he read that Soren Kierkegaard
born with a twisted spine(didnt know that) and mocked cruelly for it(no
surprise people are people no matter the
era) . . . considered it a matter of principle to throw people off their stride
. . . anything to goad the person into seeing what he meant by the 'passion' of
existence
Existence precedes essence Sartres estimate
he had a fond appreciation of their
concepts but he was a goader toohe knew
it he lashed it around like a bullwhip whenever
he felt a good goading was necessary
he might have felt it was necessary
too often
or better yet it occurred to him that
he refused to let the slightest provocation go
he couldnt help himself however he also recognisedhe didnt
take it for granted that if he were thrown off stride by someone hed be peeved
although inevitably his sense of
humour warmed it used a corkscrew on his angst pulled its stopper he would see himself being called out and laugh at his
misstep No onenot a fuckin soul was
perfectFar from perfect
then inclusive was the necessity
of balance payback and he was under no illusions that he wouldnt
suffer some kind of payback and
hopefully it would be proportionalproportionality wasnt an
American quality
hence his familiarity with No
good deed go unpunished
he made a casual remark to a man in the dry sauna who was reading the LA Times whose headline
regarded the unprecedented firing of the countrys Acting Attorney General of
the United States
he said to the man Disorienting
times huh
and the man without looking up
from the paper said No Theyre orienting
times
Orienting How
Its about time
Its about time isnt an answerHow
are the times orienting to you
Im an oilman he didnt need breathe another word but of course
he did Its about time we quit
playing around as a nation with our energy needs
Spoken like someone whose needs
need to be more flushed No matter the expense to the earth the land or the neglect of others
folding his paper in half leaning
forward he extended his hand Your name
Joe accepting his hand Yours
Rich
Of course
it is immediately
Richie Rich filled his eyes
he at least had a sense of humour
and parlayed Thats rich
turning on his hip he lifted his feet
up and set them on the bench beside him knees up Bullshits getting deep in here
You really feel oriented
I feel the times are right as
rain
Acid rain The pipelines
In Canada through First People land
The Dakota Access Pipe Line through Sioux land Risking the headwaters of the Missouri The death and Deepwater Horizon in the GulfExxon
Valdez its squalor in the pristine Prince William Sound
he should have seen it cominghe did see it coming Rich brayed You wanna make an omelet you gotta break some eggs
Not proportionalnot the same
thing It seems when it comes to making money
theres no consideration taken into account other than making the money
That Americas lifeblood
Blood You got that right he turned his hips again and set his feet
back down on the lower bench
Not concerned about the rising bullshit
As long as you admit the bullshit
is rising Cuz eventually youll drown in
it just the same as everyone else You cant
stack the bodies high enough to save your lilywhite ass And Id say most of oil production is headed up
by lilywhite asses
maybe Rich sized him up or nothe didnt
look like the kind of guy who did dirty worklacquered fingernails he cleared his throat and standing up he said Its gettin hot in here
Yeah The
saunas warm too
Been an interesting conversation
Yes It nice to have a look behind the curtain and
see how the other halfNo No How the other one or two percent liveI got a
lifetime award for the health clubsued my employer otherwise I couldnt afford to be here
he paused before leaving As I said
Interesting conversation Joe
Rich
a fleshy woman bobbed and bobbed up
and down in the second lane of the swimming pool
the lane could be reserved but if
the other two lanes were being used the second lane had to be shared
while the woman bobbed another
woman tried swimming in the lane with her
the fleshy woman didnt pay any
attention to herdidnt move forward to let the swimmer pass behind her because
she was too involved in a conversation with yet another fleshy woman who bobbed
directly across from her in lane one
the water surged to their
bobbing
it wasnt that big a lap pool
he looked up at the clock on the
end wall and saw he had five minutes before he would be swimming in lane two
he wasnt going to share the
lane with the bobbing fleshy woman
she saw him look at her
she registered his expression
she was entitledshe had to
be you didnt eat to her size without
considerable entitlement
they bobbed and talked and bobbed and talked and
bobbed and talked
with a minute to spare he got up
out of the whirlpool where he was working the stiffness out of his lower back
and walked over and stood across from the bobbing woman in lane two Excuse me
she ignored him he saw that the
woman in lane one heard him but also ignored him Excuse me she continued bobbing
but looked up at him Ill be swimming in
lane two and youll have to move out of my way
she suddenly looked as if someone shit in her mouth the other woman turned she looked like someone shit in her mouth too
swallowing the mouthful of shit she
sneered Lane two . . .
.
. . Lane two has to be sharedyoure going to say
But lane two has to be shared with another swimmer and you aint swimming
the fleshy woman in lane one said
Well I never . . .
.
. . Obviously he said
he walked down to the end
opposite the clock and dropped into the water then leaning back against the pool wall he
cinched up the tie of his dragsuit so he wouldnt swim out of it
as he began swimming she bobbed
under the floatline separating the lanes and exited the pool at the stairs
located there
both women exited
the air in the indoor pool rocked
and rolled with them
a week later he exited the dry
sauna and stepped around a large woman who was in the shower immediately to his
right
a shower was maintained so people
could rinse off ostensibly before entering the pool or rinse off after getting
out of the chlorinated water or leaving the sauna in a heated sweaty mess
she was washing her hair
she had on the halfwall
separating the shower from the main course of the pool adjacent to the steps for getting in or out a
shampoo bottle and a conditioning bottle
he thought to himself How audacioushow
rude
then the woman turned to rinse
the soap off the back of her headFleshy lane two
opening her eyes she saw him
standing there
she tried hard not to register an
expression that she recognised him but a
perverse smile slipped
she then put conditioner in her
hair and slowly worked it through her hair she had
short hair perhaps to her chins
then she rinsed her hair under
the shower
and as she did he smiled to her
ample backside You hippopotamus he thought
Ill bet all of Richie Richs money
cartoon character or notRichs money that youre gonna condition your hair a
second time
its payback
she did just that
she probably thought she was
irritating him
he laughed quietly but if someone
could see him inside his head he was reeling off its convex walls laughing howling kneeslapping hysterically
paybacks a bitch if you let it be
fuckin hilarious
1350, Monday,
27 2. 17
1206, Friday,
24 2. 17
1397
days remaining or less
Sarah Bakewell At The Existentialist Café
Richie
Rich https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz7zon0QUbw
