Lightheaded with fatigue, Bill laughed and Waldo laughed with him. They laughed until tears came and then they wiped them away and Bill asked if he could have another bowl of soup.

As Waldo served him, he said, “You know, we’re the lucky ones. We made it out alive. Not all of us do.”

Waldo had begun to come into focus for Bill as a real person. He no longer merely saw the bouffant hair and mascara, the limp wrists and tight clothes, which, in any event, Waldo had exchanged for a silk kimono. Out of those affectations, a boy had emerged with kind eyes and a smirk of a smile. Bill relaxed.

“I was giving Marco a blowjob when my dad found us,” he said. “He beat me up bad. When I got out of the hospital my mom drove me to the bus station.”

“With nothing but the clothes on your back! Those fuckers!”

“I left my suitcase at the bus station. I have a little money.”

“You can get your suitcase tomorrow and bring it here.”

Bill gulped down a sob and managed a strangled, “Thank you.” He wiped his eyes. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Waldo smiled. “You’re going to finish your soup and then we’ll make up the couch and you’ll get some sleep.”

A key turned and the door opened. An older black man in a rumpled uniform came yawning into the room. He smiled sleepily at the two boys at the table.

“We doing a three-way?” he asked Waldo.

“Bill’s just crashing here. Hey, Bill, this is my lover, Eddie.”

“Um, hello,” Bill said, adding a respectful, “sir.”

Eddie laughed. “Sir? How old you think I am, boy? I’m gonna shower, baby boy, then I’m going to bed.”

“Sure thing, doll,” Waldo replied. “I’ll be waiting for you.”

When the shower went on, Bill asked Waldo, “Um, does Eddie live here too?”

Waldo smirked. “No, hon, Eddie lives with his wife and his kids over in the Fillmore. A couple of times a week he tells her he’s pulling overtime and he comes by to fuck me senseless.”

Bill, not knowing how else to respond, said, “Okay.”

Waldo said, “You looked at him like you never seen a black guy before.”

“There aren’t too many in Eden Plains.”

“You prejudiced against them?”

“Um, my dad doesn’t like them.”

Waldo nodded. “Bet he calls them niggers just like my dad. Well let me tell you something, Bill, you’re one of them now.”

“One of what?” he asked, confused.

“A nigger, hon. We’re all the same. Queers, niggers, spics, chinks. All in the same boat cuz the same people hate all of us. So, we gotta stick together, okay?”

Bill, still uncomprehending, nodded.

“Let’s make up your bed. Just toss the bowl in the sink with the other shit. The maid will take care of it.”