Back in the days before 9/11, you could buy a plane ticket for someone and spring it on them at the airport just before boarding. That is just what Bert did with his lover, John, for his 26th birthday. He had pre-packed an overnight bag for John, told him he was taking him on a trip, but didn’t reveal the destination — New Orleans! — until they arrived in the PanAm terminal at JFK International.
It would be John’s first visit to The Big Easy. Despite not being alcohol drinkers, they enjoyed tooling around the French Quarter, took in at least one jazz club, and even made it to nearby Biloxi, Mississippi, where they patronized a feminist bookstore and napped on a beach at the Gulf of Mexico.
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