Beach Reading
Mark Abramson
Published by Lethe Press
Maples Shade NJ
Copyright © 2008 by Mark Abramson.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for brief citation or review, without the written permission of Lethe Press. For information write: Lethe Press, 118 Heritage Avenue, Maple Shade, NJ 08052.
www.lethepressbooks.com
[email protected]
Book Design by Toby Johnson
Cover Design by Bob Meadows
ISBN 1-59021-139-1 ISBN-13 978-1-59021-139-7
_____________________________________________________
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Abramson, Mark, 1952-
Beach reading / Mark Abramson. -- 1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-1-59021-139-7 (trade pbk.)
ISBN-10: 1-59021-139-1 (trade pbk.)
1. Gay and lesbian dance parties--Fiction. 2. Gay men--Fiction. 3. San Francisco (Calif.)--Fiction. 4. Evangelists--Fiction. 5. Homophobia--Fiction. I. Title.
PS3601.B758B43 2008
813’.6--dc22
2008021820
Praise for Beach Reading
Full of lively characters and wacky coincidence, this page-turning series aims to become the Tales of the City of the new millennium. In the popular imagination, the heyday of gay life is long gone, washed away by AIDS. But in this love song to San Francisco, Mark Abramson gives the lie to that myth, revealing the joy that still inheres to life in the City by the Bay. The quirky charm of San Francisco is alive and well, and living in the pages of Beach Reading. —Lewis DeSimone, author of Chemistry
The first entry in Mark Abramson’s Beach Reading Series pits a brokenhearted, endearing, bar-hopping Castro hero against a seething homophobe all set against the backdrop of a colossal dance party honoring 80s-legend Sylvester. What could be more fun?!
You won’t need sand and surf to enjoy this sunny, campy, quick-witted gem. A sheer delight.” —Jim Piechota, Bay Area Reporter
Disclaimer
Despite any resemblance to living and/or historical figures, all characters mentioned or appearing in Beach Reading are fictitious except Sylvester, Two Tons o’ Fun, former Mayor Willie Brown, Mavis, Jon Carroll, Leah Garchik, Harvey Milk, Dianne Feinstein, Dan White, Wayne Friday, Carol Doda, Jan Wahl and Dame Edna Everage, who is only partially fictitious.
Table of Contents
Praise for Beach Reading
Title Page
Disclaimer
Table of Contents
Prologue – Start the Novel
Sneak Peek at Book 2: Cold Serial Murder
About the Author
Prologue
Sunday morning in the financial district Corey Donatelli thought he saw a spaceship from the window of the limousine. It scattered shards of reflected sunlight across the Transamerica Pyramid and the book-shaped towers of the Embarcadero Center. Corey asked his uncle to have the driver stop right there on California Street where they lowered the tinted windows and looked up at an enormous mirror ball suspended from a helicopter. A biplane pulled a yellow banner across the blue sky. It read:
Dance Celebrate Remember
A Tribute To Sylvester’s Birthday
Moscone Center Saturday
Corey had never heard of Sylvester, but he wanted to go. Today was his birthday; this was his first trip to San Francisco and everything had been perfect so far. They had taken a long ride along the waterfront, stopped for a Bloody Mary at Fisherman’s Wharf and now they were headed toward Castro Street for brunch at a place his uncle had heard about called Arts. Corey would also meet Tim Snow this morning, but unlike Tim, Corey was one of those gay men who could come to San Francisco for a visit and then go on about his life. So this isn’t really Corey’s story.
San Francisco dazzles most people who visit, but only some get trapped here. You might wonder if they’d turned their heads a moment sooner, like breaking their concentration away from the hypnotist’s swaying bauble just in time, they might be able to go back where they came from. Tim Snow could never leave, but he enjoyed being caught here. He almost felt normal in San Francisco. He had longed to be normal ever since he was a boy and started seeing things the way his grandmother did. Tim hoped from those early inklings that clairvoyance, like his first excitement around other boys at the swimming pool, was something that would just go away if he ignored it hard enough. His grandmother had called it a gift, but it wasn’t a present he’d asked for. Sometimes he tried to treat his unwanted psychic ability the way a handicapped person must learn to just get on with his life. So this is mostly Tim’s story.
