Kyle Michel Sullivan's Blog: https://www.myirishnovel.com/, page 76

Regrouping day...

Much as I hated to do it, I got up early and took the car back to Avis before nine. On a Sunday! Then I tried to have pancakes at McDonald's but the one I went to was closed for some reason so came home and made myself french toast. Grumbling.
I like McDonald's pancakes and sausage and had myself all geared up for that, but the other outlet close to me makes me wary of its cleanliness and I didn't feel like driving miles in another direction to find one. I should've just gone; it would have set the day up much better. Maybe tomorrow...
Did 4 loads of laundry, thanks to working around a very dirty, wildly shedding German Shepherd, last week. Nice old pup named Hawk who's just had his tenth birthday and really does need a bath. He liked how I scratched his ears, though. And I liked how I was able to get some Claritin to handle the allergies.
Tomorrow is catching up on paperwork and calling a client about a potential job in the UK (I really, really, really want to go but don't think it'll happen...dammit). Groceries are needed, and I have to pick up my taxes and send off a FedEx package to my brother in San Antonio since his PO Box keeps refusing to deliver my letter to him. I've had it returned to me, twice, and it's a legal document he needs.
Then Tuesday it's onto APoS-Return, AKA: Book Three. I thought I'd work out a synopsis, first, but Brendan and I don't connect over that as easily, so I'm doing another draft and then doing the outline. Work in everything I've planned for it. Makes more sense, really...I keep telling myself.
Be prepared for more grumbling...

Fun trip...

Wow, driving home was fun. Lots of snow and rain and sleet and wind, and I was in a Chrysler Pacifica so was cutting a bit of a profile. I'm sure people behind me on the 90 thought I was drunk, the way the car weaved all over the place. I swear, I'm a good driver.

Better to put this up to show how I can drive a car and record at the same time.
Click on the link above and it takes you to my Facebook page, showing what was my morning (and evening) commute every day this week. Lovely country but damn, the roads are narrow...built for a horse and buggy, not cars. I tried to upload the video direct but it doesn't seem to be working,
Made some detail notes for APoS Derry en route home, despite the nerve-wracking conditions. Who knows? I may actually get this book finished enough to publish, sometime...

Another job done...

It was not an easy packing job, the one I just finished. 64 boxes containing 650-700 volumes on birds, most of them coffee table books...so heavy, and with no room to really stage the boxes. Total weight was 2850lbs, including the weight of the containers. This is just one of the 4 containers I put the boxes into for shipping.
I was also dealing with a man who's older than me and who isn't a book person checking the books off against his own list...to which he added a couple hundred volumes and dropped some others. But the shipment is now in 64 cartons and bulk containers for transport to the UK. And I'm beat to hell.
The one good thing about this trip, so far, is I now know I am at the stage where I do not need to think about APoS, anymore. I feel as if I have the entire story now sorted out in my head and all I'm going to be doing as I re-write Book Three-Return is pull the moments I need from my head, to make the story happen.
I know I kept thinking I was at that stage, but I haven't come up with a single new thought about APoS on my long, looonnnng drives -- more than 8 hours to Amesbury, then two hours to Windsor Locks to pack the containers, then two hours to Albany...by which time if I hadn't had a room already reserved I'd have booked one. Hard to drive when you are nearly falling asleep.

What's next on my agenda is to do an outline of Return, even though I've only got it in second draft form. There is a whole sequence I will be adding where Brendan goes to the University in nearby Coleraine and hears actual audiotapes of his father telling a story. The effect on him is confusing, to say the least, but it gets him to risk visiting his brother in The Maze prison to ask him about it. He's still seen as Jeremy Landau, at this point, but it draws attention to himself that isn't wise and may be why he's found out by the RUC. Maybe.
We'll see what happens when I write it.

