1773

"My Lord Jesus Christ", says a familiar voice, "Please, with your leave, lord, I would like to intercede for our friend Lawrence here"  And here is Aaron, standing in the doorway, but he doesn't appear to be able to advance any further, as though he is somehow being prevented by this new and very puzzling dimension we have all found ourselves in." "Yes, hello, Aaron.  And welcome.  It is always so good to see you, my beloved." To us, Jesus says, "Aaron is one of my very choice disciples.  He loves me from his heart and has suffered much in my service. I have given him leave to write all of you in this work of literary fiction as a means of instructing him and others about the true nature of life in my love, care and service." "Thank you Jesus", he replies.  "It's just that it so happens, Lord, that I also, due to some rather delicate circumstances, ended up not attending my own brother's wedding, and..." "Say no more, my beloved friend, I know everything and I can tell everything.  And don't imagine here, anyone, that weddings are particularly special to me just because of that incident with that water to wine in Cana of  Galilee.  I was pressganged by my dear micromanaging mother here, and loving nag that she is, wanted to tightly script everything for me, even if it meant getting all the guests scandalously pissed on the extra wine I could generate after they had run out of the plonk that was being served.  It was the culture of our day.  No wedding, or any such celebration, was considered complete unless everyone got so completely sozzled that they couldn't even get out of their chair to take a piss.  But I do not approve of drunkenness, but, well, we all know my lovely mother here..." "You are most gracious my lord, "  says his elderly mother with a slightly twisted little grin and more than a touch of maternal sarcasm... As if he hasn't heard her, Jesus gets to the point, "Your relationship Aaron, with your older brother, is very different from Lawrence's relationship with his younger sister.  In fact, Lawrence is very similar to your brother in his attitudes and mentality, and he caused you a lot of grief and anguish and not a few bruises when you were growing up.  You have never owed him anything.  Plus, while you had every intention of honouring your unworthy sbling with your presence at his wedding, which had nothing at all to do with church or clergy since he was both a nonbeliever and a disciple of the supreme dark lord, I was particularly worried about your being there.  Especially when I had other work for you."

1772

"You never liked your sister. You still don't. You always held yourself above her, and you were very mean to her throughout growing up, exluding and shunnng her, playing mean tricks on her. The very worst was when you offered her, at the time, a naíve four year old, dog feces on a plate, insisting it was chocolate. It was your mother who caught you both just in the nick of time and one of the rare times you were actually spanked. You would have been eight at the time." "Paula was and still is a chronic underachiever. She has no self-discipline, and absolutely no ambition in life." "Your sister, Paula, happens to be one of my most devoted lovers. She cares for the elderly and dying in a nursing home in the Downtown Eastside, a friend of the poorest and most unwanted. Why would you find fault, Lawrence. And on top of everything, you boycotted her recent wedding so you and Sarah could enjoy a ski weekend at Whistler. No anniversary, no special occasion. You simply didn't care enough. And not only did you not care enough. You still want to hurt her sister. You never forgave her for replacing you as the centre of your mother's attention. You never forgave her for being born. You never forgave her for existing..."

1771

"My Lord", and I am calling this boy my Lord because that is exactly who he happens to be. "My Lord, aren't you being a bit hard on him. He also appears to be a kind soul." "Lawrence, am I being hard on you?" "No.  Not in the least." "Are you a kind soul?" "I try to be." "Are you successful at being kind?" "No.  Not terribly." "But despite your narcissistic, consuming all engulfing greed, Lawrence.  You are also, indeed,  a kind soul. And that is why I have brought you here.  That ember is warm in you and already it is forming sparks.  Your grandfather could see that in you.  That is why he threatened to defund your postsecondary education if you were not going to abandon the photography classes in art school.  He wanted you, not to make something of yourself, but to offer and give yourself.  He saw that potential in you because he was seeing you through my eyes.  So you went to take a degree in social work with the objective of helping others in distress.  With a nice paycheque, of course.  I did say your grandfather was very pragmatic, but it also squared with your desire and sense of entitlement to always have privilege and nice things in your life, Lawrence.  But we also need to talk about your cruel streak, also known as your younger sister, Paula.  Shall I continue?" "Must you?"