It is partly Artie’s story, too. He and Arturo fell in love in Vietnam during the war and they got trapped in San Francisco afterward. Artie discovered a whole new life when he put on a dress and found his way to a stage in North Beach to regale the crowds of drunken tourists. After Finocchio’s closed, it took him a few years to find a place on Castro Street where he fit in again.
They would all agree that if this isn’t Ruth’s story, she was an essential part of theirs. Ruth might have been trapped in San Francisco by the flower children in the 1960s when she was a student at Stanford. But she went back to Minnesota instead, got married and rescued her nephew Tim after his parents threw him out when they found out he was gay. Ruth always wanted to return, but she never found a good enough reason. When she came for a visit, not planning to stay, she was just in time to rescue her nephew once again.
Around the time of her divorce, Ruth sent Tim an obituary notice from the Minneapolis Star and Tribune. A farmer near Worthington died at 102 years old. He’d lived his whole life within fifteen miles of where he was born in the same house where he died. One day when he was a young man he rode a horse across the state line into Iowa, just so he could say that he’d been someplace, but he came right back. He knew where he belonged.
Tim asked her if she meant he should come back to Minnesota, but he’d missed her point entirely, which was not unusual for Tim. He inherited his grandmother’s gift, but he couldn’t see what was right in front of him. His Aunt Ruth had to explain that Tim’s vision led him here because San Francisco was where he belonged.
Chapter 1
It was 3:05pm when Tim Snow’s last table showed signs they were getting ready to leave. He’d never seen these men in Arts before and he would have remembered them if they always took a limousine to brunch. Tim knew they were from out of town because one of them asked for an ashtray when they sat down. He couldn’t remember a time when people still smoked in restaurants in California.
They were celebrating the youngest one’s birthday and even suggested that Tim might make a good gift for the birthday boy. He’d enjoyed flirting, but was startled when the bald guy winked and said, “Meet us at The Eagle Tavern in a couple of hours. I’ll make it worth your while.”
“Hmmm, FBI… It looks like you’re in trouble now, Tim!” Artie said when he processed the credit card behind the bar.
“Huh?” Tim usually paid little attention to his boss when he started rambling.
“Don’t get too excited about handcuffs, dear. His initials spell FBI, that’s all.”
Tim was still smiling at the foursome and trying to accept their offer to meet them as mere flattery. He hadn’t seen his tip yet. “What’d you say, Artie?”
“Nothing… hey, I knew they were running up quite a bar tab, but you sold them a bottle of our best champagne, too. Whatever you’re doing, keep at it!”
“I’m not doing anything special, Artie,” Tim protested. “It’s the youngest one’s birthday and they’re visiting San Francisco for a long weekend. I offered him a slice of
cake. I was going to stick a candle in it and ask Viv to play Happy Birthday, but she must be on another break. He declined, anyway—too many carbs, I suppose. He hardly touched his food, either. They must all be on a liquid diet.”
“Hmmm… the birthday boy is a cutie, Tim.”
“Never mind, Artie… you know I’m not into chicken.”
“You could do worse,” Artie persisted. “Besides, it might help you stop mooning over Jason if you’d get laid once in a while.”
”I do get laid once in a while and I’m not mooning over Jason.” Tim didn’t want to talk about Jason, especially not at work. “When did you become such a matchmaker, anyway?”
“He’s always trying to fix me up, too,” said Jake, the other waiter. “Every time a guy comes in with a tattoo or any visible body piercing, Artie’s trying to marry me off. Just because I like them on my own body, doesn’t necessarily mean…”
“You better be careful, Jake,” Tim interrupted. “I’ve heard of teenagers getting their braces stuck together when they kiss, but I’d hate for you to get your eyebrow ring tangled up in some hot stud’s Prince Albert.”
“Don’t start with me, Tim. I’m not the one who chipped a tooth at Blow-Buddies.”
