Solcar - 5. Reykjavik 930

Tony was still at Prime; it was change-over day. The club had been featured in a segment on WNBC-TV 4 last month, and the variation of decorative neon signs was a prominent segment of the report. A quirky marketing scheme, each month, a different piece of neon art was displayed in the front window. Candy corn at the end of October, a black cat on most any month with a Friday on the thirteenth, a piñata in early May for Cinco de Mayo... It was a red heart this time since tomorrow was Valentine’s Day.

Once a year, the signs were auctioned off to benefit the Human Rights Campaign during a private reception at a local gallery. Surprisingly the Great Pumpkin displayed during Halloween 2012 had fetched the highest price at the latest event; the high bidder bore an uncanny resemblance to Linus van Pelt.

The snowstorm predicted for the weekend had begun around 3:00 pm; the temperature dropped, and the fluffy white stuff started to accumulate on the streets. Tony liked to work Friday Happy Hour. It was one of the bar’s busiest times, and it gave him a chance to be seen by staff and to meet patrons. They planned on being there together before going out to dinner.

Tonight they were staying in. His man would be home soon, and dinner was ready. The blazing fire warmed their apartment as Colt sat, opened up his small leather-bound book, and began to read again.

•••

Olaf Arnarson and his cousin were direct descendants of the first acknowledged settler of Iceland. Part of the Viking exploration during the early decades of the 10th century. The two looked so alike they could be confused for brothers. As with most Viking men, they were taller than the average European of the era, muscular due to constant physical activity both for work and play, and had reddish-blonde hair on their heads which became a bit darker on their beards. Their muscular chests were covered in dense, soft fur with a color similar to their facial hair.

In their youth, much of the boys’ free time was spent in one of the many geothermal pools dotting the landscape. Soaking in the mineral-rich waters, with steam rising all around, was a year-round pastime for the settlers. Most were farmers or fishermen; their life was not easy, but it was a good, simple existence. It was in one of those pools the cousins first masturbated together and ejaculated, it was there they first shared a girl as they took turns fucking her, and it was there they first realized they loved each other and discovered the pleasures of sexual intimacy between men.

At the age of twenty, Olaf followed tradition and selected a female from another village with whom to breed. The production of children was deemed a duty to preserve and expand the settlement's population. It was expected that every man and every woman would do so. His cousin refused. He had no interest in the opposite sex, the times he had intercourse with them as a kid were enough.

Relationships between members of the same sex were not looked down upon by the community; some men spent as many nights with male lovers as they did with female breeding partners. Olaf assumed his relative would do as he was, and they would continue their relationship at the same time. For five long years they argued about it, one claiming it was their duty to procreate, proud of his sons; the other refusing to live what he saw as a lie.

It became too much for either one to deal with; two men who loved each other so much stopped talking to one another. Each one tried to handle an aching heart differently; the broken father spent every possible hour out on his fields or in his barn tending to the animals while his cousin did whatever work he could so that he might eat and then drink himself to sleep at night.

In late spring, a ship put into port, delivering new settlers and supplies. It would remain for two weeks so the crew could rest, repairs could be made, and a cargo of grain loaded before returning to Norway. Olaf learned his estranged lover had been hired as a crew member to work on the Sonja and would often go by to catch a glimpse of the man he loved. He never found the courage to speak to him.

He discovered his cousin had joined the ship’s complement for its return voyage after the vessel had put out to sea. From the top of the hill, he watched as the only person he ever fully loved, his best friend, sailed away and felt his world had come to an end. What was there to live for, now that his love was gone? He wrapped his torn cape around himself against the cold wind, turned away from the ocean, and walked back to his home, tears streaming down his face.

•••

‘Damn fucking tears!’ Colton grabbed a few tissues to wipe his moist eyes. He must have shed gallons of them during the past few thousand years, and they still came every time he read about one of his past lives.