Brian:Since this is about names, May I have your name as well please?
Brian:Still there?
Visitor 1624:Yes, still here. I’m just about ready to copy and paste my report to you, Brian. Then I really must get going. It’s almost lunchtime. But let me ask you, for my own records, why won’t the people at WebsiteGreeters let you tell me your real name? Do you find this to be a good practice? Should I bar my workers from divulging their names to one another? Do you find it makes you more productive? Do you get more done?
Brian:Certainly. Since we like to give a feeling to our clients that our greeters are part of their own staff.
Brian:This practice enables us to do just that!
Visitor 1624:Of course! You’re something of a spy aren’t you, Brian, my friend. Or shall I start calling you Matt! I have a feeling you are going to like my results!
Brian: :-)
Brian:Lets see the results then.
KANSAS
PART 3
Explosion at Amgen across the street — evacuated to our building — tons of cops
5:32 PM
I’m going to watch through the gym windows
5:33 PM
Phone dying will send report by email
5:37 PM
April 8, 1996
Dear Matt,
I know I told you months ago I had found a great card for you, but I am embarrassed to tell you I lost it. I am sure it is in one of my stacks of stuff, but I haven’t been able to put my finger on it. Your Mom told me you were leaving for England in the next couple of weeks, so I thought I better get my note off to you. If I find it while you are gone, I’ll get your address from your Mom and send it to you there.
I had wanted to write you for a couple of reasons. The first was to let you know someone was thinking about you—you are close (just being in Seattle) but so far, and I wanted you to know you were missed. The second was to let you know I was praying for you, asking the Lord to bless you, keep you safe, and give you direction for your future. From my perspective, you are doing all the right things for a young man your age (earning money, going to college, living on your own), but even when we are doing everything right right now, we have a tendancy to feel unsure about what comes next. The third reason was to share some verses with you, things the Lord laid on my heart as I prayed for you.
Matt, you’re not like the average guy walking around. The Lord has built into you some very powerful things—skills, talents, and a quick brain that adds stuff together really fast (and I’m not just talking about math). You probably aren’t going to be content to live a routine life like most people; your going to England says a lot about that. But, I think your biggest challenge will be to have all this vision and talent and energy and keep it funnelled towards the things that will bring you peace, joy and fulfillment, not sadness and emptiness. I don’t know what is going on in your life right now, what you are thinking or experiencing, but as I pray for you, these are the things the Lord lays on my heart.
My head was killing me. I’d been in England four months. I was entering data for The Prudential sixty hours a week. The Pollutionist was stuck on page 189. I spent all my money on booze, and tried to save, so I could travel around the Continent, on my own. Waking up later and later each day, always coming in late. The boss told me to get my act together. I looked awful. I wasn’t sleeping. I wasn’t dreaming. My whole body ached. I couldn’t keep my head up. My shoulders slumped. I felt that I was sinking. I felt that the atoms of my body were being pulled apart. On the bus, or walking down the street, alone: I’d start laughing sometimes, for no reason. Or more often I was crying. There were long and disturbing conversations going on in my head, and sometimes some of the words would spill out, publicly.
I’d like to encourage you to read Proverbs 2 and 3. As I am reading these chapters over, I hear the Lord saying “Everything Matt wants or needs is available to him through me. I have gifted him with a quick mind to discern true motives, and to communicate in writing in ways that will touch hearts and bring direction to lives. If Matt will hold on tight to my word, believe what I say and walk in righteousness, I will open doors and take him places his mind cannot imagine.” The verses I want to share with you right now are Proverbs 3:21–26:
21 My son, preserve sound judgement and discernment, do not let them out of your sight; 22 they will be life for you, and ornament to grace your neck. 23 Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble; 24 when you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. 25 Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, 26 for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared.
People had left the house and others had come. Now I was an old-timer. After work, I’d stop at the Off-License, buy a couple bottles of their cheapest cider. It came in big plastic 2 litre bottles. I’d carry them home, get a glass from the kitchen, take the first bottle up into the TV room. I would sit hunched over in a ripped up lounger, staring at the TV, scowling probably. The rule was that if anyone was in there with me, no one was allowed to speak to me, or to each other in a voice louder than a whisper, until I’d finished the first bottle. Ange would make sure no one violated this rule. She would escort people out sometimes. When the first bottle was empty I would feel better, I’d be happy again, the pain wrapped in ice and snow. We could all talk and laugh and be friends again. I would drink the second bottle. Take some pills and
The big challenge for all young people is to make a stand for Jesus — it seems like something you don’t have to do until you’re older (WRONG!). The Lord is saying, “Matt, make a stand and don’t look back.” Maybe you have already, and that is cool—this is just a confirmation. But if you haven’t, the Lord is asking you to do it now.
