Thanks readers for waiting. Thanks for enduring the pretentious over-written prose and the glaring grammatical errors in the 1st chapter. I promise there will be plenty more of those. I warn: black humor and very long chapter. Sorry.

Also thank you Uni for reviewing! I am so pleased you've have enjoyed it so far and I hope you continue to enjoy it.


Maxwell's back remained turned through he could feel Anderson's stare drill through his neck.

"Yes it was, up until this moment." The bishop drawled in his lustrous accent tinged with an acerbic edge like a baroquely full bodied wine with a sour aftertaste.

The paladin rose out of the darkness like a leviathan and stalked forward with slow echoing steps and pendulous sways of his shoulders until he arrived behind the young man's heels.

"Yer not quiet." Anderson's voice was thick, sluggish and abrasive like a blunt saw through rotted bark. His breath humid with drink sprayed out from his nose and mouth in gloomy puffs like the smoke of a factory stack against the blackness of the night air. "Ah could follow teh clip-clip-clop sound of yer cloven hooves all o'er teh earth. Turn aroond laddie. Lemme git a gude look at yer bright face."

"Why should I turn around?" Maxwell murmured. "It is beneath me to let my contempt of you be seen. As your company to me is as vexatious as mine seems to be yours, I believe we both would like to avoid a meeting that would be futile as it would be unpleasant. Now that you appreciate my perspective, I imagine you will be wise and prudent enough to stay out of my way."

"Now Ah dunna come tae vex ye, ye clevardog."Anderson lurched forward and barked into the side of Maxwell's ear like an incensed sergeant. "Ah came tae congratulate ye onna yer big bloody EVENT! Teh greatest spectacle tae ever happen tae teh whole of mankind! Ye'd think ye been found in teh bulrushes and raised by Pharaoh himself eh! Sae glad ye could condescend tae come doon from yer throne innae Heavan MAX-WELLLL tae grace us wit yer presence teh evar- shinen lamp in teh universe."

Maxwell cringed forward, ears numbed and boxed from the priest's honking volume. He cast his eyes sideways to catch a disturbing glimpse of Anderson's string of pearl teeth bared as if they were about to crunch into his scalp.

"How fine of you. Now are dismissed." Maxwell's fastidious features convulsed as he averted his eyes ahead.

"Why dunna ye kindly dismiss yerself sir? Yer sufferen servant needs some air." Anderson slipped his gloved hand into his ragged coat to pull out a nearly depleted bottle of Machallan's 18 year scotch. He unscrewed the top and took a long bitter swallow, gulping and heaving, snorting with exaggerated loudness through his nostrils like a stricken horse."Then again ye been waiten here tae see me haven't ye? Ah'm teh guest of honor. Ah bet ma entrance has lit up yer evenen."

Maxwell swallowed and clenched his eyes shut. "I make this clear: I am very satisfied with our complete non-communication as I have no interest in accosting barbarians and contracting disease for my trouble. It is you who begin these confrontations as a raving pyromaniac sets fires. The fact that I respond to you at all does not bespeak any interest whatsoever. I do not want, under any conceivable circumstances to see, hear, touch and especially smell you. Your odor is that of a heap of dung macerated in whiskey, its fetidness enough to make a demon choke. And those noises you make. Have you forgotten how to breathe through your nose?"

" Ah'm glad tae see ye Maxwell, Ah can be teh wan tae tell ye teh smell of dung is comen from up yer white throat. Ah'm not surprised yer too afraid tae face me," Anderson spoke in a thrilling trill. "bur rhere's nae use hiden son. We haven't exchanged oor words yet."

With a long hissing sigh, Maxwell swiftly turned around only to bump abruptly into Anderson's giant unflinching chest. Grimacing with affronted astonishment, Maxwell stepped back to look into the paladin's eyes, or more precisely lenses. The priest's glasses hung suspended in the shadow of his face like two twin moons.

"Who wants to hide?" Enrico demanded. "Who shall lay any charge to God's elect?"

"Me thats who." Anderson leered as he sucked the inside of his sodden mouth." Who else bettar."

"I see." Maxwell spoke with slimy dreamy insolence. His eyes drooped with chilled contemptuous amusement to peer at the bottle tightly grasped in Anderson's fist. "Hmm. I assume you took that bottle off the street and not from one of my tables Alexander?"

"Anderson." The priest growled.

"Surely you are here to request another tub of whiskey. I am sure if you asked politely Alexander, the cleaning men would allow you to skulk about the room and guzzle down the remnants of all the remaining glasses, or they could siphon them all into an ox bladder for you."

Anderson ground his teeth. "Gude, then they can hold it open as Ah pull oot ma dick and piss innit."

"Disgusting." Maxwell hummed as he brushed past Anderson's shoulder with slinky swooping steps, with a lingering dismissive wave of his hand. His hair flowed behind him like a teasing banner.

"If only His Holiness could see the depth his warrior angel has fallen. Must your mouth be a fountain overflowing with filth? We are not in a ship yard. Check your decorum soldier, or are you not content to have your lack of self possession and opprobrious conduct known by reputation that you feel so inclined to exhibit them in person? Have you not dimmed the festivities and violated the sanctity of the evening enough?"

In response, Anderson guzzled down the rest of whiskey in one fatal swig. Then after taking several hopping steps like a rioter wielding a molotov cocktail, the paladin hurled the empty thumb-smudged bottle with whooshing ballistic force forward over the balcony. It vanished, a crystal pinpoint into the black gulf. Maxwell watched the scene with bleak forbearance.

"Ah'm jes gitten started sir. Sae ye can sanctity ma dim Scottish arse." Anderson slurred. His eyes fluttered as he pulled out a flask from his trouser pocket.

Somewhere very far away, the bottle landed and smashed.

"Aye, its nae ship yard, ye turned yer Father's house intae a chamber of money lenders, a street corner, as ye was flitten aboot like a tango dancer, turnen tricks like a real Judas prostitute!"" The priest bawled hoarsely as he stumbled to his right side and caught himself against the balcony's railing. " Sae much fer Parliament of God, it is still teh republic of Romans after all … wit teh same depraved auld bread and circuses! Excess that would make a pig vomit! Made me bloody ill. Ah had tae drink fer ma stomach's sake. Ah drank ma weights' warth, and even that wasnae enough tae wash clane teh memory of this atrocity."

"So you are drinking for your stomach's sake?" Maxwell spoke with acidic assurednessand gestured expansively like a conductor. "Then your stomach must be bottomless. Perhaps you intended to sterilize some gastronomical parasites? I suppose the worm of psychosis won't shrivel up and drown already. As for street corners, your scurrilous ravings would properly sate the degenerate palettes of those who frequent those so mentioned places. Also, I do not recall any one asking you for your opinion of the evening's events but you are right to equate the sustenance of bread, and how it aligns with the pleasures of the circus- one performs, then one eats. As the good Book says: A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth for all things. When the situation requires, like Matthew I am not merely an apostle, I collect. It is my virtuoso performances that have kept our section from dissolving into a dog's breakfast, and these successes are no doubt God's blessing accompanying my labors. "

"Spakin of dog's breakfast, teh food tasted like wat comes after it, waste straight from a dog's rear tae teh plate."Anderson's head hung forward as he suppressed a drunken wretch. "If ye wished tae kill me, Ah'd much prefer a toom dish tae a poisonen."

