Chapter Two
Two Men and A Baby
New York was arguably the second largest capital of the land of dreams, second only to Los Angeles but it did shit for Mark Cohen. Proof Positive had only briefly been popular and so he packed up Nate and whatever he could for himself, gave a homeless family the loft and flew down to New Mexico. He arrived late and so he checked into a hotel with Nate and went to bed. In the morning he bathed and dressed the baby, who was nearing two. Then he quickly cleaned up and changed.
After asking a number of people for directions he found "Angel's" and went in. At first he was greeted only by some lovely waitresses, whom he soon realized were transvestite's. He asked about Collins, shifted his grip on Nathan and one very cheery "girl" ran into the back and then came back out. "He come, you sit?"
Mark nodded and took the offered seat at the bar, sat Nate in his lip and fixed his hair a bit. He sighed, tapped his hand on the little boy's leg impatiently and nearly fell out of his seat when Collins voice boomed into the room. "Feliz Navidad!"
"Hey, Collins!" Mark grinned from ear to ear as he stood and hugged his old friend, poor Nate sandwiched between the two of him. "I've missed you."
"This can't be my man Nathan! Boy, you got too big already! How old is he now?"
"Two."
"Goddamn. Want something to eat? Drink?"
"No, I need to talk to you." He said, sitting again. Collins took the stool next to his and nodded a little pouring two glasses of Stoli anyway.
"I had figured that much."
"Collins, I, well . . .Nate and I, we're moving down here indefinitely. I need some help finding work, a place, that kind of stuff." He took a small drink of the foul liquor and made a face. "And well, I don't know anyone else. ."
"You don't have to say anything else Pumpkinhead, happy to help."
A week later Mark found himself working the camera of a New Mexican newscrew, his eyes darting to the nearest watch on the nearest gaffer's wrist. Almost time to go home, to go pick up Nathan. Christmas was nearing, and he planned to spend the week preparing for it so Nate would have a better one than he'd had ever. He was making fairly good money on this work, and Collins made a good living at the restaurant, so they planned to go to Toys R Us one day and buy the lot of it. But only when he secured this last check.
Finally the work was done, he loaded the van up and they drove it back. He went into the payroll office and took up his $3,500 check and drove to the day care center Nate was at. He then drove home with the little boy and took him up to the apartment they shared with Collins. Tom was watching a football game on TV, a beer in hand, an enormous smile on his face. When he heard them come in he looked up and smiled, rushed to Mark and waved a wad of money in his face.
"Damn."
"I know." He laughed and danced around, then looked expectantly at him. "Did you get paid for the last segment?"
"Yep, bumped me up $300."
"Awesome. Let's go shopping."
There was a knock at the door and Mark looked questioningly at him, then worriedly at Nathan. "Were you expecting someone Collins?"
"No, you?"
"No."
Collins made an odd face, one that made Mark giggle a little. He walked to the door calmly and leant against it, smiling softly. "Who is it?"
"Lennie Briscoe and Ed Green, NYPD. We need to speak to Tom Collins and Mark Cohen."
Collins opened the door hurriedly and practically leapt onto one of the men, the darker of the two, also the taller and well, more Collins-looking. Mark was completely confused but greeted the men and led them all in as Collins talked away. "Ed, you wouldn't believe how long it's been, how long has it been?"
"Six years." Green said. "Collins, Mark, we're not here just to catch up, I'm afraid." He sighed softly and both Mark and Collins sunk into seats, any good mood they may have been in shattered by those grim words. "I'm . . .especially sad to tell you Mark, but both of you. Maureen Johnson was found beaten to death three days ago."
Mark's eyes widened and almost immediately, Collins began to sob. Mark stood shakily and leant against the wall, trying to remain as calm as he could to help the police do their jobs. "I don't know anything, we don't. We haven't spoken to her."
"Any idea who would want to hurt her?" Green asked while trying desperately to comfort Collins, despite how increasingly difficult it was becoming. "Or anything at all you can tell us that can help us?"
"No, no idea." He said softly before going into his room, laying down. Little hands soon jumped up and down to try and get some attention. He bent and pulled Nathan onto the bed and the little boy curled up next to him, nuzzling.
"Daddy, daddy sleeeep."
"Yeah kiddo, go to sleep." He said gently, petting his hair, tears slipping soundlessly down his face. "We just need to go to sleep and try to get a hold of ourselves, come here Collins." He'd sensed his friend for a while and so the black man came and laid with them, holding them close, sobbing quietly. They just tried to get the pain of losing Maureen so suddenly and distantly gone, and would wake to little reason for joy.
Christmas was not as big and joyful as they had planned it to be but they tried to make it as happy as they could, for Nathan. The day after they flew out to New York and spent a week with Joanne, hoping for a break in the investigation of Maureen's death, but one never really came. Mark took Nathan to visit his mother and father's graves, a painful act for him to do, but one he felt was necessary, nonetheless.
He was walking back to the apartment building with Nate, both bundled up for the New York City chill when he found a homeless man on the street, a sign next to him. 'I have no home, I have AIDS. Make my Christmas brighter'. There was a hat by him, Mark pulled a twenty from his pocket and set it into the hat and the man smiled softly. "What can I do for you my boy?"
"Nothing," He answered hurriedly. "I just wish that I could do more for you."
The man smiled more and shook his head. "A kind deed is enough to make a room feel warmer, and certainly this corner. You have a wish deep inside of you. A wish to reunite your family away from home."
Mark watched him and nodded a little, clutching Nathan to him, hoping he wasn't getting too cold. "Well yeah, anyone affected by AIDS would. But there's no way to reunite my family, four of the people who made it up are dead."
"Death is a stage in life," the man said. "And like any stage, it can be affected by choices we make, you made a wise choice today. You will wake up happy tomorrow." He said softly. "Have a nice day, Mark Cohen."
Mark nodded and took a step away before pausing and turning to look at the man. "How did you. . .?" It was useless, the man was asleep. Oh well. He went back to Joanne's place and made Nathan some hot cocoa, told Collins about the man and the brief conversation, was met with laughter from both him and Maureen.
"Just some crazy old hobo." Collins said with a sigh. "Still, be nice to have them all back and healthy, no worries. Nate's the one who really got cheated, he'll never know what a great family we all were."
Mark nodded a little, taking a drink of coffee as he nibbled a turkey sandwich. "Yeah, but we all got cheated, the world got cheated by AIDS. And there's nothing we can do." He laughed softly. "Hell, who knows, in the new millenium, I'll bet that there'll be a cure for AIDS and people won't have to live through this anymore."
"I'll drink to that." Collins said, raising his coffee to mark's, they clinked the cups together and drank from them. "Well, it's late. Better get this little dude to bed." he said, picking up Nathan and carrying him into the next room. Mark finished his coffee and set their cups in the sink, then went to bed.
He awoke the next morning, to the sound of Angel and Collins giggling and kissing in the bed above him, which he and Collins had been sharing. He was now on the floor and he yawned and stretched. "Morning Collins, morning Angel." He froze and sat up, looked onto the bed with wide, sleep crusty eyes. "Angel!!!?"
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