Sunday, July 20, 1997 -- The journey home
Driving home was quiet, for all of us, but especially for me. I did a lot of thinking.		We woke up at a reasonable hour on Sunday. That's 9:30am CT. We figured I'd get home around 11:30pm ET if we didn't dawdle. Where the trip up had had lots of conversation, and talk, the trip back was mostly silent. I read my magazine, and some other stuff I brought, wrote down some gay clubs here in charlotte, even tried to nap. That worried me because I hadn't even made it to Huntington yet, and I was already tired. We stopped at a Hardee's somewhere in Ohio. I noticed that it was 12:15, local time, and the place was empty. I commented to LadyDawn that that would never happen in the south. The place would be packed with people coming home from church. Everywhere is busy in Charlotte from about noon until one. If you don't go to church go before, or wait. It just gave me a picture of a basic difference between Southerner's and people from Ohio. We couldn't decide if Ohio was a "Northern" state or a "Mid Western" state. If anybody knows, let me know We got back to Huntington, at 6:30, a half hour later than we expected. We quickly unpacked, and repacked cars, and headed out again. Mikki followed me, and because I was driving the exact speed limit, she passed me. I waved, good bye, finally realizing the weekend was over. I had a lot to think about. Like what was up with Azura. I still didn't know, and it was driving me batty. I knew I shouldn't worry too much, because right then and there, there was nothing I could do. But I had hours to drive and think, and no scenery for most because it was getting dark. I also thought about the last time I'd been dancing. It was also at a Gay bar, in Durham, NC, where Heather was from. It was actually the second time I'd been there. The first it was empty except for three straight couples (me and H, my brother, and his date, and another couple that wandered in), the barkeep, doorman, and one really really drunk dancer. The next time I went, we went with some of Heather's gay friends. Heather's best friend in high school came out as gay, and then flamboyantly gay about a year before this. And of course, The Electric Company was a great place to dance. Heather and I loved to dance. Before we went over to the Electric Co., we hung out at Heather's friend's place. Heather didn't know it, but she was the only straight person there. I had only just realized I was bi, and hadn't told anyone yet. We played some drinking game (Heather and I had soda), where you drink if you did the thing someone mentioned. The goal of course was to get as many people to drink, or to get people to reveal things about themselves. One of the questions was "Had fantasies about men." Everyone drank. Even me. I announced my bi-ness to the crowd. The guy next to me told me he'd "gone through that phase." Heather looked at me in shock. We still went to the Electric Co. but no one talked to me. We didn't dance. I just realized this weekend that that was the last time Heather and I ever danced. And we still had two or three years worth of relationship togo. The moon was full during this trip, and orange. It was a beautiful moon. I watched it slowly rise out of the driver's side window. When I got home I had three phone messages. Two from Dad wondering where I was, and one from Azura, asking me to call. She'd also sent me an email. She sounded sad on the phone, and gave me no hope in the email. I was too tired to do more than fire a short email, and go to sleep. Generic Joe's A Typical Male