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PAUL ???

PAUL's mother ELIZABETH is the younger sister of WILL's mother. PAUL was born about three years after his cousin WILL. His father was an Italian-American winemaker and his family owned and lived on a vineyard in Sonoma County, California. His father was very passionate and talented but very driven and difficult to live with. PAUL had a fairly lonely childhood and he feared his father a bit. His mother was unhappy in her marriage. PAUL spent as much time as possible in Marin County with his cousins (WILL and his sisters) and the boys were good friends. PAUL was not very active in school, although he was an excellent swimmer and diver and a pretty good student. His best friend was MARISSA, the daughter of one of the shop owners in town. Her mother was a new-age, hippie-type woman and MARISSA's childhood had been unconventional. She and PAUL were both mildly different than the other kids in school and were drawn to each other. In their early teens, they played at being boyfriend and girlfriend but they were mostly just friends. When PAUL was fifteen, MARISSA's uncle visited from San Francisco. He was gay and PAUL realized that he was attracted to him and curious. MARISSA noticed PAUL's reaction and when they were alone together, she said, "Oh, shit, Paul. You're gay. Your dad is going to kill you!"

When WILL mentioned to his girlfriend LEAH that he wanted her help to find a date for a dance for his friend TOM, a teammate on the baseball team, she rolled her eyes and told him that TOM was gay. Later, in a similar conversation, LEAH clued WILL in that his cousin PAUL was gay as well. They decided to introduce the two and the boys really liked each other. The relationship started slowly but when PAUL's father died of a heart attack when PAUL was 17, he began to examine his sexuality more openly and enthusiastically. Although she was sorry that the man was dead, PAUL's mother was also relieved and somewhat liberated when she became a widow. They began to speak more openly with one another and to become better friends. Both he and his mother became much happier people when they were free from his father's tense disapproval.

PAUL went to college at UC-Santa Barbara, while TOM went to Berkeley. They drifted apart. PAUL became a pharmacist and moved back to San Francisco. TOM became a civil engineer and also lived and worked in San Francisco. They did not see each other again until a co-worker of PAUL's decided to set him up with a friend of hers. The friend turned out to be her neighbor TOM. After that, they moved in together and had been in a committed relationship ever since. On the weekend of the political fundraiser, TOM was in Iowa to attend a family reunion so PAUL went to the party with his mother.

PAUL is intelligent and gentle and kind and funny. He likes to smooth things over and make sure that everyone around him is getting along and feeling comfortable. He has an infectious smile and tells silly jokes to break the ice and put people at ease. In his thirties, he and his mother have become very good friends and he is good-natured about her sometimes frivolous and bossy nature. She has been widowed for many years now and the head of a large vineyard.

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