"That is a robust assumption- you merely saw the dinner, not how it was prepared." Maxwell planted his hands on his hips. "But I shall not curse your want of delicacy. You are after all the connoisseur particularly in what is produced from the rears of dogs. What would have preferable to you ? Some rubbing alcohol and carrion in a tough?"

"Nae need fur that. If onlu teh chef could o' dragged teh dinner oot here and thrown it over teh railin." Anderson dragged the back of his hand over his mouth to wipe some milky crust at his lips' corner. "Spare me teh trouble of daen it later."

The bishop reached for his silver cigarette case and opened it with talon like dexterity. Placing one slim smoke in his mouth, he took out and flicked his silver initial engraved lighter. The cigarette lit, and burned like a demon's eye.

"How strange for I just had the most exquisite dinner. Unfortunately after seeing your bilious face, I could throw up, all over your dismal front. Sadly your presence would be no less insufferable than it is now. You were as sociable as a corpse during the whole affair, and haggard looking as if you had just crawled out of a tomb which may be the only dwelling suitable to someone as ill suited for life as you are. If only you were perinde ac cavader. I do not wish to exchange anything with you, and I may have lost my appetite forever. Go back to your children, seek some dark corner and purge yourself, you shameless degraded man." Maxwell began to saunter away only to impeded by Anderson's lengthy arm.

The priest stepped and stood in his path, looming over him like a hideous and lofty tower.

" Haven tae sit through that travesty and after bein exhibited like an animal, Ah wish A was a corpse, like other teh deid men in there, orderly in teh vault of deid, each lyen in their rancid place." Anderson rumbled in angry miserable rollings, like the churnings of a cement grinder.

"I like my animals untroubled, well trained and well groomed, not frothing from the mouth." Smoke spewed out of Maxwell's twitching nostrils like a steam from a boiling screaming kettle."This is how your reclaim your dignity? Now then, how else do you wish to further offend me with your vulgarity that only the most ignorant are capable? What else must you stick your nose into?"

" JesumChristum et hunc crucifixum, ut etconnglorificemur." Anderson glowered as the flask came up to his cracked and twitching lips. He drank then he let it fall to the floor. It clanged hollow, an abrupt punctuation.

"To attempt Latin with that bibulous brogue. You speak like a creature not of God's making, braying and cawing like an insane asylum caught aflame." Maxwell exclaimed as waved his wrist back and forth as if he could purify the air with a censer of cigarette smoke. "The only good use for that abominable tongue is to slice it off! You are an in essence a four letter word man, so do keep your vernacular clipped and short."

"Ah can't stand yer voice ethier. Every word ye spake is a scratch tae ma hart. Teh bastard edition of the drawl of teh upper ten thoosand eh? It matches teh git-up ." Anderson looked Maxwell scathingly up and down. "Like a fancyVenetian prince ye are. Wat hater of God created that cross, and that ring on yer hand truly brings oot teh deidness in yer aiyes. Teh only thang bigger than all those gems is teh chip on yer shoulder."

"I have a chip on my shoulder?" Enrico stroked his flawlessly smooth cheek with his velveted fingers "Better than on my face. But at least that mark on your cheek rather suits you."

"O,and why is that?"

"It is ugly "Maxwell purred with foppish spite, tapping his ash off his cigarette. "and ugly men should not be the judge of what is beautiful. I shall retire my rings only when you decide not to don beggar's rags to my functions. Pearls before swine as they say, diamonds before dogs. I for one have never believed in asceticism."

"Then wat dae ye believe in? Hedonism? In looken like an overcompensaten buffoon? In maken a duchess sick wit envy?

"I believe that God must help those with wealth."

"And wat of teh poor?"

"They can beg."Maxwell said tartly his cigarette hanging suggestively from his curling lower lip.

Anderson grinned broadly. "And sae yer bejeweled all o'e, wit satin and taff, eye catchen as a glowworm among maggots, a real embarrassment of riches!"

"So you're noticed my atours." Maxwell sneered pulling the cross to himself. He let the cigarette fall and crushed it underfoot, then turned to face the view of the garden before them.

" Such dress may only seem excessive to those who have no hope of being so acknowledged. As Iscariot's rightful and undisputed bishop, I am the beneficiary of all that causes us to cohere. As the representative of Iscariot, my position requires that I exude a sense of divine mission and that I create an image of prosperity around my person. Showmanship depends on a great imagination and an even greater treasury. Thereby I establish the machina that produces the deus. I must ensure that the external can do justice to its insides and that one reaps benefits proportional to one's status. I provide with a unique, beautiful and tangible reflection of the many elements that contribute to the elusive and exclusive joie de vivre that is our faith. Of course this element of life resides in access to the best of everything. For as humble as I naturally am, I cannot present an item that appears to be spiraling down to nil now can I?"

"If that's item yer looks, gude luck tae ye. Teh way ye strut aboot, ye must think that ye float upon us like a swan, a build like David, wit locks made of angel harp strings?" Anderson grunted. "Aye,yer a beautiful bastard, wit yer curls that came off a wee lass' doll, and deid fish-colored eyes, skin the color of milk mixed wit water and clear and soft as boiled onion, and a physique dainty and light as a tick, slender as a horse leech. Nae wonder it was sae dark in teh room and ye wore teh whole damn treasury, sae we could better gaze upon yer fairness. It even distracted from yer receden hairline and greasy foreheid and that indacent ponytail- as men who grow their hair long ought tae be strung up frum it. They're all up tae nae gude."

"And what an object you make tonight!" Maxwell smiled repellingly over his shoulder. "May God have mercy on my soul, for He has none for my eyes. No doubt He had the inspiration for Hell after creating your form. You are a wreck, but a wreck of genius, the visage of autistic bulldog, the hide like a small-poxed elephant, skewered atop of the body of a bloated black hairy spider, put together with the aesthetic care of a mass grave, the overall effect is of a morass of putrefying meat, a big gnarled stump, torture of the senses personified. Your greatest weapon to our enemy must be your very being, as to withstand any proximity to you is reminiscent to enduring one of the ten plagues. Pity. You may even been striking the way an apocalypse is striking to behold. As you are now, you insist on looking like a beast with many horns. But you cannot wear your muscle dimorphism in a more palatable way no?"

"Huh. If it serve me tae wear it, it serve ye tae look at." Anderson pounded his chest with a brisk fist. "It takes a lot of effort tae look this hardy."

