fbhjr

My wife and I have a friend, Mike, from NH, who now lives in Seattle. (As
opposed to

evrgreen, who is a friend Mike who lives in NH, but
is from Vermont.
I’ve been thinking about Mike as next week is his birthday and I just
mailed him a present.

25 or so years ago, before he met his husband, he was dating another guy
who lived in Fort Kent Maine. That’s right up at the top of Maine on the
Canadian border.

They drove the 8 hours south to see us one weekend and got trapped in
Worcester MA. This was back when my (now) wife and I lived in an apartment
with 3 other people, and two other apartments in the building were rented
by our group of friends. So, there was often a lot going on and lots of
people came to visit.

Mike had been working as a computer sales person and won some sort of car
for selling more Apple computers in New England than anyone else.
I don’t remember what kind of car it was because I had never heard of one
before and never heard of one since.

But, that weekend many years ago, it ceased to function. This was back in
the days when nothing was open on Sunday, so Mike waited until Monday to
try and get it fixed.

Every morning that week when I left for work, I told Mike I hoped his car
would be repaired and he could be on his way home before I got back. All
week, he was still there on my return.

Monday he couldn’t find anyone who had heard of his car and knew how to fix
it.
Tuesday he spent all day trying to get it towed to the place where there
was one guy who thought he knew how to fix it.
Wednesday the mechanic working on his car set his arms on fire.

Exactly how wasn’t clear. Something about fuel injectors and battery
sparks mixing with oil covered clothing.
This was enough for Mike’s boyfriend. He rented a car and drove the 8
hours home by himself.
“Flaming arms were too much for him,” Mike told me. “His love could not
overcome them.”

He and Mike didn’t stay together much longer.
Mike then met Dave, the man he married, and has been maintaining the
flaming arms of love since.

I bring it up as we just got a very nice Christmas card from them where he
talks about missing the old times. It was good to hear from them.