Thursday, September 20, 2001

Hurry home, hurry home…

About two weeks after he and Craig split up, The Actor took a sublet in Chicago and made what he assured us all would be a temporary move. The bulk of his commercial work, after all, was up there and it just made sense not to commute back and forth. He'd be back, but what also made sense to him at the time was time, space, distance and healing. He had loved and lost and needed to get away.

This I understood completely. I've been there. But I always ended up staying here.

The Giant Queen just called. "Have you heard from The Actor recently?" he asked. "This week, maybe?"

I hadn't and said so. A quick round of calls to The Twins, Terry, Michael, the other Michael, Matt, Gerry and Jim determined that no one else had either, most of us not at all since his self-imposed exile.

We are now beside ourselves with worry, because of a damned headstrong, heartbroken man, who we still love very much, and an answering machine, which we do not.

"Hey, this is [The Actor]. I'll be in New York for auditions this week and next, but I'll be home September 16. Leave a message and I'll call ya when I get back. OKthanksbye!"

There is a long string of shrill beeps and then the line disconnects. The tape is full of messages and we are forcing ourselves to be full of hope.