"Yes for just how long did you roll about in your own filth? A bad coat may conceal a fine character, but until you can persuade anyone of this, getyourself a better coat. You are the steward of eighty children and it looks like they all must have all stepped on your face with their dirty little feet!" Maxwell flung out his sinewy fingers, tsking. "Let us not forget your long standing mental problems-"

"Wat'd ye say?"

"What did I say? I meant to say ….dental problems." Maxwell licked his lips. "You've had all your teeth replaced for the fifth time yes?"

Anderson pulled up his own lips like how an owner might to reveal a dog's teeth. " Ma oon teeth been knocked out duren encounters wit teh enemy. All of these beauties are medals won fer the Lord! "

"Yes , grand victories over the most basic of human hygiene. Lately you appear so unclean you appear to be growing some sort of bristly face mould."

"Its called stubble lad. Its naethang tae fear." Anderson ran his hand affectionately over his jaw. "Ye'll find oot aboot it wan day when yer testicles descend. Ye'll find oot a lot of thangs that won't be tae yer liken. Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, befur they turn tae sores. as men of yer kind gae from unripe tae rotten.

Maxwell raised an eyebrow. "And what kind would that be?"

"Come noooooow." Anderson chuckled , a brutal bottomless sound . "There's no need to paint legs on a snake is there sir? Meenen callen ye an anemic milksop is redundant Maxwell. Ah bet it gaves teh Protestants delight that we have teh world's bonniest eunuch as our leader. Ah'm sure its delighten lot of oor brothers too. Gae intae the ranks and ye couldn't swing a deid cat witout hitten wan of that persuasion. Thats wat they like isn't it, teh look of effete unseasoned youths? Could be that ye persuaded mony teh light of yer flamen was a halo, a beacon tae us all. And they call ye a bishop, ye looken more and more like a queen!"

Maxwell lit a new cigarette, a insinuating grin bleed onto his distinct pale face. He inhaled slowly as his eyes glimmered with a disquieting delight.

"I do have title, unrestricted mobility and an army at my disposal. Better a queen, than a pawn I say... for if I am what you say, what must you be then- an anemic milksop's blasphemous underling? I have approval and the mandate of the Holy See and His Holiness himself. I hope you do not mean to suggest that they have all erred unscrupulously? For that my friend is an indication of heretical inclinations, and injurious to my sacred office, and a breach of our Catholic unity!" Maxwell teased as smoke unravelled off the tip of his wine stained tongue like an evil fog.

"But the charge is so absurd, it simply causes me amusement. My brilliance you so cunningly elude to certainly must have been a beacon to you who seek me .There is a beautiful irony to be accused with such perversity from a fellow who is so crawling fixated on the details of my appearance and also seems to possess an unusual wealth of knowledge about the preferences of that unspeakable set. They do say: Honit soit qui mal pense."

"Ye' d like tae think that, wouldnae ye."

" All I think how puerile and pathetic your culmalinations are, as no one shall attend to them. You are rudely unaware of the gravity of this occasion. You have been so fortunate to witness a miracle of my making." Maxwell asserted blithely.

"In ma day, a boren cocktail party fur jaded Pharisees, a gatheren of gilded dogs sniffen and tryen tae mount each other behinds did not a miracle make. The only miracle Ah thought Ah saw was that Ah nevar thought sae many cocks could be nursed on in wan evenen! But Ah'm right here if ye'll be wanten tae make a believer." Anderson hollered, gesturing to his lap.

"How generous." Enrico drawled, his mockingly appraising eyes drifted down to Anderson's crotch as he sucked on his cigarette ."Alas I chokeon small objects. No doubt there must be a cause to one might have to carry bayonets the length of one's legs hm?"

"Ma bayonets dunnae compensate fur me sir." Anderson opened his enormous hands like a show man presenting himself . "Ah compensate fer them.

There was a three second silence as the men stood frozen in their stances.

"I have been compensating for our collected galling deficiencies from invidious eyes all evening" Maxwell finally snapped and looked away, smoke seeping from his relaxed lips. "and those jaded Pharisees as you so call them, have kept this section out of dirty mouth of our enemies. Intelligence work is the work of gentlemen. They are fine fellows who have contributed and deserve our utmost respect."

"And how does a puffed up wee- pygmy like ye fit wit their fine company?"

"Even fine decent men can dodder and die out can't they." Maxwell sighed. " Young blood keeps the house alive."

" Young blood? Who needs it?" Anderson cried. "We're all deid tae teh world. "

" Ah but some of us are buried higher and less rotted. Are we not all links in the chain of command of God's love? Should we dare deprecate the system and the orderings that rendered great deeds such as the crusades possible? We must capitulate to His will, even if that quashes us at the very bottom. As bishop, I ascribe all of my charges wholly unto God. Our designations do not create divisions between men - it merely dignifies them. I am simply more spiritually endowed then you are. When you reject my sacred and superior status, you thereby reject His Holiness and God's divine order." Maxwell announced.

"Thats nae in teh bible." Anderson slurred.

"Perhaps you should look at the words and you may understand it better." Maxwell claimed snootily. " The bible is a book of precedents." He dropped and stomped his cigarette out once hard as to stamp the point in. "So there."

" Oor Lord in Heaven respakes nae persons, He doesn't sit on nae high horse, He's doon in teh field, wit those who wark in teh field. Ah see nae precedent in teh Gude Word fer a bunch of drowsy stingless drones, moanen aboot teh toils of sloth and counten their money! Ah'm like Esau who hunts teh game, and meenwhile Jacob, ye clevar men sit at yer desks and inherit teh farm." Anderson snarled.

"Yes." Maxwell spoke incredulously. "You are reminiscent to Esau- in his revolting hairiness and gross sense of proprietary, too busy wrangling game to receive his godly blessing. Arrogantly crediting yourself for the gift we clever men's laborious efforts have inherited to you and sustained for your sake! You are the descendent of generations of our tireless technological strivings, a specimen of the finest workmanship perfected, a divine apparatus ennobled by the powers of our illuminating enthusiasm and our impeccable erudition! Does that not deserve some recognition?"

"Nae much. Everywan knows that bureaucrats are a den of cork sniffen idiots. In wan hour Ah dae more than most of ye who floated intae office on their wine barrels have done in yer worthless lives. If Ah was tae smack any wan of ye on the back, Ah'd be choken frum a cloud of dust. Yer kind is idle baggage, deid weight that Ah've carried on ma broad ugly shoulders fur more than thirty years. Praise God that Ah've never shrugged any of ye off. Not yet." Anderson cracked his neck and knuckles gruesomely." Its ma strength that lends might tae yer weak tremblen arms, its ma sword whose point is wetted fer the Lord's service. Ah'm yer trump card, yer ace in teh hole."

