she had an answer for everything
whether it was correct wasnt
important
her answers hinged on themes
God would see that she was cared
for
she prayed to Him
she did her rosary every day
a priest came to her home because
she was too ill to attend church and listened to her confessions and provided
her contrition
he wondered how that worked what
she could possibly confess
for all intents and purposes she
was a shut-in
she shut herself in
over years she refused to do the
things that were common sense and necessary to aid her health
her failures then were now contributing
to her dire circumstances
she prayed fervently to God
she prayed that He help provide
for her table rent money water gas electricity telephone and entertainment(she was a
shut-in)
and when people unwittingly stepped
into the fold that unfolded month after month after month she regarded them as
agents of the Lord
she thanked Him profusely for
their largesse
she scarcely acknowledged those flesh-and-bone
beings who augmented her necessities
he couldnt remember when last she
thanked an agent to their face
See she said God works in
mysterious ways
yah he thought somehow I dont
believe He minted the money people carried in their pockets wrote bank checks
against or fashioned their plastic credit or debit cards
she knew without hesitation or
thought that her benefactors were the Providence of God
God
he said the last time he put money down
on the barrelhead for her
he attached conditions to it
she would have to make changes to
her finances if she accepted his money
when she blew him off as he
expected she would he telephoned and told her she burned the bridge between them
Never never ask me again for
money he said God God Gods a pedophiliac
If Tom DeLay
and forty Ali Baba thieves of Republican politics know that God knows whats in
Denny Hasterts heart
Who am I to debunk them
Never tout God to me
she tried on apoplectic
but to her rising ire her
appalled voice he said Buhbye into his handset and hung up
he supposed it wasnt too steep a
price to pay to finger her as a liar a cheat and a follower of a Pederast
not a bad days work for an
infidel or pagan though hed hop the pagan rail because it set in stone rarified
for him that she had no intentions of payin back what she owed
Hallelujah Praise the Lord
if she and her ilk kept at it
thered be nothing in collection plates or baskets
then when the Vatican was forced
to sell off its considerable booty it called Treasure and the Days of Gospel
handed down from Pope to Bishop to Cardinal to Archbishop to Priest floundered as
many other Hierarchies who picked Peoples pockets ought to fall flat on their
faces
ah he thought one more useless
thing scraped off his plate
from the Outside
perhaps he might seem cruel
though Outside
what the
fuck did they know who the fuck did they think they were
he wasnt soliciting opines
the last thing hed ever do was ask anyones opinion of what they thought
he should do
he had access to learned mens
words
he loved how experts disagreed
then it was a matter for him his obligation
to vet them determine how they dressed
there was too much written from too many
angles to be obscured
too many shills too many stuffed pockets too many failed strategies
those with their equity demolished whose mouths should have been sewn shut tight he supposed all he had to do was get a good whiff of the air around them
you never forget once youve
smelled a rat
yet for the true believers the
faithful they ragged on and on
they didnt need to know their
arse from a hole in the ground they didnt have to it wasnt their
responsibility
another of her answers to
everything
all a woman really needed was to
find a good man(she didnt qualify what good meant)
marry
and have lots of babies
Horseshit he said
babies like deadbolts he mused deadbolts
one over the other descending towards the floor aligning the peekhole between
them and the ironworked oiled hinges opposite
Security he asked Any woman afforded a string of deadbolts
might likely have the world by the balls huh
though few men he knew were
worthy the title of the world
he couldnt help himself Nah he couldnt
restraint himself
the thought that she opened her
mouth to share such drivel provoked him I must be an easy mark
he wasnt one to ever be called
the bigger man or the better person humility meekness didnt thrive in the susurrating
petri dish that he was
anything that flew in the face of
the truth or sought to tarnished its common tin crown he was on it
he looked to smack it down diligently
and in the most obsequious obscene manner he could devise
he couldnt tolerate the tone-deaf
silence in the wake of a lie or misstatement which alluded to him its hearers acquiescenced
Excuse me he said
she glared at him
that was the best he could hope
for as her acknowledgement
Didnt you have a miscarriage
before your first husbands death and then three children from three different failed
marriages
she glared
I have to urge that your living
example defies the strategy you profess
Your perception is skewed
Wouldnt you
she glared
I mean Wouldnt you
If you have to have a deadbolted door to keep a man inside it
Where
are your men
It seems youve managed only to tenaciously
hang onto their byproducts by hoodwink
her glare erupted like a flame
from a gunbarrel How dare you
Dare You say I dare
You are a miserable man
Miserably honest yes but my dare
is implicit to your deadbolt children and absent husbands
I understand my temerity Do you
understand yours Synonyms cheek gall
presumption audacity
another of her answers
God will
smite you
If He does Hell have to be mighty
sharp I aint a sitting target by no means
1441, Day-between-Two-Ts, 18 5. 16
0940, Thursday,
19 5. 16
