Today is Tuesday, August 5, 2025. It’s late here owing to Elliot and my having dinner with our new friends “Jerry” and “David” at Diner Bar. Instead of meeting there at 6:30, we met David first coming out of Jerry’s apartment here on our floor and we offered to drive him to the restaurant. What a coincidence – meeting David first and being able to drive him to the restaurant in Rego Park. Actually, when I checked my text messages, I did receive a message from Jerry asking us to take David to the eatery. But I didn’t see this until after we brought both of them home from Diner Bar.

We’ve had both Jerry and David at our apartment for coffee and dessert some time ago, and we just talked about getting together sometime over the summer and, though today marked my gay men’s reading club meeting, I was not going to attend the forum anyway since I didn’t read last month’s book: I Make Envy on Your Disco. I got in touch with an infrequent member of the club today and he mentioned that the author, Eric Schnall, was asked to address the group. I would have enjoyed this, but I knew I couldn’t attend.

When we neared the restaurant, I dropped off David and Elliot at the restaurant so that I could find a convenient parking spot. Yes, I drove this time! I lucked out in finding a spot around the corner.

When I entered the restaurant, I located David and Elliot at a round table in the back. I sat down and joined in the conversation. We waited only about 10 minutes for Jerry to come in. He was on time.

When all of us were now seated at the table, the conversation flowed mellifluously as we caught up with all of the traveling the four of us have done most recently. Elliot held court on our most recent Disney cruise with my son and his friend and family. We learned that Jerry served one summer as an intern with Disney in Florida. Jerry revealed that he and his partner just came home from visiting family in Los Angeles and Mississippi. Sadly, on his return trip home, Jerry’s mother died.

Anyway, we conversed so long that our server came to our table several times to ask if we were ready to order. Finally, we said we were now ready to order, and we did. I ordered chicken parmigiana with a cup of creamed broccoli soup. I was the only one to have a doggie bag brought to me. Everyone finished their dinners.

We intended to invite both guys in for dessert and coffee/tea since we didn’t order that at Diner Bar. I had brought three yummy slices of pie and cake at Bonnelle Pastry Shop around 3 earlier in the day. I was afraid that David and Jerry would say they were too tired to have dessert with us. But they said they would return with us, and I felt relieved.

However, when we got back, we discovered that David came down with an upset stomach, so the only one who happily sat down for further conversation with us was Jerry. He had a little of the key lime pie, while I nibbled on the cheese cake. The only slice left was a nectarine pie. At the end of the evening, we gave Jerry the nectarine pie to take home with him. We now have only the key lime pie left.

We then said good night by 9:30 or so. We said we’d get together real soon. Jerry invited us to his house in Litchfield, Connecticut, and we said we’d love to see it.

And so it went!