This time I did turn around so he could see I wouldn’t let him talk to me—or about Tsehay—like that. “First of all,” I said, holding a finger up close to his face. “It’s not your survey, it’s Aid USA’s survey that I’m being paid to work on too. Second, if I wanted to get into anyone’s pants I wouldn’t be coming to you for advice. And third, I’m gay.” I kept the “you fucking idiot” to myself, but just barely.

I spun around without waiting for his response. When I got to my door, I said as calmly as I could, “I hope you have a good day out there, Sam, and try to keep your assumptions to a minimum.” He just glared at me before walking into his own room.

It only took me a few minutes to get my stuff ready, and I was down by our Land Cruiser before the agreed time. All the guys in our vehicle were there too, so I delivered some atrocious Amharic in an attempt to say hello before we all got into the vehicle. The guys thought I was hilarious, so at least that was something. Neither Abraham nor Yohannes spoke great English, but they would be there to help with the surveys in the regional language. So in addition to driving us all over to day, Elias would be serving as translator between the guys and me.

We quickly got into the truck, and as we headed towards the main road Elias called my name. I immediately reacted. It was like every cell in my body was on high alert around him. Everything in me aligned in his direction. “Yes?”

“We should be on the road to Dilla soon. Once we’re on it, you can put the book on. Yohannes and Abraham both brought their headphones and said they’ll listen to their own music.”

I turned around to give the guys a thumbs-up before answering Elias. “Sounds good. Let me know and I’ll start.”

Last night at dinner I’d told Elias I had several audiobooks we could listen to while in the car. We would be on the road for many hours over the next five weeks, and he seemed pleased that we had a lot to choose from. He’d asked what book I wanted to listen to first, and in a moment of madness I’d blurted out Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. I hadn’t read the book before, but I’d gotten it after Lucía recommended it. What I did know was that it was a young adult novel with two gay main characters, and I was feeling more than a bit anxious.