Once, in this place people spoke and sang, and wrote poems and stories, and talked of Michelangelo. But all that changed on the night after the New Year Celebrations for the year of the Goat. The Chinese poet and thinker, Luo Jie, drank a glass of Malaga wine, and strolled out along the strangely sun-drenched coast. He was pondering the words of Ibn Gavirol, As long as a word remains unspoken, you are its master; once you utter it, you are its slave. In the distance he could hear the strains of the effervescent middle-eastern ska band, Kiv Yahol.
The sun shines and it feels that everyone is out and busy. It is of course an illusion, but the square looks good as finally Aylesbury Smith his family move out of their temporary abode, and arrive in style (on a horse-drawn cart) with their belongings and smaller pieces of furniture. The real ‘white van’ will follow in the afternoon. The first to greet them is Billy Feather, who knew them from childhood. He emerges (as usual nowadays) from Number 15 (where he and Lissane have been enjoying a lazy breakfast). He apologises again for the altercation with Gordon Surtees.
As far as Luo Jie was concerned the fact that the New Year festivities were muted by poor weather was actually a blessing. Once the shock of the unexpected confrontation had subsided, he and Adrian spent a convivial evening discussing the transcendental meaning of belief. When Annaliese went into the office, she found them happily chatting about the effects of the ocean tides on the life force. Now, with the celebrations over, Adrian believes he has rediscovered Faith, and has convinced himself that Luo Jie is the guru who will tread out the New Path and show him The Way.
