Mi Alma by Dale Cameron Lowry

Author:Dale Cameron Lowry [Lowry, Dale Cameron]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Terrestrial Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

❄

Alma didn’t email a million times, just a few. There were text messages, too, and phone calls that would start with a question about which brand of liquor was the right one but would turn to long sprawling discussions about the weather and childhood memories and a funny incident that happened on the bus, and the differences between Dominican and Mexican swear words and endearments.

Damian came within a hair’s breadth of accidentally calling Alma “mi amorsote,” my love. He managed to catch it right as the first “m” slipped out.

Man. He was fucked.

They didn’t talk in person again until the evening of the party. It was a nice office, big and a little quirky without being ostentatious or overly hip, on the second floor of a warehouse-turned-office building near the river. Etched letters on the glass door said “Palabras del Alma LLC”—which could mean either words of the soul or Alma’s words, depending on the context.

“Cute name,” Damian said with a laugh.

“I was pretty proud of that one,” Alma said. “Though it makes us hard to find on an internet search. We get buried under all the links to Marc Anthony lyrics.”

The main part of the office was a large central room with rows of large tables made of pine two-by-fours for the legs and thick plywood tops, everything sanded down and finished so it looked almost sophisticated instead of like something dragged out from some grandpa’s barn. Alma pointed to the ones he wanted Damian to use as the bar.

Damian ran his hand over the wood. It was smooth as silk or as the skin most men had just under their balls. Not that Damian was going to spend the night thinking about balls, no sir-ree. He was going to do his work like the professional he was. “You make these?” he said, looking up from the table he was fondling to Alma, who nodded.

“Yeah, heck of a lot cheaper than buying from the office supply store.”

“Nice sanding job.”

“You do woodwork?”

Damian shook his head. “Nah, not since middle school shop class. I just say shit like that ’cause it makes me sound manly.”

“You’re already pretty manly even without the shoptalk.” Alma held his eyes. Damian almost forgot how to breathe.

The employees and their guests started showing up after about an hour. By then, Alma had transformed the room into a winter wonderland with twinkling lights and metallic silver snowflakes hanging from the ceiling. Ella Fitzgerald crooned in the background.

“And now the pièce de résistance.” Alma pulled an enormous box out of the freezer and set it on the end of the bar, lifting the lid as if he were a magician unveiling a rabbit. It was a huge block of ice, at least one foot wide by two feet across, carved into conjoined snowflakes. “I know it’s going to melt pretty fast, but I just couldn’t resist.”

“Man, you really are gay,” Damian said, hoping the affection in his voice wasn’t too much.

“What can I say?” Alma flourished his hands dramatically.

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.