Our Town

 

Our Town

 

Such a pretty town. So people in the town revealed nothing of themselves & spent their time gossiping about those who did. Evil spread in people’s hearts. You could see people hiding everywhere. A man went to the bottle shop each day at 11am striding & smiling. The straight faced townsfolk hated him. They conspired a steady barrage of hits & gossip to try & break him & make him walk in shame. But he just swatted away the hits & went about his business openly. The hatred only grew. The witchhunts that had previously been directed towards freethinking women were now directed towards freethinking men. Or was that true. Hadn’t it always been thus of freethinkers, whether female or male? It was a town that demanded conformity. The invading culture that established this culture was founded on prisons. & so the culture would persist indefinitely. It’s principles of ‘watch your back, keep your head down, keep your mouth shut, trust no one, don’t stand out, reveal no weakness’ ruled the town. The man had a puff of grass. It sent him 8 miles high. He went to the pub where in other cultures people let their hair down. But not in this town. Hiding & disguising made sure voices were kept low & masks remained in place. He was greeted by that local question which was rhetorical: “how ya goin?” to which the only acceptable answer was “good” or maybe “good good.” His answer was the wrong answer coz it was honest “I’m really high.” & so everyone gathered around to beat him up. In terms of formal national politics, the town was referred as “Progressive.” It was always voting on matters of principle. It looked good ‘on paper’, like a pre-rehearsed speech by an actor. They say the devil is a handsome man or woman. He feeds on lies. The biggest lie of all in his artillery is to deny his own existence. He too hides in full view dressed in the latest trends. He encourages people to act ‘contrite’ & disguise their weapons as instruments of peace. He advises his followers to stick to the crowd, scaring them with the non believer’s story of Jesus: hung on the Cross for standing out. “Cut the deal,” he says. “There’s no such thing as love.”

 

 

Published & Copyright Malachi Doyle 2024.