"Oh yes, you are many things. A Neanderthal with a silver spoon in his mouth for one, a glorified knife thrower and overwrought Sunday school teacher, an idiot savant of barbarism, a repository of irremediable duties discarded by a higher class-" Maxwell recounted caustically.

"Ah'm nae discarded or made remeed-able by ma duties; Ah hold an honorable vocation and have grate predecessors, King David, Christ. Our faith is love and grace, nae fer lunch meetens or an excuse fer a man tae wear devilish lavender trousers, it is a refuge, a shield, a joy but its nae check. Wat Ah dae is tae important tae be prim and delicate, Ah'm impassioned by the Holy Spirit. Ah may be nae gentleman but Ah answer ma fucken purpose. Ah've made sacrifices. Ah've seen a man eaten alive by a brood of thristen vampires, Ah've severed ghouls and men limb from limb not knowen the difference-" Anderson began.

"Only you would exalt your work by describing with modesty of an open sewer and the elegance of a slaughterhouse. Is not so horrible is it? If you lose an arm, we buy you a new one and do not feign that a pugilist such as yourself does not like to put himself unto peril the same way an aesthete puts himself unto beauty every so often. Scripture tells us also: Obedience is better than sacrifice. Sacrifice does not necessarily signify humility or service, nor shall it bring us what we desire. Nor can one truly claim to be selfless and sacrificing through the loud bragging that he is so. And can there be no other sense of valor other than those that involve bloodying oneself up to one's shoulders, no other means of combat, save one's fists? The glorious qualities of the instrument needn't compete with the glory of its use. There are many enemies to the crusader: the worse of course being finances, resources, and protocol. While you simply carry the orders out, I must create it from the ether- I conceive it, provide capital and gain support. I must be a maestro to your mere mutilator. So while you may be formidable, I am afraid I am more so. You only have to face a brood of ravenous soulless bloodsuckers occasionally- I work in the office, I face such types daily."

" And while you are... enthused, but the fact that you possess passion does not excuse its misdirectedness. Your style of fanaticism is better suited for those whose habitation is not in a chamber of communion, but a bell tower in Notre Dame or thickly padded cell. For salvation and brotherhood can only be achieved by holiness not by busyness, rusticity or insanity. A true passion for Christ is consistent with the precision of intellect: not with one's innately muddled and morbid susceptibilities. A hot headed zeal is not borne according to godhead, but to animal impulsivitythat can only culminate in savagery and disaster. A temple prospers better upon Calvary than it does upon on Pompeii and quietnear imperceptible exchanges are more often effective than the most bombastic violent stunts. Good work is often secret work." Maxwell said haughtily. "But I see since you cannot comprehend my stature and you do not have the figure to wear lavender, you disparage both things."

" Secret wark eh? Nae doubt ye set yer sights on bein a naughty prolific boy-"Anderson lilted. " Yer tail has been growen longer and longer. Those street and abortion shootens in Derry... ma gut tells me ye had samethang tae dae wit."

"You condemn me because of a stomach cramp? An interesting rumor though. I normally do not address or associate myself with petty intrigues... sometimes though, I do not object circulating a small yarn to add to an effect, but agitators I cannot abide. It's treacherous to supply any opposition with horror stories."

Anderson snorted. "Unless they come under yer conniven considerin."

"I'm sorry. I do not understand." Maxwell said cuttingly.

"Ye've been collecten scraps of private information fur years- anythang yer graspen magpie of a mind can get on incase ye need it. Yer strength is all paper strength. That is when yer not causen confusion and mistrust witin teh ranks - that way yer men can't group taegather tae touch ye."

"If only I too were intoxicated beyond comprehension... I might make sense of what you say!" Maxwell clasped his hands behind his back. "What is contained in those files are in the interest of order and security, to suppress activities which are inimical to our faith. As in a body, each joint must move in concert with the other parts. Grievances and corruption reports are essential to maintain the harmony and homeostasis of the church corpus. Unsavory elements must always be purged from any group and I as bishop serve as a panacea."

"More like a bloody enema."

"Ugh. Sickening - you make a martyr of any metaphor. "

"Aye, will ye put that in ma file?" Anderson spat. "Along wit ma used tissues and watever else garbage is in there?"

"I have seen your papers." Maxwell smiled oddly. "Don' t feel exceptional- I read all the files. I wouldn't want to lose a chicken. Like you, your cabinet is cumbersome and without much content."

"Aye." Anderson nodded. "Ah'm wat they call ...enigggggg...matic."

"I believe the proper term is empty."

"Empty. That's rich comen from a slippery dago twit, who take a position unless it makes him money or it covers him like a wet stone covers a scorpion." Anderson grumbled.

"A dago you say? Must I remind you what stinking incubation, what horrid heredity you fermented from, Scotsman? You are bred of the most hopelessly addled dour and stupid race on the planet whose biggest achievements have all been to create even more primitive activities to express their primitive capacities!" Maxwell scoffed.

"And there is no slipperiness in my stance. Yes, heathens are evil stains upon the earth, unbearable to my soul, and indeed, the duty to love my neighbor does not negate my duty to kill them if need be- lovingly, piously of course. Every act of expiation is justified- for all is fair in love of Christ and war against the devil. My pity I reserve only for the men who are the victim of necessity and have to carry the terrible burden of having to commit such grave sins, and my cruelty is a benevolent cruelty- cruelty meant to affect the greater good, exposit our principles or protect them with all our powers and resources. In that way it cannot be called cruelty but a rigorous course towards His will. For what is love if it hinders us from achieving union with Our Lord? What is mercy if it obstructs the right of those strong and righteous to subjugate evil? Yes God's wrath may be great, but it can be too slow for my liking. In a sweltering ocean of impious pigs we must act as butchers. Should we wait for Hell to punish these creatures when we can satisfy ourselves with their wretchedness now? Must we pray for Heaven when we could establish the Kingdom of God on earth? Paradise might rise up like from under the bodies of infidels, in either case I much rather have a profusion of blood than a sty of swine. " Maxwell spoke sharply.

"Even with this in mind, I cannot see how blasting Protestant sows and their whore begotten litters to bits serve our interests. Such vermin are as ineradicable as weeds, cutthem down they will only spring up again! Their loathsome lives are of such small value, even to themselves, that they murder their own young without encouragement. I say- let those pullulatingpests flush themselves away like so much excrement. I despise mess. I despise costly exertions. None of that squealing multitude could be worth the ammunition it took to blow them to Hell."

"Gude Heavens Maxwell." Anderson grunted. "Ah could have killed every rat and man in this builden in the time it took ye tae make that streamen crock of speech. "

"But I digress" Maxwell continued irritably. "For making erroneous remarks about my moral quality proves nothing, nor does it absolve your pernicious deeds. Your sin is as gargantuan as your Goliath like construction, yetyour pride has helps you to imagine that your sin is as small as your self- restraint. How is it that your ruthlessness is sanctified? You single handedly have drunk more wine and spilt more guts than any guest in attendance tonight- yet you feel you have the right to be my accuser, judge and interrogator all and expect me to countenance this ridiculous inquisition?"

