Today is Saturday, April 7, 2023. It’s late here, owing to Elliot and I going out to Jersey City to meet up with my longterm friend’s son and daughter-in-law who are both expecting a little miracle very, very soon. We were out for almost close to 11 hours, since we left Forest Hills around 11:30 and didn’t return to the area until about 10 p.m. We went so early because we wanted to buy tickets for Broadway’s Life of Pi for Wednesday, April 19, for a matinee performance and to have breakfast/brunch out afterward. We even had time to stop at Macy’s and do some shopping on the second floor for men’s clothing. We were expected at 3:30 and we just got to the Newport station at around 3:27.

Zander” met us at the station to take us back to his and “Nalah'”s apartment; the last time I went there was in December for their baby shower and I got lost trying to find their 22-story building. This time I asked Zander to meet us at the station and he walked us briskly back to the apartment building within moments. I was amazed how close they were to the PATH station.

We all sat in the living room and had tea and talked. At some point, we were treated to the couple’s lovely wedding video shot in Brazil where they went to get married last year. We had a 6 p.m. reservation at the local Ruth Chris steakhouse and we were able to leave as late as 5:50 since the restaurant was so close. When we departed for dinner, Elliot and I left our respective bags on the settee. Oh, I forgot to mention that the young couple has a lovely big Aussiedoodle; his name is Cupcake, and he’s a large, energetic canine. He came up to me on the couch at one time and wanted me to pet him.

In my Strand bag that I left on the settee, I had two library books, the one that I failed to read for my first gay reading club and the other was Kurt Vonnegut’s Timequake. I also had our Broadway tickets in an envelope as well. Elliot had clothes he bought in Macy’s. (Not to leave out: I too had a pair of blue shorts and a very colorful short-sleeve shirt I bought on sale in there too.) I mention this because of what happened after we returned from our long dinner at Ruth Chris.

After dinner, Zander and I went up to the building to get Cupcake and take him out for a walk, while Elliot and Nalah stayed behind in the restaurant to pay the check. When we walked into the apartment, to my astonishment and horror, I saw my black bag on the floor and pieces of the cover of Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl strewn around as well. I was horrified! Thank God the second book wasn’t demolished or our Broadway tickets. If the tickets had been chewed up, that would have been a total disaster. Later when I was in the subway, I discovered that Cupcake even chewed off a piece of the cloth of my KN95 mask. So now when I have to return the coverless book, I don’t know what to expect. Maybe I should just confess what really happened and throw myself at the mercy of library officials. The worst that could happen, I believe, is that I be fined something for the torn cover. By the way, Zander thought what Cupcake did was hilarious; he was guffawing while I looked in terror at the scraps of the book on the floor. And here, I wanted to return the book today before going to Zander and Nalah. But I didn’t; I went to Midtown Comics instead for about 10 minutes before walking to Macy’s.

Anyway, that was our day. It certainly was memorable for what happened during our absence in Zander and Nalah’s apartment. I would tend to believe that Cupcake did not like being left alone, and so, he lashed out by chewing some of the contents in my bag. I just hope he doesn’t ‘t suffer from indigestion as a result of what he did.

So have a Happy Easter tomorrow. I hope it’s warmer than it was today.

Stay safe and be well.