1770

Lawrence does appear completely flummoxed. Emotionally he is barely holding on, and appears as if he could break down into a weltering weeping mess at the drop of a pin. "I can see this is finally making an impression on you, Lawrence", says Jesus. "I never would have thought", he says. "I never would have guessed, nor even remotely guessed that that was affecting her that way." "That you are this moved over her condition is a sign of great hope for you, Lawrence", says Jesus. He raises his eyes to the rest of us and says, "People who backslide from, who abandon the Christian faith never do so for reasons that are not completely and thoroughly selfish. They have become so completely consumed in their own misgivings, bitterness and selfishness that they neither know or care just how they are affecting others through their behaviour. It suddenly becomes all about them as they try to carve their own road in life, absolutely heedless and indifferent to all the innocent souls, all the lovely flowers that get trampled and mowed down and destroyed by them as they try to move in what they think is a forward direction." He returns his gaze onto Lawrence. "in your case this has been particularly toxic because you have become a life support for your appetites, one gaping maw that must always find something to consume and swallow..."

1769

"What else do you know?" says Lawrence, quiet and sobre, but still not yielding. "That Sarah has kicked you out of the apartment, and expects you to be fully gone once she is back in six weeks. Do you think you can manage?" "I haven't even begun to look for a place to live yet." "There will be something available for you once you are finished here. Or once I am finished with you here, Lawrence. As you can tell by my tone, I am not particularly pleased with your behaviour of late, though I am absolutely delighted to finally have you here with me, as I hope, in time, that you will also feel about being here with me. There does remain one particularly pesky detail, however. Your infidelity towards your ex-fiance, has also soured her towards me. Sarah has never known me, though a certain yearning was beng stirred awake in her spirit through the course of your courtship, and even if your arrangements of common-law still remain outside the purview of my will for you, it has been better than nothing, and has served as a form of what they call harm-reduction, as you both could at least begin to practice together mutual fidelity. This betrayal has also seared out of existence Sarah's desire to know me, and for this reason, except you repent and accept the discipline that awaits you here in this house with me, I am going to require of you that poor woman's soul....

1768

"This is just all way too much at once", protests Lawrence, nearly shouting. "Here I am expected to believe that some blonde teenage little smartass is actually Jesus Christ, himself, has magicaly teleported me and the rest of us to heaven knows where in some ritzy looking mansion where now I have to sit here without cellular service and listen to the likes of you as you completely humiliate me in front of people I don't even know and one of them happens to be my professional client. This is all way beyond the pale. I demand to see and speak to your parents or adult guardians, and I plan to use every force of the law to make sure that you answer for this." "Both my earthly parents are right here, among us, if you wish to speak to them about this matter, Lawrence. In the meantime, you might try to ask yourself just how anybody, outside of Jesus Christ himself, could possibly know all those intimate details about your past. And speaking of which, I would like to continue. Your girlfiend, Sarah, was able to find someone, her best girlfriend, Melanie, actually, to take your place on her vacation. She actually did bankroll the whole thing as a birthday present to her soon to be fiancee, who only turned out to be one cheating little weasel. I believe it was just ten days or so ago when..." "That's enough", he shouts in a fit of rage, but without even having to raise his voice, the young Jesus is already calmly and serenely speaking over him and drowning him out. "It turns out, that one of your male conquests in the gay steambath you were frequenting, I believe those places are also known colloquially as, the Tubs, anyway, that this young swain of yours with whom you had a five minute tryst in the Tubs was particularly smitten by you and actually followed you home one night. You were already in bed when he rang your intercom, but Sarah was still up. She wasn't sure what to make of this person, so she went downstairs and had a most illunminating interview with him through the front door of your apartment building..." "That's enough", says Lawrence, but now it sounds more like a whine than a roar issuing out of his mouth.. "The young man's name is Damien. He is one of mine, has wandered far from me, and soon, thanks to your contact with him, a new fissure has just opened up for him to return to Me... being your Redeemer also gives me the power to turn almost any sinful or disobeient act into a process of redemption." "Wait a minute", says Carl, "You actually gave this guy you just met in the Tubs your address?" "Damien already knew Lawrence. They had been to university together and on occasion had visited Lawrence and Sarah together in their apartment. For drinks. Nothing else..."