“I don’t want either of you two boys to start,” Artie scolded. “I’m telling you Tim, I can’t always arrange the schedule so that you and Jason never see each other. One of these days you’ll have to work together again and you’re going to have to get over this.”
“Is that what you’re doing? You’re arranging the schedule to spare my feelings? Don’t worry about me, Artie. I’m fine.” Tim picked up a tray and went back to clear the glasses and coffee cups from his last table. He was feeling irritable now, but he smiled when he picked up the signed credit card slip and found the crisp hundred-dollar bill beneath it. Tim glanced up to see two of the men standing out on the sidewalk smoking cigarettes.
“Thanks for everything,” Tim heard a shy voice behind him. It was the birthday boy coming out of the restroom. Judging from the way he walked, he’d either had too much to drink or his black leather boots were a birthday present he hadn’t broken in yet.
“Happy birthday,” Tim told him again, “and enjoy the rest of your stay in San Francisco.”
“Won’t I see you later? My uncle said you might be able to join us. I think we’re headed someplace South of Market.”
“Maybe…” Tim left it at that. He didn’t want to encourage the kid. He was cute, but much too young for Tim’s taste. Still… it had been a while. “Have fun.”
“Thanks… bye…” The boy looked back at Tim as he headed toward the door.
“Will you look at that?” Tim said to Jake, who was resetting a nearby table with a clean linen tablecloth, wine glasses and double forks for the evening dinner shift.
“What is it, Tim? Did he leave you his phone number?”
“Better!” Tim held up the hundred-dollar bill so that Jake could see it, but not the rest of the room. “They asked me to meet them later, too.”
“Are you going to? You should! That bald guy must be rich! I’d do him in a minute.”
“No, it’s the kid who was interested in me,” Tim said. “I could go South of Market, I suppose. I’m not working tonight. I was going home to pay some bills and maybe call my Aunt Ruth in Minnesota. She’s going through a messy divorce and sounds bummed out. I should do laundry, too.”
Tim continued bussing the table and spotted a note under the FBI man’s saucer. It read: The birthday boy’s name is Corey. If you can’t join us at The Eagle, he’s in room #2553 at the Marriott Hotel on 4th Street. I will make it worth your while. The note was signed: Uncle Fred.
“Jeez!” Tim said to Artie. “That’s twice he’s used the phrase ‘worth your while.’ Uncle Fred wants to hire me for his nephew’s birthday! The back pages of the gay papers are full of paid escorts. Why try to pick up a waiter?” Still, Tim was flattered. He unloaded the dirty glasses from the tray onto the bar and gave Artie the credit card slip.
“What? He hit on you and didn’t even leave a tip? That’s some nerve!” Artie placed the check on one pile and the credit card slip on another. He would take them to the office in a few minutes and balance the receipts from brunch. The end of the month was nearing and it showed by how little money the customers spent these days.
“They left a cash tip,” Tim said with a smile, but he didn’t tell Artie how much. The waiters traditionally gave the bartenders a percentage of their tips, but not when Artie was working behind the bar. As one of the owners, he wouldn’t accept them. “I didn’t mean to snap at you about Jason, Artie. I know you’re just trying to spare my feelings, but you don’t need to juggle the schedule on my account. Jason and I worked together before we slept together and there’s no reason we can’t work together again. Who knows? Maybe someday we’ll be friends.”
“’Attaboy!” Artie resumed his motherly stance. He did feel almost parental toward his employees, especially where Tim was concerned. “You and Jason were coming at each other from different directions. That doesn’t make either of you the bad guy. You could maybe learn a thing or two from Jason, Tim.”
“I hope you’re right, Artie. I guess if I’m going to meet them I’d better stop at home and change into something more appropriate for South of Market on a Sunday afternoon.
“Maybe you’ve started learning a few things from Jason already.”
Tim walked up Castro Street to 19th, around the corner and up the hill on Collingwood. Artie and Arturo were not only his bosses, but also his landlords. They lived on the top floor of their three-story Victorian apartment building and Tim lived on the bottom. Tim glanced at the answering machine beside his bed, but the light wasn’t blinking. There were a few e-mails on his computer, but they were mostly Spam. Nothing looked urgent or even very interesting.
