Quatre

In which a lover from the previous piece is seen with a new lover.

Jared dreams with extreme and inexhaustible frequency. If he stares at something white or off-white or pale white or eggshell colored or cream gray too long his mind will blank out. It is like a button. He has to be careful in the winter. Gray skies of the wrong hue will capture him. They capture him because of their vastness. If he accidentally looks at a white brick wall he’ll void into a dream, but he’ll snap out of it when the dream is over. He’ll look away a couple inches in a sort of jerk reaction. And if the wall ends there he’ll be back to reality. But a vast dead sky, that can go on forever. If a plane flies overhead on a winter day and Jared looks up, he’s doomed until dusk.

Trois

In which a lover from the previous piece is seen with a new lover.

Zsama tells this story whenever asked that age-old question, "What's your biggest secret?":

"...You're sure you want to know? I will tell you. I'm like that. Plus I know about the dead hooker in your closet, so if you go n' try and turn me in or something, I've got something on you, you hear? No I'm kidding. But I WILL tell you, love"

(Zsama says "darlings" instead of "love" if telling this story to a group instead of a single recipient, but otherwise this story, told many a time, remains essentially the same in each telling - having been much-practiced, no doubt.)

"But I WILL tell you, darlings- because of my trust in you. You hear? Good. Then listen.