Keyboard/Heart (Chapter Two)

The continuing story of the unexpected renewal of a relationship


Part Two of this beautiful story begins on June 12, 2001.


Although this might be, in some ways, a self-contained story, it would be beneficial to read Part One first, if you haven't already.



I didn't get around to reading the entertainment section of the newspaper until the next day--but my reading of it proved to be successful.


THE WEDDING PLANNER was playing at ENCORE MOVIEZ, which was located at 9100 Rockville Road, which was on the western outskirts of Indianapolis.


Soon, I would be seeing my cousin bring the house down as Massimo!!!


This was truly something to celebrate!!!


So celebrate I did--with cappuccino and a pecan roll from NICK'S DONUTS on Nichol Avenue/Hwy 32 in Edgewood (just west of Anderson).


I took it to one of my favorite scenic spots out that way and savored it--first eating the nuts off of the pecan roll and then uncurling it and eating it bit by bit. After that, sipping the cappuccino.


Then, I headed towards Indianapolis to try to locate that theater.


I happened to notice how late it was getting--and how all of the red lights seemed to be popping out to greet me. Not to mention at least one very long and slow train.


Everything--including a bladder that was starting to scream for relief--began to indicate to me that this would NOT be the night that I would be watching THE WEDDING PLANNER.


But, at least, I could locate the theater and find out how long it would be playing (hopefully, until at least two days from then, as choir-practice was the next evening).


I had my radio tuned to my favorite Oldies Station: GOLD 104.5 FM (WGLD).


The DJs are very good about sharing trivia about the songs they play and/or their singers/composers.


EVERYTHING I OWN by Bread was now playing.


I had heard this song many times and assumed it was about somebody missing an ex-lover. Now, I knew differently.


David Gates (the band member who also wrote this song) had just buried his father right before he wrote the song--a tribute to the same.


The song had gotten to the bridge:


"Is there someone you know,

you're loving them so,

but taking them all for granted.

You may lose them one day,

someone takes them away,

and they don't hear the words you long to say


I would give anything I own,

Give up me life, my heart, my home.

I would give everything I own

Just to have you back again."


At this point, I noticed two things:


There was a car with a license place number reading 224 (Johnny Angel was born on February 24), and I was crossing over the same street (several blocks north) that his workplace was on.


He was a blast from my past (as in 1990), and we hadn't seen each other since 1992--and only briefly then.


It's a long story why we hadn't stayed in contact--thought I had occasionally written him postcards throughout the years and had him on my Christmas newsletter mailing list.


I'd assumed that he was probably remarried by this time--or, at least, had someone he was seeing--so it wasn't a matter of wanting to rekindle old flames.


For a very long time, getting back with him face-to-face had been on my things-to-do list, but the timing was never right.


But this song was really getting to me, because we never know how long we're going to have somebody.


I knew this so well, having survived several good friends who were taken way too young--even to the point of thinking about how I owed one of them a letter, only to hear on the evening news that he had been murdered!


At this time, I was in heavy traffic with a demanding bladder on my way to find a theater that was clear on the other side of Indianapolis. It was now about 20 minutes until showtime, and I was still on the east side of the city!


There was no way that I would be making it to the movie. Even so, I wanted to at least locate the place. But I also knew that I would be stopping past Johnny Angel's workplace on my way home--not even knowing if he would be there.


As soon as I was out of heavy traffic, I began keeping my eyes peeled for an appropriate place to pee.


There would be no way that I could make it all the way to a public restroom, so I was thinking in terms of either a cemetery or else a close to a building that wasn't being used at the time.


I spotted a church and pulled into the parking lot.


I turned my car so that the driver's side was facing the back outside wall of the church and open both my door and the back door of my car to form a stall.


Even though I hurried to pull down my jeans, I didn't get them down far enough not to be splattered some by the gushing release of the contents of my bladder.


After that, I went to the drive-up window of the theater and got information about the film. As it turned out, it would be playing for another week and two days. I mentally made a note to either catch it Wednesday afternoon or Thursday evening--preferrably, the latter.


While there, I ordered a couple of their wonderful oversized soft pretzels--YUM!!!


While not a lot of action was going on right where I was, I could see lightning flashing here and there, and the radio told of severe thunderstorm warnings being out.


I went through a few cloudbursts and areas of sprinkles but nothing more.


Soon, I was back on the other side of Indianapolis--and I noticed that Johnny Angel's workplace was lit up as if someone were still there. I drove down the side street that went along the north side of the building.


His blinds were open, and I could see him in there wrapping up some research.


After all those years, he still looked very handsome to me!


What was I doing thinking about how handsome he was? What did it matter, anyway?


I wasn't really looking for anyone to get romantic with, as I was just starting to heal from an Internet relationship which had gone very sour, due to a certain amount of misinterpreted communication on both of our parts. Thankfully, we were enjoying a good amount of success in the rebuilding of our friendship.


Even though I had come to the practical conclusion that my Internet friend and I would have been making a major mistake if we had decided to get married at some point, there was still a part of me that wished things could have been different--a part of me that hadn't quite gotten over wishing that he HAD been the right one for me and I the right one for him.


