Fight Sequence Rainbow Arc of Fire: Harmony of Spheres

The fight referred to in this sequence took place elsewhere:

Chapter Thirty-six

In a large, darkened house, on a quiet side street on Capitol Hill in Denver, a tall, lanky, gray-haired man nearing 60 fearfully peers out at the sidewalk through a small crack between carefully drawn drapes.

"Do you see them yet?" his short, portly lover Henry fretfully asks Richard as he hangs back, well out of sight.

"No, love," soothes Richard, releasing his hold on the heavy fabric and allowing it to close tightly once again. "We shouldn't expect James and Geoffrey to be here this soon with our groceries. They only called a little more than an hour ago to ask us what we needed."

"I know, Richey," Henry sighs, wringing his hands in despair and finally sitting down on an overstuffed sofa in their living room. "I was only hoping they'd get here soon. I'm just terrified each night that we're alone."

Richard rejoins Henry on the couch, holding his lover close and comforting him, "Everything will be fine, hon. Joan and Marina and the others should reach the comet soon enough. They'll immediately alter its course, and then everyone will see that the Earth has been saved. We can only hope that people will quickly return to their senses and stop all of this madness."

"I'm so frightened," Henry confesses. "I really believe that this is what it was like to be gay in Nazi Germany in the 1930's. You're afraid that your neighbors are going to turn on you, you're afraid to walk the streets, and you're even afraid to be with your friends and patronize their businesses."

He looks at Richard wide-eyed, "James told me that a mob ransacked Category Six Books on 11th Street and burned every magazine, book, poster, and flag!"

"I know," Richard assures him, shaking his head. "And arsonists also torched The Triangle bar and The Foxhole."

"Even the Metropolitan Community Church has been vandalized repeatedly," Henry reminds him. "Nothing is sacred to these scoundrels."

"True. But they've also spray-painted hateful slogans on the Presbyterian and Lutheran churches near here," Richard adds. "We're not the only ones being single out, it seems. When it appears that the world is about to end, everyone else's beliefs obviously become a target."

The doorbell rings and both men give a start.

"I'll answer it," Richard bravely offers. "You wait right here."

"Be careful," Henry pleads. Then he adds, "I wish we had a gun."

"Guns are not the answer, Henry; they're the problem," Richard grimly assures him. However, he sadly concedes, "I'll be careful."

Quietly, he makes his way to the front door. Holding his breath, he peers out through the peephole. Grateful, he loudly exhales: "Thank goodness. It's James and Geoffrey!"

He reaches for the dead bolt lock, quickly unlatches it, and opens the door, "Come in. Come in, gentlemen."

As their two friends enter carrying several bags of groceries, Richard notices a cut on Geoffrey's cheek, "What happened to you?"

"Some homophobe at 'Queen' Soopers called us faggots after he saw the rainbow flag on our car, so I beat the crap out of him," Geoffrey explains, setting the groceries on the floor.

Giving Richard a hug, James grins and adds, "Actually, the guy got one sucker punch in before Geoffrey decked him. My hero."

Geoffrey just shakes his head and grimly laughs, "I'm not taking guff from anyone these days. I'm sure that guy's not gonna call anyone else a faggot after this."

"I'll get a Band-Aid and some disinfectant to clean that cut," Henry frets as he enters the hallway and looks closely at Geoffrey's wound. "Your attacker was probably rabid."

He then turns to his lover, "Richard, please show our guests into the kitchen."

Pointing the way down a darkened hall, Richard asks, "How is it outside? Henry and I have been too fearful to venture out for the last two days. We don't even watch the news; it's too depressing. And we certainly won't turn on any lights at night."

"Actually," James assures him, "in some ways, it's getting a bit better. The community is starting to organize. I certainly wouldn't recommend that any antigay bigots go anywhere near Charlie's right now. Those Country and Western queens have set up a citizens' patrol around the bar, and they're heavily armed from boot to Stetson. I'm convinced that they will shoot first and ask questions later."

"Violence, violence, violence," Richard laments after offering his friends a seat at the kitchen table and then taking one himself. "I have not been able to comprehend how people can become so crazy, so quickly, especially in Denver."

"It's much worse in Colorado Springs," Geoffrey assures him. "Some friends of ours who live there are temporarily staying with us. They said that when all of the fundamentalist Christians got finished burning down the gay bars and left-wing bookstores and businesses, they soon started attacking one another's churches over denominational differences."

"Yep," James concurs. "When you fundamentally disagree over several passages in the Bible, and the world may be coming to an end, even minor scriptural differences suddenly take on a much greater significance."

Entering the kitchen with the emergency kit, Henry tisks, "If you're convinced that this comet represents God's retribution upon all of humankind, you're bound to go self-righteously mad with guilt and seek your own personal retribution upon everyone else for this threat to the Earth."

"Now don't flinch," Henry then warns Geoffrey, looking intently at the cut on his face while preparing to apply some disinfectant with a cotton ball. "This might sting a little at first, but it will help promote healing."

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