Chapters 29 and 30...the end of New World For Old

The Devil's Haze 

The next couple of years are a blur, for Brendan, thanks to drugs and drinking. Picking up girls and even the occasional guy. A snort of coke and he just doesn't give a shit about social norms. On a whim, he, Jeremy and Everett drive to Austin to hear a punk band called The Next, and Brendan buys their cassette for one song -- Monotony. He moshes with other punks and has a quickie behind the bar with a punkette who loves his scars. Since the band is from San Antonio, he  suggests a trip there, but Everett refuses to go. 

Jeremy and Everett grow apart, mainly because Jeremy realizes he's a substitute for Brendan. He could tell from how much love Everett poured into his paintings of Brendan as opposed to himself. The next Friday night dinner, Jeremy learns Myron has never tried sauerkraut so promises to bring him a Reuben...but before he can, Myron dies. Mrs. Glendon calls Brendan over to help handle it. Fortunately, the coroner and cops don't care about him, just filing the paperwork for a death by natural causes. Myron's parents throw all his things away, infuriating the rest of the group.

Brendan keeps abreast of Ma's cancer treatments through letters from Mai and Maeve as well as what Rhuari mentions in his letters to Eldon. He feels nothing until he happens onto an old Peugeot 541 rusting away behind a motorcycle shop in the Heights, one night. The owner lets him restore it, paying only for parts, and over the next year it re-centers Brendan. He quits the drugs and drinking and lets his hair grow out, and then Uncle Sean brings him his new passport. An Irish one for Brennan McGabhinn, but without some of the needed details. Like an entry and exit stamp for when he was first brought to the US. He gets the corrected one before Hallowe'en and has 90 days to decide what to do.

The Call Comes

It's now 1981 and Brendan comes home after a Friday dinner on a cold night to find a note to call Mairead. Urgent. He does and learns his mother is terminal. Maybe 3-4 months left. Mai is pregnant so can't go over for the funeral and wake, but Aunt Mari is going, straightaway. Brendan promises to go in a couple months. He doesn't want to spend too much time in Derry, since he's fairly certain the British Army is still looking for him in regards to the bombing and he's not confident his new documents will protect him for very long. Mai asks him if he hates Ma and he puts off an answer by claiming he's drunk and can't think straight.

He climbs up on the pool-house roof, despited the cold, and remembers how his mother had always picked at him and derided him, and he cannot understand why. What she told him after Bloody Sunday...that he was different from Eamonn and Mairead and she distrusted him...no longer makes sense and actually strikes him as a weak excuse. He wonders if she would tell him, now.

The B-Girls see him and tell him Aunt Mari is going over in a couple days. They seem to sense he will not be returning to Houston. They ask if Evangelyne was still his girlfriend would he even leave, and he won't reply. They know he was hurt because of her, and they know their father had something to do with it. Then they ask if he's been with Everette and he tells them no. Aunt Mari is in the kitchen having her usual beer and a cigarette, so she calls for the girls to go to bed. Brendan is left alone, wishing he could just lie atop the pool house roof forever.

Chapters 26-28

Semi-surrender

Shaken, Brendan quietly joins the family during 4th of July celebrations and gets to know his nephews -- Michael, Jordan, Stephen, Andrew -- and niece -- Aisling. Even goes to the fireworks display in Hermann Park. Manages to hide the scars on his back and wrists. After they've seen everyone off, Brendan quietly tells his uncle he will become Brennan McGabbhin and let his uncle arrange papers for him. But he continues to join the group at Mrs. Glendon's for Friday dinner and even introduces them to Jeremy and Everett, who are accepted into their family.

Uncle Sean wants the whole group kept away from him, but Brendan gets around it in many ways...like all showing up to Jeremy's graduation. Brendan works 4 days a week at The Colonel's, which is now gentrified. Todd is in prison for pot and Lorraine is gone, so he just brings a book to read and makes sure he does his job. Again, he feels as if he's in stasis.

