He's not impressed with recent predictions of the world's demise; he is thinking more in terms of five or six years from now. I am nodding my head, trying to determine if he really believes this, or he's just trying to suck me into some crazy nightmare he's experienced, when he pulls an open bottle of Scotch out from under his wool coat and asks me if I want a "swig."

No thanks.

He is being taken over by his beard. I do not know why. He lives in housing for the handicapped just up the street. All he needs is a razor. But the monthly check goes to booze and cigarettes today. He wouldn't waste it on razors. He is probably five years younger than me but looks ten years older because of his face which is ravaged by the signs of long-term alcoholism and his posture. He is always leaning against something. He gets all his clothes from a nearby Salvation Army drop off center. He is always well dressed.

He tells me that the U.S. and other nations are desparately in search of a habitable planet for the earth's super wealthy. It sounds like a good enough conspiracy theory. I am pretty sure someone has already made a movie along those lines. He says that's why they're not doing anything about global warming - because they plan not to be here when the whole mess falls down around us.

This leads to a mindbending story that involves Richard Branson and Virgin Airlines. He says they are currently designing a "global fleet" to remove the wealthy from this dying star and the rest of us will just have to stand there and watch as the wealthiest ride off to another planet. This is beginning to remind me of a Neil Young song, except the Young song is better, or was it Joni Mitchell, who wrote the song "Woodstock," We are star dust, we are golden. Was the end of the world somewhere in Joni's song, too?

The problem is that the only really habitable planets are decades in travel time from here, I tell him. His eyes narrow and he smiles. He wants to know what made me believe they would be going that far. They are just going to the moon he tells me, assuring me they are already there, the construction crews building a habitat for the wealthiest people on earth. I ask about oxygen and he tells me they have already discovered a way to get moisture from the rocks, that there may even be underground oceans and this (I forget how) will allow them to produce oxygen and even electricity for that matter.

I am still not buying it. So he goes political on me. Look at the economy, he says. So? Look at the greed. Yeah? Look at these people stealing like there is no tomorrow. And what is being done about it? Where is the job market?  Why are banks not making loans? Why are there cops everywhere you look everyday and why have you lost so many of your rights? You know they can break into your house now, search it and not even tell you about it?

You see, something has changed and it ain't 9/11. It's the government and the rich; they're going to leave us here. That's what all this Homeland Security is about.

Yes it is crazy. He is crazy.

I asked him once why he had no teeth. Got 'em all kicked out, he told me. But I got choppers at home.

You have false teeth? Why don't you wear them?

Because it's harder to get the bottle in and out of my mouth when I've got my teeth in.

The toothless man is still up there today, drinking his Scotch, keeping an eye on the cops, looking for designer brand clothing in the Salvation Army bin.

He has nothing better to do, and, in his mind, it will all be over soon anyway.

 

 

 

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• « Big Banks Caught Stealing - NY AG Not Waiting for Fed Govt. To Investigate.
• Politics in the U.S. - Hate is the Word »

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