I’m praying that your trip to England will be everything you hope it will be. I believe the Lord will use it to shape your destiny.
—Well, I haven’t written all the subplots in yet. But throughout the book, Ashe beat up by the police a girl who takes him into the mountains waiting for a spaceship to come and take them away have to prove to the aliens that they’re worthy, assassinate the P fascist ends up taking control of the city private police force composed mostly of orphans and runaways. a strain of poisoned bread which kills a slew of people Capitalism run amok TV talk shows killed his wife decades before, they come and kill the old man, put in an orphanage when he was young kept in a cage people fade in and out, all the while the headache worsens it all actually makes complete sense.
★
I’m gonna start from the beginning. I was watchin…the voting. And then they broke, uh, all the local channels. I watched that for about an hour and a half, and I got tired of it. So I switched to uh, um…uh the local network, uh, Public TV.
Reporter: Uh-huh.
And Hillary Clinton was on, and she was givin her condolences to the people of Memphis and Arkansas.
Re
porter: Huh!
And uh, and then a little bit more of them talkin about the vote and everything, and then the lights went out. Just before the lights went out, a red line went on, tellin me that uh the tornado was headed towards uh Westmoreland, and then two minutes later it said, No, it’s goin through Lafayette! And so—and then the lights went out. Uh—
Reporter: It was just when the electricity went out when you realized that this thing was headed your way.
That’s right. And then uh I put my sweatpants on, I was, you know, I was in my underwear, and uh, at my desk and uh, uh, I lit two candles, went into the kitchen to, uh, get my Schick flashlight and uh looked out the window to see if Miss Dixie was all right—see if she was puttin her lights on, and she was. And uh, came back in, sat at my desk, drank a shot of whiskey, and then uh, I heard this noise, and then I went to the—I got a { } fireplace—this is a hundred-year-old house—and I went next to it where there’s a door, and then all of a sudden I heard—I I bent down low and all of a sudden I heard, the glass break and…sunk, it was sunken, so I tried to shut the door and when I tried to shut the door it seemed like the door was liftin up, so I just dove!
And I laid flat on the floor like this…and then I was—my, my back was takin everything—I could see everything comin across, just—
Reporter: Everything was falling on top of you.
No, it was scrapin me and then goin up!
Reporter: Oh!
And then after it was done I woke—I, I didn’t wake up, I just…was layin there!
I was layin in the DIRT!
I wondered if when the fire had come something had broken.
Be wise, and when you don’t know what is wise at the moment, ask the Lord.
O p e n u p
t o
But I’ll be at the lake
—Did you take your pills?
Then I dove into the shallow end of a pool and hit my head on the bottom. I came to the surface, got out and lay down on my back, dripping water onto the pavement beneath the hot sun, feeling not exactly right.
—He’s also given an assignment to .
C o m p l e t e R e l i e f
You’ll come up and see me.
She knocked on the bathroom door and called my name, but I didn’t hear. In a panic, she rushed all around the house, upstairs and down, looking for help—she found Superlonghair and he kicked open the door and stepped away, so that he wouldn’t see what he was afraid he might see. Angie rushed in and got down and said my name again. I don’t remember any of this. It was all told to me later. But I remember vaguely one eye drifting open. I was in a pool and my forehead was against something cold, and hard, and wet, the drops dripping from my hair as I was lifted from the floor. She pulled up my pants, and held them up as she and Superlonghair carried me downstairs.
Angela: Oh, I’ve missed you so.
George: Me too. Oh, I can’t tell you how much.
Angela: Oh, I have the most wonderful news, so wonderful I had to drive all the way down to tell you. Mother and Dad want you to spend your vacation with us up at the lake. (George shows concern on his face) Well you’ll come, won’t you?
George: (indecisively) I don’t think I can.
Angela: Oh George, no. Look, this is my one chance to show you off to mother and dad. Take my word for it, I’ve gone to a…
George: I promised my uncle I’d spend some time with him during my vacation.