Jeremy is hired by an oil company and will be sent to Hong Kong to help negotiate a contract because he knows Chinese. During his going-away party at Mrs. Glendon's, Eldon casually helps him work out the difference between Mandarin and Cantonese; turns out he's a whiz at languages, and even knows the Irish. Brendan asks if Rhuari can write him, since he's working on Gaelic. Eldon agrees, and the two begin to exchange letters. Brendan now has a better route into learning how his younger brother is doing.

Prisoner

Brendan gets into a rut. Work 4 nights a week. Repair and sell whatever he finds. Friday night dinners are still at Mrs. Glendon's...where they share letters from Jeremy. He spends Saturdays with Everett to minimize his time with the B-girls and lets the man begin to sketch him. Sundays are reserved for the Nolan home. Jeremy's trip is extended to 9 months, and the penpal friendship between Rhuari and Eldon grows solid.

Everett finally shows Brendan a series of nude sketches he did of Jeremy and, surprisingly, Myron. He asks him to model, too. Nude. He has a client seeking a triptych of a nude young man, in oils, and Jeremy made him swear he'd never show anyone the work he did of him. Brendan is wary, and Everett uses his uncertainty to seduce him into allowing a blow job...then hen takes a Polaroid of his face after he ejaculates. Furious, Brendan grabs at Everett but he locks himself in the bathroom and talks Brendan down from his anger...then shows him the photo. It has the expression Everett had been trying to capture when he did the first portrait, and he plans to use it in the main painting. Finally, Brendan agrees.

Jeremy returns as a total success and sets up an apartment, a bit hurt that Everett didn't invite him to move in. Brendan helps him find a Mercedes 450SL to fix up and move his things into the new place. Everett admits he was afraid to ask Jeremy to live with him because he's about to quit his job and sell his condo. He finished the triptych and was well-paid for it and is tired of being treated like shit over being gay.

Meanwhile, Ma has shifted into warrior mode for Ireland, disparaging Mairead's work in the peace movement, goading Kieran to confront the British Army more while proclaiming full pride in Eamonn's radicalization. She's also dismissive of Rhuari and his wife for living in Belfast, despite it being a far more dangerous place. Brendan begins to see when he loved Vangie he had a very rosy view of everything, and wonders if he and Joanna would have lasted, for the same reasons. He seemed to pick women with a plan, so could that mean he wanted to stop them or have them carry him along? No idea.

Status Unbound

During Jeremy's coming-home party at Mrs. Glendon's, Brendan learns Rhuari is about to become a father, and that their mother has cancer. Not a word came from Maeve or Mairead, and without a doubt Aunt Mari must know and stayed quiet. Unsure of how he feels when he's dropped off at his home, after the dinner, he is too agitated to sit still so hops his Montesa and rides up to The Colonel's. The place is busy and the music very middle-of-the-road. He can't convince himself to go in or leave and wanders about...until flashes of his kidnapping hit him. He looks around, shaken, and realizes the kidnappers' car must have been parked across the street, with the men watching him before deciding to take him. Perhaps like thad been done to his father.

Flashing between memories and current-day actions, Brendan hops on his Montesa and rides down to I-10. The car had turned left so he heads east on the Interstate, to pass downtown. He reaches Loop 610 and takes the first exit past the interchange. Now comes a long drive through commercial and residential areas, miles and miles. Brendan was too hyped on adrenaline to feel fear as the kidnapping was actually happening, but now it comes ripping into him. There are more memories, more turns, a run through a tunnel and down to gravel roads. The stars seem to be leading him on and on...until he reaches an open space with a couple of oak trees that feels...right.

But the trees shelter a playground. A church is at the end of the open space, and across the street are low-slung houses with dogs barking and lights on. Is this right? It's so benign. Then he sees an old rope hanging down a tree trunk, off a thick branch, and checks it. Finds its pattern matches the light scars on his wrists and knows this is where he was brutalized...in a churchyard, next to homes that were inhabited. He explodes with fury and uses the Montesa to tear up the area, screaming obscenities. Lights flare on, people come out and he curses at them then roars away. Once back in the pool house, he tears the clothes he's wearing into rags, shaves his face clean and cuts his hair into a mohawk, and snarls, "Fuck the world."

