The City

Tyler woke to a knock on his door.  It was Frederico, wearing the same outfit he wore the night before to dinner with Nina.  Tyler invited him in for coffee, but Frederico declined.  “No thanks, I won’t be long.  I’m just getting home,” he said. “I wanted to give you a word of advice.”    “Oh?” Tyler asked.    Frederico continued, “Don’t get sucked into Martin’s psycho-drama.  He and I have been back and forth and around the block a dozen times. It’s time he moved on.” He started to climb the stairs, but Tyler reached out and grabbed onto his wrist.   “I’ll take that into consideration,” Tyler said. “I’d like to add however, that Nina and I have been friends since college, I watched her go through a divorce, and if you’re going to pull her into some sort of power struggle it won’t sit well with me.”   Frederico smiled and Tyler dropped his hold. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about,” Frederico said.   “You really like her?” Tyler asked.   “Unexpected, but yes,” Frederico responded.    Tyler cocked his head and squinted. “Interesting,” he said.  Frederico started to climb the stairs before turning around a final time. “Oh!” he said, “I got a letter from the landlord in the mail this morning.  Might want to look for it in your mail too.”

Across the hall Jacob didn’t wait for the bank to return his call.  He dialed again and spoke with the bank officer who had gone over the shared investments with his ex. “I’m trying to reach Tony, but the number I have for him has been disconnected.”  Being told that the bank couldn’t share a client’s information, Jacob began racking his brain.  

Sitting in the backseat of the car, Spaz asked Franz to roll down the windows.  “It smells funky in here for some reason.”  They were hauling ass across Ohio to make up for the delay due to the flat tire.  When they stopped for gas, Leon gave Tyler a call.   “I’m so glad you called!” Tyler shouted into his phone.   “We had some trouble with a flat tire in Pennsylvania, but we’re back on track this morning,” Leon said.  “Sorry to hear that,” Tyler said, without sounding interested. “I do have some news for you.  Do you know who your dog-walker is?”    “I haven’t met him yet,” Leon replied. “Franz hired him while I was working on the UN gala.”    “It’s Todd!” Tyler said, “The guy who tried to get you kicked out of the gym for buying pot from Martin.”     Leon was confused, “That drunk guy?  I thought he moved to San Diego.”     Tyler cradled the phone between his shoulder and ear while making coffee. “No, he went to San Diego to visit his parents; he’s living in New Jersey now and working at a drug rehab center.”    Leon looked over at Franz and Spaz as they studied a map spread over the hood of the car. “Well, this isn’t good.”     Tyler listened to Leon’s breathing for a bit, then said “He seemed stable while I was there, but I don’t trust him.  There’s something about him that makes me think he’s up to something.”    “From what I remember he’s basically an asshole,” Leon said.  “Franz said he’s good with Nairobi.”    Tyler admitted that the dog was happy with him.   Leon sighed. “Listen, his biggest beef seemed to be with Frederico and Martin.  Can you go over there one more time this week just to be sure he hasn’t burned the house down.  I’ll wait until we’re back home to even discuss this with Franz.”   Tyler cautiously agreed this was a reasonable response.  “If I wasn’t taking care of Adam’s cat, I’d volunteer to spend the week there.”    “Thanks,” Leon said.

In Astoria, Ivan paid a visit to his doctor.  He got a shot of penicillin and had some blood drawn for testing. 

Running out the door to meet Frita for lunch, Martin grabbed his mail.  He sat on the train into Manhattan and read the letter from the landlord.  It was a form letter informing the tenants that ownership of the building had been transferred to a new holding company.  Although it didn’t say anything about a rent increase Martin, newly unemployed, assumed the worst.   At lunch he told Frita about Frederico’s date with Nina.  She refused to be sympathetic and told him to get a grip.  She reviewed for him the number of times he and Frederico had separated and reconciled, his infatuation with Bad News Tommy, the threat he felt from Todd’s crush on Frederico, and his one night stand with Ivan.  Additionally she questioned his perpetual unemployment.  “What do you want from life?” she asked. 

On the road in Ohio, with Spaz taking a turn behind the wheel, under Leon’s suggestion Franz called Todd to check on Nairobi.   Todd assured him that all was well.  Once the phone call was over Todd opened another bottle of wine.

