It was only for pure alphabetical chance that I met Albert. We shared a college dorm room since Idlewild and Ien were next to each other on the list.

Sharing a room with Albert had both pluses and minuses but we became inseparable friends. He helped me with my studies and I helped him socially. I never did find out exactly from which town he was from but it must have been somewhere beyond beyond since he had no social skills at all, unless you count animals. Animals just loved him. Unfortunately, so did I. That was the minus. I’m gay. Totally committed gay and Albert was a prime specimen of the human male. So was I. In relationships I believe in equality. I completely reject the notion of “passive” and “active” and am both a giver and a taker and want my partner to be the same.

At first being gay on campus was a bit awkward. If you are gay you are supposed to be progressive. Not all of us are. In fact, I’m rather conservative and a strong believer in traditional values. You know family values, though not necessarily mixed sex. Fidelity, love, compassion, children as a result as an act of love, responsibility, commitment and all that. However, I’m a very social animal and that little bump was soon behind me.

As I said it was unfortunate that I fell in love with Albert. It was obvious he had absolutely no romantic interest in me. I was too afraid to alienate Albert to even hint about my feelings. To make things worse he didn’t really have a nudity tabu. Anyway, we became inseparable friends instead. My considerable social skills ensured that we both had a great time at college. Besides, Albert was a fast study. Soon he didn’t need me the same way I needed his help in my studies but we were best friends and that close, platonic, relationship remained the same all through college.

I buried my feelings for Albert and found myself a boyfriend. I believed I was in love with him. Perhaps I was, at least at first. At first Paul ticked every box for me. He was good-looking, he was smart, he was fun but not irresponsible, he wasn’t the jealous type that insisted to keep Albert away. Actually, the three of us spent a lot of time together since Albert never got a girlfriend.

Then Paul became more and more assertive, morphing into being dominant. He started to insist on only being the active sex partner. He tried to separate me from my friends, even Albert. At first I didn’t realize what was happening but then I started to push back. It all ended with an acrimonious break-up the day before graduation when he demanded that I turn down a very good job offer, that I had already accepted, in another city than the one he was going to.

Instead of partying that night I stayed in the dorm room. Albert found me there on the floor sobbing. I completely bared myself to him. How I loved him. How Paul had abused my lover for him. How I desperately wanted children of my own but never would have any. Albert, ever the logical one, started to walk me through that issue. He assured me that knowing me better than anybody else he was convinced that I’d be an excellent father. Adoption? Not my child. Artificial insemination? I strongly believe that procreation should be an act between two persons who love each other. And so on. I cried. I sobbed. I wailed. I must have been a pathetic sight. Albert held me lovingly.

Then Albert said something that I hadn’t expected.

“You say that you love me. Does that mean that you want to have sex with me?”
“YES! That and much more”
“If you could, would you commit the rest of your life in a family with me?”
“Yes, yes, yes!”
“I’m sorry but that won’t be possible. I love you dearly but not in the way you love me. Nonetheless, I will give you a parting gift”

I was heartbroken even if I could see in his face how much he cared for me. Loved me, even if not the way I loved him. He picked me up from the floor and started undressing me and then he put me on my bed and proceeded to undress as well.

That night we had the most amazing sex I ever had had. I reached such levels of ecstasy I never imagined could exist. Indeed a parting gift to be remembered for ever.

Albert went away the next day after graduation. He had been talking about how he had to travel for a job involving sociological research. The formal goodbye was a mere formality. We had spent the night for the real goodbye.

Anyway, that night with Albert had made me to reconsider my options. Perhaps artificial insemination wasn’t such a bad idea? I wasn’t prepared to accept that concept but I was thinking about it. Enough that a month later I asked the doctor doing the obligatory physical exam at my new job to include a fertility test. Just in case.

I was surprised to be called back to the hospital. The first thing I thought was that I was infertile. That would settle that.

As it turned out it wasn’t that. In a distracted way the doctor just said that both quantity and quality of my sperm was the best he’d ever seen. No there was an “anomaly” that he was concerned about. Now I started to get really worried. Did I have cancer or some other disease? Was I about to die? The doctor refused to answer any questions and then I had some extra tests and a specialist of some kind was called in. Then they had me wait for an hour while all the tests were processed. Apparently they rushed things. That had me REALLY worried.

Finally, I was called in to the office. My doctor and the specialist were there looking bewildered.

“So, doctors, what disease do I have? How long do I have to live?”
“Oh, there is nothing wrong with you, not really. As a matter of fact, you are incredibly healthy. If there hadn’t bee for a small anomaly I’d have said that you were a perfect specimen of the human male”
“Anomaly? What anomaly?”
“It appears that you are four weeks pregnant.”

At that moment I promised my best friend, that I realized that I’d never see again, that I’d would be the best parent possible for his loving parting gift. I’ll always miss you. I’ll always love you, Al Ien.