I drove around the block three times wondering if I had any business arriving uninvited to this guy's workplace after all of these years. Would I be welcome? Or would he not want to have anything to do with me?


My last time of falling in love had left my self-esteem shot full of holes when it came to matters of the heart. I still had open wounds.


Seeing and talking to Johnny Angel again would be a comfort food of sorts for me--taking me back to 1990 before so many loved ones had passed on, Daddy had gotten Parkinson's, and I had gotten my heart broken--make that shattered!


But I still wasn't thinking in romantic terms. For one thing, I thought that he'd probably gone on with his life in that way. More than likely, I'd be visiting with a happily-married friend, and we'd have a lot of catching up to do.


I finally decided to park in the parking lot and wait for him to come out the back door to get into his car. When he came out, I would roll down my passenger-side window and call out to him--giving him the option of a quick getaway, if that was what seeing me again would inspire in him.


After all I'd been through, I was even prepared for the possibility that he would holler something like, "LEAVE ME ALONE, STALKER!" before beating a hasty exit.


Soon, he came out, and I called to him. He seemed surprised to see me there--but far from unhappy about it!


He asked me if I wanted to come in and see where he worked--and exclaimed, "How about a hug!?!" when I got out of the car.


We stood there hugging each other for a little while, and he kept telling me how surprised and glad he was to see me again.


Then, we went into the building together.


He asked me if I wanted coffee or a Coke, and I told him a Coke--but that what I really needed first was the bathroom. This time, I made it in plenty of time without peeing myself. Afterwards, I joined him in the conference room of his workplace, and we began to catch up with each other.


In the course of the conversation, he asked me if I'd gotten hitched yet. I told him that there had been a couple of times where I'd met someone special.


The first one had suddenly slipped out of my life without explanation--I would later find out that he had discovered that he was, likely, terminally-ill with cancer. This turned out to be the case, as he passed away a little over three years later--something that I'd found out from his business partner after we both ended up on the Internet.


The other one, of course, was the one I was still nursing fresh wounds over.


He told me that he hadn't gotten hitched, either--or, in his case, re-hitched.


He asked me how I was doing, and I told him that, other than being too fat, too poor, and having a yucky lovelife, I was doing great.


He told me that I looked just great to him and asked me what was wrong with my lovelife. I skimmed over that very quickly, not really wanting to talk about it that much at the moment.


We talked about a few other things, and then he asked me for another hug.


It felt so good to be hugged by him after all of these years. He had explained to me why it was that we had to go our separate ways back in 1990. HIs explanation was the same one that certain other people had told me--the explanation that I'd hoped was true instead of simply that he'd decided that he didn't want to have anything to do with me.


Now, I knew for sure that this hadn't been the case, and I told him that I'd waited so long to be hugged by him again.


Up to that point, we had kissed before--but in the way that platonic friends or relatives might kiss: on the cheek.


All at once, I wondered what it would feel like to be kissed on the mouth by him--but I didn't make any move in that direction.


As it turned out, I didn't have to, because his lips found my lips, and we became engaged in a long soul-kiss.


We decided that it might be wise to break apart for awhile in order to cool down before we ended up doing something that we'd regret.


We sat and talked some more, ever so often reching out to hug each other again.


The eleven years between 1990 and the present seemed to magically dissolve away!


And my open wounds were suddenly healed as if by magic.


After the first time we kissed, I exclaimed, "Who's Jim!?!"


He asked me if I felt as if I were being unfaithful to Jim when we kissed, and I told him, "NO WAY!!!"


My mind had long ago told me that it was over--and, now, my heart felt the same way!


At one point, he came over and stood beside me, and I put my arms around him and buried my face against his teddy-bear-soft tummy and could feel that he had love-handles, too. His weight-gain since I'd last seen him (not major but noticeable) only made him that much more cuddly to hug.


I stood up, and we held each other close while we hugged and kissed--until an awful thought occurred to me.


He was wearing a business suit, and I had gotten a considerable amount of pee on my jeans earlier, so I told him what happened.


"Don't worry about it! It happens to all of us!" he reassured me.


We went back to hugging and kissing again, until he said that it would be wise to call it a night.


We still lingered and talked--but eventually made our way towards the back door, where we embraced once more.


He once more mentioned wanting me to come in during the daytime to meet the rest of his co-workers as soon as things were a little less hectic for him. That sounded like a plan to me.


He told me to be careful when driving back--especially, if I ran into stormy weather.


I can't remember for sure if the song JOHNNY ANGEL played on the radio that night as I was driving home, but I believe it did. What I remember even more was that another song called POETRY IN MOTION came on. This was a good sign, as it reminded me of the first time we'd met face-to-face back in 1990. I had been wearing a t-shirt which I'd designed myself which had read POETRY IN MOTION.


I drove back to Anderson with lightning flashing all around me on a night when there were no stars in the sky but plenty of stars in my eyes!


Did all of this really happen? Or would I wake up and find out that it had all been a dream?


All I know is this: Almost from the moment I left his workplace, I began to miss him--but it wasn't the kind of missing him that would make me sad. It was the kind of missing him that told me that I wanted to see him again just as soon as I could.


However, it would end up being over three months before we would visit agan.


TO BE CONTINUED. . . "Keyboard/Heart (Chapter Three)"