Garner working as a waiter at an upscale restaurant with a growing attraction to a man named Alonzo, who always asks to be put in his section for dinner. One night after work, the man is assaulted while trailing Garner. Garner goes to his aid, but is shot for his trouble.<br><br>Taking time off from work to recover, Garner is resting on a park bench when Alonzo suddenly appears at the other end of the bench. Garner never saw him approach. He asks why Alonzo is trailing him.<br><br>After some hesitation, Alonzo explains he wants to recruit Garner to help fight against others who systematically hunt people like himself. Garner isn’t inclined to get involved in anything dangerous, but he does finds Alonzo more and more attractive, so he agrees to consider the idea. As he learns more about Alonzo’s bizarre and dangerous subculture, what Garner really wants to know is whether Alonzo is romantically interested in him at all.

Call to Love

“I don’t know.” After a pause, he added, “What makes you think the guy’s even gay?”


Sharon stopped her own entry in the cash register to turn and stare at him. Then she snorted and resumed.


“Honey, if they had membership cards—they would have taken yoursaway longago.”


Garner smiled sheepishly. He knew what Sharon was referring to: his so-called membership in the gay community. He always found the reference vaguely unsettling. No doubt he was not membership material for anygroup, but he preferred it that way. But still, whenever she said this, about his being an unconventional gay man, he always felt like he’d done something wrong.


Chapter 4