Chapters 22-25

Exposure 

Brendan takes a shower to clean away the blood still seeping from his wounds. Is mesmerized by the raw imprints of the rope around his wrists. He finally comes out to find Everett in the pool house. The B-Girls had told him to enter, and he sees the injuries on Brendan's back and legs. Vangie is close behind so Everett goes to send her away. Brendan loses control and starts throwing things around in a rage, until he's exhausted. Everett comes back in and helps him up, then he tells him what happened, in detail, as he tends to his still bleeding injuries. 

Everett agrees Brendan was right not to call the cops. He reveals he was raped, when he was 19. In San Antonio. The cops talked him out of filing a report by saying he would go to jail for being gay. Messed him up, so soon as he could he left San Antonio, forever. That's why he helped Brendan with Scott that night at the drag show. He convinces Brendan to speak with Vangie.

She finally comes to the pool house and is horrified at what happened. She reveals Rene also talked with her and she's irritated he didn't trust her. She never held feelings deep enough for Brendan to consider marriage, and suggests if he'd come to the movie and they're talked, he'd had found that out and none of this would have happened. Rejected, Brendan hints that Lon was behind his beating, just to hurt her. She slaps him, leaves and never returns.

Changes 

Brendan quits Trujillo's, stops taking on projects to repair and finds a room to rent in an old house surrounded by pecan trees just south of downtown. The owner is Mrs. Glendon, is past 70 and lives in one side of the downstairs. The other tenants are Elton, unknown age, on disability and keeps to himself; Myron, 20, who has cerebral palsy yet is very independent; Rick, very kosher and waiting to see if his job will be permanent; Mrs. Kendall, on social security, who cooks; and Miss Savage, of indeterminate age who works in a fabrics shop. In an apartment over the garage is Sonja, Mrs. Glendon's granddaughter, on the surly dumpy side. He moves there in the middle of the night, taking only his clothes, bike and tools, saying good-bye to no one but Angus, the family dog.

He finds part time repair work for a small shop on Fannin and tells no one he knows where he is. No relationships, either; just jacking off when he's in need. Reading a lot. Sliding into drugs. Licking his wounds...but the gentleness of his new environment calms him. Tuesdays and Fridays, everyone supplies a bit of food, and Mrs. Kendall cooks up massive meals. Myron handles his cerebral-palsy without complaint. Sonja plays the piano like a pro. He begins fixing junk in the garage and sells it, splitting the proceeds with Mrs. Glendon. They become like a family, and finally he rebuilds his Montesa, re-centering himself. 

Then the beginning of July, Everett appears and tells him Mairead's in town with her family. He scolds Brendan for disappearing, but admits he's known where Bren was for several months. Brendan returns to Aunt Mari's house with no explanation.

Understanding

Brendan is happily swept back into the family by everyone, save Uncle Sean. It's 4th of July weekend, the Bicentennial. He learns Mai is having twins, Rhuari married his girlfriend and has a job in a Belfast off-licence, to Brenda's horror. He says that makes Rhuari a target for a Protestant group but Mairead says the UVF and IRA have a deal, suggesting the two sides are working together to maintain their protection rackets. Also. Danny was killed when a bomb he was setting went off, prematurely. The B-girls still pepper him with questions, which he refuses to give direct answers to, and Scott is interning at a bank in Dallas. 

Brendan stays the night, on the couch. Not long after midnight, Uncle Sean comes downstairs and quietly berates him for the trouble he's caused. Trujillo's was raided, Hugo and Tomas were deported, Rene has quit and returned to New Orleans, and the FBI have come looking for Bren. Fortunately, no one knew where he was, but the Feds didn't believe that and kept returning. Brendan reveals he knows Uncle Sean was at his beating. 

