It's Still March

“Hey, Brian,” Justin announced as the two residents of the loft settled down in front of their fake fireplace, comfortably situated as the cold March rain pelted against the windows. “You’ll never guess who I was talking to today.”

“No point in my trying to guess then,” Brian grinned at him, “since I’m never gonna guess who anyway. What I will guess though is that - once I find out who you were talking to - I’ll wish you hadn’t been talking to whomever it was you were talking to today that I won’t ever guess who …. “

“It was Seymour over at school,” Justin informed him. “You remember Seymour.”

“You always ask me if I remember Seymour – every time you mention him you ask me if I remember him,” Brian replied. “You know damn well I remember him – and you also know damn well I wish I didn’t. And you should also remember that I told you to stay away from Seymour. He’s crazy ….”

“He is not either crazy, Brian,” Justin maintained. “He’s a deep thinker and he just likes to think all the time and you don’t like people who think all the time. He’s interesting. Seymour has some neat ideas. He always makes me think ….”

“I think that’s it, Baby. You’ve hit the nail on the head. That’s really why I don’t like Seymour,” Brian had a revelation. “He makes you think – and that always causes problems.”

“Well I can’t help it if I have an inquiring mind and like to know stuff, Kinney,” Justin defended himself. “I have like – a scientific mind ….”

“More like science fiction, Sweetheart,” Brian cajoled. “But we may as well get this whole thing over with since I’m gonna have to hear about it anyhow - so go ahead. What non-issue was Seymour’s lame brain delving into today?’

“Do you think human beings can be possessed by the devil, Brian?” Justin wondered as a way of getting down to the subject.

“Yeah, I do, JT,” Brian laughed at him. “Like – I think that Seymour might be possessed by a devil – a really dumb devil – but a devil nevertheless – and sometimes I suspect that maybe you yourself ….”

“Cut it out, Brian,” Justin interrupted. “I know you don’t like to talk about intellectual subjects but sometimes we need to ….”

“Do you think you know somebody specific who is possessed by the devil, Baby” Brian asked the kid. “Or is this all in the abstract? You know what? Maybe I was possessed by the devil in the bad old days – and then you saved me – like you often remind me. You stuck around me so close that the devil couldn’t stand it any more and got the hell out and went and possessed somebody else ….”

“Brian Kinney,” Justin objected. “I want to have a serious discussion about this serious topic – and you are gonna participate too. You have a good mind and you need to do some serious thinking every once in a while ….”

“I’ll make you a deal, Honey,” Brian offered. “I’ll talk with you seriously on this subject – for exactly one-half hour – if you promise we can then forget it and talk about something really interesting – like the weather – it’s been lousy lately ….”

“Well I can’t exactly do that Bri,” Justin waffled, “even if I wanted to. Like – on the way home I ran into Emmett and I asked him what he thought about demonic possession – and he was real interested. He said him and Mikey had even discussed it a couple of times ….”

“Now there’s an idea, Taylor,” Brian laughed. “Why don’t you just convene a meeting – you, Emmett, and Mikey – and you serious thinkers can discuss this serious topic without any silliness from a shallow thinker like yours truly ….”

“You know what, Bri?” Justin laughed back. “I’m like – really glad you made that suggestion – about a meeting that is – cause like – Emmett and Mikey are coming over here tomorrow evening – Ben too - and like Ted and Blake – and I’m sure Brandon and Jason will want to come – and Malcolm will have to be invited ….”

“Well all I can say is that I’m glad I’m not invited,” Brian responded. “I’ll just go out to the movies with some of the guys from work. That way I won’t get in the way of serious thinkers doing their serious thinking ….”

“Like hell you’ll be going to the movies, Brian Kinney,” Justin warned him. “Everybody will want to know what your thinking is on this subject and you’re gonna be here ….”

“You don’t need me, Baby,” Brian persisted. “What you should do is invite Seymour …..”

“Nope,” Justin demurred. “Seymour is too deep a thinker. He’d just confuse us. We need you – so you gotta come ….”

“Well I’ll have to admit you have a point about Seymour, Baby,” Brian told him. “If he can confuse you – like he always does – I guess he could confuse Mikey too – and Emmett ….”

“Shut up, Brian,” Justin commanded as he made some moves that brought the conversation into “pause” mode for a substantial period – but which did not end the discussion - or the apparent conflict.

“By the way, Babe,” Brian grinned a little later on, “you haven’t convinced me that I want to attend your séance tomorrow. If that’s what you were trying it didn’t work. And deep thinking would give me a headache for sure - and then after the guys are all gone I might be like – not well enough to ….”

“Nice try, Brian,” Justin laughed. “But you never get headaches – at least not that bad – or at least you never have ….”

“So did I ever have to think about being possessed by the devil before?” Brian conjectured. “I used to get headaches back in college when I did too much thinking in sociology class – or Renaissance literature ….”

“You took a course in Renaissance literature?” Justin showed amazement. “Is there no end to the mystery of Brian Kinney?”

“Maybe you could ask Seymour, Mr. Taylor.” Brian suggested, “He knows everything. He could think about it – and I’m sure he could explain any mystery – even the mystery of Brian Kinney ….”

“But I don’t want to talk to Seymour, Brian,” Justin pointed out. “I want to talk to you ….”

But regardless of Justin’s expressed wish, silence fell upon the loft just then and the guys just sat – watching the fire-place and listening to the rain which seemed to be splashing even more violently against the window panes. It was a lovely domestic scene there in front of the fireplace - till finally ….

Justin lifted his head from Brian’s shoulder. “April fool,” he said.

“April fool what?” Brian reacted. “It’s still March.”

“Well it’s getting harder to get you on the right day, Bri,” Justin told him, “so I have to like – improvise - alter the tradition slightly. Me and Seymour were talking about the devil today – but I didn’t really meet Emmett – and there’s no like – discussion planned for tomorrow night. It was just an April Fool’s joke. I wouldn’t want to waste my time with you discussing the devil ….”

“You know what, Baby,” Brian surprised Justin in return. “Maybe I do want to talk about demonic possession now after all. Because I think I might know somebody who just might have the devil in him. He’s blond – and cute – but ….”

“I’ll make you an appointment with Seymour, Bri,” Justin cut him off. “He’d be more interesting for you to talk to on that subject. I have some other ideas – not demonic at all in my opinion. Could I interest you in…?”

”Yep,” Brian told him – without giving the subject any deep thought at all – and he was not April-fooling either.
 

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