Heretics book 3 - The Apocryphile Press

THE KINGDOM :: 69
Richard slammed the table with the flat of his hand. “I am
not having this conversation!”
“Oh, but honey,” said Susan soothingly, “you are. You
have to. We’re all in this together, and whatever you did in
that bathhouse affects us, too. We’re not blaming you for
anything, we’re just talking—”
But Richard had pushed away from the table and was
already pounding up the back stairs.
“...and he’s gone,” said Dylan, staring at the space where
Richard had been. “That Dane guy could’a planted a bug or
something up Dicky’s bunghole, that’s all I was sayin’.”
“Internalized homophobia,” pronounced Brian, gathering
dishes. “That’s always been Dicky’s problem.”
“But what do we do?” asked Mikael.
“For now, we do dishes,” said Brian. He waved at Dylan
and Mikael, “and it’s youze guyses turn.”
:: 15 ::
Dylan washed and placed the dishes in the right hand sink
for Mikael to rinse and dry.
“Do you really think we’ll get excommunicated?” Mikael
asked sullenly.
“’Sa good question, amigo,” Dylan said. “I just wanna
know where the charges are comin’ from. We never had any
trouble before. In fact, we’ve been commended by the Synod
more’n once.”
“We should have sent a delegate,” Mikael said. “Nobody
is there to represent us.”
“Bishop Tom is there,” Dylan said. “But I take your point.
Bishop Tom is about as aggressive as a baby chick.” He
shook his head. “His heart’s in the right place, but he ain’t