On The Road (P V): Home Alone with Michael
This is part five in an ongoing series of my life on the road. Other installments can be found on this site.
...My Trooper friend woke up from his nap around noon and found me nude, dozing behind his house. He shook me awake and told me that he had to attend to some errands and offered to run me to the Indiana border, as previously promised.
I was hoping for a little more fun, but it was clear that wasn't going to happen.
I went back into his house, through the kitchen, to his bedroom and found my bag and my clothes. He came in while I was dressing and said, "wish you were local, it would be fun to hook up occasionally." I almost offered that I could stay for a few days, but I wasn't getting the vibe that he was offering that. So, I told him you never know, I might come back through this way. He wrote his first name and phone number down on a piece of paper and said, "please do."
So, within the hour I was standing on I 90, just across the Indiana border. "Be careful," he said, as he lifted my bag out of the trunk and set it down beside me. With that, he was heading West to the next cut out across the median. He waved as he went back east on the other side, about 5 minutes later.
With Willy Nelson's "On The Road Again" playing in my inner ear, I stuck my thumb out and waited for a ride. Three uneventful car rides later and a short ride on a north-bound commuter train from the Loop, I was standing at my friend's apartment in Evanston at about 7:30 p.m.
My friend, Tim, was a sophomore at Northwestern. He lived alone in a studio apartment near campus. It was a small place, but he and I had been friends since grade school. While it had been many years since we shared a bed as kids, it didn't seem like a big deal to share one now. He had a full bed, which was ok since between us we didn't weigh 230 pounds.
Tim did not know that I was bi and I didn't feel the need to share that with him.
We hung out that night—drank some beers and ate a pizza—and reminisced about our "glory days" in high school. He asked about my plans. "Living life," I told him. "Just living life." He shook his head at that. Look, I said, "'Whatever satisfies the soul is truth.' I'm satisfied right now just exploring the world around me."
"Geez," he said, "half the kids at Northwestern can't quote Whitman. Yet, here you are, the most literate hobo around and you wouldn't be caught dead sitting in a college classroom."
"Not true," I replied, "I doubt it's 'half,' more like a quarter." We laughed and left that subject alone.
He had an early class. I slept late. When I awoke, I went outside. There was a coffee shop around the corner, and I went in to get a morning fix and a muffin.
While waiting in line I noticed a bulletin board that had all kinds of notes hanging off it. One caught my eye. It said: "Help Wanted. Multi-State cleaning crew. Must be able to travel and not mind working nights and weekends." There was a number listed. I couldn't tell how long the notice had been posted but I wrote the number down. I had to do something for work and that job sounded fun; I was intrigued.
I ate my muffin and drank my coffee. And eyed all the young guys and girls with bad intent. When I got back to Tim's place, I called the number for the cleaning job and left my name and Tim's number.
The next day I walked up to the Bahai House of Worship, which is right on the edge of Evanston and Wilmette. From there I walked over to Gilson Park, which is east of Sheridan Road and just north of the Bahia Center. I sat on the beach and enjoyed the warm air, slight breeze and the feeling of freedom.
I noticed a guy sitting on a bench about 50 feet away from me. He looked to be about my age, maybe a little younger. I caught him stealing a glimpse at me. That's all the invitation I needed. I got up and walked over to where he was sitting.
He had shoulder length black hair, parted in the middle. His face was pale white and unblemished. He looked up at me with big dark eyes. He was cute, with a thin nose and full lips. Like me, he was skinny.
"Hey," I said, "what are you up to?"
When he didn't respond I turned and started to walk away. "Just sitting here," he mumbled.
I turned around and said, "mind if I sit with you for a bit?"
He didn't say anything. There was plenty of room on the bench, but he eventually scooted over a little and waved at the seat beside him. "O--kay," I thought to myself, not much of a conversationalist.
But I sat down and stared out at the lake beside him. Again, I was just about to get up and walk away when he said: "I like to come here at this time of the day. There's no one around and it's peaceful." I nodded my head and asked, "do you live around here?"
"Yea, a couple of blocks up."
I figured that this "conversation" wasn't going anywhere, so I stood up and said, "Well, have a great day" and started to walk away.
Not for the last time that day he surprised me when he asked: "you must be thirsty if you walked all that way?" I told him I was and then he responded with a new surprise: "want to come back to my house and get some water?"
He was cute but hard to read. I sensed that there was maybe a slight gay vibe but I really didn't think that this would lead to anything, but I was thirsty, so I agreed. He stood up and then we started walking north together. After less than 10 minutes we were standing in front of one of the biggest houses I'd ever seen.