The Italian Call Boy

The Italian Call Boy is a tale told by Charles Antonio DeLuca in his waning years as a high-priced call boy to the elite of the Hollywood power brokers. It was his uncompromising discretion that kept him in demand over the years while he wined, dined, and slept with the best and richest of Hollywood's who's who. Retirement and the demise of his clients brought the reality of his own mortality into focus as he entered into his 30's. In spite of his perfectly toned body, the lack of emotional involvement with his clients or anyone else for that matter began to have its effect on him. He felt incredibly empty. But changes in fortune lay ahead for Charles when he received a call from Patrick O'Hara, an old college chum who wanted to hire him to seduce his friend, Marc Benson, who had an emotional blockage of his own. Charles reluctance, because seduction was not his forte, was soon won over when Patrick reminded him he had once bailed him out of jail. He simply said. "Charles, you owe me." The ensuing unsuccessful meeting with Marc Benson threw Charles into a quandary as his well-honed charisma failed to work and his carefully guarded emotions became unglued, sending him tail spinning into unfamiliar territory - he was falling helplessly in love, an unforgivable sin in the trade he had prospered in for so many years. As he floundered in the emotional upheaval, his old friend, Patrick, plotted to rectify the lives of the two people he loves. As the story draws to a close Charles asks Patrick, "Are we even now?" to which Patrick gleefully responds, "We are indeed."