Memories Cycle 2 - WINNER ANNOUNCED

Assignment 1-Introduce Yourselves


The first time I ever laid eyes on Mateo, I was in line at St. Andrew's homeless shelter. I could tell he was shocked to see me. I was, after all, captain of the basketball team, popular, and all around golden boy at our high school. I knew just enough about him to recognize him from my Advanced Chemistry class and to know he played on the soccer team. Sometimes we crossed paths as we played and trained on the same field.

So this guy I barely knew, had figured out the secret I'd been keeping from my classmates. I had been homeless for that past four months, sleeping in my truck. I'd finally had it out with my father after my mother had discovered my journal and in it my most private inner thoughts, including the fact that I'd known I was gay since I was twelve years old.

Walking away from my family's expectations and disappointments had been freeing. I felt relieved just as much as I felt hurt by their rejection. I'd managed to keep up appearances for the last few months by getting to school early enough to shower and change in the locker rooms. I used the washer and dryer reserved for our towels to keep my stuff clean, slept in my car, and studied in the local library until it closed. My savings and the money I got from selling my drum kit were nearly spent when I scrounged up the nerve to walk into St. Andrew's near meal time and get into the food line.

Mateo was the one to ladle string beans onto my plate. I could tell he was surprised but he played it off just when I thought my face couldn't get any redder. To my surprise, he joined me as I hunched over my food in a dark corner of the dining hall. His excuse was that I had forgotten my ice tea-which I had- and my take-away tray of food-which I hadn't. I hadn't even known the shelter packed up meals to take with us.

He helped himself to a seat across from me and sipped his ice tea while pushing mine across the table. I braced myself for an embarrassing conversation about how and why I was basically living out of my truck or worse, why I had been tossed out of my home of seventeen years, by parents that were supposed to love their children unconditionally. Instead Mateo told me about his father who ran the same restaurant that supplied a quarter of the food to St. Andrews, and how his dad was always looking for a busboy that didn't flake out on him. Mateo told me about a little old lady that wanted to rent out the small lodging above garage. He said the rent was dirt cheap, but she didn't need much, and sometimes, like me, she was just lonely.

We made small talk that felt so natural. One hour just flowed into another until we realized the place was shutting down around us. I offered to help Mateo take out the trash and sweep the floor and he offered me his couch for the night, assuring me his abuelita would not mind.
I took me a while to pinpoint the moment he tucked away a piece of my heart in his keeping but I know now that it happened that night. We're an unusual and perfect pair. I am tall, golden, with a big mouth and a quick temper. Mateo is more slender, copper of skin, with dark soulful eyes and a quiet spirit. He tempers me and I push him, and it's been that way ever since he pushed a cup of ice tea across the table.

I became Mateo's muse. He's started a private series of pictures with me in it. At first I found it incredibly hard to sit still for so long. I'm a naturally active guy bursting with energy, but Mateo is good at standing still, at keeping me grounded. His abuelita calls us leon and marisposa. The lion and butterfly.

~Kai

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