Shiitake Happens

Did my good deed of the week. Hopefully this manages to balance out all the evil I've done for the past few days. Hell, it's probably enough to risk a few wicked sins this weekend :)

If you recall Tearful Tony of gaycide fame, I made a return visit to check up on the boy. Call it my good samaritan act of the day. Certainly looking much more cheerful than the solemn, sad-eyed stud I brought in on the first day. I guess it's hard to look all that happy when you've just had your stomach contents forcibly pumped out.


Thoroughly wasted. That's how you feel like after a gastric lavage!
Even managed a smile for me.

Tony recognized me almost immediately, if not as his returning saviour, certainly as the doctor who shoved half a dozen unimaginable foreign objects in most of his available orifices ( and then gave him a five minute lecture on the futility of suicide ). Still Tony was friendly enough - after such wildly invasive measures it certainly loosens the inhibitions. Talked with very little prompting about his problems which I listened closely enough, his problems at work, in school, in his family... but he certainly steered safely clear of any mention of his apparent homosexuality ( and his faithful suitor on the nightly vigil ).

Certainly didn't press the issue of course - I've far more learned, experienced colleagues than me dealing in such tangled matters. But I did leave him a small message.

Paul : And what about your friends? Faithful Frank for instance.
Tony : Y-you met Frank?
Paul : It's hard not to notice, don't you think? He's here every night.
Tony : He's been really... wonderful.
Paul : We should always appreciate our friends.
Tony : But I-I'm not one of those gays! At least I think I'm not.
Paul : No one's saying that you are. Though it is that really so bad?
Tony : It's not! And I don't think I am gay...
Paul : You wouldn't be the only gay man around, you know.

Yes, it was a loaded hint. I do seem to be coming out in the oddest places these days.

Much too polite a boy, Tony didn't inquire further though I could see he was dying to ( ironically enough ). Perhaps I looked a bit too intimidating for him to ask such a searching personal question. We talked a bit more but he added very little after. Still, he seemed to be smiling to himself when I left.

So hopefully he won't swallow that next bottle of pills when he comes across them again. Shiitake happens but that doesn't mean you have to resort to making a sashimi of yourself.