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Samuel's ordination

Samuel, when he was only 16, received his Rite of Ordination from the Bishop of Magog, who laid hands on him and then prayed that by the power of the Holy Spirit, Samuel receive the mantle of Elisha. Eli presented Samuel with a stole and chasuble that had belonged to Joseph Cardinal Bernardin.

Cathedral St. Thomas Aquinas

Samuel's church is the Cathedral St. Thomas Aquinas. Its entrance is dark, day or night, but just as one steps out from under a low heavy stone archway, there is a dim beam of light descending from a rose window which falls on a large granite boulder, in the top of which is a deep bowl filled with holy water.

Ishitar

Ishitar was neither tall nor large but his muscles were like powder kegs.  He was gentle with most, but he had an erratic and violent temper, especially after he drank.  He slicked back his hair and had a sly smile.  And he loved to give gifts, expensive gifts that left him without a penny to his name.

He had dark skin and wide almond-shaped eyes, a thin fine nose and a pronounced, cleft chin.

Samuel the strategist

Samuel was not physically gifted with size, speed, or even looks.  He was short and of awkward body.  He was not especially coordinate.  He was fairly strong, although in a herky-jerky sort of way.

But his mind was powerful.  When he was nine years old, he discovered an old chess program on Eli's salvaged computer, and he began playing.  Perhaps he did so because he was lonely; he didn't have many friends.  But whatever his reasons for starting to play, he took to the game brilliantly - its combination of careful attention to detail, logical chains of reason, and a big picture neatly divided into opening, middle game, and end game.  By the time he was twelve, he could beat his computer, and found it very difficult to find anyone to play his favorite game with.

Have and Have Not

For a very few, people like Shiva Ashtarte's family, Gog was not an unpleasant place.  They had modern conveniences like plumbing and hot water, and enjoyed things like daily hot showers.  All this required was for the local utilities to be seized and held by force.

For most, Gog was architecturally a modern city, but daily life could be medieval.  So, for instance, water - let alone hot water - was not a given for most.  In good times, large quantities of water would be kept in storage tanks.  Hot water would be boiled over a fire.

Samuel's apartment

Samuel and his mother Hannah lived on the tenth floor of a dilapidated apartment building.  The first floor was occupied by a smoky little bar with three stools and a video poker machine.  The key hole was rusty and difficult to manipulate and it would take a strong twist to open the door.  The lobby was dark and immediately led to a steep, crooked, rickety flight of spiral stairs.  At each floor was an apartment.  Samuel's was on the tenth floor, and it was a long walk up in the dark.

Inside the apartment the ceilings were low, and one of the support beams was so low that a six-foot tall person would bump his head walking under it.  The floor was uneven so that you could set a ball on one side of the room and it would roll to the other on its own initiative.