Page 49 of His for Hanukkah

“And I agweed, too!” Susie added. “Mommy helped me pay for it.”

“We don’t talk about money, baby.” Susie was actually quite wealthy, though Kate tried unsuccessfully to remind her not to talk about it. She liked numbers, and when she was little, she couldn’t distinguish between hundreds of thousands of dollars in her bank account and quarters in her plastic purse.

That certainly explained the nice decorations, though. If Susie and Kate were bankrolling it, the food would be excellent, too.

“Hi, Susie,” Adam turned to face her. “Did you bring your menorasaurus?”

“Rawr, rawr, rawr,” Susie stomped into the floor. “But Mommy says I can’t put it up here yet.”

“Why not?”

“It’s your party so you have to go first!” She didn’t sound angry, just excited and impatient.

“Um, go first with what?”

Tate tapped his shoulder. He was holding a beautiful silver hanukkiah. Each candle holder shimmered in a different metallic color of the rainbow. It was elegant and attractive. Also, very, very gay.

“What, what is this?”

“Your seventh night gift. Go ahead and put it up there. Susie’s dying for her turn.”

“Tate, it’s beautiful! Thank you!” He’d never been dissatisfied with his boring old menorah before, but he was in love with this one. He gave Tate a lingering hug. He might die of happiness before Susie got a chance.

“Go on up.”

Tate ascended the stage, gave Susie a big hug and Kate a more reasonable one, then set up the candles in his new menorah with tears stinging the back of his eyes.

The evening was perfect, and he was going to crash so hard when it all ended after tomorrow night.

Fortunately, that was tomorrow night’s problem. That was why he liked knowing dates and times.

Good or bad, if he knew something was going to happen, he could put it out of his mind until it happened. Well, if it was good, he could look forward to it and if it was bad, he could ignore it.

He should remember to ask Tate if he was counting Hanukkah by the nights or by the days, since the last night was tomorrow, Monday, but Hanukkah wouldn’t technically be over until Tuesday evening. He wanted to squeeze everything out of their holiday together.

But he never did remember to ask. Susie pulled him off to show him her favorite decorations.

Then, people started streaming in. There was a good-sized crowd, but it wasn’t overwhelming.

Tate accompanied him as he piled his plate at the buffet. Everything was delicious. Somehow, even in a giant tray, the latkes were crispy and fresh. He balanced out the greasy goodness with a serving of salmon, rice pilaf, and a colorful salad.

He ate sitting on Tate’s lap while they chatted with friends, some of whom he hadn’t seen in years. Susie raced around trying to get people to play dreidel with her until her mommy gave her a stack of gelt and asked her to arrange it. Then she was totally absorbed.

There were definitely a lot more Jewish folks at Escape than Adam had realized. They’d had to pull out a second table for all the hanukkiyot that people brought from home.

There was something magical about watching everyone light candles in various states of undress or dress-up. Quite a few people were nearly naked. Some were clad in leather or latex or lace.

Adam was far from the only man sporting both a beard and makeup. And Susie’s diaper was peeking out of her shorts when her Mommy held her hand so she wouldn’t burn herself.

It was a whole world of acceptance and welcome that he hadn’t known he was looking for.

After the candle lighting, Adam nestled into Tate’s arms and watched the candles flicker. He couldn’t imagine anything that would make this Hanukkah better.

Except… He looked speculatively at the buffet table. He wasn’t technically hungry, but he could eat another latke.

“I’m going to have to roll you out the door.”

“Yes, but it’ll be soooo worth it.”