The Handyman's Dream Read Online Free PDF

imagine,” Ed said, feeling a smile racing across his face.
    He couldn’t have explained it if he tried, but for some reason he had a sudden desire to holler out loud and dance around the pool table, and Ed was no dancer. Somewhere deep inside of him a big bubble of joy was growing, and he felt its warmth spread though his body much more than the warmth of the vodka from his drink.
    “Well.” Rick seemed to be at a loss for words. “Uh, how ’bout a toast to, uh, Porterfield?” He raised his beer bottle, looking a bit sheepish. “Sorry. That’s all I could think of.”
    Ed chuckled and raised his glass. They clinked, glass to beer bottle, and drank to Porterfield.
    “Actually, it’s not a bad toast at all. You are definitely the first person from home I’ve ever seen here. Sometimes I think I’m the only gay man in that town.”
    Rick nodded, smiling. “Me too. Moving there was a bit of a culture shock, let me tell you.”
    “Where are you from?” Ed asked, taking another sip of his drink.
    “Indianapolis. Born and raised, and probably would have died there if fate hadn’t’ve stepped in and sent me off to good old Porterfield.”
    Ed looked at him questioningly.
    “Oh, it’s a long story,” Rick said, settling back in his chair. “How do you feel about long stories?”
    “I think I’m up for one.” Ed hoped it would indeed be a long story, as it might give him time to calm down.
    “Okay! Well, my sister, Claire, lives in Porterfield with her three kids, Judy, Josh, and Jane. Her husband lived there, until recently, when he packed a bag and disappeared one night. Are you familiar with the name Hank Romanowski?”
    Ed thought a moment. “Yeah, I remember him. He was about two or three years ahead of me in school, a big, good-looking guy. Kinda rough around the edges,” Ed said, not revealing that Hank had been a first-class hoodlum in high school.
    “That’s Hank. Although rough around the edges is putting it nicely. He met Claire when he was doing highway construction work down in Indy. He swept her off her feet, and the next thing you know, Judy is on the way. They got married, and he insisted they move back to his hometown. My parents about died, let me tell you. They’re both teachers, incredibly liberal, but when Claire brought Hank home for the first time, I thought they were gonna call the cops. They took my being gay a hell of a lot better.”
    He caught Ed’s surprised look. “Oh, yes, they know. Like I said, they’re both liberals, used to march in the antiwar protests and all that. Hell,” he said, and chuckled, “they probably would have stood up at Stonewall, if they’d known about it. That’s just the way they are. Compassionate to a fault where a cause is concerned, but definitely not where Hank Romanowski is concerned. They smelled him from a mile away. So did I, for that matter, but Claire was pregnant, and determined to marry this guy.
    “Funny thing was, things went really well for them for a long time. Claire finished school here in Fort Wayne and got a job as a dental hygienist in Dr Wells’s office in Porterfield. She had two more kids, Hank had a decent job doing construction, and it all looked good from the outside. Inside, it was getting ugly. Hank began to cheat on Claire, and his drinking got a hell of a lot worse. Mom, Dad, and I suspected things were falling apart, but Claire wasn’t talking. Finally last winter, ole Hank just took off. Jumped in his crappy old Firebird and blew town. No one’s seen or heard from him since.
    “Well, at first I was all for hiring a private dick and tracking him down, at least so I could beat the snot out of him, if nothing else. But I began to think that Claire was probably a lot better off without him. Mom was all for Claire moving back to Indy, but Claire wouldn’t hear of it. She had her job, and she thought the kids had been through enough without having to change towns and schools and make new friends.
    “Still,