The Peacock 1927

Of course, as some of you well know, I am a disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ, here, our gracious and loving host.  You may wonder why I have written my  Lord as having the aspect of a sixteen year old youth.  That was not intentional.  In my earlier work of literary fiction, Thirteen Crucifixions, from time to time this same beautiful boy would appear in the novel.  I did not have a name for him, because I hadn't named him yet.  I simply didn't know.  But, Jesus, this has been you yourself appearing to me in the novel and so as I was in the early stages of the Peacock, it occurred to me that this was your true identity, something that you revealed to me, Lord, but how could I possibly write you this way, but then much later it occurred to me that your own disciples didn't recognize you after your resurrection not just because they were still in a state of unbelief, but that they were seeing you in a lovely, innocent,  and transfigured form. And so, Lord Jesus, this is your novel, and I have done my utmost to take my cues from you, and write you, not as we imagine nor as I imagine, but...as you yourself most truly are, gracious Lord. "But what about us?" says Carl.  "How did you do it?" "Jesus was introducing me to each one of you, and I only got to know each one of you gradually as I wrote.  That is also why I kept appearing in the novel, so we could actually come to know one another.  Every time I sit down to write, whatever next move or direction or plot device I might have in mind, it suddenly gets moved around.  I am not in the least in control of this project.  I seem to have tapped into a different or alternative reality here that is just gradually unfolding to me...

Te Peacock 1996

Our Lord turns to both Carl and Melissa who are seated side by side.  "Your mother has returned to hospital.  She will experience a remarkable recovery and will be out of there within three days, and you will both be ready to receive her." Then, turning to Aaron, he says gently but also a bit portentously, "Aaron, you have some things you would like to say to everyone here."  His shirt has suddenly changed from pale blue to another shirt of vertical light blue, pale yellow stripes, set off with black, light green and white.  Another day must have already passed for him, though this happened just five minutes ago. "Hello, everyone.  I am so glad to see so many of you here right now.  I think it is time I made it clear to everyone just what is going on from my end as I have been writing your story these past five years.  Yes, it has been a long time, and you are all just into your third week now, and for you it is still May, 2021.  My original motive for writing the work was largely influenced by the covid pandemic that was still in its first year.  i thought, how interesting it would be to write a modern version of the Decameron, in medieval Italy during the bubonic plague, when a collection of persons of wealth were all finding refuge in an elegant, Florentine, I think, villa, and how they spent their time entertaining one another with quite the collection of stories. From the very onset, it was quite clear to me that this work of literature had already taken on a life of its own.  I was no longer, never was the creator, and found myself demoted to scribe and collaborator.  From the onset it was clear that I was writing about real people, and that I was no longer in control of the narrative.  The creative process really needs to be reexamined and re-explored, because the artist is not the creator, but an accomplice to other, more powerful and eternal forces.

The Peacock 1995

"Finally", says Astrid in clear Dutch-accented English, "I can see you both.  My two children.  Oh, if I could tell you both how proud I am of you.  Of how much I love you both.  Carl, I have never once preferred Melissa over you. I love you both deeply. so deeply, my dear son and daughter.  I never told you.  Never told you this.  Please forgive me.  A mother's love is an imperfect love.  Please do what you both feel is right.  Follow Jesus who is our gracious host. He will direct you.  I release everything to both of you..." and here she is starting to fade... Jesus approaches the frail sick woman, places both hands on her shoulders, kisses her forehead, and now she is gone...

The Peacock 1994

"Come in, please beloved Aaron", says our lord.  "If anyone should find himself at home here it would be you." Slowly, cautiously. while carefully eyeing every single person in the room, Aaron makes his way to a chair that Jesus has just pulled up for him in the centre.  We are seated in a semicircle.  Our author is facing all of us. "Won't you please address us, Aaron." Our author opens his mouth.  He is a bit on the portly side but not fat. He is dressed in a pale blue button down shirt and dark bluejeans.  He doesn't appear to have aged noticeably. "I am right now in Costa Rica, the city of Alajuela near the airport.  It is December 27, 2025 where I live, a time difference of more than four and a half years between our dimensions.  Please accept my apology for having taken so long to write all of you.  This has been slow work, and any attempt to rush it would have served us all a grave injustice.  But first, Lord Jesus, is it really necessary that Astrid be here.  She is very frail, and should still be in hospital." "I wanted badly to be here", says Carl and Melissa's mother.  Her graying dark hair is lank hanging over her face, and she appears thin and very pale in her pale blue hospital gown. "Mom", says Melissa, "It is so good to see you here..But Aaron is right. We want you to get better...Carl?" "Mom, Melissa is right... And you are already starting to fade...Jesus?" "Astrid, there is something  you want to tell your children.  Say it now, and just briefly, to save your strength, and you will wake up in your hospital room...

The Peacock 1993

Suddenly, Jesus is here, standing in our midst, which is just as well, given that all the chairs are now occupied. "You will not be leaving yet, not without the others.  More will be arriving tonight.  They are already here."  And now Melissa, accompanied by a frail older woman who must be their mother is holding on to her arm.  As Carl appears to be struggling to know just what to say to them, Jesus says "let us return to the meeting room. and we are now being led out through the dining room and the now unoccupied table and back to the meeting room where we all began.  Everyone else is seated, awaiting us, including Sheila, Michael, Matthew and Glen. "I believe that everyone is now accounted for", he says, just as Carol is staggering through the doorway.  "Except for your author, and now here he is", and it truly is Aaron who is standing in another doorway, as though waiting to be invited in to sit down.

The Peacock 1992

Curiouser and curiouser"say I. "I assumed we would be staying at least a few days." "Following breakfast tomorrow", says Amaris, "We are to leave, all of us." "I am a bit annoyed", says Francois, " That we can't be magically teleported back to where we were abducted from." And he is visibly indignant right now, as I am also struggling to not feel. "That's the way it alway works", says Kenny. "The way he explained it to me, it is so we can re enter normal life more grounded in concrete reality. That's the way it's always been for me, because, like Amaris here, I also live part time outside of here." "You're still part of the real world?" say I. "Oh yes, but under a different name and identity of course because Kenny is now legally dead. I live three weeks every month in Duncan where I run a flower shop..."

The Peacock 1991

I don't know how this happened, but suddenly Kenny and I are both seated in comfy chairs facing each other in the library.  There are cases of shelved books in row after row after row, with little cubicles and covey holes of comfy chairs and tables.  Much like the Vancouver Public Library downtown, only way more elegant. "Weren't we just having dinner?" say I, and I am a little bit indignant that I left my dinner half eaten. "I am just as surprised as you are, Chris", he says wistfully.  "I have been here twenty-five years and I still haven't got used to this place.  "How about coming back with me?"  Right now Amaris is approaching us with a tray laden with three full plates of food.  She places them on the table next to us, then pulls up an empty chair for herself. "Jesus has given us three permission to leave here tomorrow", she says.  "He has given us five permission to leave tomorrow", announces Carl's voice as he and Francois place themselves in the two other chairs with their plates in their laps...