"Only tonight's guest?" Anderson said with a proud disturbing smile. "Give a man his due. Ah've done more harm that that! At least Ah dunnae sin by proxy. Ah risk ma oon arse and Ah sin by ma oon two hands, not wit a single wan, as Ah rather put some gusto in it and have pure blood on 'em rather than filthy water. Sides, every single wan of em deserved it..."

The priest scratched his chin as if to think.

" Ah'll tell ye a story. Ma first Ah killed Ah drowned him in his oon piss. He was a deviant, piece of shite liked tae spy on and molest young girls. Ah saw him once lingeren around a local schoolyard- Ah cut off his heid and castrated him."

"That was all necessary?" Maxwell deadpanned.

" Aye, t'was self defense." Anderson winked.

"Let me consider your narrative for a moment: so you say drowned him- was this before or after you castrated him?" Maxwell sneered, gesturing bewilderedly. "Or did you drown his decapitated head? How, dare I ask, did you even procure that much urine from him in the first place? "

"Hmm. Yer asken me? " Anderson paused. "It happened as Ah tole ye. Are ye callen me a liar Maxwell?"

"No." Maxwell rolled his eyes." You and I are not liars. But we cannot deny that we may say something not true in order to make an impression, or we may make people believe what is not, if it is in our interest to do so- as for lies, we tell no lies."

" Wat Ah say Ah've done, wat Ah'll say Ah'll gladly dae again. If ye wish it, Ah could demonstrate how sir-" Anderson bowed facetiously.

"No thank you. Whether you roast deviants alive over a bed of coals is a matter of complete indifference to me. I'd rather concern yourself with your own sin, and inquire not into mine. We could go eye to eye, and match blight to blight but it would take a very long time and also if we weren't such terrible sinful men, why else would we need God? All I suggest is that if you cannot be virtuous, be discrete. The only reputation that concerns me is the larger one at hand. For it is best for us all that I assume that given your position and the contributions to our faith, that you always fulfill your duties with unblemished credit to our illustrious organization. I shall always place our interests over everything else." Maxwell clucked sarcastically. "Salvation, repentance, damnation , these are the tenets the Lord hath made for our business's esteem."

"A gude business shares teh money Maxwell. Gitten funds from ye fer teh orphans its like tryen tae git blood from a stone and Ah seen here fer maself wat camels ye've swallowed after strainen at all those gnats!" Anderson spat."In the aiyes of God, ye have nae importance if ye have nae regard fur children. Christ said himself. "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones." Ye were once in their lot, and because yer ashamed frum teh place ye came frum, ye give 'em a pittance. They dune naethang wrong, why should they suffer fur yer shame ?"

"Yes why should children suffer to come to you and then suffer to have to stay? They suffer for a sin they did not commit, proof of Adam's fall and they participate in the result thereof. How is wealth accrued? By delaying payments. The Lord must provide us our meal before giving us commissions. It is unwise for the shepherd to feed the sheep, unless he is sufficiently fed. We spend enough maintaining your living body, it is by generosity that we permit you the bucolic life and that nanny hobby as a form of compensation attended to by your unique status. It was also considered that you would only feel comfortable around your intellectual equals, such as deprived children, and country rabbits. However Iscariot is not a social service. If we bear an expense, we all must eat it. I myself feel no indebtedness toward Ferdinand Luke's. That place could be razed to ashes, the orphans sold into slavery and I would not shed a tear... except tears of joy perhaps" Maxwell muttered and sulked A pit is owed a pittance! To I think of how much I have progressed from that hole- I take my own breath away."

"Ye've sure come a long way laddie." Anderson ground his teeth. "frum bein born an incidental bastard tae becomen an vicious malicious bastard wit Satan nippen at your behind further and further up the ranks."

"That will soon to be arch-bastard to you." Maxwell pursed his mouth. " My career is only at its beginning of its glorious course."

"More like yer vainglory canard. Ye think yer fallen estate impresses me? Ye act as if ye have teh keys of Heavan hangen from yer balls- that Ah should be yer crouchen vassal else lest ye'll snap yer finger and Ah'll fall through a hatch through teh ground straight tae Hell. Ha. Yer jes a serpent in Shepherd clothes presiden over a gang of wolves in sheep clothes. Like shite and oil,ye floated tae teh top in a shallow pool and now ye git tae throw yer weight around in God's army of incompetents and heretics!" Anderson hooted and then raised his open hands like a supplicant asking for a boon.

"Aye, HEAR ME O ANGELS and teh blessed saints, BOW BEFUR teh king buzzard in a legion of vultures, captain of oor ship of fools, top of teh bottom-feeders, teh highest heid in teh gutter! May he wark his spite everlasten! May oor church bloom in the hands of a spoiled greedy child!"

" A clever, successful child." Maxwell seethed, his shoulders hunching like an irked feline. "Does not the kingdom of God belong to children?"

"If teh kingdom of God belongs tae teh likes of ye, God save me frum teh kingdom of God." Anderson jeered.

"But it does belong to me. What is that you have that I do not also have? Of your orphans you may be their father of sorts but they most first and foremost belong to their Mother, the church. But when you think of it nothing in your fiefdom is yours, it is lent to you. Not even your body. Pound for pound you are mine. You are by extension my tissues, my chest, spleen, my palms, my membranes, my orifices. It is church chattel that you use to eat, drink, sleep, rend and devour, for you are a part of the fallen estate under my stewardship. How does that sit on your head?"

"Frankly, Ah'm let doon fer ye child. Ye obviously resigned yerself tae bein buggered by teh Mornen Star's unholy legions fur teh rest of time, but this is how you waste yer short-lived oonership of a trampled dirty earth, gloaten about maken a slave offa me and ownen ma arsehole?" Anderson snorted.

"Why not? That is a more valuable possession than your brain" Enrico cooed. "Why should I gloat over a millstone around my neck? Your ambitions are vested solely on how long your physique can withstand the ravages of brute punishment. Given your quickly advancing age and your taxing livelihood, you will soon know resignation. The moment you begin to feel stiffness in your joints and your hands tremble but a little-"

"Ye'd catch me sae much as sneezen,its-" Anderson made a gruesome noise of gutting and made the sign of a throat being cut across his neck. "but ye'd strangle teh pope if ye caught him dozen in his chair! Yer liven fer teh sole hope of haven teh plazure of climben up tae the highest branch and watchen others fall as ye shake yer rump at 'em. Ah'm sure yer already chosen teh space where ma heid's tae be mounted."

"Do not be absurd." Maxwell beamed horribly. "I find the mounting of heads is very vulgar, as well yours would be no trophy. The only suitable use for your hardened head would be my footstool!"