1847

"And Sarah, you have an allergy to strawberries ever since you were five years old.  Erik had a mild allergy to peanuts as a child but has outgrown it.  And now that I have done your work for you, please excuse me again while we get to work on feeding your hungry little mouths." "Who ever would have thought that Jesus and his mom and dad would be cooking us dinner", says Carl. "Well, he did cook his disciples breakfast on the Galilee lakeshore", say I, if I remember correctly the account in John's Gospel of the Resurrection. "They were having fish, weren't they?" says Francois. "And I was hoping Jesus was a vegetarian", says Sarah. "Poor little fishies", says Carl.  "Aw!" "I wonder what they're preparing for us", says Erik. "Maybe something Middle Eastern", wonders Lawrence. "I would love some humous right now", sayd Sarah. "And eggplant dip", says Erik. "How are you, Caspar?" say I. "I am very tired, " says he.  "I think soon I would like to sleep." "Please try to stay awake for dinner, darling", chides Stella, "It should be a wonderful experience.  Dinner prepared by the most holy hands ever...."

1766

Lawrence now has at least two tattoos on his upper left arm (he is dressed in an olive green T shirt). A red rose and a green and blue hummingbird. "When did you get those tattoos", say I. "The day after I completed my practicum and was hired fulltime by the mental health team", he says. "Is everything that Jesus just said about your past the truth?" says Carl. He replies grimly, "Nothing that Jesus ever says is going to be anything but the truth." "I am glad you are beginning to recognize the true identity of your Host here", says the young Jesus. "Shall I continue?" "As if I could do anything to stop you", he mutters tersely. "that was also the same day you found an apartment with your girlfriend, Sarah, and you were together for almost six years, or till this very day, since she has flown off to Thailand without you. Sarah is the recreation therapist who soon came on board at the same mental health team. You began seeing each other just eighteen months before you graduated, while still living with your grandparents. Unfortunately they have both since passed away, but they are with me now, and they are both quite aware that you broke your side of the deal with them and started having sex with Sarah just days after your first meeting....

1765

"His father, your grandfather, fortunately intervened. He is your mother's father, the Dutch side of your family, through whom you owe your relation to Carl.You two had always been close, with your grandmother as well, and they invited you to come live with them during your last year of high school and beyond. They shared in common with your parents a deep devotion to me, but with considerably greater maturity and common sense. Plus, your grandfather had prospered greatly in the building supplies business and was already a man of considerable wealth. So, he decided to bankroll your mental health treatment, by seeing that you had access to better care and treatment than what was then being offered by the public health system, and as well, your university tuition. Of course, there was going to be a price to his generosity: faithful and regular church attendance, no tattoos and abstinance from all manner of sexual relations. You were allowed to have one girlfriend, platonic. Knowing that your future was at stake, you swallowed the bitter pill and got to work, even if your heart still remained so very far from me..."

1764

Lawrence has been looking down silently, his eyes mostly closed, and now he looks up and stares Jesus in the face as though to demand to know if he is finished yet.  "Please verify to the others, my dear Lawrence, that I am indeed speaking the truth." But he doesn't respond. "Shall I continue?" Still no response. "I shall accept as permission your silence.  You were not an easy child to raise.  You had sharp mood swings and bouts of black depression that could make you an absolute pain to be around.  Of course, later, in your twenties, you were diagnosed and have since met with success using light medications and cognitive therapy.  From when you were fifteen you became hell for your parents because of your insatiable sexual lust that overtook you whenever you were having bouts of mania.  And you were, and still are, sexually quite omnivorous.  More than once your parents caught you sharing your bed with various girls and various boys that would follow you home, and you were one handsome and seductive charmer.  Your father naively assumed that you were demonically possessed and foolishly tried to induce upon you rites of exorcism, and that was the final plank that was removed from your relationship..."

