Relax

Steve, a gay man who lives with his lover Ned, has had multiple partners and is worried he may have the HIV virus. Ned tells him to relax and get tested. Steve can't relax: he's obsessed with scrubbing himself, he washes between his toes with a toothbrush. He doesn't want to know, but he does have the test. The five days' waiting for the result are agony. He picks a fight with Ned, who's long-suffering and cheerful. He dreams. He frets. He pictures death by drowning. The waiting almost over, he sits in the doctor's office and imagines the two possible results. In either event, is there a case to make for Steve to relax? Written by