The Wind was waiting for Aulden at the door to the bar, and Aulden said to him, "If that guy in the overcoat is here again, maybe I can meet him."

The Wind suggested, "Before you do that, take a walk to the park at the corner and see what's there." Aulden shrugged and said nothing, turning to walk further down the street. It was a short walk to the intersection where he found the park. A circle of benches surrounded a monument at the center.

The monument was a statue of John Paul Jones. A phrase was inscribed on the pedestal of the statue: "I have not yet begun to fight." This made Aulden feel some pride, because the face on the statue somewhat resembled him, and The Wind once told him that everyone here in his head was actually him, more or less.

Aulden wasn't at all surprised that a statue could talk in this place. So, he said to the statue, "What did you fight for?" and John Paul Jones looked down from high up on the pedestal and answered him, "For liberty and freedom from tyranny."

Aulden asked him, "Tyranny of the soul?" and the statue said, "In your case, yes."

Aulden felt pleased with himself that he'd made this observation, and he asked, "Who tyrannizes my soul?"

John Paul Jones answered, "You do. You do it to yourself. You can imagine what a battle you create for me!" After saying those words, John Paul Jones returned to the image of stone and Aulden for the first time felt unnerved by the encounter, so he went back to the bar.

Janice was working there that night, and as soon as Aulden was near she said to him, "The guy's in his usual place if you want to talk to him." Talking to the man in the overcoat is just what Aulden wanted, so he took the seat next to the fellow. The man turned his head to face Aulden. He hadn't shaved in days and, in a gruff tone, the man said, "You gonna buy me a drink?"

This was the first time Aulden saw his face, because the man was always hunched over a drink, and Aulden nearly shouted a realization: "You're a bum!"

The man, without pride or hesitation responded, "Yeah, that's me. I'm a bum."

Aulden asked, "Okay, what do you want?" and back at him, the Bum said, "Scotch and soda."

Aulden said, "I never drink that. Sometimes beer, sometimes wine." The Bum repeated, "Scotch and soda."

Janice was there, so Aulden nodded the request to set him up. Here was a chance to get to know this guy - the Bum - and maybe a chance to get to know himself. Aulden said, "You know, my friend over there, The Wind, said that you're me, and I was thinking, sometimes I feel really angry…" The Bum interrupted, "That's not me doing that."

Aulden continued, "But you might have some ideas about it, like, when I feel so sad that I get, like - sometimes even, like, I start crying…"

The Bum kept his gaze into his glass, and said, "I don't care about that," and Aulden observed, "You're not going to talk to me about feelings, are you?"

The Bum replied, "Naw, not really."

So Aulden asked about something else, "When I try to help people…" and the Bum jumped in, growling, "Help people? Who's helping me?"

Aulden snapped back at him, "That's what you're about! You want people to help you!"

The Bum responded, "Sure I want people to help me! Why shouldn't I?"

Janice tried to act busy, but Aulden could see she was listening in and she was a little disgusted by this guy. After Aulden noticed this in Janice, he said to the Bum, "You are really not very nice."

The Bum didn't care. He motioned his head toward Janice and commented, "That's what she said. She could have told you that."

Aulden couldn't take this guy anymore. He stood to leave, saying, "I have to go, okay?" The Bum turned his attention back to his drink and said, "Hey - you're the one who opened the door!"

Aulden sat next to The Wind, and recounted, "You said some of the people here are me and some are not me." The Wind replied, "More or less. Some are more you some are less you. Some aren't you at all."

Aulden asked him, "What about John Paul Jones? Is he me?"

The Wind said, "Him? Well, actually he's who you think you are."

Aulden walked with a determined pace back to the park, and The Wind walked alongside him. At the park, Aulden sat on a bench, his chin resting on his hands, and he gazed up at the monument. The Wind sat beside him.

Aulden said, "I'm not him?"

The Wind answered, "No, not really. You're not a naval hero."

Aulden asked, "I mean, You don't think I'm gallant like him, or… I don't know… You don't think I'd fight against tyranny?"