1763

"And now I am going to tell you some things about your father, Lawrence. As a child with your grandparents, they all immigrated to Canada from Croatia. This you already know. What they didn't tell you was that they quickly left the Roman Catholic church and began attending a charismatic church in East Vncouver, the same one that your father, Christopher, had some connection with. There he experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit, of my very Spirit that proceeds through me from our heavenly father, and that was when he began to speak in tongues. Now let me advise you about this so-called glossalia. In some cases it is fake. In some cases it is genuine. Only I can tell the difference. It was very real for both your fathers, and both your dads had an intimate knowledge of me. In fact, Christopher, your dad was a friend of Lawrence's dad in St Margaret's. Of course you didn't know that. So, on top of having Carl for a distant cousin, Lawrence, you have this other connection with your mental health client."

1762

"I was just about to ask you that very same question", says Jesus. "But while you are here, let me please explain you to you, and to the others sitting here. And before you get caught up in your bloodlust and voyeurism, all of you, each and every one of you while we are all together here is also going to have their turn at having your inner selves exposed here to the light of day, and more, to the very interpenetrating divine light of which I, the son of man and God, happen to be." he is smiling right now, and the light in his moss green eyes is almost unbearable to look at. We all stare at him in dumbfounded silence. I think that now, even to my dear case manager, it is now perfectly obvious whose presence we happen to be sitting in right now. "Now, beginning with you, Lawrence, when you were just thirteen, you were all ready to pack it all in. You decided that your father's pentecostalism was all hogwash, speaking n tongues was an embarrassment you dared not mention to anyone, especially not to your peers in school, and you were already inventing one excuse after another for not attending church on Sundays...

1761

"And to deflect and distract", mutters the old Joseph, every bit an Engish gentleman of the upper classes. "Yes, Lawrence", says Jesus, turning to look my case manager full in the face. "Who are you people" he says. And now I have just noticed that all the others have given up on finding anything on their phones and have tucked them back into their pockets. "I could help you solve that riddle", says Jesus. "Who else would have the power to summon all of you at will here to an unknown mansion on top of the mountain of an unknown island where there is no avilable wifi service." "You're not going to help me with any of this, are you" "And how many mothers are going to address their apparently adolescent son as being their lord, and that without sarcasm and perhaps just a tiny smidgeon of irony?" "You're not making this easy." "And how many aged mothers would comment about once having sworn at their progeny in old Aramaic, and then remark about untold billions of faithful Catholics praying to her on their rosaries, visualizing her as a rather brainless teenage girl wearing a blue bedspread." "That was your comment, my Lord", says his mother. "Lawrence", says Jesus, "Your own father would have known us on the ready. And he is still one of my faithful ones, whom you have walked away from and rejected since the very day you rejected the Christian faith that he raised you in." "Just what do you happen to know about my father?" "That right now at this very moment he is seated at his desk in his church office, praying fervently for his beloved backslidden son, who is also the very apple of his eye. And for this reason I have brought you here." "Who are you!" says Lawrence, shouting and becoming unhinged, which I am finding quite gratifying in the schadenfreude sense, given how close he was to putting me on medications I no longer, never did happen, to need....

