Chapters 16 through 19 Summary

Chapter 16: Before his jail term, Tash played piano in church, and his music was so beautiful and stirring that it made church ladies cry. Tash had slender and elegant long fingers, and piano playing seemed a natural vocation. Tash's piano teacher was a man named Randall, and Randall early on recognized and encouraged Tash's talent. Randall, like Tash, was an effeminate gay man.

Romantic and reckless Tash has a tendency of falling in love with the wrong men. Tash fell in love with a young man named Sly. Unlike Tash, Sly was masculine and tough, but Tash was convinced he was gay and in love with Tash. Tash had been meeting with Sly for months, and Sly was always alone and seemingly without friends or family.

One night, Sly convinced Tash to take him and another "music lover" to Randall's house...