Page 447 - Some Dance to Remember

Some Dance to Remember 417

what Ryan figured. After Mr. California, Kick had tossed everything he
owned into the Corvette and headed for El Lay. More specifically, he had
moved to Venice Beach to work out at the pro-bodybuilder gyms and hang
out at Muscle Beach with the big boys.
“He never said good-bye,” Ryan said. “Did I hurt him that much? I
was the one who was raped.”
Two months later the “Armstrong” ad was back in The Advocate with
an El Lay phone number.
“Business as usual,” Ryan said. “I wonder what he’d do if I showed up
at his door with three hundred bucks in my hand?”
“He’d take it,” Solly said, “and give you the time of your life.”
He tucked the ad into his wallet. The phone number listed was his
last thin connection to Kick.
One thought lingered. He had no idea where Logan Doyle had disap-
peared. He figured not with Kick. It hardly mattered. Logan had never
been the point. Logan finally had been the reality. He had given Ryan the
physical beating that Kick had given his soul. Ryan nursed a small fear
that their paths might cross and Logan might again hurt him physically.
Deep down, he resented Kick’s not making sure Logan was safely out of
the picture.
“Can we,” Solly asked Ryan, “never mention Kick’s name again?”
“Kick who?”
“Cool,” Solly said.
Ryan finally retracted his animosity to that Dowager Empress, Quen-
tin Crisp, who had said, “There is no tall, dark man.”
“There is,” Ryan said crisply to Solly, “no short, blond one either.”
Solly was acting grand. He was glad Kick was gone. “I can say certain
things,” Solly said. “I mean I’m one of the original homosexuals. Before
me, there was only Oscar Wilde, Allen Ginsberg, and a couple of bishops.
I was the first normal homosexual. Once you guys all turned to kinky
specialty acts, you turned out thousands of weird homosexuals. That’s
what got us in trouble. Outrageous dirty sex. You were all trying to be
more weird than homosexual. You kept trying to find more and more
disgusting things to do. That’s what caused AIDS. Since I’m venerable
and grand, I can say that.”
Ryan gave him the finger. “Twirl on it.”
“Did you know,” Solly said, “that roofers have more tattoos than any
other trade? Murderers have the fewest.”
“What is this? Trivial Pursuit?”
“It’s education. I’m educating you, so when I’m killed you can carry on

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