William Weiler
Ad Astra
I love telling the story of Henry. I met him in day treatment my first year. He was effeminate and outrageous, so very interesting. I mean going to AA in purple cape and boots interesting. He said he had AIDs. It was 1990. I was worried about getting too close or drinking his coffee or something. We had so much fun. We would eat out and he would tell me which waiter is gay, and whether he thought they were attractive and why. He thought a lot of men were boring. Once at Denny's, he started singing the song Tits and Ass from The Chorus Line movie, like out loud. I was next to him and I thought I was dead. But everyone was laughing and having fun. I had my epiphany about outrageous, that you could do it and get away with it.
Another funny story is I was waiting in his room and I saw this funny thing on the wall, a little box, so I opened it and looked inside. It had a candle in it. A few seconds later Henry came in. He was visibly upset. He said "Did you look in my gohazan?". I lied and said no. What the heck is a gohozon I thought?
Henry was in the hospital a lot. We had a posse. Lots of attractive women, lots of fun people. Henry had an implant for drugs, he was taking AZT. Then I lost touch. Then I heard he died. I was shocked. i thought they had this figured out, that this was covered. I didn't know or I would have went there. I felt terrible that I wasn't there at the end.
But this is life. there are no paths or choices without regret. You have to stay true to yourself and do the right thing. Let go of any guilt to be useful. It isn't enough to care or help, you have to be effective.
Best Henry story.
Henry asked why I was afraid of him at first (because he was gay). I basically said I didn't know, I thought you were going to turn into a werewolf or something.
(Not literally a werewolf, I was communicating the ridiculousness of my fear)
Another funny story is I was waiting in his room and I saw this funny thing on the wall, a little box, so I opened it and looked inside. It had a candle in it. A few seconds later Henry came in. He was visibly upset. He said "Did you look in my gohazan?". I lied and said no. What the heck is a gohozon I thought?
Henry was in the hospital a lot. We had a posse. Lots of attractive women, lots of fun people. Henry had an implant for drugs, he was taking AZT. Then I lost touch. Then I heard he died. I was shocked. i thought they had this figured out, that this was covered. I didn't know or I would have went there. I felt terrible that I wasn't there at the end.
But this is life. there are no paths or choices without regret. You have to stay true to yourself and do the right thing. Let go of any guilt to be useful. It isn't enough to care or help, you have to be effective.
Best Henry story.
Henry asked why I was afraid of him at first (because he was gay). I basically said I didn't know, I thought you were going to turn into a werewolf or something.
(Not literally a werewolf, I was communicating the ridiculousness of my fear)
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