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

When he ran out of things he could share, his aunt was silent.


“He sounds a bit odd,” she said at last.


“Me?” His aunt laughed. “Hardly! Odd is a goodthing. Your uncle was a bit odd—I mean some people seemed to think he was, though I never could see it myself. But this—Alonzo—he sounds nice in his way, kindly. And that’s almost the most important thing: a good heart. Someone without a good heart is nothing but trouble—that is the one thing I have learned in this life—in other people’s lives. And there are plenty of them out there, many of them quite attractive in other ways.” She shook her head.


Garner found himself wanting to laugh. “Oh, he’s got a good heart, alright. Not a common one though.”


Chapter 78