Bird Came Down

Scott could smell coffeebrewing when he pulled the blanket over his head. He pushed back the covers and thought it was decent to pull on underwear before going to the kitchen.

“Well,” Felix said from where he sat on the little loveseat, smoking a cigarette.

Scott yawned, stretched, scratched his head and went to the coffee pot. Still yawning he poured himself a cup and Felix said, “No creamer?”

Scott shook his head and sat down in the chair at the little table across from Felix. For a long time neither one of them said anything, and then Scott said, “So what now?”

“I don’t know,” Felix said.

“I’m not sorry about it,” Scott said. “Not any part of it.”

“Neither am I.”

“I know we weren’t supposed to. Not yet.”

“You’re still married.”

“Yeah,” Scott said, but what he meant by that Felix could not tell.

“I’m an adulterer. Adulteress?”

Scott looked at him with narrowed eyes and said, “I can never fucking tell if you’re serious or not.”

“I think I start out joking,” Felix admitted, “and then I’m not entirely sure where I go.”

“I know,” Scott began, “this wasn’t planned. I know we were supposed to wait. A long time.”

“Preferably, when you weren’t married.”

“And I know things just happened.”

“Things did not just happen,” Felix said, putting his coffee cup down. “We’re both grown men. You’re too old to say something just happened, and if you are God knows I am. You kissed me, I kissed you, we took off our clothes and spent the night having sex in every position we could. That’s what happened.”

“And like I said,” Scott said, “I don’t regret any of it.”

“Not even—”

“Well that part was unfortunate.” Scott frowned, “I thought it would work because it always does in porn, but I don’t really regret that either.”

Felix grinned at him and Scott grinned back at him.

“I’m going to kiss you now,” Scott said, standing up.

In his Jockeys, Scott got up out of his chair, and leaned over Felix to kiss him.

“You stink,” Felix said.

“I know. I should do something about that.”

“You know where the shower is.”

Scott held his hand out to Felix and said, “Do you think you could lead me there?”

Felix nodded, feeling surprisingly shy.

“I could do that.”

“Think you could share it with me?”

“I don’t know how hot you’ll like it? If we can agree on a temperature.”

“If I promise,” Scott clasped his hands together dramatically, “to not fight you about the water, will you get in with me?”

Felix stood up, putting his coffee down.

“I guess that makes it a deal, then,” he said, and followed Scott out of the kitchen.

“Hey, little bro!”

“What are you doing here?” Joey was leaving the house, looking at his brother.

“I was about to get some work done. Shouldn’t you be at the building.”

Joey shrugged.

“Taking lunch off. Wanna go with me?”

“Yes,” Scott smacked him in the back of his head with his wallet. “And my treat.”

Joey appraised his brother. “You look chipper.”

“Well, you look pretty chipper yourself,” Scott said.

Joey looked at his brother again. “You look in love.”

“Well, it takes one to know one.”

Joey blinked.

“Are you in love?” Scott restated.

“Uh…” Joey began. “I don’t know.”

“That’s odd.” Then Scott said, “No, it isn’t. You don’t always know love. You don’t really know it right away. I was married for years, and I wasn’t in love.”

“You can’t stop thinking about the person.”

“You wanna wake up with them.”

“Even if you do you just keep thinking about it.”

“Who you been waking up with? You’re twenty?”

“Old enough,” Joey blushed.

“You wanna talk about her?”

Joey looked like he was mulling over something, and then he said, “If you want to talk about your girl?”

“Uh…”

“How’d you get a girl so quick?” Joey punched his brother in the shoulder.

“Cause I just broke up with Jen?”

“No, cause you’re so damn ugly.”

And then Scott fell on his brother and they began wrestling on the floor, which was how their mother found them, and they just looked up at her, grinning.

“Really?” Mrs. Flowers said.

“You wanna go to lunch?” Scott said to his brother who was pinned under him.

“Yup,” Joey said.

As they left , Mrs. Flowers heard Joey, slamming down his ball cap, insist: “You’re still ugly.”

They were headed down the street when Joey said, “Is that Felix and Rule?”

“Uh?” Scott looked over. “That’s definitely Felix.”

“Let’s invite them to lunch,” Joey said, and without waiting for an answer he swung the car to the curb. Felix was looking at them in horror.

“You almost killed us!”

“You want lunch?” Joey said without apology.

Felix looked between the two white men he was currently fucking, whom, as far as he knew, were both closeted to each other. He put a smile on his face and ignoring the perspiration popping up on his forehead said, “Who’s paying?”

“I’m paying,” Scott said. He looked at Rule, “I’m paying for you, Felix. Cause you asked.”

Felix opened the back door for Rule and then slid in beside him. He hadn’t seen fit to tell Rule anything about Scott, but wondered how much he knew. He certainly hadn’t told Rule anything about last night.

“Where are we going anyway?” Rule said.

“Chinese restaurant,” Joey said. “Unless anyone objects.”

“I just had Chi—” Rule began, but Felix said, “No one objects.”

“I always get a chicken something,” Joey said.

“I used to just get noodles,” Felix shook his head. “We used to live down the street from a Chinese food restaurant, and one day my dad rode with the owner to get supplies. They loaded the back of the truck, and when he looked at the meat it was marked Grade A Dog.”

“No!”

“It feels like a lie,” Felix agreed, “but whenever he tells that story, he looks pretty serious.”

“Well, I don’t care,” Joey decided as the woman brought their plates. Joey’s was sesame chicken and Felix had ordered the sweet and sour chicken. He thanked the hostess politely, and when she left he said, “It’s delicious dog meat.”

Joey pounded his plastic wrapped fortune cookie, and then pulling the plastic open, salvaged the fortune.

“That’s not really a fortune,” Joey decided. “I’m pretty sure its more an evaluation.”

“What’s it say?”

“It says I have an open heart and clear eye.”

“I agree,” Felix said. “At least about the heart. I don’t know what the fuck the eye thing means.”

“What about you?”

“Huh?”

“Aren’t you going to open yours?”

Felix shook his head.

“I never open the cookie until after I’m done eating.”

After the waitress had brought their checks, Scott, looking like he was humoring them, opened his cookie and read, “The Mandarin word for pig is zhuso…. Not a fortune.”

He shook his head.

When they all looked at Rule he said, “Oh!” then he read:

“What you endeavor to do you will gain success on.”

“Good one,” Felix said and Scott nodded saying, “That should have gone to me.”

“And now you?” Joey said to Felix. “You’re done eating.”

Felix nodded and pulled open the cellophane. He broke the cookie in two and Joey explained, “He always reads it to himself before he reads it out loud.”

Scott, elbows on the table, cleared his throat and said, “How… oracular.”

Felix pulled out the strip of paper and read: Danger! You are caught between two lovers who love each other.

Felix’s eyes bulged. He balled up the fortune, stuck it in his mouth, swallowed it, chewed up the cookie and then chased it with the remains of the water.

“What the fuck?” Scott demanded.

“Cookie,” Felix reproached the cellophane wrapper, “you know too much!”

END OF PART ONE