Angela: (overjoyed) Well that’s perfect. Because your aunt and uncle are both coming up on the 3rd of September. That’s when you’re coming.
Hello Angie. Hello. I’m on a bus on my way to Prague. Today is Friday. I’ll get to Prague on Saturday night. A week there, then I’ll be in Amsterdam.
Angela: (she leans back, starry-eyed) Just think of it. We’ll go swimming together, lie in the sun together, go horseback riding through the pine woods, and I’ll make your breakfast for you every morning. You can sleep late. I’ll bring it into you in your room.
George: And you love me.
Angela: Yes.
—I know you won’t say it back, but I know you love me too.
HOW ANGIE CAME TO BE
Angie:
My mother was a wood nymph, pure and chaste—She spent her days frolicking in the forest, collecting berries, dancing in the meadows, and bathing in crystal streams—She was spotted collecting flowers one day by the evil Red-Eyed King.
(She took the joint out of my hand.)
The king was full of lust—He dragged the poor young thing into the hollow of a rotted tree—He forced himself on her and she became pregnant with me—She tried her best to hide her pregnancy but the vile king soon got wind and sent his men to kill her before she should deliver—he didn’t want any little kids cramping his style, you might say.
The birds warned my mother of the plot and reported to her that the king’s men were coming, so she ran, ran, ran—ran away!—
Up the side of a mountain—Up a winding path—up, up, up she climbed to the very top.
She looked down and saw the king’s men—they were super fast, hey—right on her tail—swords in hands, closing in.
The path ended at a beautiful waterfall—She walked behind the curtain of water, into a nook carved in the rock—And there, hanging from the ceiling, she found a golden hook—And from the golden hook there hung a golden rope—And below the golden rope was a golden stool.
Oh, she looked beautiful that day, mate. Her face was all pink from being pregnant and I don’t know if I’ve ever told you this but all the women in my family actually lose weight when we’re preggers. She was real thin, like a model, she just had this little round bump on her belly. That was me. Oh. Sorry. I’m hogging the spliff, aren’t I? I’m—I forget—what do you Yanks call it, cowboy? Bogarting the j?
(She handed me the joint.)
Where was I? Oh, yeah. Little round bump.
She could hear the bloodthirsty barks of the dogs—and the grunts of the cowardly men urging them on—She could hear the water crashing on the rocks—and the wave of water cascading around her—she cupped her delicate hand and reached out, drew out some water from the curtain, and drank.
Then she stepped up onto the stool—She put the rope around her neck—She put her hand to her belly and—in the last few moments before her pursuers arrived
sang to me:
Thou art the daughter of a Good Witch and a Bad King.
Thou wilt grow and suffer much at the hands of abusive assholes and cheaters and spend thy days alone upon the lonely isle Albion, waiting
For the coming of One, strong and true.
His corpse will wash up on thy shore one morn, dear, and thou wilt tend him and care for him and bring him back to life.
Sadly, it will be all for naught—for he won’t be strong, and he most certainly won’t be true.
And sorry, girlfriend, he won’t marry you.
But if you can catch him, and hold him, and make yourself all sticky so he can’t let go, then you just might find you keep him.
Now, cherry, Kingy’s men are almost here,
And I must make haste and cease the flow of air into my neck.
As for thou, hold thy breath for as long as thou canst, and don’t come out until they’ve come and done whatever they’re gonna do to me and gone...
Then don’t walk, doll—
>RUN
Saw Sistene chapel, stared at Judgement Day for a long time.
(Fri Dec 29, 2006, 1:17AM. JD’s apartment)
[TV: …I think right now for Kansas State you gotta ask, you gotta have that attitude to go out and play, beyond the call of duty…]
JD: You wanna go to Vegas? You wann
a bet on some teams? Conference tournaments?
M: I never bet.
JD: I never bet? Or I, ne-ver bet.
M: I never bet with money.
JD: It makes it interesting, for damn sure.
M: It makes it interesting what?
JD: For damn sure…
M: It’s gonna give you a heart attack at age forty. You stress yourself out because you bet so much.
JD: No, I don’t bet that much. If I had a bookie, then we could talk about that. Nah, I got my one bet and the person I bet with all year long, and that’s Mikey, and that’s just what I do. That’s just charity—I fucking give Mikey four, five hundred bucks a year!
M: Why do you keep doing it?
theMystery.doc Page 34