He takes a scoopful of hummus with his pita bread. \u201cThe novelty wore off after a week or so. One day I scored a ten-dollar bill from this guy with his son. A cop had pulled him over for DUI, but having the kid in the car had gotten him a break. He was supposed to cool it for a few hours before trying to drive. \u2018Son,\u2019 he said. \u2018Remember Old Pappy, the nice old man from in front of the corner store? He\u2019s in Heaven now, but I always give to the street people in his memory. I want you to always do the same.\u2019 It brought tears to my eyes, but also a sick feeling to my stomach, which though empty, was still counterfeit. I was nothing like sweet Old Pappy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI went into a nice restaurant, and had a decent, vegetarian meal, and thought about all the ring dings and baloney sandwiches on starchy whitebread I\u2019d been poisoning myself with, and started thinking I could open just one account, and eat like this every day, and stay each night in a hodie, and I knew it was over. I was still living a lie. Worse, I was stealing from the real homeless, taking donations that rightfully were earmarked for them. So I called the bank, unfroze some funds, and took a bus back here to contemplate what an irredeemable piece of shit I am.\u201d He folds his arms, his tale told. \u201cI\u2019m losing my faith in anarchy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy, you are<\/em> selfish,\u201d I remark. He looks hurt. \u201cI<\/em> asked you ten minutes ago how you were and you still haven\u2019t asked me how I am. Let\u2019s talk about me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re right,\u201d he says sullenly. \u201cI\u2019m a narcissistic pig. Okay, how are you, Victor?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI am fabulous<\/em>. I\u2019m on my way to see Llewellyn Reece. Thank you for giving me her number, by the way. She has amazing…abilities.\u201d<\/p>\n This gets him to smile wanly. \u201cShe\u2019s very insightful.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I\u2019m with her, I\u2019m so comfortable. I feel I can tell her anything. She always knows just what to do.\u201d I grin like a schoolboy.<\/p>\n \u201cJust don\u2019t fall in love with her. She\u2019s a witch, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019m not at all sure what he means by this; he\u2019s the last person I would expect to express religious prejudice, particularly against witches. \u201cWell, ah, it\u2019s strictly professional…\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWatch your heart, is all. She\u2019s a player. Don\u2019t ever think you can cage that bird. A confirmed free agent. It\u2019s all about power for her. She gets off on what she brings out in you.\u201d<\/p>\n I shake my head. \u201cIt\u2019s not like that. It\u2019s…therapy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHave it your way. Then why are you so damned cheerful, if you\u2019re not gone roses-are-red on Llewellyn?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause the sun is shining, the birds are singing, I drive a Porsche, and, unlike you, I know how to appreciate<\/em> being affluent. It\u2019s not a tragedy, you know. People work very hard, all their lives, to get the thousandth part of what you have, and most of them fail. If you have anything to feel guilty about, in my opinion, it\u2019s thumbing your nose at the advantages which fill the dreams of the world\u2019s great unwashed. How ungrateful! It\u2019s a crime not to be enjoying every minute of it.\u201d I call the waitress and order an eight- \u201cAnyway, I\u2019m glad that\u2019s working out. How\u2019s the writing coming?\u201d<\/p>\n Wrong question. \u201cWell, I\u2019m toying with several ideas, nothing at the paper stage yet, of course. I think maybe I\u2019d like to do some science-fiction, or more like \u2018psi\u2019-ence fiction,\u201d I coin, tapping my forehead to clarify the homophone. \u201cSomething about auras, or TK, or secret societies, or maybe even reincarnation. I certainly have the material. I feel this tremendous pressure, though, to be original. I think that\u2019s holding me back, The next novel answers a question I\u2019ve been torturing myself with: was success a fluke, or do I really have ability? So, naturally, I\u2019m taking my time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell,\u201d he says ominously, \u201cbe careful about that, too. You may have less than you think.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" He takes a scoopful of hummus with his pita bread. \u201cThe novelty wore off after a week or so. One day I scored a ten-dollar bill from this guy with his son. A cop had pulled him over for DUI, but having the kid in the car had gotten him a break. He was supposed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-transmigrant-blues","category-transmigrant-blues-round-3"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.amanamission.com\/transblues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.amanamission.com\/transblues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.amanamission.com\/transblues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.amanamission.com\/transblues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.amanamission.com\/transblues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.amanamission.com\/transblues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.amanamission.com\/transblues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.amanamission.com\/transblues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.amanamission.com\/transblues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\ndollar specialty drink and a bagel with cream cheese. She is moderately attractive, straight blond hair and bright hazel eyes, ten pounds on the chunky side, which can be soft, so I flirt with her, mostly to prove to Crazy Bear that I am most definitely not<\/em> in love with Llewellyn Reece.<\/p>\n