As he enters his flat at midnight, the hallway light is turned on with apprehension. He knows where the knives are if there's an intruder. No one tonight. He wipes his feet on the mat, which reads: "Not You Again!" in a bold Helvetica font, then follows that by turning the second light on in the living room.
The giant Medusa of a central chandelier illuminates all the visual signs of a man suffering from an acute awareness of his physical surroundings, but also his shoddy hygiene in the way in which his possessions have no appropriate places to rest upon. It's not an enviable trait.
He goes to pour a drink at the modest table made of cut glass with the nickel-finished steel frame. He's content today, and relaxing is necessary. The faded scent of L'Eau d'Issey Pour Homme lingers on his erogenous zones enough to bring serenity. Sitting fully-dressed in his dark chocolate leather tailored suit on the chaise longue, he's almost calm and void of the usual ruminations about his day. Getting undressed, covering his body with a silk robe will be delightful after his whisky.
He is a creation of his mind: Lucius, an émigré from Czechoslovakia, of Spanish (Gloria) and Czech (Lucius the First) parents. His life parallels mine in all joys and sorrows: both parents died in 2023, almost a month apart. There are only two younger sisters left, Carlotta and Lucy. The former had two girls, the latter one son, a cherished nephew.
Both parents were professionals: she, a journalist, he, a hydraulics engineer and architect. During the divorce, when he was eight years old it was stipulated for both to have joint custody, and all the loneliness of looking out from hotels in different cities, when they took Lucius and the girls with them during job assignments. Six months with one, six months with the other.
His life has been a series of profoundly introspective moments; happy occasions and a zig-zag trail of destinations in cities big and small in Europe and the United States, where he finally settled. Loneliness and wonderment coexist now in a comfortable existence within himself.
In the United States he lived in Miami, Miami Beach, New York City, Houston, back to Florida to find love and move to Iowa, when his lover Dermot was summoned as an AS/400 programmer. The last stops were in Vista, San Diego and Hollywood in California.
The most wonderful qualities of his can be found and understood by meeting him, and absorbing his hope and vision to overcome the crushing lows of depression, along with the manic episodes, few as they have become. His goal in life is still a bit muddy, from holding back the light living in his mind and soul.
Never a great student, many of his early years were spent learning from tutors and unfortunately, several schools, which came as a result from the intense travel schedules engaged by the parents. This lifestyle marked Lucius as a shy and awkward boy.
His adolescence would reveal a spectacular set of events, all changing the course of his life. That is when he left his childhood behind, and his exodus from the family happened at age 16, just after being shamed by the scandal in which he was the younger participant. His father never forgave Lucius for having relations with his brother.
Life with two sisters, a mother and a very loving grandmother for a continuous six months per custody cycle has changed some of his core views on male and female behaviours, with an intelligent, creative and sharp alertness to wit, clever personal performances from either gender enriching his curiosity and wonderment at the world around his slim body and average height every day; a bright boy with two intricate hazel eyes and wavy black hair set free to roam.
His father was not affectionate, but rather a rancid disciplinarian, whose male presence seemed to upset the half of Lucius sympathetic to others' troubles, to an impulsiveness and imagination sometimes lacking when he entered the second half of the year with him. It was his father who made the most shocking discovery of Lucius's adeptness in using chess as a social opener to the seduction of both his classmates Violetta and Charles.
After being expelled and ex-patriated from the country and his family, 16 years of age looked grim to Lucius. Despondent, his mother facilitated living arrangements for him through her colleagues.
His first land of Exodus was the island of Formentera. I shall let him tell you his stories.
© Text: Orlando Barahona
© Images: Free Public Domain/Flickr
Creative Commons License This work by Orlando Barahona is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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