January 24th, 1977

This morning when the light came through the windows of Gene’s bedroom, I got up. A grey cold morning, it was just after 7:00 and I walked naked into the living room. I put my shirt on and sat on the sofa to decide my plans for getting back to the real world and Washington. Our clothes were strewn around the floor– from our lovemaking. Soon Gene was standing in the room with me in a blue robe. I stood up and put my arms around him. I rubbed his back through the soft robe. We kissed.

“What are you going to do,” he asked me.

“Let’s go back to bed.”

We are quiet with each other. We are both too old for clichés. Our lovemaking is intense. I try to say with my body how good it is to be with him. And how being with him is special for me. And how I knew it would be. Words do not work. Now, on the train back to Washington, I remember holding him close as he shivered in the cold.