The Peacock 123

 "I might go without saying that I was living under a climate of siege in this idyllic and bucolic farmhouse.  With the dead birds, the desecration, the odd behaviour of that visiting stranger, the vicious aggressive black dogs and menacing neighbours, why of course, a typical suburban dreamscape.  I only wish.  It got even more complicated when Doug appeared on the scene,.  That's right, kids, the same Douglas who is the unelected grand poobah of your resident Christian community right here.  I only wish I could say that he has changed and grown since those days more than thirty years ago.  If Douglas has grown, and if everything that Carl has said about him is true, and I believe you, Carl, then he has only grown worse.

"I won't go into a lot of detail about how he arrived in my house, but I'll say this much.  I met him when he was bartending in the lounge of the Heritage House (formerly and latterly called the Lotus) near the entrance to Chinatown on Pender Street.  Let's just say that he charmed his way into my heart and into my home.  I very foolishly let him in and he wreaked havoc.  I have no doubt that he was somehow associated with that satanic network that held that place hostage.  If fact, I actually caught him in a lie.  Shortly after he moved in with me, and that itself was a very messy business given his violently jealous Nicaraguan boyfriend.  It is only a shame that I didn't yet speak Spanish in those days.

"He said he felt called to live with me and serve God with me, and I think that eventually he meant it.  After he actually did commit his life to Jesus and then received the gift of the Holy Spirit.  But before that happened, he would disappear on summer evening solitary bike rides.  He said that he was part of a satanic coven and they were performing rituals and curses together.  When I pressed him about it, he denied it, said he was only joking, but I think he was telling the truth.  But also, it turned out that his younger brother was living just five houses away with his girlfriend, who later was accused by his brother of still being involved in satanism, which to me suggested that they were trying to put it behind them.

"But my suspicion has been that these people, since my problems with the punk satanists two years ago, had been watching me carefully.  Jeremy was part of their network, perhaps also Duff and his sister, and certainly Doug had been chosen to move in with me and destroy me.  Why else would his brother, also apparently involved in the same cult, be living just down the street!  I was being watched, observed and monitored. But instead of destroying me, he met Jesus, and himself became a true and, and despite his many annoying characteristics, a very dedicated follower of Jesus Christ.