Bird Came Down

Felix rode the old bike through downtown to the Near Southside. He passed the homeless shelter and the old used car lot, and passing the juvenile detention center arrived at the set of trailers outside of the new community college. It had stepped up its game in the last few years. Before, it had been smaller but Felix admitted he couldn’t remember what the old one looked like. He was bad with renovations. He could never remember the original models. On the north end of town near Sidro University they were always changing the streets as the university expanded.

Felix rolled his bike over the grass, past the trailers, looking for numbers on their sides, and finally he arrived at Module Eight, the place where he was told to come for the interview. He tied the bike to it and went up the ramp, but he had to knock on the door. A large woman with a limp answered it, and Felix wondered what he looked like, covered in sweat, in a dress shirt and dress pants, but the shirt not tucked in. After all, a college professor was never that formal looking.

“I’m here for the eleven o clock,” he turned and looked up at the clock which said 10:30.

Out of an office he heard a woman talking on the phone, and the woman before him said:

“I’ll let her know when she’s off the phone. Just have a seat over there.”

Over there was on the other side of the door and Felix, who had never possessed anything like a real job, sat down.

“Well, I think this might be the best year after all. I have strong hopes for the program…” he heard the woman who was going to interview him saying. “Yes, yes. Well, you know Rachel won’t let you leave without signing your contract….”

There was a knock on the door and Felix got up to answer it while the woman at the desk, whom Felix now saw must have been Rachel, said, “The door is stuck. We’re moving out of this trailer soon.”

The guy Felix opened the door for smiled at him warmly, and Felix had to remember he had someone waiting for him at home. He was dark haired, and blue eyed like Joey, but clean shaven and sharp looking, smooth faced, pale, slight and compact.

“Thanks,” he said. “I’m here for the interview.”

“Uh… so am I,” Felix said. “English department.”

The guy shook his head. “Nope, I’m here for the speech class. Communications.”

Felix was instantly relieved, and Rachel said to the young man. “You just have a seat there too. Sharon will be with the both of you.”

Not knowing what else to do,” Felix extended his hand to the young man and said, “I’m Felix Owens.”

“Awesome,” the young man grasped his hand, and he could tell he had a strong grip, but he didn’t do that squeezing to death thing some people did.

“My name is Elias Anderson.”

“And you get thisbig backyard with the playground that your kids will love,” the house manager said. “And then there are the bushes and trees for privacy, and a stone fence, and how often do you see those anymore?”

“There’s good construction,” Joey said, touching the lentil while Scott wondered exactly what a house manager was.

“Are you a carpenter?” the manager asked, looking at Joey’s tool belt.

Scott was about to say, “No,” but Joey said, “I’m in construction.”

“My boys’ll love the yard,” Scott looked over it. “And this is a great kitchen. I’m not a great cook, but my… my boyfriend is,” Scott tried to make it sound natural and looked for some expression on the woman’s face. There was only a polite nod.

“And the bedrooms are pretty huge,” Joey added. “I call dibs on the guest one down here.”

“If I get it,” Scott reminded him, looking over the hardwood floors and thinking that he was definitely going to get it.

“Eight hundred a month with utilities and lawn care included,” the woman said.

“You’ve got to love Indiana,” Joey winked.

“When can I get back to you?” Scott said.

“As soon as you wish,” said the manager. “I have another showing on Friday.”

“Thank you,” Scott said, shaking her hand.

As they walked off the porch and went down the steps, Joey looked over the green grass and the freshly paved street. Across from it was a park and trees and then the descent to the river, and Joey said, “You’re fucking with her. You’re taking the house right?”

Scott looked back at the white two story with the broad porch.

“I will. I can see my family in it right now. And only around the corner from the Maron.”

“And Felix.”

“Speaking of Felix,” Scott said, “how did your date go?”

“What’s that got to do with Felix?”

Joey rounded the car to the passenger side and hopped in while Scott turned the key in the ignition.

“A bad segue, but…”

“He’s alright,” Joey shrugged.

“Are you all going to see each other again?”

“Friday night.”

“Well, maybe by then he’ll be more than alright,” Scott suggested.

