a kink inside

We all had our hands in our pockets and

our heads down.

The Messiah,

who was clearly drunk,

reached into the inside pocket of his long,

black coat, and pulled out a pocket-sized

bible and a flask.

He took a pull from the flask and

looked at us with his one good eye;

he'd lost the other one in a particularly

intense poker game.

"You guys, really, are pathetic," he said.

"Where's your goddamn self-respect?

You look like a bunch of school kids,

for chrissakes! Snap the f**k out of it!"

He asked a short, fat man for a smoke,

but the short, fat man said he didn't smoke.

The Big Guy was furious.

"WHADDAYA MEAN YOU DON'T SMOKE?

WHAT THE HELL'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?

WHY DON'T YOU START SMOKING?

THAT WOULD SEEM TO BE THE LOGICAL THING.

YA GOT SOMETHING AGAINST SMOKING?"

Suddenly, the short, fat man bolted.

The Big Guy shook his head and spoke softly.

"That's what's wrong with humanity…

everybody's so Goddamn afraid of defending their values!

Now one of you fuckers gotta have a cigarette. . ."

A half dozen of us pulled out smokes and

offered them to the Big Guy,

but he just stared numbly at us.

"Thanks, but I just quit," he said,

opening the holy scriptures.

"In the beginning, God created the

heaven and the earth," he said, pausing.

He took another pull from the flask, muttered,"Interesting," and continued reading.

"and the earth was waste and void, and darkness was

upon the face of the deep.

And the spirit of god moved upon the face of the waters."

He paused and looked at us.

"For a hundred thousand dollars…

what is the next line? Anybody!"

No one knew.

Not even the seminary student.

The Big Man shook his head violently and screamed,"AND GOD SAID, LET THERE BE LIGHT;AND THERE WAS LIGHT!"

The Big Man's face glistened with saliva and sweat, and he began panting and hyperventilating.

We were all getting nervous.

We didn't know what to do or how to react.

We fidgeted in our third-hand clothes,

desperately in need of nicotine and a stiff drink.

The Big Man coughed and spit up some blood.

"Whaddaya, all think this here's a myth,

a legend, a ghost story? Is that what ya'll think?"

Another protracted pause.

"Do ya'll know what freedom is?

What does it mean to be free? Knowing that when you die, and you'll be old and full of days? Do you know what the statement means?"

We all looked at him dumbly.

Even the Rhodes Scholar.

"Look, if y'all aren't down with this s**t," said The Big Guy.That's your problem! Guess I had higher expectations of you. . .Apparently, it's become more of a co-dependent issue rather than an

I love you issue. . ."

The Big man cocked his head and smirked.

"Don't say I didn't try. . ."

Our dry eyes quickly disappeared, and we

declined to comment.