Today is Thursday, February 13, 2025 and it is 46°, which isn’t so bad but I am indoors and probably won’t be out again until tomorrow. It’s been a mediocre day mostly. Not much to report. When I last wrote in my blank book 42 years ago I was mostly hanging out in Bergen County. I glanced at an entry from when I was 20 years old.

My friendship with the guy who lived on Lanza Ave in Garfield, Perry- was deteriorating rapidly. I read about stopping by his house and he was going out. His brother Darren invited me to hang out with him but I didn’t. That was a weird thing. Darren and his buddy, (I’ll call him Rusty because I think he had red hair) were gay. Gay recognized Gay back then but it was unspoken.

Darren was very handsome, not my type but still…

Perry’s sister Tina and her husband Kenny, lived two blocks away from my house on Riverview Ave and their apartment was an occasional hang out. Mainly smoking pot though I think cocaine was introduced once during those days. Mainly it was hanging out, smoking pot, and listening to records.

One time, Darren and Rusty were there with Tina, Kenny, and Perry. Something was said which was interpreted with a gay slant from Darren & Rusty & myself and we giggled quite a bit. The other three did not get what we were laughing at and being in 3 separate closets, we didn’t say anything.

Once the friendship between Perry and myself was severed I never saw Tina and Kenny again. Frank and Elaine lived in the same apartment complex at the time and one time Tina saw Frank and told him to pass along a message that whatever happened between Perry and myself could be forgotten, and I was always welcomed at Tina and Kenny’s spot.

But I wasn’t going back. I was going to Hoboken more and more and having a much better time there with people who liked me for who I was, there was no need to pretend to be something I wasn’t. And the music was so much better at Maxwell’s than on Main Street in Lodi.

I did run into Darren once after the falling out with Perry. I drove by the rest area, a cruising spot near Riverview Ave. It was during the day and I was completing a run from Saddle Brook NJ to midtown Manhattan. I recognized Darren’s car and we wound up on Riverview Ave, just talking for a short while.

The only time that Perry or his family were mentioned was when Darren pleaded with me to not say anything about Darren being gay.

I kept my end of the bargain which is more than I could say for Perry, who I came out to and asked him to not say anything. He said something to his girlfriend who we worked with and she told two friends and so on and so on. I stayed silent on Darren (and Rusty). I did go to the funeral for Darren, Perry, and Tina’s mother when she passed away from cancer.

After that, I was bound to Hoboken and friends there. Perry was the first person I came out to and he betrayed me. The second person I came out to was Jet Watley who supported me and proved to be a far better friend, whom I had many adventures with.

Sad to say Darren Dedovitch eventually died from AIDS and I think Rusty died soon after that. I have no idea if Darren died in the closet. It would have been a shame if he did.