1772

"You already had a few choice monickers for me in our old Aramaice", says Jesus, still smiling. "And I'm sure that you remember every single one of them", rejoins the old crone . "And every single word I have long ago forgiven, Mother", he says. "You are most kind, my Lord", says his mother with a curious mix of reverence, sarcasm, and, could this be camp? And now, both mother and son are laughing merrily while the old Joseph stoicly looks on. Then he says, "Please let this old man in on your joke." Jesus says, "I am just picturing all those millions, no, billions of faithful Roman Catholics, etcetera, so faithfully and devoutly praying with their little rosaries to my dear mother here, visualizing a sweet, rather dumb-looking, young girl wearing a blue bedspread, and never imagining not even for one moment how choicely and succinctly she could swear at me in our old Aramaic. Hilarious! And mother, they could hear you screaming at me throughout the whole blessed village." "Meanwhile, my Lord", she says, "I believe the focus right now is still on this young man here. Lawrence." "How like my mother", he says. "Always the first to want to help."

1759

Lawrence appears to be ignoring what our host has just said, and is right now scouring his smartphone for clues. "I can't get a signal here." "Because there is no signal here. You are wasting your time." "Obviously." Stubbornly, Lawrence clings to his phone and keeps texting and scrolling and texting and scrolling. "You are not going to find GPS on your phone, Lawrence." "Then why can't you tell us where we are", he sputters, "Or tell us who you are?" "I have many names", says our host. "Or perhaps you could invent a name for me." Jesus is smiling, mischievously, and tenderly at Lawrence. "How about Fifteen Year Old Smartass", says Lawrence. "Had I spoken English back in the day", says his elderly mother in clipped upper class English, "That is exactly what I would have called you."

1758

"Does thqt mean we are going to be here for a long time?" wonders Erik, evidently not particlrly nervous or upset that we have just been all abducted together. "You will be here for as long as you need to be." "What are we going to do here?" says Francois. "You will all be sleeping here over a course of many nights. This house is bigger than yours, Carl, so there is no question of there being adequate room, and all your other needs, including changes of clothing and toiletries, you will each find in your bedrooms and bathrooms." "You can't do this to us", says Lawrence, his voice rising in a panic. Clearly he is going to be needing the most convincing. "I demand to be let off this island. Immediately." "You are most welcome to descend the mountain we are on and wait at the beach, where at sunset there will be a boat to ferry you to the big Island, and from there you can make your own arrangements." "You mean to say Vancouver Island", he says testily. "The same, yes. But first won't you stay and have dinner with us, and see the place before your decision is final."

1839

"I have seen you before.  I think," says Sarah. "Many many times, you have seen me, my child."  and now it doesn't seem quite so absurd that someone who looks like a sixteen year old boy should address a woman nearly forty as his mother. "I have always had trouble imagining me being close to a mature man with a beard.  Because I am a woman and because I am attracted to women.  But as I see you now, my Lord, that makes much more sense of what I felt and could see with the eyes of my heart whenever I felt your presence near me.  But now the person I see you to be is much more compatible with my sense of the Jesus I was...feeling?" "When I rose from the dead, it was only the marks, the wounds of my crucifixion that I still carried in my body.  I did not rise again to continue looking the way I did before I died, but to show forth my true form.  but since my true form was too glorious for the human flesh and eye to behold, I show to you myself in the very human form most like my resurrected self..  So, whom you see here before you, is not a teenage boy, but the essence of the beauty and purity that I was resurrected into...

1757

Carl looks perplexed at Jesus, but seems to know better than ask him about how those keys got there. "Where exactly are we", he says. "You are in the area of what is now called the Salish Sea", replies Jesus, on a small island between Saltspring and Saturna." "Pender Island?" say I. "That is the island in between Saltspring and Saturna. " "You are on an altogether different island here with me", says Jesus. "Uncharted?" asks Francois. "You will never be found here. No one is ever found here..."

