I was running late for work, and I decided to stop at the convenience store on my way, as it was only a block from the house. I needed coffee, and a few items for lunch as I hadn't cooked the night before. I parked, and walked inside to come across two winos, just standing in front of the register lollygagging, and Thor, this bearded, long haired, white dude with a rugged voice.
"Hey there, Army guy. Welcome to my store," he said as I rushed inside.
The long, dirty blonde and gray haired white otter, with tattoos all over his arms, rubbed me wrong with that statement. I paused for a few seconds, and we made eye contact as I nodded and would witness the bluest of eyes.
"So you can't speak," he asked before I smiled and walked on.
"What's up," I belted as I was in the refrigerator ready to grab a cold coffee.
I corrected him and let him know I was proud Navy, as his inebriated buddies laughed.
"Well, excuuuuuuuse me, Boat boy in the house," he said to me.
I laughed it off, as we did an exchange with me handing him the drink, then cash to the total before he started a slew of questions.
"How old you gotta be to join?"
"Can you take someone with tattoos?"
"Someone with children"
He handed me my change, and I in turn advised him the one real way to answer these questions, was for him to talk to a recruiter.
"Wow. Well, thanks for representing the Navy," he said sarcastically before I dashed.
I was pressed for time and though Thor was a handsome fella, I wasn't in the mood to entertain inquiries as those two drunks were smelling ripe. I would turn and wink at him, and he winked back as I walked out the door, feeling his eyes in my back. I hopped in my Nissan and bailed out of the parking lot, and down the street, thinking of Thor and his compact, chubby frame. I pondered about him for I love bears that are a little dusty, a lot masculine and undercover bottoms as he seemed to put checks in the block. I made it to work with no traffic, floating down the road with this dude on my mind, so much that I took an early lunch break just to make it back to the store.
"What's up Sailor," he yelled as he was a bit more energetic.
Part of me said deep down, he was someone that I could possibly vibe with, maybe hang out with. We talked a little trash while he fixed me a chili dog sandwich and I tried to pay for it.
"Nope, on the house, kid," he said as that was his salute for my service. "You bust your ass every day to make sure we're good, this is nothing."
I thanked him for the gesture, and would make it a point every other morning to stop in at the store, and forge some type of communication with him.
"You always pop in here,as if you're late for work," he joked. "Your lady needs to wake you out of your sleep?"
"No lady in my confines," I told him as the first hint I chose the same sex to sleep with.
I kept coming, and slowly we'd break the ice as it went from him thanking me for being in the Navy, to "what's for dinner, or do you want to come over and hang out."
"You know, I asked you all those questions because my youngest son is about to graduate from high school," he told me as I made it to his place.
It only took me six months to make it to the dining room of Thor's modest apartment, but the wait was worth it as I had some of the most tender, tasty baby back ribs being ripped apart by my teeth.
"My boy will be graduating a semester early, and wants to leave the nest," he told me as I washed down the meat with a Modelo. "Can you help him?"
I nodded to helping him, and having a conversation with his son about the pros and cons of the military. He and I were sitting on his large balcony overlooking a muddy creek, downing Modelos while speaking of our pasts.
"I was down for 13 years. Ran with a pack of other brothers when I was living in Arizona, and we had a pipeline for marijuana and arms," he told me. "I got caught up with an undercover in California, and well, the next thing I knew, I was sitting in a federal prison."
The 59-year-old went on about how he was released, and how family didn't seem like such during and after his bid, so he took the money he saved prior to being locked away, sent some to his children, then migrated east to Virginia.
"I'll never go back west," he told me.
We were three beers in and the sun was down as we remained on the balcony taking in the breeze.
"You enjoying yourself," he asked.
"I am. Feeling like I'm decompressed right now," I told him.
We had a brief bout of silence between us, and I would close my eyes and recline in my chair, and he broke out a cigar. He took a couple of drags, then asked me a question:
"Said you're decompressed? You ain't decompressed unless you let me suck that dick. When the last time you got that dick sucked?"
