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Two men were in the room with him, both seated at the kitchen table. They were talking. He looked at them, not one at a time, but at them both, together. These two men, as a unit, were the people with which he had spent the most time for the last several years. He did not hate them, he had not been hurt.

Strange seeing their faces in this context. He had derived enjoyment from their company and had experienced much with them, so there was that comradery - even for them. They had been friends since childhood, Gandy was an outsider. He had come from nowhere to be their master, the master of their social world.

Of course they would resent him for that as they knelt before him. Of course they would secretly plot against him, whisper, snicker, manipulate as best they
could while kissing his ring. The others recognized him as king, they would, too. They would not risk their standing, they knew the hierarchy and were not capable of creating their own.

It was his fault, and Gandy knew it. Too tangled and entwined, he had played the part too well and forgotten it was only a role. But it had gone on only long enough, long enough for it to be done. The point had been to understand, to know for sure what he had only suspected.

He pulled out a chair and sat down. After a moment their talk subsided and Gandy spoke.

“Guys, I have a confession to make. We’ve known each other for several years now. In that time, we’ve had some good times, huh? It’s only too bad that not one of them was genuine for any of us.”

“I'm going to tell you the truth. Before you knew me, my life was simple. It consisted of doing only what I wanted to do. I spent time with the only person in the world I liked. Growing up, I read, and learned, and observed. I asked myself questions and found the answers. When you met me, I thought that I had figured it all out except for one thing, and that one thing was other people. I didn’t understand them at all, no matter how much I watched and listened. In
fact, the more I watched and listened, the less sense they made to me. Then it occurred to me that if I really wanted to know, and I did, the way to do so would be to become a part of that which I didn’t understand. And to do that, I had to leave myself behind for awhile.”

"I put my chips on the table, pulled up a chair with everyone else, and played the game. I had to know what the game was, how it was played. Mostly, though, I had to find out why everyone kept playing it, endlessly. Why some of you relish in the game, while some of you don’t even realize there’s a game being played.”

"I found my answers, and I=m satisfied. But I must say, I nearly played the game too long. I have to thank you for slipping, for letting your true self be known, it was the spark that brought me back, back to where I started-but not in the same place.”

The men looked at each other, and then at Gandy, and then back at each other. One said to Gandy, “You been smokin’ weed, man?” The other man giggled and said, “Yeah, what was that all about, you freak?”

Gandy got up and left without a word.