CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
2003 - June
On the last day of June, I decided to call my old friend, June. Corny, yes- but true.
By the final year of my incarceration, I’d pretty much completely dropped off from reaching out to him. I’m sure he figured it was because I no longer needed him to rescue me from anything or that I’d sorted out how to get money on my books without his help, but really it was because I knew if I was truly gonna make a go of being sober, I’d need to walk away from old habits and old friends. Hopefully, he’d understand why I’d been silent. I just hoped he had the same cellphone number.
And now that had a cute, candy colored flip phone with a 212 number, I was ready to reach out. And I knew the area code would throw June off. He’d have no idea that it was me calling him.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
“Yeah?”
It was June.
“HIIIIII, JUNEY JUNE! HOW’S IT HANGING IN HUSTLEFORD[1]????” I shouted, all loud and happy.
“Eula?” June sounded shocked.
“It’s me!” I replied. “And I am out of prison and living in a huuuuuge apartment in Washington Heights with two hot, Dominican dominatrixes. When are you coming to see me?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa- what?” he laughed. “Slow down a minute and tell me what’s going on!”
June had the best laugh.
“Yeah, I got out a couple weeks ago and I’ve been pretty much laying low since then,” I told him. “But today, I realized I missed you and I wanted to say hi! I am SO glad you kept your same number,” I finished.
I needed to catch my breath.
“Well, that’s nice to hear,” he replied. “Always good to hear from you when you DON’T need rescuing.”
“Oh, stop it June,” I said. “But seriously, come down and visit me next week. I’ll see if Mistress Donya can slip you in for a mini session on the house. What are you into these days- nipple play? Light spanking?”
We made plans to meet up next week at Flor de Mayo, an old school Cuban Chinese restaurant pretty close to my apartment.
This felt good- something familiar to look forward to. Low stakes, wholesome and whatnot.
[1] Hustleford is a 90s nickname for Hartford, Connecticut.