" Ye'll have tae wait a while yet. Ah've been around a long time and Ah dunnae git this far jes by bein a pretty face. Ah'm teh best at wat Ah dae and teh best they'll ever be. Ah've outlasted far better men then ye and Ah been taken bigger pricks than ye up ma arse befur ye were even a twinkle in yer goatish father's eye." Anderson glared.

" Sae ye've had a whiff of power and ye think its yer turn tae play tyrant? Sad thang is everywan but ye can see yer jes teh pretender of teh moment, a warthless favorite, a yanked and dancen puppet. Ye rose up far too quick, like a firecracker -ye'll burst and fade oot jes as quickly. In this line of wark, teh more successful ye are, teh faster ye die. At teh rate yer gaein, ye'll end up innae bunker while Berlin burns. Ah saw fer maself how yer friends held their trinkles above yer nose, made ye beg and fetch fur it all night at yer oon feast. Like watchen a piper and his bitch! Teh last part of ye that has any self- respake probably wants tae die. Ah'm surprised ye aren't screamen right now."

"Ah git keen ears too. Know wat Ah heard? Most of yer guests think yer naethang but a worm who managed tae slither in a rotten core by flattery. Along with maken a fortune becomen the clergy's social gadfly and sellen black market weapons and supplies tae disreputables . Course they said it nicer and nastier than that. Those old men in there like crawlen salamanders like ye that tickle their fancies. Ye'll lick 'em till ye burst and then they'll tire of ye."

"Lord deliver me from the barbs of a doddering herd of mental old uncles, lest they scowl the soul outfrom my body. " Maxwell cackled, smacking a hand over his forehead like a cheesy starlet. "And most likely you are confused, even if there is some modicum of truth to what you say, you speak it so poorly it has no effect whatsoever! I do not care what they think of me... since most of them, you especially, barely have the capacity to think at all. Why should I take stock in you, a ruffian who scarcely feels alive unless he is probing into another's affairs while absolutely refusing to let anyone to probe in his. I suspect you dread the possibility that one may employ or even may possess the faculty of thought or judging your activities. "

"Wat other men think of me is none of ma business. Teh only judgment that matters is God's. When Ah act on His behalf, He dunna complains, sae Ah figure Ah'm daen His wark tae His liken! Ah can't wait till Judgment Day tae be sure wit teh Almighty if Ah'm daen right. Be fair sir. God's only wan who always judges rightly. Ye can't hold me tae those standards. " Anderson

"Or any it seems. You seem to be an endless series of contradictions, all designed to spurn all endowments of human reason. Treacherous murderer or tender father, with you, such distinctions must be meaningless, or else you must be a mighty Samson indeed holding two pillars apart, until the entire structure collapses atop you. Two vocations allows for twice the deceit I say! " Maxwell rejoined.

" Haven two vocations doesnae make me a liar. Ah'm a servant of two truths, both of 'em are plazen in teh eyes of teh Lord, He hath made ma hart both tender and hard. Care fur teh innocent, kill sin. Where's teh deceit? Ah nae less maself when Ah read teh bairns a story than when Ah'm decapitaten heathens." Anderson declared.

"I hope for your sake you will never confuse the one with the other, No wonder you have such a large husk, There must be independent characters, the whole of creation inside you."

"Aye, Ah'm a vast man." Anderson cackled.

"Vastly hypocritical yes." Maxwell said snidely. "But I am glad for you that you feel yourself to have so many facets to your character, besides terrorizing that tribe of little savages at the orphanage, as well as serving as the reigning denizen in my most abhorrent nightmares."

" Ye dunna mind hypocrites dae ye Maxwell? Only if they're better at it than ye are, and ye'd know well of contradictions! Yer a self-haten narcissist, vanity suppen with envy. cowardice wit viciousness, desperation and pride! " Anderson remarked . "And if ye dared stopped yer affects and airs, ye wouldnae know wat was in ye."

"Oh, you call me those things? That is the pot calling the kettle black bodied, no? Dare the harlot cast her petty stones? Are you not compelled to conceal yourself in extreme caricature knowing it is impossible to reveal how much you deviate from all the rest of us? Perhaps you believe all us persons are simply some actors you come see assume poses upon your cue. Having none who feel with you a common nature and incapable of seeing beyond your swollen head , you can only be a presumptuous spectator and robotic player that acts, then reenacts and thus assures himself of his own rectitude. But this is no theater. If you prick me, I do in fact bleed. ..." Maxwell retorted sullenly.

" Snakes bleed too and Ah wouldn't presume tae prick ye" Anderson muttered ." If its pricks ye be wanten, ye be heid back in. St. Sebastian was pierced as "an urchin is full of pricks", Ah'm sure ye'd love taefollow his example up yer backside. Whether ye see it, Ah understand far too well. Yer heid's a hive of wasps, a carnival of demons. Being despicable gaves ye glee, and ye succeed wonderfully at it, but ye wilt befur teh consequences. When ye dae yer damnable wark, knowen ye that can't be undone, yer rankness eat at ye like rats and teh longen tae be punished becomes a sweetness, a growth on teh mind. Only problem is ye have the child's want fer chastisement, along wit the madman's desire tae git away wit it. Befur teh honest truth, ye feel teh hate and resentment a criminal must feel when confronted by a gude man, but yer oon hate and ache is yer daily bread."

"Who died besides Jesus on the cross? Criminals. Of course there is nothing criminal in posing to be what one is not. Legally criminal that is. I do not say I am saint-like, no, no but if I were to appreciate hardship it is because it is a pleasure to suffer every trial for the sake of Our Savior. Is it not the duty of a Christian to despise and be so loathed by a godless world? As a disciple of a crucified lamb, I am privileged to mimic Him in his solitude, in his sufferings. The unfaithful are undeserving to follow and share in Christ that path of pain and persecution. I find that your hostility is a most appropriate sentiment in the occasion of confronting another's superiority- that would be mine. " Maxwell boasted, running a hand through his ponytail.

"Heh. There's nae point." Anderson laughed without humor. "Dealen wit ye is like wrestlen wit a pig, Ah git dirty and teh pig loves it."

" If I am a pig you are the grime stuck in my trotter!" Maxwell scowled. "You see no point, so why do you persist in this? Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?"

" Quoten teh book of Job?" Anderson leaned in, intrigued. Wat dae ye think that book was all aboot?"

" Even God has to prove his power." Enrico replied. "To Him, Job's suffering is a contest of wills."

"Sae this a contest tae ye? Who dae ye think is Job and who's God here?"

"There is no contest between you and I, we are not parent and child, student and teacher. You are no shadowy, bogy or tormentor, you are not even my equal. How stupid that I should be counted a rival to my inferior." Maxwell hissed . " Do what you like with your children, for they are your toys, but you must take care in how you deal with me. You can no longer enlist me to participate in these foul "games" of yours."

