"And then maybe." Sam traced wheels in the carpet, ashamed at refusing so lovely an affair. "I'm still too afraid of the jungle to risk it."

"You will come to the green in your own good time," said Alyosha. He got up and glided out to the kitchen to blend organic cantalope juice for one and all.

How Merilee admired the soul of the Master. THE MASTER COMES AND GOES. Alyosha's freedom to retire to Mexico. No hassle for Alyosha the Beatified to wait so, cross-legged on a floor mat in Tabasco with his other disciples gathered about him. No one forcing Alyosha to eat flesh. No one going down on the beach and retrieving it if Alyosha threw the alarm clock out the window. Alyosha's soul not bearing the weight of other souls in the Here and Now and maybe not even in the To Be. Alyosha not sorry to leave them, only Merilee sad to be anchored here to the south coast by Sam. A little sadness she tried to stunt by clipping its roots. But still her resentment blossomed inside her like a miniature tree.

Young Stefan preened the cantaloupe froth mustache he had grown. "Just like the real one I would have if I could," he said.

"In time." said Merilee, thinking already of ways to give of herself to such innocence.