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

But that hadn’t been the point, anyway. The point was that Garner had learned something about himself, and about love and sex. The most important part for him was always love. That meant that, when Peter’s visits had tapered off and finally ended, Garner had had his heart broken for the second time in his life—the first time through romantic love.


Later, he had learned that Peter had started up with a girlfriend about then, and that they had eventually married and were still working the same farm. His aunt had mentioned this during his visits, though, sensing his discomfort with the topic, said very little more.


That experience had seemed to solidify Garner’s view of the world and himself in it: people lost interest in him and eventually, inevitably left him. His parents had left him at his aunt’s, Peter had lost interest, and so had allhis boyfriends, few as they were.


Chapter 74