Uncle Sean gets cold and hard in his responses to Brendan. No cursing, just solid verbal punches. He never wanted to hide him but got talked into it. His business was suffering from Brendan's involvement with Evangelyne. He's spent more on lawyers in the last three years than the previous thirty. He demands Brendan return to live in the pool house, under the name Brennan McGabbhin. If he does, he'll see to it Brendan is made legal, using that name, and if the Feds return that will settle the matter. Then he can go and do whatever he wants. If he doesn't, he'll spread word about Rhuari's job and get him killed. And there is nothing Brendan can do to stop it.

Chapters 19-21

Connection

Brendan and Vangie run around together and he's invited to some of the Boudoin's family meals. He gets along well with Arnie, who has developmental issues. They even go to Galveston, and Brendan takes Vangie by The Colonel's. Brendan is beginning to think of Marrying Vangie and plans to speak with Jeremy's lawyer uncle about making himself legal, again.

Late in May, Brendan invites Vangie into the pool house and she teases him for it being so neat. Like he was planning to bring her home, that night. Then she asks him if he's gay. She's noticed Everett like him, a lot, and only stays with Jeremy due to his resemblance to Brendan. They chat more. She's concerned he's just out for some fun with her.

Vangie puts on some music, pulls out a water pipe and they smoke some pot through it. Then she suggests they have a three-way with Everett, taking Brendan aback. But he agrees, making her feel easier. They wind up having sex against one of the bean bags...and he knows she is the one for him. 

Reality

Brendan is set to meet Vangie, Everett and Jeremy to see Jaws, but Rene talks to him, pointing out Vangie would be giving up a lot to be with him while he has nothing to really offer her. He would actually harm her chosen career in the State Department. Shaken, Brendan blows off the date and stays home to think. He sits in the pool trying to sort things out, but the B-Girls begin questioning him. Reveal his aunt and uncle have been talking about Vangie. So he dresses, figures out his Uncle told Rene about him and Vangie, learns Mairead's visit is put off due to house-hunting in Toronto and a new baby coming, and goes to The Colonel's.

Todd is wary around Brendan. Even calls him stupid for being with Vangie. Reveals he's been busted for selling pot and is taking a deal to minimize the sentence. He calls Uncle Sean a weak man for caring more about position and money than anything else. Brendan considers hopping on his Montesa and driving away from Houston, forever.

He finally leaves the bar, thinks about walking home but can't decide. Suddenly, a pillowcase is slung over his head, he's punched in the gut, bound, and slung into the trunk of a car. They drive away.

Violation

The car heads south, to the I-10 and travels east along it. Brendan works the pillowcase off, sees a tear in the car's fender and notices signs for the westbound side pass. They exit just past Loop 610 and head south over rough roads, railroad tracks and through a tunnel. The stench of the refineries grows stronger as the drive goes on and on.

The car finally stops, Brendan is dragged out and the pillow case put back on, then he's bound facing a thick tree trunk, his shirt torn open and jeans yanked away, and he is viciously whipped as racist comments are made about him loving a black woman. His heart pounds wildly as he curses and threatens...then suddenly he passes out. He sort of wakes to hearing a voice say, "I told you; I warned you," as a nitroglycerin tablet is shoved under his tongue. Then he is carried into the rear of a station wagon and driven to his aunt and uncle's house.

Two men carry him into the pool house, one of whom reminds him of Lon, Vangie's cop brother. He hears Uncle Sean tell the man, "I don't want to see you, again." Aunt Mari sees what has happened and angrily tends to his injuries. Brendan asks her if Uncle Sean was there, watching him be whipped. Her evasive answers only serve to convince him the man was. She tries to explain the pressure he was under but Brendan tells her to leave. She does. Once he's alone, he realizes he's lost Vangie and grows angry from it. After a while, he works on a portable cassette player to try and settle himself but his hands are shaking and the raw marks around his wrists from the ropes get blood on it. This only seems to tell him he's not even good at repairing things, right then.

