Pilgrimage

"So, you believe me?"

"I'm not sure yet. I believe you when you say you hear it, but I'm a crazy woman on industrial-grade medication."

"Well, if I could prove it to you, I certainly would. Now, where were we?"

"Well, we were dancing by the guitar, but now we're dancing where Tammy's trying to sleep. Or did you mean..."

"I meant, what we were talking about, not that I object to where your hand is."

"Ah, okay. The Jen story, or at least what I could get from her. Well, I learned what I could after that time we were watching TV..."

"Hold on a sec, my love. Hey, Anne! Can we get some flashback music, please? As long as you've got the guitar?"

"I likes a spot o' honey in me mornin' tea."

I'd take that as a firm "no".

"Me too."

"You too what?"

"Uh, never mind.... just tell the story."
"Okay, remember when that Lord Thomas commercial came on when you, Leslie, and Carrie were watching TV?"

Begin flashback!

"Oh, come on, Carrie. You can't tell me you believe in this Lord Thomas guy?"

"What do you mean? You can't prove the world isn't going to end if people stop sending the Cult of Lord Thomas money! He's the only obstacle between us and oblivion!"

"Bull. What kind of name is Lord Thomas for a 'earth-serving god'? It's dumb."

"Lord Thomas says he uses that astral moniker so that he can better deal with us on our level. His True Name would drive us all mad!"

"He's a fraud! It's all an act! He bet he doesn't even live in a bare chamber in his compound, with no modern conveniences at all, meditating on how to use our donations to save us! How could he? The rest of his compound is filled with electronics, luxury, catering, the whole works!"

"Lord Thomas doesn't expect all his followers to follow his austere calling!"

"He's got a friggin' helicopter on the back lawn! And that Hwang 711 with the license plate 'TOM' in the private parking lot.... who do you think owns that?"

"It probably only says that for tax purposes."

"Tax purposes? Do you even listen to yourself?"

"Ask Jen about it, Leslie! She showed up in a Lord Thomas Cult Member T-shirt, before it was confiscated."

End flashback, for now!

"So, after hearing that exchange, I decided to ask Jen about it when I got the chance. It may have been a bit of a mistake, because she started crying."

Uh, begin flashback, again!
"Oh, Deanna, it's true. What I saw in that place.... * sniff *... Lord Thomas' compound.... "

"What did you see Jen? It must have been pretty bad to land you here."

"Well, I wasn't familiar with the place. I was assigned to go to room 231 to pick up some incense and candles for that evening's worship session.... and I got the room number wrong - I went into room 213 by accident. It wasn't a supply room, it was someone's office suite. I was about to leave, when I saw.... it."

"It?"

"I saw.... Lord Thomas' robe. That dark blue one... the one with a hood so big so you can't see his face... the sleeve design was the same... it had to be his! There was a desk with a two pictures on it.... before I could see them, I heard a television. Through a doorway, I could see a television... it was on, and whomever was in there was watching Iron Chef Pleasantview."

"The one starring Chef Angela?"

"Yes. Not only that, one of the pictures on the desk was of her! The other was of two teenage girls - one with red hair, the other with blonde hair! Then, I heard... the voice."

"The voice? What did it say?"

"It was his voice. Lord Thomas'. But without the whole ominous note... it sounded like a normal voice... he said 'Oh, you're here early. I'm just watching tonight's taping...' That's when he came out and saw me. He... he looked like a normal guy. The lights were low in the office, but I think he had blonde hair... like one of the girls in the picture. He was wearing a solid gray jumpsuit of some sort. I'd walked into his office suite! I obviously wasn't who he was expecting, and he called for guards.... next thing I know, there's a bag thrown over my head, and they must have drugged me or something, for I woke up here.... on the meds."

End flashback... sigh. I can't believe I have to play AV tech for this...

"So that's Jen's story, Brian. She was locked up here and sedated to keep her from spilling the beans about Lord Thomas. I guess donations would go way down if the truth got out that Lord Thomas doesn't exactly live a monastic, divine, austere existence. He's just a guy in a robe who's learned to milk money from people."

"Wow.... that's pretty rough. That's one big operation, Lord Thomas' cult. In my own work.... I've made certain... deliveries for them."

"That reminds me... how's the new job? You left pretty late last night."
"It's a lot of work, shuffling stuff between the seaport, airport and back. Even though I have plenty of underlings, I still have to personally make sure shipments get where we need to go. I will say, Don Simprano himself is impressed with my efficiency. I think, if I can pull off some bigger and better smuggling scores, he might designate me his successor... he's getting ready to retire soon."

"Let's hope.... oh, I hate to ask this, but I need to know this Brian... but, in your job... you haven't killed anyone, have you?"

"Me? No. No, my love. Not even indirectly. I may have shot out a cop car's tires and a few security cameras on a bank job, but to my knowledge, I've never hurt anyone."

"Really? How'd you get so high in the syndicate if you haven't killed anyone?"

"Killing someone is frowned upon. It implied you lost control of the situation; and weren't creative enough to handle things cleanly. Besides.... even if someone gets offed, they show up the next day fresh as a daisy. Or as a zombie. It's not worth the trouble most times to make sure someone stays dead. Usually a brush with death gets the point across. Unless it's someone who testified in court or something. They don't stop for anything if someone's testimony gets someone locked up. I haven't had to deal with that. Only the Don can order someone's death."

Hey Anne! Can we get some ominous music here?

"I want a Pony Princess doll, mumsie...."

I'll take that as a no....