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"Father, let's face it, your idea of 'inappropriate' and mine are on opposite ends of the spectrum."

"You don't think that they...?"

"I'm not sure, but I would've found out, if you'd had a flat tire, or hit a telephone pole before you rushed over here."

"Oh, my Lord, I hope nothing happened. I'm sure you know Thad's reputation..."

"Pardon my being blunt, but do you mean 'fuck 'em and forget 'em'?"

"I wouldn't phrase it quite that way... but..."

"Father! Do I detect a tinge of sacramental jealousy? Is the 'Holy Father' guilty of impure thoughts concerning the brother of his dearly departed friend?"

"Steve, that's ridiculous. You know my vocation forbids me to even have thoughts about... well, that to which you're referring."

"You're still a human being... and a man, a damn good-looking man at that, Father. I can't speak 'first-hand,' but I'm sure priests awaken with morning wood the same as all members of the male species."

"Steve, if you knew anything about the priesthood, you'd know that we're trained to resist human desires."

"Whoo boy! Tell that to all those former altar boys, who're suing the church for millions of dollars... or maybe it was the altar boys with the morning wood during morning prayer. I suppose, if a priest has a wet dream, his semen is more in the form of sawdust?""

"You are absolutely incorrigible, Steve Barrows!" the priest laughed.

"Does that mean the boogey man is gonna get me?" Steve joked.

"Probably! I'm sure your sexual history is known world-wide... and well, into the next world, too. So, the 'boogey man' is more than likely waiting to see you, to have wild sex!"

"When you were at seminary, did your instructors ever tell you how long the boogey man's...?"

"Oh, dear Lord, Steve, you're totally impossible," he interrupted, laughing in spite of himself.

"You mean you never saw any pictures?"

Chris wanted to laugh out loud again; but fortunately, he was spared answering Steve's question as David reentered the room carrying his bag.

"All ready!" David announced.

"And not one moment too soon," Chris replied. "Steve and I were getting into a deep discussion about theology and the Devil; and I really don't have time to answer all his long, well-thought-out questions."

"Father, we will resume this discussion later, won't we?" Steve asked, a smirk on his face.

"Oh, I'm sure we will someday, but not today."

David turned to Steve, "I... I want to thank you for your hospitality and everything you did for Mark. I hope we get to talk more later."

"Me, too, me too! There's so much I want to know... from both of you!" Steve retorted, looking at both David and Chris. David gave Steve a big hug, picked up his bag, and went out the door following Chris.

It was just barely past noon, and the sun was beaming brightly on the streets of Atlanta. Yesterday and last night, David's thoughts had been colored by sorrow, and he really hadn't noticed the metropolis of Atlanta. "Man, this city is big!" David's head kept swiveling, looking around, as Chris drove down one of the numerous Peachtree streets.

"And it doesn't seem to stop growing," Chris replied. "One day, in a decade or two, the Atlanta city limits will reach as far north as Tennessee and as far south as Florida maybe."

"Looks like it already might. You could put one hundred River Oaks, Virginias in Atlanta. I don't think I could ever get used to a city this big."

"Oh, you'd soon learn to habitate in your own small community. When that happens, the whole sprawl of Atlanta doesn't seem quite so overwhelming."

"Chris? Is there a drug store or convenience store on the way to the mortuary?"

"Several. Want me to stop?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind. I packed in a hurry before I left, and I need a couple of toiletries... primarily some mouthwash."

"Have you tried those new Listerine breath strips? They do the trick, and they're so much quicker to use than breath mints. I keep a packet in my pocket to use just before mass. That way, I don't have to suck on a Tic-Tac for fifteen minutes before serving mass."

"Yeah, I have used them - they're great!"

Their conversation remained light, but Chris' curiosity was bubbling about what had happened at Thad's place the previous night. Even so, he didn't want to look as if he was prying. He couldn't pry while hearing a confession; and now, he wondered if a confession might be in order here.

"David, how was Thad this morning? I mean, did the two of you have a productive chat last night?"

"The night began on a low note... each of us grieving over his personal loss. Then after an hour or so, our conversation became more... how shall I put it... informative?"

"Informative...?"

"That was a poor choice of words. We began to open up to each other on various subjects, and we got to know one another a bit better."

