The Peacock 1866

This dining room, or should I call it a dining hall, is huge, massive, spacious and expansive,  the table is long, highly polished oak, with Jesus seated at the head.  The walls are the colours of fine Wedgewood pottery, and are adorned with colourful paintings and tapestries.  Mary, Joseph, Kenny and Amaris are each bringing out the food.  Nothing hot, but plates and bowls loaded with salads, fruits, cheese and sauces and dips and more varieties of bread than one could scarcely imagine.  To drink, lemon flavoured sparkling water is being poured by Lan into each of our fluted glasses.  Jesus has just invoked a blessing with raised hands, and then suddenly Tron appears in the doorway. My lord, we have two new guests waiting in the entrance hall. "Ah, Maureen and Jennifer.  Finally they are here.  Do bring them in, my noble Tron, and so the towering beautiful angelic being sweeps out of the room in a blur of shining emerald and gold...

The Peacock 1865

Jason continues: "She was standing there waiting for us, but suddenly we were no longer in your house, Christopher.  We are stumbling into this place here.  She said, "Welcome home, then taking us each gently by the arm, escorted us here where you all seem to have been waiting for us." "And we have been waiting for you", says Jesus.  "You will know most of us here, save for Kenny, Sven and Isabella, they are twins, and Isabella, prefers to be known as Stella.  And next to me here is Caspar who has a very long history, despite his youthful appearance, and over here is Lawrence, who is particularly new to everyone here. "I'm so glad you both came, " says Sarah beaming.  Like Carl she seems to have made her home here. "There are still others waiting to join us", says our youthful lord, but dinner is about to be served.  Shall we all rise and proceed to the dining room..."

The Peacock 1859

"Look who's here!" chimes Carl as we file into the sitting room to rejoin our friends.   "How did you get here?" says Francois, pulling back the empty chair next to him where Jeffrey seats himself.  George has found a spot next to Caspar, and now it occurs to me they haven't met.  Amaris has also found a chair on my left, on the other side of Jesus where he has just planted himself. "Amaris here came to get us." "Hello", she says, with a broad smile. "I am Francois." "I am very pleased to meet you." "You must live here", says Carl.  "Oh, I'm Carl, by the way.  Did you just arrive, yourself?" "I live here", Amaris replies without further ado. say I to Amaris, gesturing to the others in the room, "And this is Sven, and his sister, Stella, Sarah, Lawrence. and Jesús, and Caspar." "And where did you get to", says Carl to me. "Tron took me on a bit of a tour.  We sat in a kind of reading room for a bit, looking at this book with  beautiful colour plate of two peacocks, and we somehow entered the picture and it brought us to a garden and  fountain where Jesus was seated and then suddenly I was in the kitchen with him and his parents helping them make dinner, if you can imagine." "Which is going to be served shortly", says Jesus  "We are just waiting for two more arrivals..."

The Peacock 1864

Lan has just escorted into our midst Lazarus and Jason, both of them looking lost and bewildered as they sink into the two armchairs near the extra doorway. "So do tell us how you got here", says Carl, who appears to have already made himself completely at home here. Jason suddenly lights up, his face like that of a small child getting out of bed on Christmas morning and stumbling into a living room with tons of exquisitely wrapped presents glittering underneath the Christmas tree. "I'm back", he announces, almost laughing.  "I can't believe it.  I never would have guessed I would ever see this place again."  Then, grabbing his partner's arm, says in his ear, but for all of us to hear, " Sable.  See.  Look all around you  This is the place I was telling you all about."  Then looking at our eternally youthful host, "And now I know you, I know who you are.  You never came out and identified yourself to me the first time I was here and you wouldn't leave my side. But..." "You already knew me, Jason.  Just as you know me now." Lazarus is silent, furtively glancing around. "Sable,  this isn't a dream.  We are here.  We finally got here." "How did you  both get here", say I. "We were just opening the front door to get into your house", says Lazarus, then pointing to Lan who has returned to standing by Lindstrom's side, "And there she was standing on the other side of the threshold..."

The Peacock 1862

"But,Jesus, you just let me go on renting out my body, night after day after night, to such disgusting male scum and I mean elite lawyers, doctors, politicians, academics, and it was all so humiliating that after a while I had to go into becoming a professional dominatrix if only to save whatever was left of my dignity." "Your dignity." "You know damn bloody well what I am saying. At least by tying them up and spanking them I was able to maintain some measure of control." "And that is why I sent Carl to you. And speaking of dignity and control, please do not forget what I permitted them to do to me, stripping me of all my dignity so I could hang bleeding and naked for all to see from that cross. My love for you, Isabella, forbade my dignity." "Very well, Lord", she replies demurely, head briefly bowed and eyes closed. "It is especially because of the nature of your natural father that I have had to allow extreme humiliations for both you and your brother, because satanic arrogance is even to me almost impossible to eradicate. But for both of you it has been working, and it is working beautifully..."

The Peacock 1861

"And we sat together in silence for some time after, Isabella."  I find it curious that like Caspar, suddenly Jesus is addressing her as Isabella."And just before I left, I did ask you if you knew who I Am."  And yes, of course.  I Am.  Before Abraham was. I Am.  And that is when the Pharisees picked up stones to hurl at him, but he got away.  And here, we are in the presence of the Great I Am "And I replied that, of course, who else would have done what you had just done for me.  I just wasn't expecting a teenage boy.  Then you left.  We had two more meetings, and then, just before I moved to Amsterdam, instead of commanding me to get out of the life of prostitution I was leading, you almost encouraged me to continue.  Why?  Jesus, I want to know why?" "You weren't ready or willing yet to stop.  And I will have no will placed grudgingly on my altar.  Even at my command you would have continued anyway in your life of sin.  But I did also create for you a way out of that life, and for this you have here our friend Carl to thank..."

The Peacock 1860

I believe they have arrived.  Shall I receive them, Lord?" "Lan is already awaiting them.  Now", he says, directing on us his kind green eyes.  "How is everyone now?  Stella, you have some questions for me?" "I have many questions for you, Jesus", she says, her voice quavering, "Many many questions." "Starting with that first meeting we had in Barcelona." "I didn't even know who you were at the time.  I was sitting, kneeling actually, in the Familia Sagrada church, then you came in so surreptitiously and sat down next to me. You didn't say anything for a while.  You just sat there, and I wondered, who the hell is this kid and what the hell does he want with me right now.  But then you placed your hand on my back.  I shuddered, but then this sweet, calm peace entered into me.  And I knew I was going to be alright..."