The Wind said, "Fight against tyranny?" and laughed, "You don't even fight the tyranny in yourself."

Aulden reasoned, "Then he's just a façade."

The statue seemed to be damaged by that word, "façade," as if the utterance caused it to crack; as if the statue was a thin shell. The Wind agreed, "He's just a persona you clothe yourself with to cover up who you really are. You like to pretend you're him."

A piece of the statue fell away, and then many of the pieces began to drop until only the inside was standing. But that inside - it was a glowing light in the shape of a man.

Before Aulden could blink, that figure transformed into a flock of doves and they flew into the sky in all directions. Aulden watched them soar upward, and when he turned his eyes to the base of the statue he saw John Paul Jones again, looking fully human this time, climbing off of the pedestal.

Aulden reached out to shake his hand, "John Paul Jones, I'm happy to meet you. My name is Aulden Schlief." John Paul Jones shook his hand, and he said, "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Schlief. I know who you are. Everyone knows you. You're almost as famous as I am!"

Aulden had an idea in his head, and he said to John Paul Jones, "Come with me. I want you to meet someone."

The three of them walked to the bar. Janice greeted him with "Hi, Aulden," and a moment of eye contact which stopped Aulden for a moment as he responded, "Hello." Then Aulden was back to business when he saw the Bum sitting in his usual place.

He introduced the two, "Bum, I want you to meet John Paul Jones."

The Bum didn't look impressed, but he did extend his hand and as they shook, and he grumbled, "John Paul Jones."

John Paul Jones was friendlier, saying, "Nice to meet you… Bum," and he turned to Aulden, "Was there some reason you felt we should meet?"

Aulden thought that the reason was obvious. He exclaimed, "Look at you two! You're opposites! You stand on a pedestal and you think you can save the world, and you, Bum, want the world to help you, like you can't do anything for yourself! You have to meet each other! Get over here!"

Aulden walked straightaway to a table and pulled out two chairs. "I want you both to sit at this table and get to know each other!"

The Bum was willing to sit at the table but he had a price, saying to Aulden, "Buy me a Scotch and soda." John Paul Jones was also willing to sit, with or without a drink, but he told Aulden, "I'll have what he's having."

John Paul Jones sat upright, with a perfect posture. The Bum, as usual, slouched over the table.

Aulden was happy then, and felt as if he'd solved a problem. In his triumph, he said, "I'll leave you two alone to talk," and he backed away from them, smiling but saying, "You guys are not me. You are not who I am."

Sitting at the bar alongside The Wind, Aulden said, "You know who I'd like to meet, if all these people represent me?"

The Wind said, "They don't all…"

Aulden interrupted, "I know some do and some don't."

The Wind finished his sentence, "They don't all represent you. In fact, none of them represent you. Some of them are you. There's a difference between being and representing."

Aulden also continued his own thought, "I want to meet the person who is my stomach pain. I have an ache in my stomach ever since I started having trouble with…"

The Wind, interrupting before he could speak her name, "Ah!" He wouldn't allow Aulden to speak the name of his ex-wife, and instead referred to her as "the Other."

Aulden continued, "Ever since all that trouble, my stomach hurts and it never stops hurting."

The Wind asked, "You want to meet your anxiety?"

Aulden answered, "Okay."

"All you had to do is ask," The Wind explained. The two of them turned their heads and gazed off to their right, at the end of the bar. A man was sitting alone, with his head in his hand and his eyes wincing with tension. On the bar in front of the man were a number of chess pieces.

Janice approached Aulden and told him, "There's a guy at the end of the bar who says he knows you."

"That was fast," Aulden said to The Wind.

"Just ask," The Wind nodded.

Aulden moved to the end of the bar and sat next to the guy. Chess pieces were positioned randomly on a paisley cloth that was spread over the bar.

Aulden asked, "How are you?" The man responded, "How are you?"

Aulden answered, "Fine. How are you?" The man said, "Fine."

