It’s easy to see what will end any relationship, be it romantic or platonic. You need only pay attention. It’s usually there, in plain sight. It might be addiction, a wandering eye, or a hot temper. It might be anything. The point is that you will know very early on what it is, and you don’t even have to speak its name. The problem is, you just don’t know when that thing will end it.

I have found this to be applicable to my friends and loves, absolutely, and I can’t recall a time when it was wrong.

My friend Chad said, “My cock is my fate,” and it was. I knew Gerardo was a crochety old man on the inside, and I grew to resent him for it. I always knew what it would be with Joe, and I loved him anyway, but the inevitable still came to pass.

With Sam, it’s death, not necessarily his, and not necessarily AIDS. In fact it’s not wishful thinking when I say that I very clearly see our aged faces looking out over our ranch in Big Sky. I see our wrinkled hands clutched. I’ve known that from the start. Only death will part us, and even then, not for long.