“I don’t know,” Joey said, affecting indifference. “We’ll see. Actually, I think I’m going to cancel.”

“What?”

“Get pneumonia.”

“Look, Joey, that’s a really bad—”

Scott’s phone rang.

“We’ll talk about this later,” Scott said, reaching for his phone.

“Hello?”

“I got the job,” Felix said, sedately. “I’ve graduated from an unemployed bohemian to a college professor.”

“What the fuck?” Scott looked to Joey, mouthing, “He got the job.”

“Shit!” Joey beamed.

“And I’m teaching the lit classes and then this linguistics course and it’s what they call a Co—Req. I teach it alongside someone else who is working on a speech course. So we were interviewed together, and that should be lots of fun. His name is Elias.”

“Is he hot?”

“Scott!”

“Well is he?”

“Not hotter than you.”

“Alright then.”

Scott had never started the car or moved away from the white house. He took the phone.

“ROOOOOF!” Scott barked into it.

“What the fuck?” Felix began, but Scott leapt out of the car and put the phone on the hood, leapt out and chanting:

Fight on Calverton!
Live up to your name
Raise high all your standards,
Spread ‘round you all your fame.

Joey grinned at his brother and joined in:

We’re marching to Victory.
Won’t stop till we’re there.
So fight, Cal High, fight,
And win this game!

They rushed each other, bumping their chests, and then fell on the grass, winded, while Felix began, “What the fuck was that?”

Out of the house came the manager, and from the ground where he was breathing beside his brother, Scott said, “We’re taking the house.”

“Hey, Felix!” Elias called to him as he was leaving. “What are you up to now?”

Felix blinked, thought and then realized, “Nothing.”

“We should celebrate. Grab a bite to eat.”

Felix had not answered when Elias said, “Look, I have no friends. I am totally new here.”

“I was about to say yes.”

“That was really easy,” Elias declared.

“I don’t really believe in being difficult.”

“You come to this place a lot,” Elias rapped his hands on the table and looked up at the ceiling and then all around him. He was filled with energy.

“My ex lives above it,” Felix stage whispered. “And plays the guitar here.”

“God! And you still come?”

Felix shrugged. “It’s actually part of the charm. Ben works here, and then the current guy I’m seeing works at a hiring agency. Last week Ben sprayed him with mace.”

“What the fuck?”

“But only because he totaled Ben’s car and beat him up.”

“Are you serious?”

“But only because Ben broke into my apartment and trashed it. We’ve got a lot going on in our world.”

“You do,” Elias said. “And you’re so calm about it.”

Naomi came to them and Felix said, “I just want water right now, but he might want something.”

“Just water too,” Elias said, “while I look over the menu.”

Naomi nodded and Elias, still looking at the menu, said, “I don’t have that kind of history. However I’ve actually never had an ex.”

“Really?” Felix looked at him. “How do you manage that?”

“Uh…” Elias screwed up his face and then said, “It’s complicated.”

“Oh.”

At the tone in Felix’s voice, Elias said, “I’m a really private person.”

“You don’t seem like it. I think most of the people we meet are private people and people who say they’re private are just deep.”

Elias smiled over this and said, “Well, then I’m a person who doesn’t have a lot of close friends. I’m not like… all over the place. And people don’t always understand my lifestyle.”

“That you’re gay?”

“No, that’s the easy part.”

“Look, Mr. Anderson, you don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to. I’ll just talk about me.”

“Alright.”

“The man I’m in love with is named Scott, and we fell in love back in college, but he got a girlfriend and she put holes in his condoms so that he got her pregnant, and then he married her. They are in the middle of a divorce, and I swore I would never have sex with a married man, but I am because now Scott is still married, and to top it off the way I got in contact with Scott is because I was having sex with the eighteen year old maintenance man in our building and he turned out to be Scott’s younger brother, and so I left him for his brother and between the two of them I was sleeping with Ben, that little blond over there.”

“Shit,” Elias said as Naomi came and set two big waters on the table.

“Thank you,” they both said, and then Elias said, “I’ll take the Pub Burger with a side of cole slaw,” and Felix said, “I’ll have the fish and chips.”

