REAL WORLD: July 3, 1981. An article in the New York Times newspaper comes out about a deadly disease killing some men; it’ll be identified as “AIDS” some years later.
FANTASY, 1981: Benjamin Ladder, record dealer, learns of a scaring disease plaguing the U.S. and panics: he cannot cancel his honeymoon betraying his promise to his beloved.
Benjamin Ladder
My name is Benjamin Ladder and at the age of 30 I opened my record store “Music around” in downtown Bugdom.
I had always argued with my parents who wanted me to get married, become a father and earn a good amount of money but if I agreed on marriage, my job was cause of conflicts because in their opinion, music wouldn’t be a profession wllowing me to live a decent life.
So in January 1981 I surprised them when I opened my new business and on the very opening day I proposed to my fiancée.
Emily gladly accepted, against all odds from her parents who resented my presence: “sooner or later he will abandon you,” they told her; “he is always flying around the world and thinks only of music!”
I, however, always stayed by her side, always telling her about concerts I attended and occasional sex adventures I sometimes indulged in but who knows, maybe it was just enough to act more secretly and be good in front of her parents?
1980: The Promise
“If we ever get married our honeymoon will be a Queen concert,” I jokingly promised her as soon as we were engaged and Emily never took me seriously until she unwrapped my Christmas present: two tickets to the ‘Queen Rock Montreal’ concert that would take place in November the following year.
“I wonder how much you paid for them, Benny,” she smiled incredulously at me and I shook my head, ”money is not a trouble, love, and you know it. Most important matter is that next winter we are going to Canada and enjoy Freddie Mercury in our front row places!”
1981: Are you mad?
Summer 1981. We had to save money for our trip, so I adapted to spending the vacation at home with my in-laws who were looking for any excuse to argue, although I was not intent on responding to provocation.
It was on the last day before returning to my store that I lost patience when Emily’s father showed me a newspaper: “New York … 41 homosexuals with a rare form of cancer … someone is already talking about an epidemic! And you still want to travel around the world? Are you mad?”
“Excuse me, Albert? Are you comparing me to those…,” I nipped the insult in the bud but my face turned purple! Yes, there was a secret I would never share. The reason I had easily obtained the concert tickets.
“Guilty dog barks the loudest,” Emily joked, and I addressed my gaze to the newspaper where a real massacre was described. “Shit,” I thought; ”I need to know if you’re okay!”
Tears flowed down my face, which Emily wiped away quickly; “Benny, forget my paranoid father, we’ll go to Canada like we promised each other and we’ll stay on our own.”
I gave her a nod of assent and left the house, never looking at her or my father-in-law again.
Panic
“Benny, where are you going!” I heard Emily call to me from the door but I ignored her and anything else around; I turned away down the street, walking a long way on that scorching summer evening. What if my father-in-law was right, what if indeed a dangerous disease spread around the world? How was it being transmitted? I needed to know, and only one person could give me an answer.
Luckily my trusty wallet had some phone tokens left! All I had to do was reach the first phone booth and call a number I knew by heart, but without having the faintest idea about which question to ask.
Tokens felt like stones on my fingers, and before inserting them into the pay phone I had to breathe deeply to calm myself, then finally put the handset to my ear and began spinning phone’s rusty wheel to compose numbers.
One, two rings, three, a few seconds that seemed like an eternity. “Hello?” I was about to hang up when a voice answered and I cleared my throat.
“You … Raymond … Are you … Are you alive?” What a struggle to utter a single word and a laugh escaped him, “You’re more dead than me I guess, since first you disappear then you suddenly call me!”
“No, Ray, don’t fool me,” I tried to calm down thinking I had less and less tokens left.
“You should have read about the disease as well, didn’t you? The one killing some men in New York. And you have many contacts there, I suppose.”
“Of course! I don’t understand what it has to do with you, though!” He was hasty but not concerned at all, so I calmed down, too.
“Don’t say you want to stand me up! For a news story in the paper? Benny! I’ve already signed the agreement and I would be in serious trouble if you…”
“What are you talking about,” I panicked again. “You didn’t mention any agreement.”
“Indeed Benny, you had no contract to sign in this first phase, but I had lots of papers! And since I handed you the tickets, you’re up to your neck in this trouble more than me.”
No, damn it, no! Could I have gotten into trouble with my own hands? It had all happened in September the year before: me and Ray, one of my closest friends, meeting at the place that would soon become my store.
“This is a nice shot, man,” he spoke in my ear. “Queen Rock Montreal concert…” He pulled a sealed envelope out of his pocket and waved it in front of my eyes. “Knowing how I struggled to get the last two tickets you should at the very least give me something of your own.”
“You mean what I’ve always given you since we met years ago? I can’t satisfy you any longer,” I assumed we understood each other but he looked into my eyes and burst out laughing, “that’s useless stuff, I don’t need it anymore. I need an oath from you! Promise me you will never ever give up the concert. Whatever happens.”
Although I suspected a blatant scam I trusted my friend and accepted his proposal, rather than betray Emily by losing the opportunity of Queen’s concert I would also be fooled.
“Benjamin! Hello? Are you there?” The voice on the phone brought me back to reality. “Don’t hang up, fucker!”
“I was just thinking. You said it was all set, that I didn’t have to worry about money, now what’s changed? Tell me Ray!”
“Listen buddy, I don’t have time to waste and I want to pay this off as soon as possible! Even right away. Tell me where you are, I’ll catch up with you.”
Perhaps he sensed that I was running out of tokens? Impatient to figure out how to return Ray’s big favor of tickets, I reassured him and we agreed to meet from the benches next to the pay phone.
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