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

Garner remained standing where he was, chuckling to himself as he felt the wisp inside his mind that indicated the passage of Alonzo’s retreat. He could have pursued it, explored it further, but right now he felt too tired, and too content.


“Okay,” he told himself. “Tomorrow.”


Garner’s state of euphoria was so complete that he never really registered his physical location until he was naked and sitting in the bath, with bubbles up to the level of his chin. He noticed the distinct lack of stomach curving above the water line, and thought of how his stomach used to rise above the water. Now, he ran his hand down his chest and belly, noting the firmness of both, of muscle rather than fat.


Oddly, while he felt gratified by this, and a passing wish that he might be presentable to Alonzo, there were other subtle feelings as well.


“No hippopotamus anymore,” he murmured. “What then? Otter?”


Chapter 57