Back at 250, Jacob knocked on Frederico’s door.  “Do you have Helmut’s number in Germany?” he asked.   Frederico pursed his lips and furrowed his brow. “Not exactly what I thought you’d be looking for.”

What does the City have in store next for our heroes? Stay tuned.

“You do not want to see this,” Tyler repeated to Martin.  They were standing across the street from the sidewalk café where Frederico was having a date.     Too troubled to look Martin covered his eyes. “Is he hot?  Does he look like me?  Is he fat?  What?!”  He dropped his hand and turned to face the café. “What the hell is going on?” he asked Tyler.    “Maybe it’s not a date,” Tyler suggested.  “He bought flowers,” Martin reminded him.   Suddenly emboldened Martin crossed the street and strode up to his ex’s table. “What the hell is going on?!,” he demanded.    Behind him Tyler raced across the street, unsure of how to fix this awkward and embarrassing situation.  “Nina,” he said to Frederico’s date, “it’s nice to see you again.”

“Not in here,” Leon said to Franz.  They were sharing a hotel room with Spaz on the road trip to Memphis.  Franz was feeling frisky and the two had to leave the hotel hot tub before their predicament began to become obvious.  “Meet me in the shower,” he whispered to Leon.    “No, it’s too close, she’ll hear everything!”     “When did you become such a prude?”    “Can’t we get another room?”   “We have a perfectly good room here.”     “With the light-sleeper over there talking in her sleep.” Leon spat back. He had an idea. “Let’s go out to the car.  We can drop the back seat.”   “Kinky,” Franz replied.

Meanwhile in Memphis, Adam was showering after his final dress rehearsal.  He was performing in the Memphis Summer Workshop Theatre Group’s Waterworks Project Main Stage production of the Sound of Music.   It was an all male cast and he was playing the featured role of the Baroness.  He enjoyed the role but the makeup was excruciating.

Also in Memphis, Kimmie was putting clean sheets on the bed in the guest room.  She was looking forward to having her three friends with her, but was a little nervous at the news she’d have for Franz when they arrived.  Another one of his employees had been lured to join her team at EveryonesOnLine.  It was getting to the point that she didn’t even have to recruit them.  The handful who had joined her were doing a good job of spreading the news about how happy they were at their new jobs.  Their old colleagues were popping out of the woodwork to join up.

Back at 250, Jacob set aside the bag of white powdered he’d just discovered inside his kitchen wall.  He ran his fingers through his hair and began pilfering through a stack of files on his desk.  He picked up his phone and called the number on one of the contracts.  “Disconnected,” he sighed.  He glanced down at his watch, then dialed another number.  Going into voicemail, he left a message “Hi Ms. Torres, this is Jacob Yang, I met with you a few weeks ago to go over some papers to review the dissolution of investments from my breakup with a Mr. Tony Myers.  If you could give me a call back in the morning I would appreciate it.”  He snapped the phone shut and then looked back at the bag of white powder.  He opened it and dipped his finger in, then dabbed a bit of the powder on his tongue.  “No doubt about it.   This is cocaine,” he said to himself.

At the café near Union Square Martin continued his confrontation with Frederico.  “Isn’t this interesting?  My ex-boyfriend and my boss, on a date.  How quaint.”      “Martin, I didn’t know how to tell you,” Nina said.    Frederico stayed silent with a bemused look on his face.   Tyler stood to the side with his mouth agape, wishing he could disappear.     Martin’s energy fully restored, he continued, “What’s there to say?  The two of you meet, you pose for him, become his ‘muse’.  How charming?  The artist and the model.  It’s a love story straight out of Italian opera. Who wouldn’t encourage it, embrace it?”  He glanced from Nina to Frederico and back.  His voice was slightly crazed.  “Maybe the fact that he’s gay would have stopped some people, but no, you built your business on getting what you want didn’t you?”  He turned to face the crowd of diners, most not even trying to stop from eavesdropping.  “Do you hear that everyone?  My boyfriend is on a romantic date with my boss!  That’s right.  My GAY boyfriend and this woman right here! Who’s the bigger fool?  Me or her?”   Then he ran off.     Tyler was left standing there alone, all eyes on him now.    He stammered a little, before whispering “I had no idea this was going to happen.”  Frederico and Nina remained silent.  “Enjoy the rest of your meal,” Tyler said while slowly stepping away. “You look great,” he said to Nina.