"Hillcrest area, just behind Balboa Park." Oh!" Oh what?" Well, isn't that the gay community?" Yea, it is now but it wasn't when I moved in. Neverthel...ss they are a good group of folks who keep to themselves so who cares?" Well isn't that just liberal of you to say!"John thought back to the comment he had made the first time they met. "Touché." He directed her down to an underground parking lot and she parked her car in a visitor's space."Here you go John, and thanks for last night." You're. I decided that I would let things ride. Unless she wanted to talk, I would just let the “bear” wander around the room.I said, “That smells good.” I prayed and we began to eat.“It’s a vegetable soup that works well on cold days. I’m cooking a stew for tonight.”“That sounds great. The weather guess is for more cold with a chance of snow.”“That would be fun. I bet this area is really pretty with snow.”“It is. I’m prepared for snow or other bad weather. The generator in the barn operates. Vanessa summarized by saying, "We told them some facts about you, but they're only just starting to absorb some of the implications. They're handling it well, and I don't believe they'll become so angry that they try to pull Ava out of the relationship."The conversation moved onto discussing the Wests' health, which I listened to carefully because I didn't understand hardly anything about what was going to happen to them.In the course of that discussion Vanessa suddenly said, "Mark, can I have. "I took the plate lunch I had made all by myself and walk out into the nearly empty dining room, empty except for the guy Al said was Collen Sanders, and sat down to eat.Although tired from such a long and busy day, I was feeling a little bit better about myself. Knowing that I at least had a job gave me the hope that I soon would earn enough money to find someplace to live and try to save up so that someday I could make the trip back to the Northwest which was where I considered home. At.