It was busy. People wanted to have food delivered to them while they watched USC-Texas.

Work initially was a downer, because one of the five managers died suddenly, of "Level 4" Hodgkin's Disease. The guy had cancer coursing through him while I knew him.

And his story has a sort of literary quality. The news that he was very sick came also with news that he had "a very close friend." His friend is white, and not Mexican-American like Gilbert, so doesn't closet his being gay. I hadn't thought that this coworker of mine was gay--never occurred to me. Strong closet for Hispanic gays, apparently.

And now I know why Gilbert was irritable so often. He was deeply in the closet and had undiagnosed cancer. Geez.

I wish I would have thought of this earlier. One of my other coworkers, a young woman who is a server, seemed especially struck by the news of Gilbert's death. Now I realize why. She wasn't that close to him; it just so happens that the last interaction she had with the man was a heated argument about something minor--rolling silverware, in fact. Oh, Elaine K.

RIP Gilbert.