Looking After Joey by David Pratt

Author:David Pratt [Pratt, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Gay Mainstream
Publisher: Wilde City Press
Published: 2014-06-24T12:00:00+00:00

PART IV

JEFFREY, REVEALED

Stuart complained all the way to Sayville. Doug, hair trimmed and brought under control by what Peachy called “product,” was squeezed in back next to him, ducking his flailing arms. Joey was pressed to the door, his right leg draped over Doug’s left.

“Please!” Stuart brayed. “The window! Why not just tear my sinuses out with a crowbar?”

“Don’t tempt me,” said Calvin.

“Douglas,” Stuart said, “move over, I have nerve damage from surgery on my L5.”

“Is L5, like, something from Tatooine?” Joey asked. He and Doug high-fived, laced fingers and squeezed.

“Star Wars?” Peachy wailed. “Where did I go wrong?”

“Hey, c’mon,” Joey said, “I sat through that whole thing you read the other night by that guy Junior Barnes.”

Stuart removed a small object from his pocket. “What is that?” Doug asked.

“A nasal pot,” Stuart said

“Stuart, I beg you,” said Peachy. “This is a rental.”

“Fuck you, rental!” Stuart removed a canister from another pocket that said Nasaline.

Joey held up his phone and told Doug, “You narrate.”

Doug straightened, smiled blandly at the camera and said, “Good afternoon and welcome to ‘Bodily Functions with Doug Moore.’ This afternoon, publisher Stuart Bergman will flush out his sinuses on the Long Island Expressway. We’re in this lovely, clean—though not for long—Honda SUV, watching Stuart spoon powder into his ‘nasal pot.’ Stuart, what can you tell us about this ‘nasal pot’?”

“Mind your beeswax!” said Stuart. He took out a Thermos and decanted water into the nasal pot.

“If there’s some left over,” said Peachy, “can we all have enemas?”

“That,” Doug reported, “was the voice of our transportation coordinator, ‘Peachy’ Sniegowski. Mr. Sniegowski, what can you tell us about Mr. Bergman?”

“He’s a whining kvetch,” said Peachy.

“and you,” Stuart barked, “are a yutz and a putz and a yente tolamente!” He mixed the water and Nasaline.

“Now,” Doug said, “Stuart will put the spout of the ‘nasal pot’ up his nose! Let’s have a close-up!”

Joey zoomed in. Stuart brought the spout to his right nostril. He held the Thermos cup under the left. He tipped the pot and his head so warm water went up the one nostril and came out the other, into the cup. “We are seeing some drops…” Doug said quietly.

Calvin thought how grateful he was for these people, for Doug, becoming a new, more mature man, relaxed and even dapper in linen pants and a big cotton shirt and the fresh haircut, making his lover laugh; for Joey, who was no longer all moussed and slit-eyed but who smiled and frowned and contemplated and twisted his face in goofy expressions as he discovered more and more of the world and took and returned the love Doug had to offer. Peachy seemed more relaxed than usual, now that they had agreed Fred’s party would be simply a summery snooze, and even Stuart was part of the equation, enjoying being the butt of everyone’s jokes. For the moment, it did not matter to Calvin if he had a boyfriend or not. He did not find himself longing for Rafe.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.