23

"And that," the waitress said, "is how it began."

As the waitress talked, Doris looked around at the Bob B. Soxx pictures on the walls. Here's Bob B. Soxx shaking hands with Gandhi. Here he is with the Dalai Lama. Here's Bob B. Soxx cutting the ribbon at a new desalination plant. Here he is singing songs with children. Here's Bob B. Soxx, lifting a barbell of 75,000,000 pounds, rumored to be the most weight ever lifted by one human being.

His cult had a reputation for pacifism and his teachings were generally benign and nonthreatening. He had never presided over a mass wedding.

"Is he, um, the one who has the mass weddings?" Doris asked the waitress.

"He hasn't had them yet," said the waitress, "But he wouldn't rule it out. He's looking into it right now."

"Wasn't it Bob B. Soxx who had, um, a gold Rolls Royce?"

"No," said the waitress, and Doris nodded. "But he's considering that too."

"Is he a Buddhist?"

"Nope!" the waitress seemed almost smug about this one. "We subscribe to no religion except our own. Matter of fact, we don't really like to be considered a religion. Matter of fact, Bob B. Soxx hasn't made up his mind about that one yet. He's reserving judgment for a while."

"I just," Mary looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, I have one more question but I don't want to take you away from your work, did you want to put that down?"

As she talked, the waitress had had a metal pizza platter balanced on one shoulder. "It's all right," the waitress said, "Go ahead and ask."

Well ... most spiritual , um, leaders, it seems like 'Bob B. Soxx' is a pretty unusual name for a spiritual leader. Like, um, Ram Dass, you know, has he ever considered changing his name to something more ... austere?"

The waitress nodded. "I know. I have to tell you, I think it's kind of weird too. He was a singer when he had the awakening which brought him to this point, and from what I understand he kept his old name as an acknowledgement of his own history."

Mary nodded.

"Any more questions?"

Charlie had rested his chin on his hand and fallen asleep.

"Then I better go. Bye!"

They ate their food

"So y'know," said Mary, "I wanted to have lunch with you kids obviously because I like getting to see you, but, um, I also wanted to let all three of you know at once that-"

She stopped when she noticed Charlie sleeping.

She shook his arm gently.

"Charles."

She shook his arm a little less gently and he pulled out of sleep.

"Sorry honey," said Mary, "I wanted you all awake so I could tell you all at once - Edward wanted me to invite you all to come fishing in a couple of weekend. He has a boat."

"I'm not fucking fishing," Charlie said.

"Charles! Please!" said Mary. "Edward wanted a chance to get to know all three of you, so we thought we could do something fun. We would, um, go for the day."

"What's his last name? Edward what?"

"He doesn't have a last name," Mary said. "He's a mononym."

"A mononym," Charlie said contemptuously.

"You're dating a mononym?" said Doris in a mock cringe. "Mmm, I don't know, mom, I'll have to let you know on that fishing trip."

"Well, anyway," Mary said, nodding, "I wanted to be sure to invite you all and to be very fair about it. You know, he's a part of my life now, and you kids are probably going to be seeing him occasionally, so at least this way, we could-"

Merry nodded.

"Merry dear, you're awfully quiet. Is everything okay?"

I could tell you but I don't want to, Merry thought. Something about that sailor scares the hell out of me!