Another day with 100% humidity, and a temperature of 40° heat. We have all doors and windows open, and the feeling is that of a hot hairdryer throughout the house. Not only do Laurence and me share the same taste in clothes and jewelry, neither one of us can stand air conditioning. I’ve never met anyone who would make a more perfect flat-mate for me, in fact.

Today? Today, we lounged and did nothing but chat.

Chat, by the way, is the French word for cat. Laurence has two of them, one is Zidane (my sleeping partner), the other is Jules (a proper fatso). Jules went missing today, choosing to hide between the terrace and the rooftop. For some hours, after a start of croissants and coffee, Laurence went looking for Jules, while I stayed home, on my bedroom’s second story balcony in order to: wait for Jules because we propped all front doors open; keep an eye out for him from a higher vantage point; and, call out to every passerby, asking them about Jules, and requesting they look out for him if they had not already seen him.

I’ve already mentioned that Jules is a fatso. Like, a proper waddling fatso. Because of this extra weight, Jules has difficulty cleaning himself. This morning, Laurence cleaned his bottom, much to his chagrin. As payback, this asshole (see what I did there?) stuffed his fat ass through very narrow ways so that he might hide between the terrace and the rooftop.

He moved only when Laurence climbed out of the terrace, and onto the rooftop while I held the chair onto which she had to land, because the corners were so severe and we are on the second floor and there is no railing.

Which is to say that Jules is a prick. But at least he’s now safely at home, laying his fat ass next to me and Laurence is no longer in distress.

The best part of today? Benjamin, Laurence’s partner.

He showed up not to do anything but to walk around and look for Jules, because he knew that Laurence wouldn’t have been able to…much of anything, in fact, without the peace of knowing that Jules was safe.

The most telling thing about this relationship so far? I was on the balcony when he arrived. Laurence went down to greet him, and that greeting was not a romantic kiss. She moved toward him, and he simply pulled her into him, and held her for a good long minute quietly. Once more, it would have been well-placed for me to yell TAKBEER and respond to my own self.

So far, Benjamin is winning.

We went for a slow-rolling dinner by the water with him.

I’ve met him before, quiet briefly; but tonight, I got to grill him. Because any man whose going to be loved by one of my own beloveds, is a man who needs to prove his salt not just to her, but to those who will keep her.

And prove himself he did, gentle and very present soul that he is.

Today, I am grateful for:
1. Good men who keep showing themselves to me at every turn. Everywhere I am looking, Allah is showing me kind men, and this, it is not lost on me. Not after the skin I most recently shed.
2. Kindness. Kindness kindness kindness; there can never be enough of this beautiful thing – kindness.
3. Ricky Martin. I mean. I really love Ricky’s music.

Montreal | Day 232 | July 20, 2019

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