Homogenic Independence Day

The sky was unwelcomingly cloudy. I felt such an immense desire just to be idle and simply do nothing that morning. And as if the dark clouds had moved into my bedroom, suddenly my phone rang. It was from Tornado, a colleague of mine. Drowned in his own panic attack, he blurted: “Dude, from now on you better take care of your movements. They’re now getting suspicious about your homosexuality!” With that news the lightning struck clamoring any loose objects and my windowpanes. The rain then poured harder and all we could do were just to sit tight and welcome the torrential storm on that unglamorous Tuesday.

Genesis
The story began on that fateful Friday, our independence-day holiday. I was about to meet a friend who would introduce me to an artist for an exhibition in our premises. Blah (my friend) came with Sashimi, a female friend of ours, along with Imogen and her husband Peso.

Apparently as the painter couldn’t come with them, Imogen, the painter’s cousin showed me a catalog of the paintings. The colors were intense -if not rather angry- in their moods. The intensities were amazingly brilliant, I really wanted the public to grab these astonishing feelings as well as I did. Therefore, it was decided that it was okay for us to have his solo-show there.

Not too long after that, blame my over-friendly state of being, I got to know the fact -in a small world that we are living in- that this Imogen person actually are somewhat related to Hibiscus, the girlfriend of my abovementioned colleague, Tornado.

So, just wait. You knew it was coming didn’t you? The storm was definitely brewing straight to my direction.

Out of the Blue
Came Monday, it was rather sweet and the sun was shining nicely, if not a bit scorching for a 10 AM. I guessed not long after that, Imogen called Hibiscus on the phone and imperturbably mentioned something in the line of: “Hey I didn’t know that you are a friend of Prof. Utonium (-me, the writer-)? I got to meet him on Friday, and he was with a friend of mine whom I know so well. And guess what? He is gay!! So so… (in gossip-mode: ON) do you think… err… the Professor could also be… gay?”

So as any regular muggleborn would, the news shocked Hibiscus to the core. She then relayed the news to her boyfriend, Tornado.

Hence the frantic call on the next thunder-pounding morning.

Curiosity Kills the Cat
Why was this news became a great shock to them? For Hibiscus and her entire family. I was actually cool about it. The only regret was just, that I was infinitely annoyed that Imogen had against my will sent my panicky colleague, Tornado to even a higher level of terrifying delirium.

My family, close friends, and close-related colleagues at work already understood about my so-called little “secret”. So what was this chaotic insanity all about then? I was so demure about it until later in the evening, when someone else actually gave me a harassing call: “So, ehm Professor, who then was with you when you met Imogen last Friday, I wonder?” (Lavishly spoken along the style that I could reply with– “I don’t like your tone there Missy!!”)

My reply was court and simple,
“Oh I asked Blah, a good friend of mine to arrange a meeting at my place so we could exhibit the paintings of Imogen’s cousin. Why?”

She didn’t reply much.

Agitated
Annoyed to the hilt, sms-ed Hibiscus then I did:
“Darling how are you? Wheww the gossip on me today was insane no? Oh wow, so I guess you guys had never met or known any gay/ lesbian person personally no? Well, maybe you guys should go out more and know more people out there hehe… Let me kill Imogen for you for spreading ill-news without the consent of the owner, hehe…”

And to make it worse, in the same evening, Tornado seemed to be stricken by an intense migraine (presumably because of this?). I sent him home early.

For a while, Hibiscus seemed to fail in replying the message. The only thing I did was just to calm my nerves and pray (ever-so-again) to God: “Dear Lord, I have no idea how the simple meeting would turn into this ugly mess. I have no idea what tomorrow will look like as the outcome. I have faith in You and I know that You know what’s best for me lah… I thank You again for always being there for me. Amen.”

And three hours later an sms reply came from Hibiscus:

“Oh so sorry Kuya… I didn’t mean to spread rumors or to hurt you in anyway (in which were done already, btw)… Please don’t think about it (you think?) and please do not tell this to anyone, cuz I felt bad already, and I don’t want Imogen to know about this. Sorry again and thank you for understanding”

I replied:
“It’s ok lah, but I just chopped Imogen with the infamous red-axe into seven meaty pieces ready to be boiled in a gravy of chicken broth. Haha…”

Ignoramus
Deliberately I wouldn’t contact Imogen, I didn’t feel the urge to further defend myself against her peculiar inquiry. But however, a question still lingered in my mind: Imogen, how could you be so unaware of things?

You might have lived in Utopia-land for so long, you might have been the lead-vocal of an underground goth-band, you might even be open-minded about things, but there was one thing that you forgot to calculate: The reaction of simple muggleborns like Hibiscus alike.

Next time, thinketh lah, before ye speaketh ya?

There’s nothing to forgive even if I wanted to. You didn’t do anything wrong Imogen, you just slipped and did not realize that you were just being simply-ignorant on an extremely delicate issue that mattered to some people.

Jangan Ganggu Bencong
Somehow I just knew that good things are the only things that the next dawn is bringing. I don’t wanna think about it too much. I got work to do and many many chores to perform. And most of all, right here, right now, I am missing mi Don Guapo so much.

Mahal, dimana kamu?