The Peacock 1437

"Excuse me", he mumbles as he makes his way to the front door which he shuts behind him with a sound of tomblike finality. I am suddenly devastated and I sink into a chair, astonished and dumbfounded at my brazenness. All eyes are on me. "Don't worry, Chris", says Carl. "He had it coming." "What was that all about", are the words that burst out of Amanda. "Long story." Carl says, "Chris was one of the many young men and boys being victimized by Robert Griffin in the church." "I can continue", say I. One Sunday he tried again to proposition me. I was seventeen, so it was almost three decades ago. I demanded first a hundred bucks from him which he eagerly shelled out. I bailed on him, threatening if he followed me to announce to everyone in earshot since we were at coffee hour after high mass, that their priest was buying sex off me. When I got home, my dad, also an Anglican priest, persuaded me to give him back the money. Then he phoned Robert, who came over to collect his hundred bucks. And he had the nerve to lie here aout it, in front of all of you....