He slipped out of his khaki slacks and the blue knit shirt that showed off his chest so well. Tim had always kept in good shape by running, but Jason had also gotten him into the habit of working out at the gym. As much as he dreaded his gym routine some days, he had to admit it paid off if he was getting hundred-dollar bills in his tips. These days he tried to schedule his trips to the gym to avoid running into Jason, especially in the showers. Tim didn’t want to be reminded of how much he missed them being naked together.
He glanced toward the overflowing hamper in the corner and tossed his work clothes onto the pile. Laundry could wait. South of Market sounded like a better idea. He pulled off his socks and stepped into the shower, turning the water up as hot as it would go. The phone rang as soon as Tim wet his hair. The telephone could wait, too.
Tim imagined the smells of maple syrup and bacon sliding off his bare skin and swirling down the drain. He soaped and rinsed his armpits left, right, again and a third time. Whether or not he ended up with Corey the birthday boy, he might meet someone on a sunny Sunday afternoon in one of the South of Market bars. Tim envisioned himself naked on a bed in a luxurious hotel room above the fog at sunset stretching to raise his arms behind his head. He didn’t want to have some hot guy’s tongue slide across his chest to nuzzle his armpit and gag on the deodorant Tim wore to work that morning.
He toweled off in front of the full-length mirror on the bathroom door and shook the water out of his hair. He’d meant to get it cut this week, but hadn’t found the time. It was getting to the length where it started to curl around his ears. He would either have to cut it soon or endure an awkward phase for a couple of weeks. Tim thought of when Jason once told him that he liked Tim’s hair longer. He said it gave him something to hang onto. That did it. Jason was part of the past. Tim would get a haircut this week for sure.
He pressed the play button on his answering machine, but whoever called hadn’t left a message. T-shirt, Levi’s, boots and a jacket over one shoulder and he was ready to hit the streets, the gutters, or whatever waited out there. Tim’s hair still wasn’t quite dry, but he pulled on a baseball cap, one that Ja
son had bought him on Castro Street when they first started seeing each other. It was black with the word COLT embroidered across the front in gold letters. Tim grabbed his keys, took one more glance in the mirror and decided that he looked just fine.
Chapter 2
Tim boarded a vintage streetcar on 17th Street outside the Twin Peaks bar. He sat in one of the single seats behind the driver and picked up a brochure that told him the St. Louis Car Company had built this vehicle in 1948 and its colors—green and cream with a black stripe—represented the Louisville Railway, although it had never actually been used in Kentucky. Tim took a deep breath and tucked the brochure in his pocket. He might read it later, but he wasn’t in the mood right now. He glanced at the headline of a newspaper someone had left on the seat: Reverend Arlo Montgomery to bring his anti-gay crusade to San Francisco. Tim wasn’t in the mood for reading the news either, and besides, he had the same paper at home on his kitchen table.
The streetcar’s windows were wide open and the smells of Orphan Andy’s 24-hour diner mingled with the sweet warm chocolate and almonds from the cookie store, coffee from further down the street and even popcorn from the matinee at the Castro Theatre. Some days Tim liked one smell or another, but all of them at once were overpowering. The smell of Orphan Andy’s deep-fryer reminded him of the Minnesota State Fair in St. Paul. His dad took Tim and the boy next-door when they were kids and Tim remembered knowing he would be sick before he even got to the rides—the whole reason for the State Fair — but he couldn’t turn down a corn-dog, funnel cake, cotton candy and a deep-fried banana.
Living in San Francisco reminded Tim of being a kid at the fair. No matter how full he was, it was hard to say no. There was always something right around the next corner that might not be good for him, but he had to try it at least once anyway.
At Church Street Tim glanced to his left toward the Safeway supermarket and thought of something Jake said earlier at work: “Whenever I don’t have any luck at the bars, I head over to Safeway after-hours. You should try it, Tim. They’re open all night. I just put a can of Crisco in my shopping cart and push it up and down the aisles until I meet someone. The produce section is best at that hour.” The waiters at Arts sometimes teased each other, but Jake was okay, always in a good mood.
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