Naomi smiled, nodded and went away and then Elias said:

“I have two boyfriends.”

Felix blinked.

“They’re a little bit older than me, but we all grew up together. They used to be a couple and then they split up. The first one took my virginity and then later on I went and slept with the other one, then started dating the first one again, but we both realized we were in love with the other one and we’ve been living together. We’re a family. Everyone around us knows it. Our families. My parents used to hate it. Their parents have always been supportive.”

“Really?” Felix looked amazed. He was actually smiling. “And…. Does it work?”

“Well,” Elias blushed while he stretched and yawned, “I’m twenty-four now and we’ve been together since I was sixteen so…. I guess it works.”

“Awesome.”

“They’re the love of my life.”

“That’s.” Felix looked at the table, searching for a good word, but could only say, “Beautiful. It’s so beautiful.”

It was Ben who came to the table with their food and he smiled at Felix, sitting down, then said, “I heard you were here with a hot guy?” and looked at Elias.

“I’m Eli. We’re working together.”

“A shame,” Ben said, “I hoped my Felix had found something better than Scott.”

“Enough,” Felix warned.

“But did you say working?” Ben said.

“Yeah.” Elias said. “We’re at the college together.”

Ben turned to Felix. “You got the job?”

“I’m the new adjunct English professor at City.”

“Congratulations,” Ben toasted him. “Now you’re what we always knew you were.”

“Huh?”

“You would have never wanted to work in a hotel,” Ben said. “There would have been something wrong with the world if you’d been working in McDonalds. Now you’re molding and shaping young minds.”

“Scott has decided to get a house around the corner from me.”

“That’s a fuck of a segue.”

“Which would bring us back to do,” Felix sang.

“Do, a deer, a female deer?” Ben sang back.

Felix nodded. “And by do I mean pepper spray.”

“Ah, yeah,” Ben cracked his knuckles. “I was wondering when you were going to get to that. Are you going to tell me I was wrong?”

“No, but Scott’s a lot bigger than you, and if you see him, you might want to apologize.”

“I don’t give a fuck about Scott,” Ben said, with a sudden heat.

“You met this Scott?” Ben asked Elias.

“Not yet…”

“He’s a fucker,” Ben grumbled.

Naomi came to the table and Felix said, “You still got that tension tamer tea?”

“I lost it a little bit.” Ben acknowledged.

“Bring us tea, please,” Felix asked her.

Naomi nodded and went back to the kitchen.

“I understand that he’s the love of your life, and you all are meant to be together, but I used to be the love of your life,” Ben clawed his chest dramatically, “and we were supposed to be together.”

“Well there is that.”

“And there is the two thousand dollars in damage I had to pay for my car.”

“Well,” Felix said, looking at Ben’s reddening face.

“Maybe we should leave out the apologies.”

“Yeah,” Ben sat back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Fuck apologies.”

After a while Ben said, “Can we still have sex?”

Felix choked on his water, and Elias snorted.

“Not all the time,” he clarified. “On occasion. You know. Now and again?”

Felix just looked from Elias to Ben and Ben said, “Alright, fuck it. I guess not.”

Felix looked at his watch and murmured, “When’s that tea gonna get here?”

“Look, he doesn’t even live in town,” Joey said. “He’s going back to college this weekend.”

“Well, the least you can do is call and not leave an email,” Scott told him.

“I doubt you’d be that courageous,” Joey reprimanded.

“Yeah, you’re probably right, but that doesn’t meant you shouldn’t do it.”

“Pneumonia?” Wesley said.

“Yeah,” Joey added a cough to his plugged nose. “I think it happened on the river… I get stuff easily.”

“That’s too bad,” Wesley said noncommittally.

“Well, maybe I’ll see you when I get back.”

“Yeah,” Joey said. “Maybe.”

Then he added, not meaning it, but feeling like an asshole, “That would be great.”

Much too early Sunday morning, there was a thump on Felix’s door, and when he opened it, Scott was standing in a tight vest and well fitting three piece suit, his sons perfectly groomed on either side of him. Joey had opted for dress shirt and sports jacket.

