelle. She had a bit of a Rita Hayworth glamorous sort of look. We went for a walk and we passed a Jerk-Off Members Only club.
I said, “How disgusting.”
It was fun. Both Annabelle and her brother, Mike, said they’d come to my party the next night. They were nice.


I was home by 5AM. The next day, Mark told me he was getting home as the sun just started to come up. I was so ‘White-Russianed’ out. I took two aspirin and went to bed.

A new life was not easily or quickly accomplished when secrets must be kept.
-Bette Bao Lord
"Spring Moon"