excerpt

There was none of that awkward fumbling,
those discomfited partings.When the affections were illicit, one didn’t
feel obliged.
Now, though, having reached those years himself, he preferred
them young. He was attracted, as middle-aged men are wont, to
thighs and tummies aerobotically enhanced. He endured as best he
could their posturing, the nervous babble, the fog of perfume, that
obsession with hair.
Before her, you see, Buddy’s locker brimmed with gifts, souvenirs,
trinkets.He had bracelets and pendants.He had a diamond earring, a
full wardrobe. Tokens of — what? appreciation? — from fatigued
nurses and disillusioned schoolteachers, from needy sales reps and
bipolar homemakers. The ship having docked, they wanted assurances,
pledges. All Buddy wanted was to forget.
Buddy Kirk wasn’t his birth name. Someone in Personnel said his
was too ethnic.
– Folks can’t get their tongues around yours, the musical director
told him. We need something short and snappy. Look what it did for
Jerry Lewis!
He tried out his new identity on the drummer.
– Perfect, voted the musician. Makes you sound like a pimp. On a
visit home to Vancouver Buddy had the name change made legal.
His mother still lived in the family’s Project home.
At the audition he played all the standards, finishing off with As
Time Goes By from the movie Casablanca, the most requested
lounge favourite of all time. In the clubs and legions back home,
Buddy always encouraged patrons to join in:
You must remember this
A kiss is just a kiss . . .
The guy hiring for the Sunrise sailing out of Miami said, Our first
choice had better chops, but he couldn’t keep his food down. Last
time I looked this was a boat. Waves happen.
The bar where he was to play every night until three was called the
Robinson Crusoe. It was on the top deck so as not to wake passengers.
Buddy wore a white tux and an artificial carnation. Some evenings
tips matched his salary for the entire cruise. His days were free.
Most of the crew below deck were Third World and dark-skinned…

https://draft2digital.com/book/3562874

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0980897971