1756

"Hello, Francois", says Carl, still totally gobsmacked, "How did you get here." "How did you get here." "We were all seated in a coffee shop midtown on Broadway and then this Jesus kid here shows up, and now we are all here. By the way, I would like you to meet Lawrence, and Caspar, and Stella, and Sven." "The pleasure is mine" says Francois, clearly holding on to his aplomb, and taking a seat between Sven Lindstrom and my brother-in-law. "This person here just showed up on our doorstep and told me I was to come with...her? him?" "My eternal servants do not have gender as it is known on the earth", remarks Jesus. "You may call this one Lan." "Anyway, they gave me time to call the others to let them kow we would be all indisposed for a while in an emergency retreat..." "They will also be summoned", says Lan in one of the purest and clearest voices I have ever heard. They are wearing a long white tunic with a bright lavander purple robe fastened over one shoulder. This person or being is one of the most remarkably beautiful beings I have ever laid eyes upon. "The painters have agreed to leave the extra set of keys you gave them inside the front door. If you reach into your pocket you will find the original keys there, Carl." "So they are", he says, dumbfounded....

1755

"Can someone, anyone please explain to me where we are and how we got here. or am I hallucinating." "You are not hallucinating, dear Lawrence. Simply, I have brought all of you here together with me, though there are still a few missing. But I think that would be Francois coming in through the front door." And so arrives Francois, escorted by a tall, beautiful fair haired woman, or perhaps an androgynous young man, robed in purple and white. Francois appears sombre and rather perplexed as he makes his way towards our circle. "Welcome to the Refuge, faithful and noble Francois", says the young Jesus, springing from his seat and walking over to our African-Canadian friend. He enfolds Francois in a tight and prolonged embrace. "You are above all present here most blessed, excluding perhaps my most famous mother here..." "Well, that's what they all call me anyway", says the old woman laughing. "Please, seat yourself here next to my mother, good, dear Francois"

1754

"I would hardly call this Modern Family", says Lawrence, who seems to rely on witty oneliners in order to cope with the unexpected. "Where the hell are we. Where the hell am I." "Nowhere near hell", responds Jesus, laughing. "Who are you, then." "Any of my friends here will be happy to tell you", says the boy. "And, Caspar", he says, turning to the dark being, putting his arm around his shoulder. "Welcome. I have been longing for this meeting. I have been longing to see you. It has been such a long time, friend, and now fortunately, we can see each other under different, and better circumstances." To Lawrence, I say, "This is Jesus." "Oh, come on. Or maybe it is time for you to restart your meds." "Lawrence", says Stella, in a tone of don't -try- my -patience, "This is indeed Jesus. That Jesus." "That Jesus." "And, Lawrence", says the young Jesus to my case manager, "It has been with great longing that I have been wanting to see you here..."

1753

"What is the meaning of all this", sputters Lawrence. "What is the meaning of anything", responds Jesus. "Who are you", says Lawrence. "And where are your parents." "They are both right here." He calls, "Mary. Joseph. You are both needed here." And out come this most peculiar elderly couple. they are dressed in elegant, upper class English country tweeds, with white hair. The woman's hair is wild, sticking out in all directions. Despite their years, they appear both straight, tall and strong. Very tall, almost seven feet tall. "I said your parents, not your grandparents", says Lawrence, frowning. "These are my parents", says Jesus. The old woman says, "but our son here is older than we are. Much much older.... "And I am his stepfather", says the old man

1752

And here he is. The teenage Jesus, standing behind us both, both his hands resting on our backs, and now suddenly...Where are we? It looks like one of the sitting rooms in Carl's family mansion, but no, this is a different place altogether. There is dark wood paneling, a beautiful red, blue and gold coloured oriental carpet at our feet, and we are all seated in a circle in upholstered chairs. Lawrence is on my left, Jesus is on my right where he sits between Caspar and me. And across are Carl, Stella, and I also see Jesús, who ought to be in Colombia, and a tall, handsome man with blonde hair next to Stella, who could only be her twin, Sven, and also Erik...

