"You fucken fell in love with a one-night stand!" he screamed and laughed.
Barbarian! Big time Barbarian!
"Come on, your uncle, Emperor Julius Ceazar had a nightstand with Cleo Patra, maybe not even in the palace. He could have done it next to a coconut tree at the banks of Jordan, or at the shores of the Red Sea, who knows, but he never used PEP." David banged badly.
I wanted to laugh but it seemed my lungs were failing. We've made lots of history, yes, the name, Italo, has so much to it, and David was ready to remind me of all of that.
"You seem to have hit your boiling point, David." I pointed at the bottle which had just a little content left. He laughed.
I knew his weakness, too. His head isn't strong for beer. Sometimes, I feel the urge to ask him to make his brain cells strong enough to bear at least three bottles max, or was he just good at cutting through people's skulls to correct their skull, when he has his skull to fix?
"Yeah, you are right, but who is the lady you are in love with?" he asked.
I stood up. "Have you eaten?"
"Just snacks out there." He replied.
"Good." I left the living room and went to the kitchen. I have nothing to fix for him. I don't cook, he knows that, so, he, too, knew I was just walking away from his query. I spent an hour pretending to fix the microwave, but when I returned to the living room, he was gone.
I sighed. Glory be to God, but he dropped something on the desk, that must be something he had initially wanted to share with me before his very expensive gossip ate up the time he had.
It was an envelope. I picked it up and saw what was inscribed on it: For Dr. Alessandro.
I opened the envelope and fished out its contents. It was a proposal by a charity organization backed by World Health Organization Outreach. They had invited me to join their outreach in the remote areas of Ivory Coast.
"Oh." I blew air on the letter. They knew I couldn't afford to decline such invite. What else is richer than being spared the grace to go on outreach missions in places where help is highly needed?
I returned the letter to the envelope and slipped it into my pocket. "Very good."
I picked the bottles, mine and his, but after I returned them to their crates, I took another beer from the fridge.
If not three, then, I have not taken enough, I knew my gage. I bit off the cap and guzzled the same way David guzzled his.
It's nothing, just a good time with the other gender. Yes, just the thing for gentlemen at night. just fun.
***
Without David, my apartment suddenly became a pile of boredom. It's my place for sure, but I've always slept around, in David's place, in Nancy's, and they do the same in mine.
The apartment is just too big for one person, but I could afford it.
The beer on the other hand did not take long. It finished almost immediately I opened it, because it was chilled and easy with my throat, unlike the shots we took last night which were harsh and hard to swallow.
I sent the bottle to the crates and made it to the shelf in my living room.
It was part of the pack I paid for and had a few books when I packed in with nothing other than my bag and a few medical tools. I've not had time for the books so far, so, they were there, collecting dust and waiting to be touched.
"Books," I muttered and went through the titles. Whoever it was that handpicked those books for my apartment must have been informed that I don't speak French and wouldn't read French.
All the books were English editions, but none of them were pieces from the American authors I knew. All were African books.
"What title should I go for?" I muttered to myself, but just before I could pick a title, my phone buzzed. I had dropped it earlier on the couch.
I dropped the book I chose and edged to the sofa for my phone. it stopped buzzing, I had missed the call.
I tapped in to see who called, and lo, it was my mother.
"Mom?" I raised both brows. "Oh, sorry."
I wanted to dial her number, but her call returned before I could dial her line. I clicked the green sign and placed the phone on my left ear.
"Hello, mom." I said with a warm smile.
"Hello, my boy, how are you?" she asked.
"I'm good," I replied and sat on the sofa. I have the habit of walking around while on a call, but whenever I'm on a call with my mom, I like sitting on the couch and imagining her sitting on her favorite summer seat on the balcony of her country home, looking out to the road while she speaks on the phone.
"I called yesterday but your line was in business mode." She started. "How could your line be busy when it's night in your location?"
I laughed. I do that when I don't know what to do, especially after messing up in one way or the other.
"Alessandro?" she came calm.
"Mom, I had late work last night," I replied. "A patient with a bad leg injury was brought while I was packing to go home, so, I had to quit going home and do the needful."
"I called Freeman, your friend, and he said you had gone home, then I called you and it was busy." She sounded like she was crying for being snubbed.
"Mom, I was gassed out," I uttered gently. "I didn't even remember to take my phone off the busy mode."
She paused for a while and continued. "How was the treatment with the patient you speak of?"
"His surgery was tough, because I had to do a good work with his bones and veins, but it was successful at the end of the night," I replied.