The Peacock 1559

" "You placed yourself under his power, you mean." "Okay." "But you didn't let him get away with it." "He seems to still have an agenda with me. I mean, I thought, or I hope, that all he really needed was meaningful connection with me, so we spent the whole day together, church, then hiking in the forest, then the coffee shop, and somehow, it all backfired." "our friend is playing hardball." "So, what are we going to do?" "What are you going to do-" "I guess I will just have to keep setting boundaries with him" "Are you atttracted to him?" "Yes." "That's going to make it difficult." "Hey, you and I are attracted to each other." Carl doesn't respond, but simply stares out his window as we approach the oak Street bridge...

The Peacock 1558

"We went to Wreck Beach." "No way." "Well, we did get as far as the first gun tower." "Then what." "i dragged him up the trail with me and told him to never pull something like that on me again." "Pull what on you?" "He basically took the lead. We were walking in the forest near Spanish Banks, after hiking around a lot. We were at church erlier. The Anglican church on university boulevard." "How was that?" "The priest is a fag and he almost couldn't keep his eyes away from our Colombian brother." "How did Jesús respond." "He was grossed out." And then he took you to Wreck Beach."

The Peacock 1557

"Getting mom and sis onboard is going to be a challenge." "I would imagine." "But at the end of the day, it's my house, and they cannot override me, not legally anyway." "Would it come to that?" "First I need to know for sure what kind of answer I am going to give Chuck about it. But in the meantime..." "We already have lots on our plate." "That we do...So, Chris, what did you guys, you and Jesús get up to today

The Peacock 1556

What did Chuck have to say?" "That he's prepared to hire all of us. He wants the whole kit and kaboodle and was also asking about our providing housing and shelter for some of the homeless." "That would be a huge step. Do you reckon he's thinking of the house you just bought?" "We could buy another one. But we already have an ace up our sleeve." "Being..." "The mansion." "You don't say."

1555

"Tell me all about your day today, Carl." "That was my first visit to St Jude's." "Really?" "For some reason, with all our involvement with Father Griffin, it would be easy to assume that we had been there to visit a good number of times, I guess." "How did you like it." "It was sublime. The high mass is fascinating, and beautiful, and deeply, deeply spiritusl." "More's the pity that no one there seems interested in living the same reality." "Oh, I imagine there might be one or two..."

The Peacock 1554

"He should have been out of there days ago." "Why didn't you tell me days ago." "I only found out just a few minutes ago." "Me too", i reply. "What do you think must have happened?" "I can't imagine this kind of balls up without help." "You mean from Lindstrom and company." "Precisely. Does Erik know you're on your way?" "Yeah, I just told him on Skype. It's going to be crowded with Erik tonight." Carl starts marking on his phone. "Hey, George. yeah. We're bringing Chris' friend Erik back with us tonight. Would it be an imposition to ask you and jeffrey to move into the condo downtown this same evening? Thanks, really appreciate it. Thanks for understanding."

1553

"There he is", announces Carl heartily as I try to run past everyone to the front door. "Hey, where you going?" "I'm getting Erik out of the hotel." "I'll come with you." Before I can refuse, he has already beat me to the front door and now stands waiting for me by the passenger door of my car. "What about the others" "They're all in good hands", he says, climbing in and slamming the door...