The Shadow of the Albatross

"David, let's cut out the crap. I have to be candid, I have some

difficult and rather sensitive things that have to be said as part of the debriefing from our political matters. Some of these things will be hard enough to say, so would you please let me say them without interruption?" David nodded, "Over the last two years or so I have been observing you. The first time we met, at the fair, I wondered about you. You were always looking around, no matter who you were talking to or what ever else you might be doing. It would seem you were looking at the women, but you weren't, you were looking at guys. When you and Brian were together, you were cruising guys, not women.

You never talked to women. Brian would never stick around when I was around. He'd always take off saying he was going to get some women. I've never saw either of you two with a woman. I've watched women flaunting themselves just for you guys. You two could have picked up all kinds of women, but I've never saw you with any. You're almost too damn good looking, it's almost a curse. It has made you vain, a political asset by the way, except there is a campyness about you."

"Almost too good looking, campy," injected David in a smirky humorous manner.

Morgan held up his hand halting David as he continued. "Anyway, I've watched you for the last two years and I thought, wondered if you really was gay until recently, six months or so ago, I thought I might have been wrong about you. That's why I encouraged you to run when I dropped out. I like you, you've got a lot on the ball. The thing that clenched it for me was that night we met with Mahoney. You will recall; As we were coming out of the club, standing by the

barroom door, you started that damn pacing back and forth. The more you paced the more antsy and giddy you got. If you recall, I moved over near the door so I could see into the bar and watch you at the same time. I watched your eyes. All that was in the bar was that big old Baby Huey with a fat broad, the old bartender and that young delicate looking cook. You were eyeballing that young cook. I wondered if you were going to come in heat. I'm not sure about that cook, he went to school with one of my older daughters. She said all the kids at school always wondered about him. She used to tell about kids calling him faggot and the like. He is one of them poor bastards that looks feminine, and then his name is Bruce. Anita Bryant made Bruce synonymous with gays when she said, husband and Bruce."

"I wanted to talk to you about it that night, but I just couldn't do it. Then I began to wonder if you were aware that you're gay, if you're in some stage of the awaking, of coming to terms with it. David, I believe you're gay. Everything about you points to it. It doesn't make any difference to me if you are or not, you will still be my friend. And if you're not gay, you have so many mannerisms indicating that you are that you would get bombed in this district if you had ran for office. You show enough signs that before the campaign would have been completed you would have been the same as gay by implication. I'm glad you decided not to run."

Morgan finished speaking. David sat in a daze, stunned, staring at Morgan, but not really seeing him. The color drained from his face. Morgan broke the silent spell once again, "Another thing I didn't mention was your short stay in the Marines. It sounds fishy, everybody that wants out of the military service has a bad back. I know that if you got a hard on in the shower that would get you a ticket home. I don't know what really happened, but a bad back is suspicious."