The Peacock 1885

"You returned to your home after Stefan took care of you", says Mary.  "What happened?" "I told everyone to stop worrying about me.  I said I had been on a religious retreat and now my life is changed.  No one wanted to believe me.  My husband, an incurable atheist, was especially obstinate and we agreed to a divorce.  My family was a different story.  As staunch calvinist Dutch Christians, both my parents were particularly interested in what happened.  They could see the transformation in my life.  I also immediately resigned from my profession, and now I was stepping into a void.  My parents offered to harbour me in the family home if I wanted to train for something different.  Then the dreams began.  I had already forgotten most of what happened.  But  you, Jesus, here in your youthful form, you were summoning me from the physick garden behind the house.  Five times you appeared in my dreams, in as many nights.  The sixth time, you said I am greatly missed.  Then a full week passed, and on the seventh night you appeared in the seventh dream, and you said, "Amaris, come home..."

The Peacock 1884

"The first several weeks you were here, Amaris, you spent a great deal of time sleeping.  Then Peter found his way to us. He was then named Stefan.  Do you remember him?" "He took care of me.  He didn't drink the water.  I actually warned him not to.  And he was so good to me, cooking for me, cooking for us, because another man came to us, a very handsome man, blonde, and like me, completely lost because he had drunk the water of forgetfulness.  And Stefan stayed with us and cared for us.  And just now, it is all coming back to me.  He was the last client I dealt with before I vanished.  I was in a restaurant being interviewed by a journalist, a middle aged woman, named Pamela, or Persimmon, or something like that.  Then Stefan came in, broke in on the interview and began lambasting me for all the horrible things I was doing to him and others in the name of saving money for the government.  I left in a rage, and shortly after got a call from my friend in Victoria so the next day, I booked off from work, lying about a family emergency, and went to Victoria, and then it all happened."

The Peacock 1883

"She prepared a light meal for me.  It was exquisite.  I sat in the breakfast room, which seemed appropriate given that the new day was already beginning and soon it would be sunrise.  She set before me a plate of whole grain bread with butter, cheese and orange slices, pear slices and strawberries.  And a tall glass of sparkling mineral water.  Such simple, pure and wholesome food.  The most satisfying meal I think I had ever eaten.  She sat with me, nibbling on the same fare, but said very little.  She did say my name, Letitia, but I didn't know if she was referring to me or someone else, as the water of forgetfulness had already taken effect.  To this day I still can't recall what we were talking about as the water had even destroyed my immediate and short term memory.  I have only just begun to really reconstruct the events from that night." "If you wish, we could do that right now", says Mary. "Thank you,  That would be most helpful.  My lord has helped me piece back together everything I did and was before I drank the water of forgetfulness but everything that happened for some time after is still recalled in only pieces and blurs..."

The Peacock 1882

"It wasn't long before we arrived here at the island.   We didn't speak, but I followed him up the steep path that leads to the house where we now are. He said someone would come out to receive me into this house, so I sat at the edge of the fountain, waiting." "And then you drank the water of forgetfulness", says Jesus. "I was so thirsty after all the alcohol I had imbibed, and I didn't stop to think that the water might be unsafe to drink.  I was so thirsty." "You drank, and then you forgot..." "Everything.  I didn't know who I was, nor my own name, nor how I got here.  "Mary came out to receive me, and even in the dark I could see by her face that she was very kind, and that here I would be well treated... 

The Peacock 1881

"And we already know what happened from there", says Jesus.  "Instead of getting out of the car with you, he drove away and left you helpless and vulnerable.  And then, you saw a boat approaching you on the water." "I was crying, and I felt so frightened, vulnerable and helpless.  The man steering the boat was wearing what looked like a black hoodie.  At first I couldn't see his face, but then he lowered the hood.  A young man, from what I could see in the dark, but there appeared to be a light coming from him and his eyes were so kind.  I was still a bit high so things did seem very intense, but in a quiet, almost musical voice, he said, "Won't you come with me?"  I didn't even think to ask him who he was or where he was going to take me.  He motioned toward what looked like a dock or a wharf nearby.  I climbed onto the boat which he steered over to where I was waiting for him and then I climbed into the boat behind me.  I felt I could trust him, for some reason..

The Peacock 1880

Jesus says, "You said that you picked him up, and not vice versa." And I am reminded here of Jesus' "Woman, you have five husbands" chat with the woman of Samaria. "I was married back then", she says, "to a very cynical and self interested psychiatrist some fifteen years my senior. I at the time was a welfare verification officer, and it was my job to see that those receiving assistance were playing by some very harsh and unjust rules. I hurt a lot of vulnerable people, some of whom committed suicide when, thanks to my interventions they were cut off their meagre assistance and left homeless and on the brink of starvation I had a conscience which I most effectivelly drowned with liquor. I was in Victoria, on the lam from my husband whom I had already grown to hate, I was at a party hosted by a highschool girlfriend. We went clubbing and this incredibly handsome man approached me. I was dancing solo on the floor and already rather high on stuff. I grabbed him by the arm and tried to get him to twirl around with me. He just stood there, his hand holding me firmly by the arm, and said, "You are needed elsewhere.) I told him to fuck off and asked if we could find a quiet beach somewhere where we could have a good shag. "Come with me", was all he said...

The Peacok 1879

"Amaris". says Jesus, "Would you be so kind as to tell everyone here your story." She is wedged between Francois and Jeffrey, her white robe dress (because I cannot tell if it is a dress made to look like a robe or a robe that resembles a dress, but it is completely elegant on her.  Yet there is something about this young woman that suggests she is not even remotely interested in making any fashion statements. "I would be very honoured, my lord",she says, looking around at all of us seated here with her.  If she was indeed in her twenties when she claims to have come here, then now she might be around fifty.  But just as the parents of Jesus seem incredibly ancient, this Amaris appears to have cornered the fountain of youth.  She puts down the fork with which she was just about to spear a wedge of mango. "As Jesus has just mentioned, my name used to be Letitia Van Smit.  I grew up in Richmond where my parents and grandparents settled when they moved here from Holland in the nineteen fifties.  We had a huge cranberry farm that was in later years turned into a subdivision of townhouses and large homes.  As I mentioned already, I was brought here to this island under rather inauspicious circumstances.  I had been invited to a party for a weekend in Victoria, we went nightclubbing and there I picked up a young man who drove me out to Saanich to a remote and deserted beach.  I was not expecting he would leave me there untouched, but soon after came to see what a complete blessing this was going to be...