"Yer play acten are warse than any child's games. They're child's play witoot teh harmlessness, witoot teh innocence , witoot teh fun." Anderson smiled unsettlingly. " Ah'm playen cause ye invited this. Yer enjoyen this far more than Ah am. As in hide and seek, teh child wishes tae be caught and needs tae lose, more than teh adult wants tae win. As always, Ah'm yer beast of burden."

Maxwell snorted. "You mean burdensome beast! For you see, I would like to accommodate you, to treat you respectfully, generously and render your life less odious- but it is your behavior that forces me to be keep you like a animal. Try to allow this to sink within the frame of your inebriate conception. Tonight I let you drink to your predilection did I not? I simply allowed you what you desired. "

"It wasnae wat Ah desired." Anderson leered.

"It did seem to be that way when you were draining the Vatican storehouses dry an hour ago. Now you are more indisposed then that of the most dissolute persons and forcibly detain me to witness this demented fit, how very typical of your sadistic disorderly character. If any time is given to you, any favor granted, you become unruly and utterly destructive. To permit you your will is the same as wishing you to destroy yourself. Yes go ahead and do as you please, you'll dominate yourself to bedlam or extinction." Maxwell snapped.

"But isnae that's wat ye want." The older man growled with grim suspicion.

"No- clearly it is what you want. All I want is not to be bothered you understand? I would not be concerned with you at all, if it not were for this impertinent visitation." Maxwell sighed. "Alexander-"

" Anderson." The priest growled.

" Anderson, Alexander, I could call you Pontius or Mary Magdalene it would make no difference. Whatever you call yourself is probably a fabrication." Maxwell said flippantly. "You are the most obstinate and irrational person I had ever had the misfortune of encountering, like a rock of madness. Can you not cease this idiocy? We both know you are not distressed by my speech or behavior at all. You are simply determined to seize every trifle as a pretext to disagree with me."

"Yes, no responsibility can be dignified if it comes by my concession, and all that is iniquitous in this world must be assigned to my fame. You only invoke God and morality against me to belittle my great accomplishments which you resent because it is not yours. You seek to persecute me with your mean and hateful affliction from which you are suffering at present, and it is not the desire that I acknowledge you because I should never refuse you that, but it is your base fury that you must acknowledge me . As your eminence, you rely on my constitution. Alas having little sense or influence, you can only heap on asinine tedious arguments of seemingly inexhaustible variety. I have no doubt to my claim or impediments to my purposes. You should not imagine for a second that you can constitute one, but since you do and insist besides on nourishing some ludicrous illusion of authority over me, I have no option but to receive you in mockery and exasperation, a ranting farcical King Lear-"

"Sae young and sae untender..." Anderson muttered.

"So young my lord,but true. I have confidence in myself that I will have the leisure to savor this conversation at length and reap compensation commensurate to this moment of chagrin, but as for all moments preceding it? When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. You are a very childish monument I have put away, Whatever it is I achieve now, has absolutely nothing to do with the circumstances of my youth. That time is but a shadow and I scarcely conceive of you as existing except as a tool grown in human shape and a very vague unpleasant memory. It is as if you have died. Despite your feeble attempts to revive yourself to me, I utter your elegy here tonight. You musn't let this knowledge drive you mad."

"Is that yer aim Maxwell?" Anderson 's eyes were as dark and dense as knots of barbed wire. "tae drive me mad?"

"I would not have to drive you very far now would I?"Maxwell spoke with a sweetly venomous smile creeping into his gentle tone. " That I , more than a quarter of a century your junior reign over all that you have staked your life, that you must defer to the child that shames you, I can understand, may feel to be the final straw. Alas, this is the condition we find ourselves! It is no generous error that you delude yourself with, as to adjure my dominion is not only undignified but quite mad. Accept dear man, as you indeed must , that every good son exceeds his father and every child eventually becomes his father's caretaker. Only when you acquiesce to me, then I can better tend to you."

"Between us two, wan of us may be deluded, but Ah know fer a fact its not me. Ye believe because of ye got a stole and a promotion that thangs have changed, that teh sins of yer past have gone away? Only teh coveren is different. Teh flesh is the same." Anderson's eyebrows knit together as he squinted at Maxwell in long perturbed concentration.

The young man stared back and tilted his head.

"Ye have all teh outsides and prattle of piety, but ye haven't teh foggiest notion of wat it meens dae ye? Yer domineeren and posturen nae impressive- only impressive in how off teh mark it is. All it leaves is a bad taste in teh mouth and shiver doon teh spine fer ye dunnae even seem tae know how false and fiendish ye are. Ye lie constantly, aisily, witoot second guessen or even knowen it and ye think aboot yer station, yer fancy dress, wine and roses but naethang of Our Lord and Savior. Teh only thang ye ever worshipped is yerself."

" AH-thats yer true creed, yer catechism, yer ten commandments! Any lie can be wrapped in silk and tinsel until naeone knows its stinken carcass, we both know that but a lie's a cripple- it can't stand fur long on its oon fer long. A leopard cannot change his spots - ye should stayed in teh dark, fer yer spots, hair by hair, will show themselves. Ah'm burned tae teh socket with yer crookedness . Soon everywan else shall see it too. If yer filthy, ye can't cleanse. If yer of teh darkness, ye cannot fight the darkness. Nae good can ever come of a bad seed."

"At the very least we have arrived at some consensus. We both accept each other as liars. I may have been a bad seed, but how was I meant to grow well when I was stamped into such rank soil, quenched with bile, smothered and plowed into dismemberment? Someone has set a precious thing before you and you charged and treaded on it like a mad bull, battered it with the abuse-" Maxwell huffed.

"Abuse? Ye weren't abused as a child, Lord knows ye should have been." Anderson bellowed. "Ye'd be far bettar off taeday if Ah administered a gude thrashen tae ye hourly! But did Ah battered yer fragile lit soul wit ma harshwords? Wat should Ah have done ? Should Ah have allowed ye tae commit sin under ma roof? Bolstered yer pride? Ah ken fur ma flock too much tae indulge them tae their ruin . Ah dunnae pamper.Ah dunnae spare. Ma severity was tae save ye from Hell and build yer character, Ah was always kind , ma motives gude and charitable, ma conscience clear!"

"Perhaps that is what you remember? Given your perchant for drink,your memory may not be so clear. Who is to say what truly happened, except whoever holds the book?" Maxwell said softly. "History is rewritten, her glass veiled all the time to suit the caprices of the present, or the future."

Anderson jerked forward as if to seize the young man. " Why ye sick lit' shite."

Maxwell stepped away and shrugged in sleazy admission. "Sick you sow, sick you reap."

"Naethang is too sacred fer ye tae lie aboot."

