““Next, it was time for me to tell my family, who’d started wondering what was going on. I started with my mom. “I might go sometime later,” I told her. “But I ain’t going now.” “ Ain’t isn’t a word, honey,” my mom said, mildly concerned. “I know, Mom,” I replied. “It was for effect.” “Oh, good,” she said, wiping the sweat from her freshly plucked brow. Then, smiling, she said, “I really do like his starched shirts…you know?” “Oh, yes,” I said, my eyes closing dreamily. “I know.” I told my dad next. “Dad, I’ve decided not to go to Chicago right now,” I said. “I’m sort of in love with that cowboy I told you about.” “Oh, yeah?” he asked. “Yeah,” I answered. He paused for a minute, then asked, “Does J know?” I spent the next fourteen hours filling him in.””
