Chapter 4 Meetings of a Human Kind of the Male Persuasion
For a while they stroll side by side in a companionable silence along East Park.
Or so it appears to the unobservant passersby.
Nuala is constantly gazing at her shoes, lost inside her inner perplexities.
Pah gazes attentively at her surroundings, vibrantly lost in savoring the moment.
More of a mismatched pair would never be seen taking a walk in the park.
And yet a more observant watcher would sense that they were bonded, that each of them was taking something out of being in the company of the other.
Aimlessly they stroll on.
Suddenly, out of a park bench, a gaggle of male teens comes ambling towards them, three of them, three revelers obviously wasted on the poisons of their choice.
"Check this out! Foxy lady!"
"Foxy lady! Won't you join our party?"
"Our party! We will give you fun!"
Pah acts as if they were not there. Nuala barely acknowledges them.
"Look at all the butterflies. Beautiful butterflies. Colorful and shiny butterflies." She says listlessly.
"Wow man, check these butterflies!"
"Woo man, what gnarly groovy butterflies!"
"Hey man, I want these butterflies!"
The teenagers chase the butterflies away.
Nuala ambles on. Pah grows a bit moody.
A little further away, three men are selling dope, three dealers.
First comes the muscle, who had been covering them.
"Dame, would you care to check out our product?"
Then the dealer calls out from his park seat:
"Hey, mama, don't you have some fun? We are selling funny pills!"
Then comes the pusher, who gets in their personal space and stands in their way, and because they don't stop for him goes on walking backwards, pushing the product.
"Hey, ho, we have the best product in the neighborhood!"
Pah still reacts as if he wasn't there. Nuala grows a bit aggravated.
"I don't want your product. It is ruined. It is riddled with maggots."
The dealer yells, darts back to the park bench that doubled has their stall, starts frantically to go through the product in an effort to salvage it, and then more frantically requests the help of the rest of his crew. In their frantic fumbling they scatter the product away. Bouts of recrimination ensue.
Nuala ambles on. Pah grows brooding.
They stroll on.
Further on three men move on them, three thugs, blocking their path. One of them waves a .38 Special gun, another twirls a switchblade knife, the third brandishes a fungo baseball bat.
"Look what the night dragged in!" "We are going to have us a party!" "We're going to have some fun!" They leer.
Nuala gets miffed:
"Bugs. Your bodies are crawling with bugs. Creepy crawling bugs."
"Ah!" "Get off, get off!" "Get'em offa me!" They yell.
They wander away.
Pah suddenly has had enough of this. She grabs hold of Nuala's shoulder, forcing her to stop, moves ahead of her, stands in her way, stares hard into her eyes, and opens her mouth to speakā¦
