“I am a total jerk.”
“Yes you are! You put your foot in your mouth with that one!”
“How was I supposed to know?”
“You just had to share some of that enlightened Derek philosophy.”
“Anita, how is Alan a monk? He goes and visits this church or a temple or what-have-you in the old steak house next to the liquor store and then three weeks later he’s telling me he’s a monk. What is that supposed to mean?”
“Well according to your wisdom, it means he either can’t deal with normal life and has to lock himself away in a temple or he’s on an ego trip trying to prove how morally superior he is to everyone.”
“Yeah, thanks for the heads up. I wouldn’t have said that to him if I would have known he taken monk vows.”
“I think they are called precepts. And I am sorry. It was wrong of me. I just really wanted to see the look on your face when Alan broke the news. And I’m sorry again, but it was totally worth it! You just sat there with your mouth hanging open in shock!”
“I don’t even know why this surprises me. We are talking about Alan, the guy who ran away with the carnival last summer. In all reality, this is more normal. Instead of getting a phone call from Indiana that the carnie folk haven’t paid him in a month and he has no money to get home, I’m just going to get a phone call from the old Black Angus that he needs a ride home since he no longer drives and it’s raining.”
“Don’t be so pessimistic. This could be good for him. He’s given up drinking and smoking and eating meat. Maybe he’s just trying to change his life for the better.”
“He’s changing too much at once. He’s setting himself up for failure. Moreover I really think if you take a vow to not drive, you shouldn’t be asking me for a ride back to your house.”
“Oh stop. It’s not like you were put out. He only lives a few minutes away.”
“Exactly! If you took a vow to not drive, walk home! That’s all I’m saying. . . Besides Alan is doing this both because he has a problem dealing with the real world and because he wants to act morally superior over other people. So it’s not like my philosophy is wrong.”
“I don’t think that’s it. I think he really wants to make life changes and he’s found a support group to help him through that change.”
“At the Black Angus Temple? Next to the liquor store? Give me a break. That is not a religious group. Those are modern day non-profit squatters.”
Anita laughs at this and says, “I really don’t know what to think about the temple he’s joined. He seemed to rebel against religion so strongly in the past. Why he would embrace religion or more specifically this group of people at this point in his life does confuse me.”
“Well . . . I would be worried that this was a cult out to get all Alan’s life savings, but then I know Alan doesn’t have any money. So I guess they just like his company.”
“Oh our Alan. Always doing some crazy thing. He keeps us on our toes.”
“Great. Our rebel monk. Can’t wait to see how this plays out.”
No comments:
Post a Comment