Return to Zero

Adam  Eden- A combative humanist author

…For a while now odd things were happening that he didn’t understand. At first he thought it was just teenage vandals, but the acts had escalated in number and severity. From turned over garbage cans, to broken windows, to slashed tires, and just yesterday his fish had all been poisoned. They were in a huge backyard pond complete with waterfalls, just innocent creatures. Why hurt them? It was now obvious that the acts of destruction were not random. Adam, a humanist and investigative author, had stuck his pen into someone who believed they had a score to settle. The worry was what would happen next and how severe would it be?

…“What’s your greatest fear, man? You afraid of anything?”

Without pausing to think, Adam said, “It’s a toss up between being left without earplugs in a room full of politicians or a room full of preachers.”

The clerk slapped the counter. “Yeah, man, that’s scary. While you cover your ears, the preachers would be slipping their hands in your wallet, and the politicians would be poking their peckers up your ass.” No one appreciated a good wit more than Adam so he lingered and talked while drinking the tea.

Strawberry - A runaway with no more places  to run

…His eyes were sunken black holes, and his spotted and pasty skin stretched tight over his bones like a condom over a penis ready to explode….He looked like a walking corpse. Smelled like the dead. Felt like death. He opened the canvas tote and looked in to reassure himself that his ticket to escape was still there. Do this one thing the guy said, and Strawberry could have all the crack he wanted. No more stealing and begging. No more prostitution. No more pain. Just aim and pull the trigger to Nirvana.

Granny – Family and community matriarch

 …Granny was older than Florida Hurricanes, but a man would have better odds fighting a storm’s devastating force than standing up to the old woman’s determination. She was shriveled like a prune, but also like the chewy delicacy she could cut through the crap. “Boy, what you doing still laying here in this bed?”

Many Faces – Guide and mentor, and ageless soul

…As with your great telescopes, a man can see only that on which he is focused, but he must be wise enough to know that there is vastness beyond that which is in his field of vision.

...Man likes to refer to himself as native this or native that, but actually every human is a spiritual immigrant to the physical world, not natives at all but aliens.