The Presidential Convoy (SOGO
joins the ranks of the official disciples)
2.
I
also notice a familiar head sticking from behind a nearby corner. It is the head of the son of
the corrupt government
official, SOGO for short. I seem to have succeeded in piquing his interest somehow.
3.
Hmm.
How odd. I used to think that SOGOs are invincible to preaching. I might still be right.
He might only be an exception you know. Still, I am glad, I really am glad.
4.
Our
eyes meet for a very brief moment, but he can’t maintain the eye-contact for long. I
smile in his direction nonetheless, and
proceed to lead my flock to the main street of
the neighborhood.
5.
When
we arrive at the main street, the size of the crowd always growing larger and larger, we
find it closed to traffic and with security people and traffic police strewn all over its
sides. It seems that a presidential convoy is about to pass.
6.
Yes.
The president himself will be passing by shortly on his way to receive some important
foreign official in the airport. What an auspicious event.
7.
The
security guards are, naturally, taking aback by the sudden arrival of this large crowd.
The president’s sorties out of his palace are usually unscheduled, so the guards know
that the crowd cannot be here to cheer the President.
8.
Still,
what other conclusion could they draw. There is no way a public protest could take place
in this miserable country, not when everybody knows what sort of punishment they could be
facing.
9.
So
the guards have only one logical course of action to follow now, and lucky for all
concerned, they were intelligent enough to
perceive it, and human (?) enough to take it: they cling to their guns threateningly and
watch the crowd with attentive and nervous eyes.
10.
As
for the crowd, naturally, all the people are afraid and are looking all around now for
some little hole into which they can crawl. But no one will have any chance to do
anything. For at this moment, the presidential convoy passes by hurriedly.
11.
“Watch,” I shout to the crowd as I wave mockingly at the
convoy, “watch carefully this unfolding farcical scene. Do
you know what you are really watching?” Silence, fear, and inner turmoil.
12.
“You are watching the aftermath of an extremely disappointing sexual
encounter. We have a lifetime-full of proofs as to this fact.
13.
“Indeed. Indeed. Woe, woe to the wombs, woe to the penises that fed
the wombs that produced the likes of him, and that produced the likes of us, who so far
seem to be very deserving of him. For how many of us, driven by fear, and perhaps by
shame, have taken it upon themselves to justify his tyranny, his gluttony, and his most
heinous and vile of deeds?
14.
“I am willing to bet we are many. But, believe me, believe me, none of
us is beyond atonement yet.” And as I wave my hand in a mocking manner at the
passing convoy, I continue.
15.
“Wave goodbye friends and road-companions. Wave goodbye to this
embodiment of our impotence, folly and shame. Wave goodbye to this self-appointed totem of
our infamy. Let him interpret our wave as he will. People like him never care for the
truth anyway.”
16.
Hypnotically,
the crowd waves and waves and waves until the last car and motorcycle in the convoy have
disappeared. Afterwards, the guards give us the longed-for signal that we can cross the
road.
17.
I
proceed to do so, my disciples and the crowd follow, still hypnotized, still
uncomprehending. How come, they must be wondering, how come he
is still alive? How come he hasn’t been put under arrest, if not shot dead on the
spot?
18.
Ah,
they still don’t understand, it seems, that this time around, and as this unfolding millennium’s
embodiment of the Messiah, my death must seem all too very casual
and meaningless, so it can be stuffed with
all the meanings needed and desired,
afterwards. My death in this particular situation would not have seemed sufficiently
causal and meaningless. Or so I gather.
19.
They
also haven’t seen that SOGO is standing among them now, and he was the one who
signaled the guard to let us pass, undisturbed. He is an important and well-known SOGO, he is.
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lust for salvation, Brother, as though it were a woman, and I - a man.
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