The Peacock 508

 "And you, Glen, are the other protagonist in my first novel.  In fact, the working title, Thirteen Crucifixions comes from your thirteen huge paintings of the crucifixion of Jesús, only one of which survived the fire that burned down the warehouse in Toronto where you had your studio.  You were twenty-one then.  Oh, by the way, the Jesus in those paintings was completely naked, nothing to the imagination."

"You're pretty good, you know", says Michael.  "What else can you tell us, Aaron?"

"Officer Crawly and his eleventh floor apartment in Metrotown.

Michael, who appears to be not easily embarrassed, is suddenly quiet and rather red in the face.

"And kudos for the way you finally stopped him", adds Aaron.

"Mom, you remember Officer Crawly"; Michael says to Sheila.

"You were eating chili at the kitchen table when you told me."

"When you extorted the information from me..."

The Peacock 507

 "Aaron", says Sheila rather sharply, "Could you please explain to us what you are about?"

"With pleasure, Sheila.  I have been writing all of you, in two novels.  You were the protagonist in my first effort, called Thirteen Crucifixions.  Shall I begin by telling us all about your two husbands?

"Pray tell", she says drily.

"Your first husband was Frank Watson.  You were high school sweethearts, and in 1960 he married you in order to hide his homosexuality.  You purchased a big house together, on Napier Street in East Vancouver, near Victoria Drive.  you had three children together, Michael here being the first, born in 1962, born in April.  Ares.  you had two more kids, Jason and Suzanne.  Your husband was a sales rep for an international chemical company and was often on long business trips, really dirty holidays, so you basically raised your kids without much assistance.  You went to university, got a degree in social work, and with your childhood friend, Madge, opened a drop in centre for people with social and mental health issues.  You also took in refugees from Chile and other Latin American countries.  During the late eighties, Frank died from AIDS caught from a rent boy, and he died at home in your presence on Christmas Day.  Bill was your second husband.  You ran a coffee shop diner together.  He was a lot younger than you, and had severe mental health problems, tried to kill you, and you divorced.  He also enjoyed a rapid recovery and a lot of his illness appeared to be involved with your house, which was very strangely haunted by spirits of old Atlantis, of which the tree bearing golden apples in your garden was a remnant.

"Would you like me to tell you more?"

"In other words, Aaron", says Glen.  "We are your invention."

"No  I'm just a fly on the wall.  And really, you, Glen, of all people, should know this, because we were actually friends when we were both young men living in Toronto."

"Glen stares at Aaron rather stupidly.  Then he says, "And when you lived in that basement apartment on East Fourteenth in the eighties.  and then in 2000 you lived in that room with all the windows and you were painting those beautiful birds..."

The Peacock 506

 "So, where were we this morning, Jesús?"

"We were drinking coffee in your apartment."

"Do you live nearby?" Sheila asks.

"I live right here", Aaron says.

"You have your apartment here in this house", Michael says.

"In a manner of speaking" Aaron says.  "Actually I am there right now."

"This very minute", says Sheila.

"This very minute.  Right here in front of my laptop."

"So where is your laptop?" Sheila says.

"Right here, on my desk, where I am seated this very moment.

"You are seated here in this living room in this mansion", Sheila says.

"Yep.  There too.  and I am drinking hot chocolate that I made this afternoon."

"This afternoon?" says Michael, wanting to have his mother's back.  "What time zone are you in?"

Carl says, still smiling,"Aaron lives simultaneously in two dimensions.   He is, we could say, our author."

"Our author?" says Matthew.  "You mean to say you are writing us?"...

The Peacock 505

 Melissa says. "We are all going to have to stay here in quarantine for two weeks following getting vaccination tomorrow.  We have to have that window of time for our immunity to kick in."

"So", says Carl to his sister, "What are we going to do about mother?"

"That was a line from Katherine Hepburn", Aaron says.

"Oh, that's right", says Carol brightly.  "The Lion in Winter.  Oh, she was brilliant!"

"It was when Peter O'Toole had a knife to her throat and was going to drag her off to prison, and that was her comment to their three sons. What are we going to do about Mother!"

"So what are we going to do about mother", says Melissa.  "I don't think either of us knew she will have to quarantine for two weeks upon arrival."

"We can make a special arrangement for her to quarantine here, with the rest of us.  Has she been vaccinated?"

"Two weeks ago."

"She'll be okay then."

Carol says, smiling, "We can all tell each other stories.  This is just like Boccaccio's Decameron."

"We can start today", says Sarah.  "I mean, we seem to have already covered the business end of the meeting.  Let's make it enjoyable.  But first, Aaron, could you tell us where you and Jesús got to this morning."

"And that will be our first story during quarantine", says Aaron, grinning...

The Peacock 504

 Carl says, "Some of us here are overdue for vaccinations.  I have explained our rather unique arrangements to the public health nurse, so tomorrow, someone is going to come here to give everyone the jab."

"Whether they want it or not?" says Glen.

"Melissa and I have both agreed, with back up and advice from Astrid, our mother, that that is going to be mandatory here, and conditional upon continuing to live in this house."

"Count me in", Glen concurs, without enthusiasm.

"So, let's have a show of hands", Carl says.  "Who here has been vaccinated so far?"

Only Aaron raises his hand.

"Second question", Carl says, "is there anyone present here who is opposed to getting vaccinated against covid?"

Nobody stirs.

"Okay, then it's passed", he says.  "We will all be present here tomorrow morning at ten and the public health nurse will be present to give us the vaccine.

"Finally some common sense gets to see the light of day around here", says Sheila.

"Douglas forbade the vaccine", Sarah says.

"Oh", groans Aaron, "Why am I not surprised to hear that!"

"No one here", says Matthew, "Should be surprised.  No one at all."

The Peacock 503

 "I don't know", says Sarah, "I do feel kind of nervous about him, being suddenly on his own and everything."

"Well, you do have a soft spot for him", Jennifer says, ruffling her friend's  hair, "And so do I.  Nothing wrong with that.  And yes we are going to worry about him" ,  

"Help yourselves", says Francois, not looking their way.

"I know it's not easy for you, Francois", says Sarah.  "And you have my full support."

"And mine, too", sys Maureen."

"And mine", says Jennifer.

"At least we have three Christians among us", says Francois, grinning.

"Francois", says Carl, with a great glowing smile, "you can count on all of us here for support.  And friendship."

"So", says Melissa, "With all that is said and done, shall we move on to our next item of business.  We need to talk about the pandemic  I have been to the pharmacy in Mission for a supply of medical masks and hand sanitizer, also gloves for those who want them.  We shouldn't have to worry about taking a lot of precautions here, but should we have a visitor, we might want to arm ourselves as needed..."

The Peacock 502

"What are we going to do about Tristan?" Sarah asks.

"Do we have champagne in the wine cellar?" says François, grinning malevolently. 

"We haven't got a wine cellar", Carl says.  "And no champagne."

"Aw, no champagne", says Michael.

"No champagne", says Carl, shaking his head theatrically.

"No champagne", says George, turning to Edward.  "Isn't that a pain?"

"No champagne is a real pain", says Michael.

"And you are being a real pain", grumbles Sheila to her son.

"Better a champagne than a real pain", says Jennifer.

"Oh, you guys are so very funny", mutters Sarah.  "So, what are we going to do about Tristan?"

"You don't imagine that we should send out a missing person report", says Maureen, who seems genuinely anxious about him.

"He's an adult", says Matthew, "And he knows his way around.  He'll live..."