cole parker Dinner For One by Cole Parker

[Rutabaga]

It's also one of my favorites.

R

[Cole Parker]

Thanks, Camy.  As you can imagine, I have quite a few favorites, and this one has to be in my top five.  I think I have about ten more in my top five as well.

 

C

[Rigel]

Amazing to re-read this story, and my appreciation for it deepens. This past summer, I lost my intimate soul-mate after sharing 30 wonderful years, and Albert's description of the loneliness that followed after losing his relationship with Etienne and his wife struck home with me. I fell in love with this story the first time I read it a dozen years ago, but now I truly understand the insights that Cole wrote into it.

--Rigel

[Ivor Slipper]

The story resembles a fine wine - it improves with age.

[Merkin]

It is near impossible to single out any of Cole’s fine stories as a favorite, but “Dinner for One” would certainly be on my short list of those I’d take with me to read again if I became a castaway on some tropical island.  Trouble is that short list keeps getting longer and longer (“When He Was Five”! , “Duck, Duck, Goose”!, “Courage”!, “On the High Plains of Wyoming”!...  you see the problem).

“Dinner for One”, however, is especially heartrending for an old geezer like me.  It also reminds me of a somewhat similar tale that I’ve lost track of and can no longer find on any list of stories, either here on AD or on IOMfAtS or elsewhere, and if you recognize my vague description I’d appreciate your help in locating it.  The story involves an old man, gay, who makes his way to the same café every morning to break his fast, and a young waiter who responds to him, learns the story of his lost love, and—my memory is really dim on this—walks him home.  Ring any bells?  The tale, like Cole’s, is about one box of tissues in length and I think its title might be something like “Morning Coffee”.  It, too, would be on my short list, but by now all the manuscript pages I’d be loathe to leave behind would pack a large suitcase and probably wouldn’t survive the plane crash. I’ll just have to sit it out on that deserted island and write poems in the sand.
 

[Cole Parker]

James: is this the one you're asking about?

 

https://awesomedude.com/cole-parker/mr-patterson-and-the-aide/mr-patterson-and-the-aide.htm

 

C

[Merkin]

Thank you, Cole.  I must have missed Mr. Patterson somewhere along the way and he will serve as an inspiration to me to have greater confidence in the nursing staff the next time I land in the hospital.  A jolly tale indeed.

I finally had a moment of inspiration and looked through old email files, thinking if I liked a story that much, still vaguely remembered as “Morning Coffee”, I might have written its author.  And I had.  The story I’m searching for is indeed named “Morning Coffee” and Nexis Pas, of fond memory, wrote it circa 2008.  Unfortunately I still can’t locate the story—most of the sites that hosted him are either defunct or his wonderful tales were removed upon his demise.  If anyone has access to a copy I’d love to hear about it.
James

 

[Alien Son]

James, there's a blog by an author named Nexis Pas here, but I can't find a story called Morning Coffee. There's also an author called Nexis Pas on Nifty. That one has a story called Coffee in the Morning but it doesn't seem to be the one you're looking for.

If you know/remember the names of the sites that hosted the author, try a search on the Internet Archive.

[Merkin]

You’ve got it in one, Alien Son. Thank you. I never thought to check Nifty.  My, how I’ve misremembered this story! Including the title itself: since I referred to in in my note to Nexis Pas as ‘your morning coffee story’ that’s the way it stuck in my head all these years.  When I first read “Coffee in the Morning” in 2008 it struck home, since it presented a history I’d participated in and captured the mood of it completely.  I saw the story as a perfect summing-up of the strain—paranoia, if you will—of being gay that my partner and I had lived through and endured as aging professionals each with “proper” careers.  Even though I had lost most of the details of the tale over time I’ve always remembered it as a milestone story for gay readers of a certain generation. 

Although I was a little shocked to reread it this morning and finally get it right in my memory, I’ll still include it in my list to pack for the desert island. But not at the expense of leaving out any of Cole’s tales, whose thread I shamelessly seemed to have pirated.  Apologies. 

[Cole Parker]

No problem at all.

 

C

[Alien Son]

Yay! I'm glad that worked out!

[Jason Rimbaud]

Thanks to Camy for bumping this thread, as I have never read this particular story from our beloved Cole. 

There was a time in my past, when I worked for a restaurant much like the one described, and can attest there really are Maître-D's like the one described. And yes, they do have that much power over the seating but rarely have such an overt attitude of superiority. Nowadays in the era of CEO's who wear shorts and tank-tops, one can never judge a book by its cover. Especially in the Bay Area.

That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this little tale. I could point out a few things that bothered me about the plot, but as Cole knows first hand, who am I to judge anyone.

The entire first scene was beautifully written and evoked such longing and compassion, that it could have ended right there. Tom is a remarkable young man that restaurants have in spades. I have met many "Tom's" over the years and have been close with them because of their willingness to serve others. 

Cole has captured the spirit of why there are so many great memories made in restaurants. The staff is almost more important than the food in creating these memories. You might go for the food, but you return for the staff. 

Thank you for this lovely tale. 

[Rutabaga]

This is one of the stories that got facelifted, with a new picture added as well.

R

[Cole Parker]

 

THANKS, JASON.  I ENJOY YOUR WRITING AS WELL; THERE JUST ISN'T ENOUGH OF IT!