“It reminds me of the way my Daddy used to sing to me as a little girl.”

She had introduced me to her parents a day or two before that, and I couldn’t believe the hardened old man she introduced me to had ever harbored such a soft spot in his withered soul. Her mother was pleasant enough, but I could tell neither of them approved of me. I could see that Valerie and I really had no future, that there would be no happy ending for us, and so I was anxious to bring our time together to a close.

Back at the apartment, we lay in bed for quite some time, Valerie fully naked and very quiet, as if she knew what came next and was dreading it. I removed my pants, and she could see I was ready.

"You remember your promise?"

I nodded.

When were done, she got up, got dressed, gave me the key to the apartment and kissed me goodbye. She was obviously sad, but there were no tears this time.

I never saw her again, and I knew there were maybe 3 weeks left on the rental of the apartment. I felt sick at heart, but it seemed at the time there was nothing else left for me.

I walked back to the East Village to see Amy. I felt I really needed her shoulder to cry on. Walt was there as well, and I explained to them what had happened. Amy comforted me, rocking me in her warm, welcoming arms; and Walt just did what he did best and continued playing his guitar and singing some really sad song. Brian was nowhere to be seen, and I was glad of it. I just wanted to be with my two best friends of the moment.

Being blessed with having a place to stay for the next 3 weeks, I went back out and made new friends, some of whom I brought back to the apartment. For some reason, I never made love all way the rest of my time in New York. I fooled around plenty of times with maybe a dozen or so young women, copping a feel once in a while, but stopping short and moving on to another. By the third week, the landlord had showed up and said he would be renting the apartment to a new tenant, and he asked me for the key, which I turned over to him.