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This Haunting Story About the AIDS Crisis Is Making Gay Twitter Weep

Remembering a history that wasn't too long ago.

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Gay Twitter is collectively sobbing after a writer named Tucker Shaw shared an emotional story spurred by a young gay couple he spotted holding hands on the bus.

\u201cI overheard a young man on the train on the way home today, talking to another young man. Holding hands. In college, I guessed. About that age anyway. Much younger than I am.\u201d
— Tucker Shaw (@Tucker Shaw) 1537228867

\u201cHe was talking about AIDS, in a scholarly way. About how it had galvanized the gay community. How it had spurred change. Paved the way to make things better, in the long run.\u201d
— Tucker Shaw (@Tucker Shaw) 1537228867

\u201cThe long run.\u201d
— Tucker Shaw (@Tucker Shaw) 1537228867

\u201cMaybe he\u2019s right. I don\u2019t know. It\u2019s not the first time I\u2019ve heard the theory. He spoke with clarity and with confidence. Youthful, full of conviction. But.\u201d
— Tucker Shaw (@Tucker Shaw) 1537228867

\u201cRemember how terrible it was, not that long ago, during the worst times. How many beautiful friends died. One after the other. Brutally. Restlessly. Brittle and damp. In cold rooms with hot lights. Remember?\u201d
— Tucker Shaw (@Tucker Shaw) 1537228867

\u201cSome nights, you\u2019d sneak in to that hospital downtown after visiting hours, just to see who was around. It wasn\u2019t hard.\u201d
— Tucker Shaw (@Tucker Shaw) 1537228867

\u201cYou\u2019d bring a boom box. Fresh gossip. Trashy magazines and cheap paperbacks. Hash brownies. Anything. Nothing.\u201d
— Tucker Shaw (@Tucker Shaw) 1537228867

\u201cYou\u2019d get kicked out, but you\u2019d sneak back in. Kicked out again. Back in again. Sometimes you\u2019d recognize a friend. Sometimes you wouldn\u2019t.\u201d
— Tucker Shaw (@Tucker Shaw) 1537228867

\u201cOther nights, you\u2019d go out to dance and drink. A different distraction. You\u2019d see a face in the dark, in the back of the bar. Is it you? Old friend! No. Not him. Just a ghost.\u201d
— Tucker Shaw (@Tucker Shaw) 1537228867

\u201cAt work, you\u2019d find an umbrella, one you\u2019d borrowed a few rainstorms ago from a coworker. I should return it, you\u2019d think. No. No need. He\u2019s gone. It\u2019s yours now.\u201d
— Tucker Shaw (@Tucker Shaw) 1537228867

\u201cSeason after season. Year after year.\u201d
— Tucker Shaw (@Tucker Shaw) 1537228867

\u201cOne day you\u2019d get lucky and meet someone lovely. You'd feel happy, optimistic. You\u2019d make plans.\u201d
— Tucker Shaw (@Tucker Shaw) 1537228872

\u201cTogether, you\u2019d keep a list of names in a notebook you bought for thirty cents in Chinatown so you could remember who was still here and who wasn\u2019t, because it was so easy to forget.\u201d
— Tucker Shaw (@Tucker Shaw) 1537228872

\u201cBut there were so many names to write down. Too many names. Names you didn't want to write down.\u201d
— Tucker Shaw (@Tucker Shaw) 1537228873

\u201cWhen he finally had to go too, you got rid of the notebook. No more names.\u201d
— Tucker Shaw (@Tucker Shaw) 1537228874

\u201cYour friends would come over with takeout and wine and you\u2019d see how hard they tried not to ask when he was coming home because they knew he wasn\u2019t coming home. No one came home. You\u2019d turn 24.\u201d
— Tucker Shaw (@Tucker Shaw) 1537228875

\u201cWhen he\u2019d been gone long enough and it was time to get rid of his stuff, they\u2019d say so. It\u2019s time. And you\u2019d do it, you\u2019d give away the shirts, sweaters, jackets. Everything.\u201d
— Tucker Shaw (@Tucker Shaw) 1537228875

\u201cExcept those shoes. You remember the ones. He loved those shoes, you\u2019d say. We loved those shoes. I\u2019ll keep those shoes under the bed.\u201d
— Tucker Shaw (@Tucker Shaw) 1537228876

\u201cYou\u2019d move to a new neighborhood. You\u2019d unpack the first night, take a shower, make the bed because it\u2019d be bedtime. You\u2019d think of the shoes. For the first time, you\u2019d put them on. Look at those shoes. What great shoes.\u201d
— Tucker Shaw (@Tucker Shaw) 1537228877

\u201cAir. You\u2019d need air. You\u2019d walk outside in the shoes, just to the stoop. You\u2019d sit. A breeze. A neighbor steps past. \u201cGreat shoes,\u201d she\u2019d say. But the shoes are too big for you.\u201d
— Tucker Shaw (@Tucker Shaw) 1537228877

\u201cYou\u2019d sit for a while, maybe an hour, maybe more. Then you\u2019d unlace the shoes, set them by the trash on the curb. You\u2019d go back upstairs in your socks. The phone is ringing. More news.\u201d
— Tucker Shaw (@Tucker Shaw) 1537228878