"Nothing is too profane either. It does not matter if anyone believes half of what I say- nevertheless it behooves me to say it. If I wished to be Mother Theresa I would have been. Unfortunately, I cannot stand mosquitoes." Maxwell smirked to himself.

" Most men have the intelligence of asses and they wish to be misled either by another or themselves. You are of the latter category. Your "abuse" as I say was not so simple or as crude as what you suppose. You had no need to beat us to the knees with a blunt instrument. You snatched at the substance of our heart', but gently, lest you break the skin. You emptied the mind and the soul of will without remorse, but if the child's stomach was empty, how yearned your tender bowels. Children they say are the riches of poor, and you dirty, mean and insidious in spirit kept us as a precious treasury of souls, your tokens of your apparent merit. You preferred to make a parade of us, so you may be seen in our midst so that others may say of you: what a kind godly man."

"Little did they know in truth that you were a blackguard aping charity so he could anesthetize his already minute shame and more effectively pursue his foul pleasures! You act as if your heart oozed sticky sweetness towards us, but we were a mere diversion, a pastime, treated like monkeys. It your carelessness and selfishness that made our home a spiritual raft of Medusa and your charges abject castaways defecating with woe and fear! One might think since we children were forced to live in this squalor together we might have been kind to each other- alas, we always a breath away from murder for one snot of your approval. Unfortunately Father could not adore all his little ones- and when one refused to crawl in a line like caterpillars with the other children, if he did not want to be Father's creature and was not made stupid by your poison, anathema was his name."

"Ungrateful brat. A BOO HOOHOO! Ma childhood was rotten, Ah'm misunderstood, everybody hates me that makes me a saint "The priest screwed his fists into his eyes." Sorry tae be teh one tae break yer daily excursion intae self-pity, but naeone's interested. Dae wat ye want, but Ah've watched this unbearable melodrama befur! Ah'll give ye some advice: shut yer hole. Teh habits of a blubberen woman look terrible on a grown man."

" Bite your tongue drunkard."The bishop charged. "What would an organ grinder like you know about being a man? Am I not a man because I cannot take knives, chains and bullets to my face? It is because I'm not a steroid and whiskey fueled grotesquerie of insentient brawn, that I wear human flesh? Or is it I possess more than a brute's courage, that I am not a behemoth that must assert his lowly manhood over a pack of unwitting orphans? If I am not man enough to your liking it is because in your presence, castration was always in the air. As I child, I had no choice but to daily endure your emasculating criticisms and the humiliating sight of your swaggering coarseness, swinging on your thick ape knuckles in your... smelly cassock-"

"Bull shite." Anderson nostrils flared in indignation. "Ma cassock smells lovely and ye know it. Am Ah supposed tae feel responsible that ye couldn't man up like me, sae ye'd decided tae be a trollopen obsequious fruit instead? All Ah see before me is sour grapes, how dae they taste? Real sour Ah bet. Ah know ye can taste it, ye have a big fucken mouth. That's all ye have. Ye call me a drunkard ? Ye bite yer oon tongue lest Ah'll tear yers oot and use it tae smack that vile smirk witoot a drop of blood of sincerity and kindness innit off yer face."

" Am I to understand that as a threat Anderson?" Maxwell said with analytic coolness.

"Wat if ye did. A man nevar died from a threat."

"Are you certain of that? Do you really think this clowning intimidates me?"

"Aye it should."Anderson said darkly.

"I tell you now: I do not care for these thuggish antics. I have sufficient violence within myself. I am capable of retaliating for any distress you may cause me. You strike my face, God will punish you." Maxwell pointed to the sky.

Maxwell tensed as Anderson seized him by his wrist and pulled him closer.

" God will punish me? He already has. Look and listen tae me, ye misery thristen fool." Anderson spoke with low croaking intensity, as if a sword was being stirred in his gut. "The gulf of Hell lies between us, Ah've crossed it long ago- but all yer daen but punishen yerself -"

"All I see lying between us is a torrent of your blood if you do not unhand me you damned oaf. If God chose my soul to be a scourge to wicked fathers." Maxwell cried. "so be it, for its own punishment or for yours!"

Maxwell jerked away only to be further contained by Anderson's grip, his arm held fast by the sweating leaden chain that was Anderson's arm.

"Aye teh sound of yer voice when its filled wit guilt and hate is like a hymn tae me- everything ye say justifies me further! Ye think tae befoul yerself
tae
drag me doon wit ye? Thats like drinkin poison yerself and hopen everyone else dies." The priest whispered and panted nastily in Maxwell's ear "well yer poison dunnae work on me ye wicked mischievous boy. In yer dapest hart ye'll furever be a abortion of teh earth, a unwanted son of a whore, who was cast oot like a cracked chamber pot tipped o'er on teh pavement, teh devil's child whose lusts of yer father ye will do-

Maxwell's eyes twitched as his chest seemed to cave into an abscess, a block tumbling into the ocean. The rest of his face distorted and warbled like a broken reflection in tumultuous river. Like a ghoulish Jack in the box,the bishop launched himself forward and turned his neck, so their faces were millimeters apart.

"You DARE speak to me this way- filthy impudent SCUM- CALIBAN- ADDLED SCOUNDREL- you dare speak to me- you thought tonight' s event was a street corner? Ferdinand Luke was your idolatrous brothel temple- you were God of the nursery- and your harem of adoring idiot-children - worshiped you- prostrated themselves -to gratify your pride! For children are powerless, cursed with innocence, they cannot see your GUILE, like how flies swarm about rotten bones, they must feed off your fat stinking heart, they mistake your words for precious caresses that instead are the fists that fall and bash their brains! &-You are– like some contaminating poster to corrupt CHILDREN- You say I cannot judge you but I can know you by your fruit, the monsters you create, traitors, murderers, I know them by the SHAME you have written on their faces! You must be the devil himself! " Maxwell quaked, so hateful and horrified he was barely able to conjure up a coherent thought, let alone attack. His enormous eyes were rimmed with red as if brain was about to bleed and tiny filaments of saliva shot forward from the gaps of his pale gums and gritted teeth and splattered against Anderson's terse chin and mouth.

" Its God who calls the little wans fer their callens, not AH!" The priest ejaculated in infuriated bursts. "Ezekiel 34:16 Ahwill search fur teh lost and bring back teh strays. Ah will bind up teh injured and strengthen teh weak, but teh sleek and teh strong Ah will destroy. Ah will shepherd the flock wit justice."They were called in love; chosen in love, redeemed in love and they will be kept by love til they enter from ma hoose tae the hoose of teh lord!"

"Let go of me, GO I SAY OR I WILL BE SICK!"

"Yer SICK sae be sick-! BE sick ALL O'er yerself! YE think AH gave a FUCK-

They shouted in a frenzy of curses and insults over each other, into each other's outraged faces.

Suddenly the priest let go. Maxwell tore back, only to have something fly out of his sleeve and fall between them.