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Authors: John W. Podgursky
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least charismatic can rise to the top, or be bred into the system with a big bank account. Evolution can no longer thin out the crowd, and it’s only a matter of time until nature bites back big-time. Think Black Plague.
Think AIDS by air. We have taken away nature’s biggest tool, and she’s one pissed-off bitch. Make hay when the sun shines, because it’s only a matter of time.
A man on a bus once told me the worst-case scenario for humans would be curing cancer. I didn’t solicit the opinion; the guy just liked the sound of his own voice. I asked him why he felt this way. He said it’s no good to have everyone living to 150. The world can’t support it; the economy can’t support it. Nature needs a means to an end, and we’re robbing it of that. It’s all leading up to a big ol’ natural ass-whoopin’ of humble Homo Sapiens. Eat your vegetables, kids. You’re gonna need all the fight you can get.
My pondering of the sidewalk avoidance percentage [S.A.P.] goes right along with this. Somehow nature still has us hierarchied, but hell if we know how it’s determined. Someone probably has life figured out, but that someone is hiding out deep in a far-off cave, afraid of the reality of ignorance in the world.
Shortly before Cristen bought the farm, I decided to take a trip. I’m not sure that I ever really decided, actually. It was more of a subconscious effort. One morning I woke up and started to sweep my apartment.
Two hours later, I’m on Route 3, music blaring, a light drizzle coming down. I didn’t know where I was going, but I did know where I was heading. I had known for months. Finally, I had broken down, even if I didn’t care to admit it to myself.
There are things in this world we accept ‘cause we have to: mosquitoes, pinkeye. .
There are things in this world we accept because they’re part of the unchangeable, necessary system: taxes, vaccination shots. .
There are things we accept in this world that we have absolutely no idea why we accept. We do it Page 49
because everyone else does it and it’s the right thing to do. Murder can be like that. Now, I say “can be.” Some dumb fuck gets pissed off at work and knifes his kids that night. Well, he might as well skip trial because, due process or not, he’s sure as hanged. You see, the legal system is a nice little toy and it makes us feel like we are in control, but the one big, butt-ugly flaw is that it depends on human objectivity, which is about as common as a 10-9 professional soccer game.
Laws don’t put people in jail. Crimes don’t either. It’s the circumstances that make the difference.
Did the circumstances warrant the act? Self defense, insanity, abortion, manslaughter. All can end up in a death, and it is somehow left to the unfortunate few to separate the excusable from the heinous. What a way to spend a summer—in a hot and sweaty courtroom with a bunch of strangers on hard chairs. With lawyers. And guilty versus innocent? Might as well throw a dart.
Maybe they do. Maybe that’s what juries do when they go back into that little room. Maybe a game of cricket decides it all. When they take a really long time to decide, they’re playing for points.
I drove for quite a long time. You know you’ve driven for a while when you suddenly realize you’ve been listening to gospel music in Spanish for two hours.
It’s easy to tune out on the long road. It’s also easy to crack your car up. Strange how life works. I could end someone’s life just by crossing the median. Entire family lives disrupted or ruined. It’s much easier to make the front page performing evil than good. The cards are stacked that way forever after you slide down the blood chute into the doctor’s awaiting herpetic hands. Go figure, right?
Page 50
Chapter Nine
That was when I first heard the bees. Just a hum at the time, not yet a buzz. And it was barely noticeable, I tell you.
Page 51
Chapter Ten
It was past nightfall when I got there.
Think AIDS by air. We have taken away nature’s biggest tool, and she’s one pissed-off bitch. Make hay when the sun shines, because it’s only a matter of time.
A man on a bus once told me the worst-case scenario for humans would be curing cancer. I didn’t solicit the opinion; the guy just liked the sound of his own voice. I asked him why he felt this way. He said it’s no good to have everyone living to 150. The world can’t support it; the economy can’t support it. Nature needs a means to an end, and we’re robbing it of that. It’s all leading up to a big ol’ natural ass-whoopin’ of humble Homo Sapiens. Eat your vegetables, kids. You’re gonna need all the fight you can get.
My pondering of the sidewalk avoidance percentage [S.A.P.] goes right along with this. Somehow nature still has us hierarchied, but hell if we know how it’s determined. Someone probably has life figured out, but that someone is hiding out deep in a far-off cave, afraid of the reality of ignorance in the world.
Shortly before Cristen bought the farm, I decided to take a trip. I’m not sure that I ever really decided, actually. It was more of a subconscious effort. One morning I woke up and started to sweep my apartment.
Two hours later, I’m on Route 3, music blaring, a light drizzle coming down. I didn’t know where I was going, but I did know where I was heading. I had known for months. Finally, I had broken down, even if I didn’t care to admit it to myself.
There are things in this world we accept ‘cause we have to: mosquitoes, pinkeye. .
There are things in this world we accept because they’re part of the unchangeable, necessary system: taxes, vaccination shots. .
There are things we accept in this world that we have absolutely no idea why we accept. We do it Page 49
because everyone else does it and it’s the right thing to do. Murder can be like that. Now, I say “can be.” Some dumb fuck gets pissed off at work and knifes his kids that night. Well, he might as well skip trial because, due process or not, he’s sure as hanged. You see, the legal system is a nice little toy and it makes us feel like we are in control, but the one big, butt-ugly flaw is that it depends on human objectivity, which is about as common as a 10-9 professional soccer game.
Laws don’t put people in jail. Crimes don’t either. It’s the circumstances that make the difference.
Did the circumstances warrant the act? Self defense, insanity, abortion, manslaughter. All can end up in a death, and it is somehow left to the unfortunate few to separate the excusable from the heinous. What a way to spend a summer—in a hot and sweaty courtroom with a bunch of strangers on hard chairs. With lawyers. And guilty versus innocent? Might as well throw a dart.
Maybe they do. Maybe that’s what juries do when they go back into that little room. Maybe a game of cricket decides it all. When they take a really long time to decide, they’re playing for points.
I drove for quite a long time. You know you’ve driven for a while when you suddenly realize you’ve been listening to gospel music in Spanish for two hours.
It’s easy to tune out on the long road. It’s also easy to crack your car up. Strange how life works. I could end someone’s life just by crossing the median. Entire family lives disrupted or ruined. It’s much easier to make the front page performing evil than good. The cards are stacked that way forever after you slide down the blood chute into the doctor’s awaiting herpetic hands. Go figure, right?
Page 50
Chapter Nine
That was when I first heard the bees. Just a hum at the time, not yet a buzz. And it was barely noticeable, I tell you.
Page 51
Chapter Ten
It was past nightfall when I got there.
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