Tales of the City 06 - Sure of You

“She’s kind of a public figure.”
    No reaction.
    Brian found a flat rock and sat on it. Thack joined him, handing him the joint. He took another toke and said: “She’s not as bad as you think. You don’t see the side of her I do.”
    “Hey…” Thack held up his hands as if to say: Leave me out of it.
    “I know how you feel about her, though.”
    Thack said: “I really don’t have an opinion one way or the other.”
    “Bullshit.”
    “I don’t. How could I? We don’t see her that much.”
    To Brian this sounded a lot like an accusation. “Yeah. I guess so.”
    “I didn’t mean we expect you to…”
    “She gets wrapped up in things. I don’t see her that much myself.”
    “I know.”
    “She’s missed you both. She told me so last night. That’s why tonight is so important to her.”
    Thack seemed puzzled.
    “Dinner at our house.”
    “Oh, yeah. Sorry.” A sheepish smile.
    “That’s O.K. I don’t remember that kinda shit either.”
    “What’s the story on this guy?”
    “Oh…” He took another toke. “Mary Ann used to date him.”
    “Date?”
    “O.K., fuck…if you wanna get technical.”
    Thack chuckled.
    “He lives in New York now. He’s in town doing research on an AIDS story.”
    “Oh, yeah? As a reporter?”
    “Producer,” said Brian. “TV.”
    Thack nodded.
    “I’ve been your basic basket case, of course.”
    “Why?”
    He shrugged.
    “When did she last see him?”
    “Eleven years ago.”
    Thack smiled. “Nothing is the same after eleven years.”
    “I guess not. Plus he’s got a wife and two kids and a little dick…”
    “Whoa,” said Thack. “Who told you that?”
    “Mary Ann.”
    “When?”
    “Last night.”
    He laughed. “You asked her…?”
    “She volunteered it, O.K.?”
    “Just out of the blue, huh?”
    Brian saw Thack’s lip flicker slightly. “You think she said that just to make me feel better?”
    “’Threw you a bone, so to speak?”
    Brian laughed.
    “I think you’re being paranoid.”
    “Yeah. I guess so. As usual, huh?”
    Thack smiled, then twisted off the tops of the ciders and unwrapped the sandwiches. “This is the one with mustard,” he said, handing Brian a sandwich. “If you want more, there are some packets in that bag there.”
    “This looks fine.”
    “We can fight over who gets Michael’s Yoplait.”
    “We’re not gonna fight over his sandwich?”
    “Nope. All yours.” Thack munched away for a moment, then said: “I wouldn’t worry about it.”
    “I’m not,” said Brian.

    They left the park at one-thirty and took a bus up Twenty-fifth Avenue to the nursery. Thack would walk from there to a house off Geary he was assessing for the preservation people. When the bus stopped at Balboa, a pair of teenagers boarded with noisy ceremony. Some gut instinct told Brian to brace himself for trouble.
    “Better not be,” he heard one of them say.
    “Yeah,” said his much shorter sidekick. They were both overacting for their captive audience.
    Brian glanced at Thack, who sat stock-still, cocking his head like a forest creature listening for alien footfall.
    The tall teenager dumped his fare into the slot. “Better not be…cuz I ain’t gettin’ AIDS.”
    “Shit, no,” said the short one.
    “You catch AIDS and die like a fuckin’ dog.” He was moving toward the back now, brandishing the acronym like a switchblade. “Whatcha think? Any faggots on this bus?”
    There was a moment of excruciating silence before Thack did the predictable and piped up. “Yeah,” he said, “over here.” He was raising his hand with the kind of bored assurance a schoolkid gives off when he knows he’s got the right answer.
    Brian looked back at the teenagers, who stood slack-mouthed and silent, clearly at a loss for what to do next.
    “There’s one over here too.” This from a stout young black woman across the aisle.
    “There you go,” said Thack, addressing the boys.
    “Back here.” Two older guys in the back of the bus raised their hands.
    “Yo,” called someone else.
    Then came laughter, uncertain at first but growing to volcanic dimensions, rumbling from one end of the bus to the other. The short kid was the first to feel the heat, taking cover in the first available seat. The tall one muttered a half-assed “Shit” and scanned the crowd desperately for allies. He seemed on the verge of rebuttal when his buddy grabbed his belt and yanked him down into a seat.
    Grinning, Brian turned back to Thack.