1751

Now Caspar is weeping, openly and loudly, howling like a child who has just fallen down and hurt himself for the first time in his short little life and no mommy or daddy nearby to pick him up and console him. I am next to him, and instinctively my arm goes around his back, and now he is leaning into me, weeping and convulsing, and howling so loud that every eye in this coffee shop is upon us. "I killed him", he wails. "I killed him, I killed Jesus. I killed God..." He is finally starting to calm down, his voice has gone quiet. "How can I ever find forgiveness." A young and very tender voice says suddenly, "And now I live..."

1750

Then I felt a hand on my back, and another grabbing me by the arm. I couldn't understand what he was saying, but he dragged me over to where the man was lying on a piece of wood that had been fastened to the crossbeam. Someome put in my right hand a hammer, and in the other a spike, then directed me to the left hand of the man who was tied there. Then with his hands, he guided my hands to hammer the nail into his hand. I obeyed. The man winced and cried out in pain, and then the blood came, some of it spattering on me. Then he looked directly at me, and said something to me in another language. But this time I knew what was being said. His eyes were filled with tears, kindness and compassion, and he said to me. We will meet again, and then we shall be friends....

1746

Lawrence is not one for disguising his incredulity, it seems.  He looks both, Stella. and Caspar, up and down, as though they are notorious figures in a wax museum.  He can't believe his eyes. "Caspar", he says, Just how old are you?" He doesn't answer at first.  His face is a gleaming afterglow of joy, but his eyes carefully measure Laurence's face, as though he is about to perform cosmetic surgery on him, then he says, "I am by far the oldest one here." "You can't be more than twenty." "I did tell you on the phone this morning", I start saying to lawrence, but Stella cuts me off. "Caspar comes from a race of beings that is quite different from mortal humans.  But he has just lost his immortality.  Punishment by my father for insubordination..."

1749

You fell asleep. You were in a coma?" "I was asleep for a long time. A very long time. Hundreds of years. When I awoke I was a youth, much as you see me now. There was this huge commotion occurring. I was in a market square in Jerusalem, and then I saw a man carrying a huge beam of wood tied to his back. He stumbled and fell. Then I saw a dark man. African, I think, being shoved over to where the man had dropped the piece of wood. He was made to pick it up and carry it for him the rest of the way. There was a lot of shouting. angry and rude shouts and gestures. And there was the sound of women weeping. I followed them outside the gates of the city...

1748

"But what am I supposed to do with all this", says Lawrence, gently shoving back to her the tidy stack he has just made of Stella's passports. "Perhaps", say I, "You need to accept that you are no longer just my case worker, but that now you are accompanying us on a journey." Instead of responding to my comment, Lawrence directs his eyes onto Caspar and says, "Where do you fit into all this." Caspar is still smiling and glowing. "You do not know, just now what you have done to help me. I have never in my long existence every thanked anyone for anything, neither have I ever smiled or laughed. I cannot begin to thank you enough, dear Lawrence." "How old are you?" "when I was a little child, I was wandering alone, hungry and completely abandoned, the streets of a big city in India. I do not know which one. Then a very kind man wearing a bright orange robe adopted me. He was a disciple of the Buddha. He treated me like his own son. And then I fell asleep..."

1747

"And I am expected to believe you both." "It doesn't matter to either one of us a bloody damn what you believe. You wanted to know. We just told you. if you can't believe us, then at least kindly shut up so we can move on...." "Can I see your passpsorts again, please?" "Oh, all right", Stella barks while digging the six documents out of her handbag and slamming them in front of Lawrence. He examines each one, carefully, each time looking carefully at Stella's face, then back to the photos covering nine decades. He pauses, tears the lid off his takeout coffee and takes a careful, calculated sip of the scalding hot beverage, then he looks again at the passports, examining each one with what appears to be a professional eye. "I'm a photographer", he says. "I trained at Emily Carr, before getting my social work degree. I know how to identify fakes and counterfeits." Then he looks directly at her. "Not one of these photos is faked. It is the same image of the same person, someone who has not aged one single year in almost a century. How am I to explain this. How am I to understand it." "Perhaps by accepting that we are not lying", she replies...