The War Party, part 16: The Anticlimax After The Storm.

30.EP.27q: September 23, 2002.
"The War Party, part 16:
The Anticlimax After The Storm."

Time seems to pass.
-- Don DeLillo, The Body Artist.

27th
        I get up, early. The sun coming through my window.
        I shower.
        Before I go out, I have breakfast with my aunt and uncle. This seems to make them happy, my being there with them in order to share food. I tell them about the riot that almost was, yesterday.
        They ask me if I'll be joining them for dinner tonight. I tell them, no.
        This makes me feel kind of guilty, but at the same time I don't want to put them out. She's been sick for a long time and really shouldn't be cooking for me.
        Besides, I'm feeling oddly depressed, today. I'm not sure why.
        Coming down from yesterday, I suppose.
        I leave, drive around aimlessly.
        I park and go downtown.
        Downtown I see a girl sitting propped against a building. She's kinda cute and she has a sign. The sign reads: STOP KILL EARTH!         That's a good sentiment, I think and walk on. That's a good sentiment except that it needs a comma: STOP, KILL EARTH!         I like my version better.
        And so I go to Chinatown.
        And I don't really do anything there.
        And on the way back from Chinatown I'm walking towards my car and I notice there's a small protest in the distance. I decide not to check it out.
        The sky clouds over.
        Thunder, lightning, rain.

28th
        Downtown, one last helicopter in the sky.
        I go to a mall. I go to Chapters, log onto the Internet, check my e-mail.
        I go buy a bottle of water. I take a mouthful. I set it down on the edge of a garbage bin.
        I stand in the mall, by the bin, taking notes.
        As I take notes, some shambling guy walks up to me, calmly takes my bottle of water, and walks away.

28th
        I'm walking down 10th Avenue. And I'm looking at all those little chalk circles that're starting to pop up everywhere underfoot. You know the ones. They tell you there's an open node, that right here, if you pop open your laptop you can get free internet access. They're on streetcorners, in the middle of blocks. This is the true folk culture.
        And I'm walking, looking for chalk symbols, and I look up and I see one of the protesters. It's the guy with the twin-braided beard. And he's driving a car.
        It's a big car. Big, yellow, rusted. Looks like something that dates back to the mid 1970s. It's a boat.
        And, as he drives by me, the car belches out clouds of thick black smoke.
        And, frankly, if it was me, I'd be ashamed to drive that car. And I want to kill the world. And I want to eradicate every last living thing on the globe. And even I wouldn't drive a car that puked out that much soot.
        I spit vaguely in his direction, and then I go into a magazine store.

28th
        Today is my aunt's and uncle's wedding anniversary.
        I didn't buy them a gift because I didn't know it was their anniversary. And, besides, they don't really want a gift. Which is okay by me because I don't really have all that much money to spare.
        They're going out for Chinese food. My cousins and their boyfriends will also be there.
        I go, too. It makes my aunt and uncle happy. For some reason I don't understand, they seem to like it when I'm around.
        The food's pretty good and I have a pretty good time.

Next: West Edmonton Mall....

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