That Monday morning, for the first time in my life, I woke up in the arms of a dude. And not just any dude: he was the one I’d lusted for all this time, the one who’d made me realize I was gay, and the one I’d lost my man virginity to. I still couldn’t believe I’d had a similar effect on him. I’d assumed our little fling was just physical, but now I knew there was more to it. Part of me was nervous, because I didn’t know...

The First Incident I wondered when I’d hear from Lynn Fortier again because she had told me to expect her. I didn’t know how long that would be; she had only said it would be “occasionally.” It turned out to be only a week. She was the executive director of my division, but I didn’t report directly to her. Except for the previous week, I had rarely spoken to her. She didn’t go in for a lot of socializing with her employee...

“I see you’ve cut off your beautiful long hair, Jazzy,” Lorna said during this morning’s FaceTime call. “It’s Jace, mom, and I donated it to Locks of Love, so I would think you’d be pleased,” Jace replied. “Honey, I know you like being a boy, but you’re so pretty. You know, a lot of young men wear ponytails or man buns these days,” Lorna pointed out. Jace was annoyed. “Mom, let it go, okay? My hair will be making wigs for...

“Jake, I’ve heard from Josephine,” Livia said.  “Apparently, you did quite well yesterday.” That was when JoJo was in her dominatrix mode. He was surprised, “I did?” “Yes, you certainly did. She was impressed with your, call in stoicism, during her discipline of you. Give her a few days, and then call her and ask her out.” “Are you sure of that?” “Absolutely. She said she’s looking forward to it.” Livia had sent up her bo...

It’s happened to me several times since, but Lenore was the first girl to dump me for another guy. It went about the same way as the later incidents.  The first thing I noticed was that she had stopped contacting me, and she wouldn’t return my attempts to contact her. The telephone was our usual method of communication. Sometimes I would run into her in the lobby or the elevator, but when it came to arranging dates the ph...

Most of us of a certain age remember the 1989 teen romantic comedy, Say Anything. It’s actually an adult fantasy about how they wished teen life had been for them. Yet it struck a nerve with me when I saw it because of the early scenes with high school senior Lloyd Dobbler. At the opening of the film, he is utterly infatuated with his classmate Diane Court. Of course, it’s completely improbable how he keeps his interest i...

I was a recently divorced man at the age of forty-five when I first tried Internet dating.Back then, in early 2001, on-line dating wasn’t quite a novelty any longer but it also wasn’t something everybody had grown up with. In that period before Tinder, Instagram, and smartphones, people were still trying to get the hang of meeting partners through their desktop computers.At first, it was quite exciting for me, not being t...

“Jake, I have heard from Josephine. It’s a mixture of good news and somewhat ambiguous news,” Livia said.“Then give me the good news first,” he replied.Jake was Livia’s boss at the offices of a small restaurant chain. At twenty-six, he had already become the head bookkeeper. Livia, at the age of twenty, was his assistant. He had recently caught her embezzling a small amount of funds. Rather than report her or press charge...

Prologue One day, not long after the ferry terminal episode, Holly, Tiffany, and I were hanging out in a bar having sherry. I didn’t particularly like sherry, but I decided to follow their lead. At one point Tiffany said, “We know another lady who would like to meet a nice young man like you.” I blurted out, “Another one?” “Let me tell you about Catherine, or Cathy. She’s forty-two; she’s also divorced and she has two son...

My favorite uncle was my father’s younger brother, Henry D’Amato, or Uncle Hank as we called him. When I reached college age in the 1970s, he had a successful fruit wholesaling business in the Bronx Terminal Market. By then he had surpassed his own father, who had his store just down the block. Hank had two trucks and two “stores” or units, while my Grandpa Carmine only had one of each.During my school years he sometimes...

While driving for an outfit in New York called Lioness Limousine, I had a customer who was both delightful and exasperating at the same time. Holly Sykes was a thirty-seven-year-old divorcée who started asking for my services every Sunday in the late spring of 1976. For the first two sessions she decided to mix kinky BDSM activities with various sexual acts - in the car. On the first outing, she took me to the back seat w...

I was in a daze. My boyfriend Luke had just walked out on me at the bar. He was ashamed and afraid to be with me as a trans girl. I was devasted, sad, angry and defeated. Kate, the beautiful waitress at the bar, sat down beside me and handed me a large glass of red wine. I realized just then that I was at Kate’s apartment. I glanced around the room. It was charming and eclectic, albeit a bit cluttered. I looked back at Ka...

"What are we doing here?""Chatting by video?""I mean, you, me, us. What is this?""A good time?""Oy vey.""Gretel, what do you want me to say?""The truth.""We meet up, chill, and order take-out at my place once a week. And we occasionally get each other off online. I'm having fun. Aren't you?"“I’m tired. Good day, sir.”“Gretel? Will I see you later?”“If the past is an indicator of my future decisions, then yeah, obviously.”...

"You're a Trekkie?""I haven't seen all the episodes or films, but I can tell you how all the characters and plot lines intersect. You could call me Trekcurious.”“When I was little, I watched the animated series when nothing else was on.” My fingers were sandwiched between Kevin’s as we walked into his one-bedroom apartment on a Sunday afternoon. We removed our shoes, and he guided me to the couch.“Welcome to my humble abo...