Following our first visit to Sudbury in early July I volunteered to check out the rental housing situation online. I didn’t know what I should be looking for, boarding situations like the two he’d had in Owen Sound, studio apartments, one bedroom, or two bedroom flats.
This went on for weeks and it was only compounded by the fact that after nearly two years of living like a starving student, Jonny kept talking about the coming school year in first person singular. It was if he’d never heard the word “we.”
Don’t get me wrong, there was never the slightest doubt in my mind that at this point in our relationship he was as devoted to me as I was to him. However, as with virtually every man I’ve ever known, gay, straight or otherwise, Jonny found it difficult to nigh on impossible to talk about anything personal enough to evoke feelings.
His every action on the other hand…well let’s just say there are many ways to say “I love you” besides using those words and he was quite good at that.
On the first evening of our second stay in Sudbury, Jonny sat at his laptop on one side of our hotel room and I was at mine on the other.
On the first evening of our second stay in Sudbury, Jonny sat at his laptop on one side of our hotel room and I was at mine on the other.
“Send me those rental links you told me about in the car,” he said, now for the first time throwing himself fully into the search for a place to live during the coming academic year.
“Sure,” I said flatly.
I was at a loss as to what to do or say next. During our seven-hour drive I’d given Jonny many opportunities to commit not only to the type of housing he wanted, but to whether or not he wanted to continue living together. All he wanted to talk about was finding a decent place that fit within his budget.
As for me, after having originally proposed coming to Canada to explore the possibility of a long-term relationship and then extending our original deal to include the summer, I felt like it was time for him to say something about where he saw things going.
Like a lot of people, I’m fairly conflict averse. About the only thing I dislike more is passive aggression, which didn’t leave me with a whole lot of options if Jonny didn’t soon start talking about what he had in mind for our future.
Either I could broach the subject of our staying together or I could dramatically sulk and pout until he got the idea that something was wrong.
As it turned out I unintentionally backed into the second option.
While trying to determine how to go about resolving this dilemma I became completely distracted and, as a result, was paying little attention to what Jonny was saying, especially about the property listings he was reviewing.
Finally the bulb went off. He stopped talking, walked across the room to where I was sitting, and asked, “Is everything okay? You don’t seem to be very interested in things.”
My dour expression must have given away my depressed state of mind. After looking me in the face, Jonny’s expression became one of concern. He sat down on the edge of the bed opposite me awaiting an answer to his questions.
“It’s just that I don’t know what we’re doing here,” I said, emphasizing the we’re. “Are we looking for a place for you to live this coming year or are we looking for a place for us to live?”
“I don’t…” Jonny said haltingly, looking back up at me.
“I don’t do stuff like…,” he paused for breath, “like talking about things well,” he said meekly, tears forming in his eyes.
It was at that moment the internal dialogue in my head rekindled itself for the first time since realizing I had been right about Jonny’s feelings toward me all along.
“Are you not now, and have you not been, happier with your life these past six months than at any time in your life?” Brain said to me firmly but supportively.
In my mind I could see Griselda standing behind him with a hand on his shoulder.
“Yes,” I said to them.
“Then you know what you have to do,” Griselda said sweetly.
“I want to keep living with you,” I said to Jonny, tears now forming in my eyes.
“And I don’t want to live alone…without you,” Jonny said.
And with that we were both sobbing like school girls at a boy band concert.
Apartment hunting in Sudbury proved to be harder than you’d think, especially considering that in Upper Sudbury, where the college is located, apartment buildings litter the streets like Monopoly pieces.
We settled on a max budget of $1,000 a month for rent, $500 apiece, plus utilities. We also limited our search to two bedroom units; one for us and one for Jonny to be able to shut himself away and study undisturbed.
We found many apartments that fit our budget, but all of them hand one thing or another wrong with them, mostly a near total lack of care and upkeep on the part of the building owners. We did see some really lovely two bedroom flats that evoked a sense of place and home. They all cost a bloody fortune.
We had all but given up and were seriously considering what I thought of as slum housing. The bathroom looked like something out of Dickens. Most of the windows in the unit were sealed shut, there was no air conditioning, the heating was regulated by a master thermostat somewhere two floors below, and the common hallway and staircases reeked of something. I don’t know what it was but clearly it had been dead for quite some time.
And this was the best place within budget we’d seen all week.
“Yep that’s Sudbury,” a man from the next table over said on his way to the cashier.
On the drive back to our hotel where we were going to complete the two-page lease application on the Tobacco Road flat before leaving the following morning, Jonny spotted a For Rent sign on an apartment building on the section of Barrydowne Rd. I called the Human Storage District for its uninterrupted blocks long rows of small block apartment buildings.
This property never appeared in any of our Internet searches. We pulled into the driveway and Jonny called the number on the sign.
“It’s two bedrooms, $975 a month, and the lady said she’d be happy to show it to us now,” Jonny said while placing his phone back in the car.
“It’s almost half-past six,” I said, sounding just as astonished as Jonny.
It was a palace compared to everything else we’d seen. The center stairwell to the third floor unit was immaculate and, best of all, odor free.
It wasn’t a luxury unit, the kitchen only had an electric stove and a refrigerator, but they were both relatively new. All of the rooms were spacious; in fact the whole place was around 900 square feet with lots of large windows. They were new vinyl, thermopane windows and they all opened and closed with ease.
Brenda, our guide, owned the property with her husband Salim. We told her we’d take it on the spot. The following morning we gave her a deposit and signed the lease before heading out for breakfast and then driving back to Cambridge.
“Are you sure you’re ready for winter this far north,” Jonny said at breakfast. “You saw all the external power outlets for engine block heaters everywhere we went and Brenda did tell us -40ºC is not unheard of up here.
“Yep that’s Sudbury,” a man from the next table over said on his way to the cashier. “It’s not the Arctic Circle, but you can see it from here.”
Edited by
Kenneth Larsen
Join us again on February 6, 2018 for Do I Look Mexican.
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