Boy Talk

I had lunch with Adam today. He’s been getting a lot of freelance work writing on crime. He’s had a lot of mass shootings to write about lately.

“Doesn’t it get depressing?” I said while eating my grilled chicken salad.

“Yeah, but you cope eventually. The worst is having to interview parents of little kids that die. Those are my least favorite interviews to write.”

“Do you like freelancing? I don’t think I could do that. I need the security of knowing I will have a paycheck. Plus I hate applying for jobs and freelancing seems like that’s all you do outside of work…look for the next way to pay the bills.”

“It’s definitely not my favorite type of work. I miss the security, like you said, but I also have a level of freedom that I didn’t have before. You’ll probably freelance though, you’ll get to experience it in all its glory, too.” He said sipping his water.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, are you going to keep up the stage managing thing? Because if you are, you’ll probably end up freelancing. My understanding from friends is that freelancing is basically the foundation of booking theatre jobs.”

I was struck by what he was saying. I had really never thought much about it. I’ve been so distracted lately with dating Mike and the show and work and Murphy that I didn’t even think about what I would do once the show closes. If I want to keep stage managing I’ll need to start applying now to a bunch of different places.

“It’s great about Murphy, though.” Adam moved on.

“Yeah, it was a miracle. If I hadn’t been sent to that shelter on that day I never would have found him. It’s amazing to me that he was relatively fine and came through the whole ordeal of being in a fire, living on the streets, and then being put up for adoption only to be found by me a second time.”

“It’s a shame that they still haven’t found anything out about who set that fire. I imagine the trail is cold at this point.”

“Yeah. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve stopped looking into it altogether.”

We finished up lunch and Adam told me about this new girl he’s dating. They’ve been dating for about three months and he seems pretty happy right now. I didn’t tell him about Mike. Mostly because Mike and I are only dating right now and also…it just felt weird to tell him about it. Like I’d be rubbing it in his face that I didn’t choose him even though we both have feelings for each other.