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with you or you can comply. Your choice.”
    With a movement I could describe only as timid, he unshielded his eyes and watched my final pass. Oh, how you humans thrive on choices . I squatted, once more, at his side. “Well?”
    He stared at his lap, his mouth moving rapidly as he repeated silent words.
    “Say it, Nick.”
    He shook his head.
    “Say it!”
    “Stop…please!” His lips moving faster and faster, he shook his head even harder. “I’m going to hell,” he whispered on a long exhale.
    Lord— and no, I still refused to apologize, as long as I continued to itch from those cursed flowers. “You won’t. Technically, you’ve done nothing wrong.”
    His shoulders drooped; his head hung lower. “Yes, I—I’m going to hell; I know I am.”
    “Are you calling me a liar?”
    Immediately, he met my gaze. “N-no,” he said, but uncertainty reigned in his voice.
    “That ‘going to hell’ bit is a wretched rumor forged into the hearts of ignorant men by a-certain-someone. ”
    His gaze searched my face and I was about to write him off when his forehead creased and he asked, “Hitler?”
    Oh, fuck. I shook my head. Hitler? If there was ever a human more deceived… “No, not him.” I shifted onto one hip and leaned one hand in the sun-warmed grass. This conversation was not headed in the direction I’d hoped to lead it. I was definitely losing my touch.
    “Satan!” Recognition flashed suddenly in Nick’s eyes, and I offered what I could only assume was my ‘no shit’ look. I’d be damned if I as much as allowed Lucifer, that double-crossing bastard, an ounce of my breath, energy, thoughts, or otherwise.
    I refilled Nick’s cup and he proceeded to drink. I could see the wheels turning in that free-willed brain of his.
    After a few minutes, he stared blankly ahead. “I won’t go to hell?”
    “You aren’t going to hell. No.”
    For the first time in a long time, Nick smiled.
    Now here before me sat someone I could work with, and if I didn’t have this wicked rash, I’d have ignored Papa’s don’t touch rule, scooped the man into my arms, and embraced him. Despite my pain, I smiled in return as he released his desperation, his unjustified doubts…but his smile faded as quickly as it had appeared.
    “Are you all right?” I asked.
    “I’m so confused.”
    Leave it to one of my charges to make the understatement of the year. Papa wouldn’t let me live this one down. I took in the look on Nick’s pitiful face. He was stupid, yes; but a bad kid? No. “Listen. How about I let you in on a little secret?”
    Slowly, he turned his dazed stare to me.
    “Your brother’s not going to tell your father a damned thing.”
    “How? You know what happened?”
    I twisted my neck to one side then the other, releasing the tension, unsure how much more of his ignorance I could take. “I already told you; I know everything about you.”
    “E-everything?”
    I nodded, and immediately he brought his knees up and rested his forehead on them, hiding his face. “Oh, God.”
    “It’s okay, Nick.”
    “It’s not okay. I’m not gay.”
    “No. That’s not quite true now, is it?”
    He shot up, inadvertently smacking me with his arm. “How many times do I have to tell you? I’m not gay!”
    I squelched back the anger that threatened to rekindle. Why did Papa have to make these creatures’ meager existence so confusing? Damn Him. I called Big Papa out, but I no longer cared. His rules were unfair, and He wouldn’t convince me otherwise. I would tell the kid the truth and deal with Papa’s wrath later.
    “Your brother’s gay, Nick, and he wasn’t laughing at you.”
    For a long minute, his mouth hung open and he stared. “Nuh uh. No way. I don’t believe you.”
    “Oh, yes. Like you, he chooses to be discreet.”
    Within seconds, the guilt of what he’d almost done consumed him. His head hung lower, and I could see him sinking into himself. “You’re wrong. It’s all Cody’s