That Summer of '74 by Howard Rayner

Author:Howard Rayner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pereshurst Press

♦♦♦

“Phone!” yelled Rick.

Rick was doing his usual trick of shouting that the phone was ringing rather than answering it. Alex came out of his studio wiping paint off his hands. He made a face at Rick so much as to say, ‘Why don’t you pick it up?’ This question had been asked before, and out loud. Rick settled on the standard response that he suffered from ‘phonophobia’. “Y’ello. Say again, only slower please. Who you looking for?” Alex struggled to identify the caller. When she spoke again, however, he detected her accent was Japanese. It dawned on him it must be Yumi Mihara; it had been weeks since Koenig said she’d call.

Working hard to make sense of Yumi’s speech, he learned she’d called the house many times. Apparently, if he hadn’t been at home this time she was going to give up. Getting attuned to her broken English, Alex discovered Yumi liked the works he’d left with Koenig and was considering taking him for her gallery. He mentioned he was going to be in town for a charity auction and could meet with her before that. Yumi casually asked if the event was the one for the Los Angeles Arts and Crafts Association. He said it was and that he had a piece in it. Yumi agreed to the meeting and they set a time.

The phone conversation with Yumi carried on running through Alex’s head after he’d hung up. The stitches were out of Rick’s foot and it had healed enough for him to walk barefoot on the beach. They celebrated this news with an evening stroll in the surf.

“Hey, I got an advice note in the mail this morning. My fee for the show came in. While we’re in town for the auction we can pick out a new couch,” said Rick

“I don’t need a new couch.”

“Your old one’s got a massive bloodstain on it. Do you want people thinking your interior designer was Lizzie Borden?”

“Seriously, it doesn’t matter.”

“I want to buy you a new one, so I’ll just choose it. Oh, and I left you a check on the counter. I made it out to cash for two thousand dollars.”

Alex stopped walking. He screwed up his face at Rick. “Why’d you do that?”

“To cover the rent to summer’s end. And to say thank you.”

Three months ago, Alex had been flat broke and on the verge of selling his wheels to make ends meet. Thanks to Rick and Sid, today he had more cash on hand than he knew what to do with. “Seeing the way things have changed between us, it feels wrong you giving me money to live here. By that logic, I should have paid you for staying at Brentwood.”

“All I gave you to swim in there is that small pool. You’ve given me the ocean.”

“I’ve given you nothing compared to what you’ve given me.”

Rick bumped his head against Alex’s. “Like turn you gay?”

Alex jokingly wagged his finger at him. “You can’t take all the credit for that.

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