Chapters 16-18

Evangelyne

Brendan manages to keep up with the goings-on in Derry through letters from Mairead, and all it seems to be is a stalemate. Every attempt by the British to find common ground between the two side meets catastrophe. Mairead gets a phone put into Ma's flat, for which she sends payment to the phone company through Father Jack. Maeve keeps standing up for herself, which pleases Ma, and Kieran is fearless when dealing with the British or even covering a gable wall with graffiti. Rhuari's taken his A-levels and Eamonn seems to enjoy being a big man in prison.

Brendan reads both city papers to try and get a view of the situation, and finds Rene is also keeping up on it. Hugo thinks Rene's odd because he was born in New Orleans, The Big Easy, but is very uptight about keeping his family private. But during a Christmas celebration Rene learns Brendan is about to turn 19 so plans a Cajun birthday celebration for him, with the whole three pots and the family in attendance.

Scott and Jeremy go with Brendan to the party, in Pearland, and meet Rene's wife, six sons and one daughter, Evangeline. There are a dozen Cajun dishes, squeezebox music, dancing. The family is planning a trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, and when Evangelyne learns Brenda's never been, she convinces him to join them. He agrees only because he figures Joanna would have...but Evangelyne's brother, Alonso, is a Houston cop and keeps casting sharp looks at Brendan, no matter who hard he tries to please. Especially during the trip to the Big Easy. It puts Brendan on edge, but he does not back away.

N'Awlin's

Aunt Catherine has a coffin home near the Canal streetcar line straight to downtown. Lots of family staying there, sleeping on mattresses on the floor. Brendan is not impressed with the center city, and the French Quarter is seriously packed. He's groped, grabbed, kissed, given beads and doubloons by both men and women, gay and straight. He's handed a Hurricane and thinks it's just juice, but Evangelyne warns him.

He has flashes back to the Celebration Fleadh...which mixes with the festive atmosphere prior to the shooting on Bloody Sunday and how he protected Joanna during the Fleadh and how the Soldiers mauled him at checkpoints...and he gets so overwhelmed he hides in a doorway. Evangelyne finds him and takes him to a quiet area where they list to a gentle band play Creole music. The buildings and fog remind him of Derry. He's surprised he's homesick. Tells Evangelyne a little about Joanna. She thought he and Jeremy were brothers...or lovers. He laughs and gives her a peck on the cheek, ready to return to the crowd.

They go to the big parade with more joyous chaos abounding, then Mass on Wednesday and drive home. The car is stopped by DPS just inside Texas, but Lon being a cop provides them safe passage the rest of the way. Bren learns anyone non-white is subject to stop and search. He returns to the pool house and is confronted by Uncle Sean for not telling them he would be gone. They argue and Uncle Sean threatens to send him home for running around with black people. In response, Brendan tells him to go ahead...and is punched to the floor. Aunt Mari intervenes but nothing is solved...except Brendan now knows he is not actually legal so is, effectively, a prisoner of the family's. And what is worse? The IRA blames him for the bombing debacle.

Rebellion

Confused, Brendan loses himself in repairing the items he has to fix and goes into information gathering mode, including keeping up with what's happening in Derry. Eamonn is released but re-arrested under the Special Powers Act. Rhuari turns more into his books, is learning Irish and planning for Queens, Maeve pushes back against the British in her manner of getting any soldier who bothers her into trouble with their superiors, and Kieran is always barking at the British and RUC, despite the danger. Ma also was interviewed for a BBC report and made a big deal about it.

He learns Father Demian was shot (probably by Danny) and Rhuari is seeing a girl from the Pennyburn area. Mairead is happy in Toronto and is planning a trip to Houston. Brendan thinks about writing her but simply doesn't. He's seeing Vangie in a casual way, usually with Jeremy, who's also become friends with her. The two joke with each other in Russian and Chinese, "Couple of Commie languages." Rene becomes wary of Brendan seeing her but can do little about it. The B Girls are developing a romantic interest in Brendan, which makes him uncomfortable.