"Oh."

"Nothing earth-shattering, just that I found out that the Atlanta detective from New Jersey is not as rough and tough as he might appear to some folk that he arrests. He's really got a soft heart beneath that iron façade he likes to exhibit. He's even got a romantic nature, but he's too afraid to show it."

"Romantic?"

"Oh, not that way, Chris, not with me, of course; but deep inside, Thad wants to fall in love, if and when the right guy comes along. After hearing the way he felt about Alex... I don't think Alex was the one for Thad."

"I always assumed as much..." Chris replied. "Hey! Over there, on the right, there's a pharmacy. You can get whatever you need there in the way of toiletries. They should have a good selection."

"Thanks, that's great!." Chris pulled his car into the parking lot and David got out of the car. "You coming in?"

"No, you go ahead. I'll keep the air-conditioning running in the car."

"I won't be long."

David entered the large pharmacy and picked up a shopping basket from the stack at the front door. After looking round for a moment, he began to wander through the aisles while putting some items in the basket, which he really didn't need. No one ever seems to buy just the one item he goes to shop for, and that was the case with David. Finally, he reached the toothpaste/mouthwash section, and saw the breath strips on the second row from the bottom. There was a young man standing with his back to David, and he was practically blocking the shelf that David was trying to reach. The young man had a large glass bottle of mouthwash in his hand and, as he turned around, he stumbled into David and almost knocked him over. David looked up, and the young man had a stunned look on his face... then it turned nearly white as he looked at David and he dropped the large glass bottle, which shattered, sending broken glass and minty liquid all over the floor and on David's trousers.

The young man gasped, "Oh my God! Mark?!!!" The young man was frozen, staring as if he was seeing a ghost. David first looked down to see the damage the mouthwash had done to his pants, then looked up at the gaping man, when suddenly it dawned on him that the young man was mistaking him for his dead brother. He must have been a friend of Mark's.

Breaking from his trance, he flushed, saying, "I am so sorry," the young man said, then dropped to his knees to begin picking up pieces of glass and wiping David's pants leg with his bare hand. The young man didn't seem to have noticed that he had cut his hand on the broken glass and blood was covering his palm.

"You've hurt yourself," David said calmly. "Here, take this and put some pressure on your hand!" David said, as he reached into his pocket to retrieve a folded handkerchief.

"I am so embarrassed," the young man said, "but you look exactly like a friend of mine... a very sick friend... who... who..." By this time, the young man seemed ready to break into tears.

"I heard you call me Mark... you mean Mark Stanley? Is that the name of your friend?"

"Well... yes!"

"I'm David, David Stanley, Mark's older brother. You know, of course, that Mark..."

"Yeah, I heard yesterday that he... that he'd died."

"May I ask who you are?"

"Randy, Randy Carpenter..."

When David heard the name, he felt a chill go through his body. So, this was Randy, Mark's lover that Steve had mentioned.

"In spite of the circumstances, it's nice to meet you, Randy. I... I spent some time yesterday at Mark's house with Steve, whom I'm sure you know... Steve mentioned your name to me."

"Then you know that Mark and I were...?"

"Steve told me that you and Mark were very close."

With the introductions out of the way, David started viewing his brother's former boyfriend a bit more carefully. So, this was the guy Mark had fallen in love with! All at once David wanted to learn what there was about this young man that had attracted his brother. Taking a good look at Randy's face, David was surprised to see that it was almost as beautiful as a woman's; but still, Randy's appearance was in no way effeminate. Dark skin with dark brown hair, almost black, with a couple of curls falling down over Randy's forehead framing Randy's dark, long velvety lashes above a perfectly shaped nose, and lips so naturally red, one would almost believe they were enhanced by lipstick, but Randy's face showed no sign of makeup. Everything about his face was natural... and perfect. Randy was approximately six feet tall, about the same height as David and Mark, with an average build, not too muscular, but certainly not thin. He easily could have been a model for men's clothing. Strangely, David found that he was glad that Randy had good looks, and appeared to be the perfect specimen of a handsome young male. This was the kind of guy Mark would have been attracted to... only what was it Steve had said? That Randy had disappeared - that he had never come to see Mark, once he learned that Mark had taken ill. At least, there's one flaw, David thought. Randy might look like a model, but he must be a real shit to run out on his friend when he needed him most.