“We’re not Baptists,” said Felix, who was standing before them in night shorts and a raggedy tee shirt.

“Felix!” Nathan jumped into the house, followed by Taylor, and they jumped on the bed rolling around.

“I want the pillow!” Taylor cried.

“Boys!” Scott called.

They both stopped, looking up at him.

“Take it down ten notches.”

“Notches!” Taylor laughed, and he and Nathan continued to roll on the bed while Scott followed Felix into the kitchen.

“What are you wearing?”

“Not that,” Felix said. “I was putting on jeans, but I could at least put on dress pants.”

“What about all that fancy stuff?” Scott demanded.

“Huh?”

“It is meet and so to do.”

“What?”

“It is our bounden duty.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Firstly,” Scott put his finger to his lips, “kids are here. Second… I read the prayer book.”

“Oh?” Felix looked confused, and then he burst out laughing. “Ohhh!”

“What?” Scott frowned as Felix relit his cigarette from the stove.

“They don’t do that shit anymore.”

“What?”

“You were looking at Rite One. Eight o’ clock mass uses that.”

“Whaddo you use?”

“Basically it’s Catholic. I think they stole it in the seventies.”

“I look ridiculous,” Scott said, running his finger under his collar.

“No, you don’t,” Felix came up to him, and held him by the hips. “You look amazing. You look like I wish kids weren’t bouncing on the bed.”

Scott smiled down at Felix with a hooked grin, and he kissed him as Nathan came bouncing into the kitchen.

“Do you and Dad want to bounce on the bed?”

“Huh?” Felix looked at the little boy.

He explained: “I asked Dad what you all did when he stayed the night and he said you all play on the bed all night?”

“I’ve played on this bed a few times too!” Joey shouted merrily.

“I hate you!” Scott shouted back.

Felix looked at Scott, who turned red and shrugged, grinning.

“I wouldn’t say its all night,” Felix said. “Serious play pretty much wears you out.”

“Well, of course it does,” Nathan said, sensibly. “When we get the new house are you going to come and play on Dad’s bed there, too? Daddy, are you alright?”

When Felix turned to see Scott, his face was beet red.

“He’s just thinking about how much fun we have when we play,” Felix told Nathan. “But yes. When I come over there your Dad and I are going to play so hard the bed might break.”

Scott started to cough and Felix said, “Why don’t I go get dressed?”

Almost within ten minutes of entering Saint Margaret’s, after Scott whispered, “They all know you’re gay, and they all know I’m with you.”

“Yes,” Felix said sedately while the organist finished his flourish. “But how did you know?”

“Because about five women thumbs upped you.”

“Well, Scott, you’re eye candy. You’re thumbs uppable.”

Scott whispered in Felix’s ear, “I’m staying with you tonight.”

Bells rang, and Felix squeezed his hand.

“When the bells ring, it’s time to get up.”

The organ blared, they all flipped through the hymn book, and the choir in red robes came down the great aisle filing into their space behind the altar.

Holy, Holy Holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, Holy, Holy! Merciful and Mighty!
God in Three Persons, blessed Trinity!

As they rose, Joey nodded in approval of the procession.

“Lady priests,” Joey tugged Scott’s arm, excitedly.

“It’s my sister,” Felix whispered.

Holy, Holy, Holy! all the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and Seraphim falling down before Thee,
Which wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.

Joey saw Valerie Owens in her white and gold, long hair falling down her back, and she was walking beside another priest with greying hair who looked vaguely familiar, but at the head of them all, bearing the crozier, in his white robe, looking sweet and clean was Wesley.

Joey made a noise and turned away at the same time Wesley opened his mouth in surprise, and Felix looked from one to the other.

“What happened between you two?” he demanded.

“Nothing,” Joey said.

“Really?”

“I canceled on him. Friday,” Joey said. “I just called and said I didn’t want to see him.”

“Oh… Well, how sick were you?”

“Pneumonia.”

“Really?”

“Felix!” Scott hissed, putting a finger to his lips.

Felix turned from Joey murmuring, “You’re gonna have some explaining to do.”