Then Evangelyne is treated roughly by a sales clerk in the Galleria because she's not white. Brendan steps in, irritated, only to find that angers Vangie, as he now calls her. She wonders if he thinks she needs a white savior or sees her as some brown sugar. She calms down when he apologizes, but he doesn't understand her anger.

Everett brings over a portrait he did of the family and Brendan sees he is unable to accept praise for how fine it is. He doesn't feel he's good enough. Scott and Jeremy drive up, see the portrait and Jeremy asks Everett to do one for his parent's anniversary. Everett becomes part of Brendan's close group and even invites them to his home for dinner a few times before he and Jeremy wind up lovers.

Chapters 13-15

Explosion

Rocky's ex-husband, Matty, shows up at The Colonel's and tries to attack her, but Brendan breaks his knees with a baseball bat. Todd claims Brendan was just a kid off the street who helped stop Matty, but he is now banished from the bar because Matty is a cop and trouble will ensue if the HPD catches him. Brendan now wonders about his legal status, so asks Uncle Sean if he's in the country legally but gets no real answer. Which indicates he is not. That was why he's paid under the table, is being kept in the shadows as much as possible, and does not have his passport.

Rocky stays with Brendan until she can find a new place, but within strict limits set down by Uncle Sean and Aunt Mari. He talks to Rocky about going to Colorado with her and her mother, but she's not very open to it. They wind up having sex.

Rocky moves in with Everett, for now. He learned from a cop friend that Brendan crippled Matty so he cannot be a cop anymore. All looks good until Matty uses his friends in the force to track Rocky down, rams her car on Westheimer and kills her then commits suicide. Brendan blames himself and dives into a deep depression. Two women he's been involved with have died violent deaths. He feels he may be a curse. 

New Directions 

Brendan refuses to eat or see anyone, just lives on booze and pills. Todd tells him Rocky was using him like she'd used other men at bars she'd worked at, before. That it was some sick game between her and Matty and finally came to a head. Brendan blows him off.

Aunt Mari finally slams into the pool house, forces Brendan to clean up and makes him go with his uncle to Trujillo Motors for a possible job. They repair UK and European cars. He meets Rene Boudoin, who's Cajun and the head mechanic, and he sullenly proves he can work on British cars. As usual, working on repairing something pulls him out of his mood. Rene is amazed at how Brendan can tear and engine apart and put it back together with no trouble.

Co-workers are Bernardo, Tomas and Vinicius, but he gets along best with Hugo, from Guadalajara. They share beers, Mexican food, girls, and rides on Hugo's motorcycle. Hugo also trains Brendan in riding a motorbike, then he buys a 1966 Montesa Impala, fixes it up and ranges all over Houston. He feels like when he's ice-skating -- free and clear of his past. Uncle Sean is not happy with it, and his aunt insists he wear a light helmet. Then he has a small accident so Hugo gets him a real helmet and gloves. Brendan begins to see him as another brother and realizes he's losing contact with his past...and does not care.

Jeremy

Jeremy returns from the kibbutz and Yom Kippur war changed in many ways, none of which his family seem to notice. They all but hero-worship him, now. He connects further with Brendan by ditching his welcome home party, for a few moments, and goes riding with him on the Montesa. He tells Brendan about how soldiers in Israel ride about on them two-by-two. They return to the BBQ, but Jeremy fights to hide how affected he was by the war. They finally share a joint and everything is calm.

July 4th, Aunt Mari's family is at Herman Park for the fireworks, but Brendan stays home. Then Jeremy appears at the pool house with a baggie and bottle of wine. He and Bren share both and fight to ignore the explosions and gunfire. Too much like war, is their attitude. Jeremy confides in Brendan that he was called Christ-killer in school and had to learn to defend himself. Finally proved he could take care of business by breaking his accuser's arm. After that, kids were careful around him. He knows Aikido, how to shoot a rifle and pistol, and wrestling.

