Marcus

I haven’t posted lately because I’ve been busy at work, and because I figured there wasn’t much news and I wouldn’t bore you with trivia. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the kind of news I was waiting for. This is an amalgamation of a couple of e-mails that I just sent to my friends and my boss.

I just got a call from my English friend, Andrew. Marcus, his partner of 15 years, was killed earlier today in a workplace accident. He was trying to repair a piece of machinery that was malfunctioning in the factory where he worked, and something dropped across his neck and suffocated him. It happened at the beginning of a tea break (about 2:30 England time; 9:30am here), so no one found him for about 10 minutes. He died at the hospital. The police came to tell Andrew at work.

There’s not much that I can do at this time other than talk to him on the phone (which I’ve already done). If we lived in the same area, I would take time off to attend the funeral, but it’s really not feasible to fly to England. I met Andrew in high school, when my French teacher suggested that I put my name in a pen-pal database to meet students from foreign countries. We’ve had an odd relationship in that we’ve written and called each other for more than 20 years, but we’ve only been together for three extended visits: in 1991 when Andrew visited here alone (just after he met Marcus), in 1993 when we visited them in England, and last summer when they were both here. Last year’s trip was a gift from Andrew to Marcus for his 40th birthday: a visit to Vegas and Atlanta. While they were in Vegas, Marcus surprised Andrew with an engagement ring. They were planning to be married this year in England.

Andrew’s at home now, alone at the moment. His sister & brother-in-law came to get him from work and take him home. She then took her husband home and is headed back to spend the night with Andrew. Marcus’s parents are on the way into town tomorrow. I don’t think there are really any other details yet.

Andrew is numb. He’s able to laugh, mainly I think to keep himself from crying. He’s also still talking about Marcus in the present tense, so I don’t think it’s hit him yet. He says he’s at home, waiting for Rosemary to come back, and he’s calling everyone he can think of. Me, I’m at my desk, getting ready to go home for the day, and I can’t really do anything to help him. I don’t know whether to send flowers or what. If I were there, I’d be with him at home. If he were here, I’d hurry home to put a casserole in the oven. (I don’t know if the rest of you Americans do that, but southerners sure do.) I’m sure my boss would understand if I wanted to leave work early... but for what? So I can sit alone at home until my partner gets there?

Anyway, I feel really, really helpless, and I don’t know what to do.

So there. There’s some news for you. If you know Andrew and want to write him, let me know and I’ll get you his address.