Left on Paradise Read Online Free PDF Page A

make other men homosexual than you can engineer the color of your hair. It’s all genetics. You can’t escape who or what you are. Even dye shows through after a few weeks.”
                  “I’m a natural blonde,” Kit said, now red-faced, “and I didn’t mean to offend you. I ask the same question of everyone. We don’t need zealots of any lifestyle choice. Tolerance is our strength.”
    “We’re fine,” Alan said, relaxing a little and falling back into the sofa. “All we want is to be left alone. We’ll respect everyone else’s choices, whatever they are. Freedom is what we’re about.”
    “And public monogamy,” Steve added. “We want to live as a couple just like everyone else: without prejudice or condemnation. ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ isn’t enough for us.”
    Ryan laughed. “Clever.”
    “And appropriate,” Alan said, “since Steve was discharged from the army under Dubya’s dad.”
    Ryan’s voice dropped. “You enlisted?”
    “I needed college money and my parents couldn’t help,” Steve said. “I served three years before I went to school.”
    “That would be a decade ago,” Ryan said. “Are you a Gulf War veteran?”
    “I ran supplies,” Steve replied with a nod, “to the front till my truck hit a mine. I sat the rest of the war out alongside the road, waiting for a lift. A year later, I came out of the closet and was drummed out of my country’s army.”
    “Then you’ve shown courage twice over,” Ryan said as he stood up. “Not bad at all. We won’t need too many soldiers where we’re going, but you can always help us beat swords into plowshares.”
    “Self-discipline,” Steve said, “and a bit of courage are always useful.”
    Ryan looked at Kit and caught her eye before standing to extend his hand to the two men who likewise stood to receive Ryan’s approach.
    “Mostly,” Ryan said, “I make my decision from the essays and application. This interview is used primarily to weed out imposters, crazies, and fanatics.”
    “Which are we?” Alan asked.
    “You,” Ryan replied, “are citizens of the new world. If you wish to be.”
    “Great,” Alan said.
    Steve said nothing.
    Ryan shook the hand of both men and Kit extended the same courtesy before they told Alan and Steve to prepare for any contingency, not withstanding previous announcements that a Brazilian site was being considered.
    Ten minutes later the two men found themselves in the adjacent office of a staff attorney—where they received legal advice regarding steps needed to protect their financial interests and order their legal affairs. Only after they had signed waivers and non-disclosure agreements were the applicants directed to a staff nurse to schedule physical examinations. The two men were sent from the office with a set of instructions, a pile of legal documents, and a full calendar.
     
    A white male in his late twenties sat on the blue couch. Short brown hair stood straight from his head and he wore a sweatshirt printed with the word Berkeley.
    “I’ll answer your question,” the young man said with a grin, “after your answer mine. Why do you, of all people, want to leave this world?”
    “Fair enough, ” Ryan replied, setting a folder on the desk and leaning back in his swivel chair. “There’s no doubt I’ve had a good career in Hollywood. And Kit, too, as far as that goes. But we’re tired of the pretense. Not the movies and shows, mind you, but the politics. We bit our lips and pretended to love Tipper and Lieberman to support Al Gore and we pretended for eight years Clinton wasn’t Arkansas trailer trash and his wife the Ice Queen. I’d personally nominate James Carville for an Academy Award for his public performance as the dogged defender of persecuted innocence. Every day, we sent emissaries and delegates across America to preach our message to the American people. And we gave. We gave mountains of money. I donated a million or two myself. And