Then he talks about killing men during the Yom Kippur War. And how friends of his died next to him. It tore him apart. He senses Brendan has also seen death, up close, and feels there is a bond between them. Bit by bit, their conversation segues into Jeremy kissing Brendan...and then giving him a blowjob...then breaking down in tears afraid he's messed up their friendship. Brendan convinces him it's no big deal, and they go out for tacos at Jack-in-the-Box.

Chapters 10-12

Everett

Scott shows Brendan what cruising is about, on Westheimer. A mile-long line of cars going 5 mph each direction, honking, laughing and just being. It makes no sense to Brendan. They park on a side street and go to a house that's been made over into a bar. Lots of men around and a few women. Brendan is able to get inside without trouble but Scott is stopped and has to pay a cover charge.

There's a drag show, that night. Brendan doesn't realize the performers are lip-syncing to records. He's nervous, realizing it was a huge mistake to come because if the place is raided, he's underage and doesn't have identification. A man next to him is kind enough to help him grow calm -- Everett Casterson, who's in the closet at his advertising job. They talk a bit about the oppression against gays in the US and Everett waves off a few men who make passes at Brendan. 

When the show is over, Brendan finds Scott is drunk. He was being fed boilermakers by a guy next to him. Everett helps get Scott to their car, but Brendan is nervous about driving the GTO. Everett takes them to his home, close by, and they talk about general things, then Everette drives them home in Scott's car. When Scott wakes with a nasty hangover, Brendan snarls they should not go drinking, again.

Consistency 

Brendan has settled into the pool house, and the bar area is his workspace. The B-Girls still harass him but with less rancor. He compares them to his sisters and concludes his mother would dislike them but Maeve would have no problem and might even wind up running them like they run others.

He also gets along well with Todd, Rocky, and Lorraine at The Colonel's. Todd's quick, quiet and professional. Lorraine likes him but Todd's attitude is, you don't shit where you eat. Rocky reads all sorts of books, and even lends A Wrinkle in Time to Brendan. He likes it and reads more. He also reads the papers and keeps up a bit on what's happening in Derry, but he's growing more and more distant from it and wants to just forget it all. Part of him feels like he's abandoning his friends, over there, but the growing chaos is seeming more and more normal to them all, and he wants no part of it.

Everett brings over a typewriter for Brendan to work on. Aunt Mari is quietly wary of him, but the B-Girls like him, especially once he asks them if they're twins, and pester him with questions. Everett reveals he's an artist and wants to paint a portrait of Brendan, aiming to capture the old man wariness in his eyes. He takes several rolls of photos before leaving. Once he's gone, Aunt Mari slips up as if to check on Brendan in a way he finds tender, and he wishes to himself she had been his mother.

Holidays 

Brendan has his first real American Christmas, decorating the house and tree. He also finds he loves ice skating because it's chilly and fast and not part of his past. He's becoming very good. He's cheap when it comes to buying things, so won't shop at the Galleria for Christmas presents, but still puts thought into it. And the B-Girls continue to force their help on him.

The whole family goes to Jeremy's house, for Hannukah. Jeremy is visiting from Israel with a couple of army buddies, but they are quiet and vaguely traumatized. Gifts are exchanged then Brendan has a cigarette by the pool, fighting away thoughts of Derry. Jeremy joins him, comments he'd love a joint but his buddies couldn't bring any back with them, so Brendan slips him one -- a Marlboro cigarette repacked with weed so it looks normal. Jeremy is overjoyed, and he and his army buddies stay in the back yard to use it.

Everett brings Brendan's portrait over, soon after his birthday, and it's beautiful. It even has some of the wariness Everett was trying to capture. Aunt Mari invites him to stay for dinner, and he shows he knows how to handle the B-Girls. Before he leaves, he quietly reveals to Brendan he was disowned because he's gay, and points out how lucky Brendan is to have family who love him. Brendan thinks Everett has been accepted but he quickly sees Aunt Mari is still wary and cautions him against the man. Feeling a bit betrayed, Brendan pushes back against her comments and returns to the pool house.