Just then, the drug store manager came toward the aisle to find out about the 'crash,' and to see to the clean-up.

"Sir, are you hurt?" The manager asked Randy.

"Just a cut..." Randy replied.

"Let me go get some antiseptic and a bandage, and we'll have the pharmacist take a look at it."

"Please don't go to any trouble... I'll be fine."

"Nonsense, let us take care of you. We want to make sure you're alright. We don't need a lawsuit over a broken bottle cut."

"I am really sorry about that, and I'll pay for the mouthwash," Randy said apologetically.

"Forget about it. Hold on! I'll be right back!" The manager said, scurrying away to get his first-aid treatment for Randy.

"God! This is so embarrassing." Randy said to David.

"Let him do his job," David said, with a slight smile. "This is probably the most exciting thing that's happened to him all week... so, don't spoil it for him."

"David is it? Sorry, your name? How long are you going to be in town? I assume you came down here from Virginia."

"Only a day or two..."

"Is there... I mean, are you going to have a funeral service for Mark in Atlanta?"

"Funeral? No? I think Father Chris might be planning some kind of memorial mass for Mark for... for his close friends."

"The way you paused... I guess I'm not invited?"

"Why would you say that, Randy?"

"I'm sure Steve must've told you that I walked out on Mark."

"He... he did say something along that line..."

"Jesus! For such a long time, I've wanted to talk to someone about what happened; and why I... but there was never anyone who would speak to me. No one's ever heard my side of the story... about what Mark and I decided..."

"If I listen, would you tell me?"

"Of course... but not here standing in the middle of a drug store aisle, bleeding like a pussy in heat."

A strange simile, coming from a gay guy, David thought. "Is there somewhere we could meet and talk later this afternoon, or maybe this evening?"

"Are you staying at a hotel?"

"Not yet... right now, I'm not even sure where I'll be spending the night."

"Listen, do me a favor... reach in my left back pocket, pull out my wallet, and get one of my cards. It has my home phone number, my cell, and my beeper. Give me a call around five and, wherever you are, I'll come pick you up. And we can go out for a drink, or have dinner… or something."

David started to say 'no', then thought that getting to know Mark's ex-lover could answer a lot of questions that had arisen in his mind since last night. So, he reached for the wallet, extracted a card, and promised to call Randy later. Their conversation ended when the pharmacist and manager came running to attend to Randy's injury. Behind them was a stock boy carrying a broom, a mop, and a dust pan. David left the 'crowded' aisle and went up front to pay for his items. Before he left the store, David paused to turn and get one more look at Randy. Never in his life, he realized, had he ever thought a man was beautiful, but Randy was the exception. David could see what Mark saw in Randy, physically at least. Then it dawned on David that he, too, found himself mysteriously attracted to Randy.

When David returned to the car, he related the entire episode to Chris, who displayed no emotion, even though he was feeling a bit dismayed at dropping down another rung on the list of people vying for David's attention.

"So you won't be spending the night with Thad? Does that mean you want me to take you to a hotel?" Chris asked, being as nonchalant as possible.

"I honestly haven't decided. I would like to see Thad once more, just in case he's feeling some remorse about Alex."

"Do you think Randy knows you're straight?"

"I don't think it would matter… I mean, it's not as if we were going on a date. It'd be just a friendly conversation about someone we had in common... someone we both loved."

"It's none of my business, and as a priest I shouldn't be saying this, but don't let yourself be too beguiled by Randy's charm."

David grinned, "Chris, if I didn't know better, I could almost believe you're jealous."

"David, you know that's ridiculous!"

"I know, Chris. I was just trying to make a joke anyway."

As they arrived at the mortuary, Chris stopped his car, then turned to David, saying "We're here. Now, let me do all the talking, and don't offer to pay for anything you don't really think you want."

"Thanks, Chris," David replied quietly, but found he was giving second thoughts to the remark he made in jest about Chris.Could Chris be jealous? Did Chris have more than a friendly 'spiritual' interest in him? David thought. Too bad I'm not gay. I've got men standing in line for me! Mark must be somewhere looking down and laughing hysterically! Then his amusement dimmed at the renewed sense of his loss, and the task that was now facing him.