Aulden said to him, "I think you're mimicking me," and the man responded, "I think you're mimicking me."

Aulden looked up at Janice who was drying some glasses and acting unconcerned. "This is really interesting!" he told her, and then to the man he said, "You're too nervous to say anything of your own! You have to copy me!"

When Aulden said that, the guy looked to his left and right as if in a panic, and then simply lowered his head. Aulden introduced himself, "My name is Aulden. What's yours?"

The man said, "People call me Anxiety Joe."

Aulden repeated the name slowly, "Anxiety Joe," and he added, "Why am I so anxious?" Anxiety Joe looked puzzled at that, and Aulden corrected himself, "Why are you so anxious?"

Anxiety Joe mumbled, "The - - ickle heart."

Aulden couldn't hear him, and asked, "The pickle heart?"

Anxiety Joe corrected him, "The fickle heart."

Aulden contemplated, "Fickle… changeable…"

Anxiety Joe answered, "That's it - the changeable heart."

Aulden asked, "Do you mean my heart or someone else's heart? A woman's heart?"

Anxiety Joe looked down at the chess pieces, and mumbled, "Woman's heart. It changes."

Aulden sat for a moment, looking at Anxiety Joe, and then in a moment of decision he said, "That's the truth! Well, I'm going over to check on my friends over there: John Paul Jones and the Bum." He started to rise from the barstool, but Janice placed her hand on his hand and whispered, "Stay with him."

Aulden settled back into his seat and asked, "Tell me about the chess pieces."

Anxiety Joe explained, "They're predictable. You know what you can expect from them."

Aulden, after some thought, observed, "The queen can do anything."

Anxiety Joe argued, "Not anything."

Aulden said, "Almost anything - so you can expect anything."

He seemed to be thinking about it, so again Aulden tried to leave to check on John Paul Jones and the Bum. Again, Janice stopped him with her hand on his and a moment of eye contact.

He turned again to face Anxiety Joe and found that the guy was crying. Startled for a moment, Aulden placed his hand on the man's back. That's when he noticed the birthday cake. On the table behind them was a large birthday cake, made in the shape of a pregnant woman's belly with "Happy Birthday" written in frosting across the midriff.

After shaking off the surprise at the odd shape of this cake, Aulden asked Anxiety Joe, "Do you want a some birthday cake?" Anxiety Joe was too nervous to answer, too nervous to state what he wanted. Instead, he answered, "If you do."

"Oh shit!" Aulden shouted, and he jumped off his barstool. The cake was no longer a cake, but was suddenly a real woman, in labor pains prostrate across the table, breathing heavily. As quickly as she appeared, she disappeared - gone - along with the cake.

Aulden grabbed Anxiety Joe's arm and said, "Did you see that?" Anxiety Joe answered, "Maybe I did, if you did."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The following night, when Aulden returned to the bar, he checked on John Paul Jones and the Bum. Aulden was surprised to find that John Paul Jones was leaning back with his feet propped on another chair, and the Bum was sitting up with a posture that was almost proper. Aulden asked, "How are you guys?"

John Paul Jones said, "We're doing well. You know, the Bum here isn't an entirely bad fellow."

The Bum shrugged, and said, "He's okay, too."

John Paul Jones continued, "I realize now that I am not the image of perfection that I thought I was."

The Bum said, encouragingly, "You'll learn."

Even though they still had a lot to work out between each other, that's how John Paul Jones and the Bum became friends and if Aulden is still buying them Scotch and sodas, they're still friends to this day.

Aulden sat at the bar next to The Wind, and asked, "Do they always come in pairs like those two?"

The Wind said, "Not always, but they're a lot easier to work with when they do and you have some clear paradox to work out." The Wind nodded to Anxiety Joe sitting alone at the end of the bar, "He's going to be a real problem."

"I feel like…" Aulden was thinking, "I feel like just staying away from him for now."

The Wind agreed, "Until someone else shows up - a partner to turn him into a paradox."

"Until then, I guess my stomach will just hurt," Aulden observed.