Crystalline Cool (11)

   
   "Crystalline Cool (11)"
   
   Duncan and his Dad slept till Halloween night, getting no spooky visitors out in their pastoral proximity, way beyond the perimeter of love's handshake; nevertheless, Duncan felt not forsaken, for asymptotic love haunted him, and if enough of the angels and saints were manifest by his vivid gravity of the mind, pulling them downwards, unto him, with sweet charity; next, all was well.
   Optimism:  Holding your head up like an angel of light when they tear you down, or manifest the opossum Totem, or do both, being the balance of truth, but love does eternally outshine, and that light is meant for the long-suffering, punished due to the snares of the enemy--Duncan still praying for the souls in Purgatory, on his knees in his little, Franciscan-like room, Roadkill on the floor next to him; however, the old man burst in, boldly declaring:  "Son, I'm going as a Dictator for spooky Halloween. Gonna put a potato on my phallus and be Fidel Castro."
   Duncan couldn't help but laugh; then, the shame came, but it seemed, oddly, that the laughter had somehow helped the souls in Purgatory feel the ignition of mirth towards that brightness of Eternal Light--Jesus:  In Your Joys!!!

Crystalline Cool (10)

   
   "Crystalline Cool (10)"
   
   Duncan unearthed his lack of agitation and frustration, meekly digging deeper, seeing the rear-view reflection of it all, Roadkill loyally beside him.  He remembered when Dad left after Mom got sick; indeed, the old man was like everyone else.  But the pseudo-caretakers, cackling over Satanic books, making his mother cry, all the false testimony, while he was the only one to bathe, brush, feed, change, labor, suffer--the rest, living their lives, not carrying their cross as commanded.
   Duncan knew evil had to exist.  He Socratically observed as they thieved away his mother's medication, or gave too much upon his absence, him doing everything to preserve the right to life, though contemplating taking his own life, though not a hypocrite, as the odds were crushing him down--a myriad of bullies constantly encompassing him, yet numbers don't matter in war as Sun Tzu knew.   
   He prayed for them to see the mother holding the son once off of the bravery of Calvary conquered, a unique and quixotic type of courage, misunderstood.  
   But Dad came home, paid attention to his son, and hit a home-run concerning the administration of love to a spouse, fighting, fighting, fighting, with his Native American ways.
   It was all over now, and both Dad and him were hated for holding the eagle's feather to the heavens, crossing the threshold of hope.  
   Duncan remembered the old man's unique wit, him having said:  "The nice thing about senility--you can hide your own Easter eggs."   

Crystalline Cool (9)

   
   "Crystalline Cool (9)"
   
   Duncan couldn't handle the stresses of Aimee anymore; indeed, she was a pleasant girl, with a heavenly face forged by God, yet he felt an awesome inclination to only dig deep into the Earth, visit the souls in Purgatory through prayer, and watch Westerns with his crazy horse Dad.
   His Dad mentioning to him:  "Still reading the King James Version, huh?  You're so much like your mother, but I tell you--others might possibly transcend such poetry in verse."
   And this intrinsic command Duncan felt, to visit the lost souls, knowing the physician Luke's Good News, offering:  "Strive to enter in at the strait gait gate:  for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able--I know you not whence ye are; depart from me . . ."
    Duncan prayed for those souls; next, into the small living room, Roadkill atop the sofa with Dad puffing away his prayers, and the Duke, shot again, and yes, in the leg, on the tube, the black and white with rabbit ears still functioning.
   And as Duncan took a seat, his Dad, having that stoic look about himself, calmly probed:  "What's the difference between a cactus and a rich man's car?"  
   Duncan rolled his eyes, not eager to be tempted to laugh at the old man's bizarre humor, yet the son took the bait, asking for the answer.
   Dad said:  "With a rich man's car--the prick is on the inside."  
   Duncan looked to the stars through the ceiling, and Roadkill grinned while his Dad laughed; next, John Wayne got shot in the leg again, though it was unlike King Arthur's wound in the high thigh.  

Crystalline Cool (8)

   
   "Crystalline Cool (8)"
    
   Duncan labored with invisible intensity, lost in the backwoods, using his trusty, war-torn shovel to unearth Terra's terrain for peanuts, knowing his loving and loyal father had sweetly said:  "It's okay if that's all you can do--just do it well, being the best ditch digger in the world."  Roadkill watched alongside him, as well as other souls from the Otherworld; thus, perhaps his labor was not unnoticed or devalued.
   He remembered his matriarch, and how the family would persuade her to dismiss the fantasy of her beliefs, saying stuff like:  "King David is full of shit.  Psalms 103 is crap.  The Virgin Mary is a witch, and Jesus doesn't save."
   Duncan keep digging, regretting their exile, even though they poured their negative possibilities upon his past and today, which is supposed to be the present, a gift from God.  Now it was just Dad, him, and the Golden Retriever.  Yes, he had read Joyce like a madman at one point, hoping they loved him as did Leopold Bloom, identifying with a wandering Jew, perverted by his own imagination as the culture of the world spread disbelief and spoke with the adversary's forked tongue.
   He put his mind into a state of remembrance, his Dad and him always watching old Westerns on their black and white, Dad saying with a smoky smile:  "Every John Wayne movie--the Duke gets shot in the leg."
   Duncan too remembered Day of the Evil Gun, the androgynous-looking cowboy Glenn Ford quoting Christ in the movie, saying:  "Blessed are the merciful, for they too shall obtain mercy."
   What would he do without his father's wisdom?  Then, Roadkill came close, licked him into the present, that gift from God, and Duncan noticed the aches in his back, his blistered hands, and all the rest that went along with his personal creation.  As tired and worn-out as he was, he knelt down, praising:  "Thank you God--thank You for now."  

Squirrel Girl

   
   "Squirrel Girl"
   
   Squirrel Girl was bullied and taunted due to her bizarre mutations; nevertheless, she idolized Iron Man, him not accepting her longing to be his partner, yet she defeated Doctor Doom, and buried her nuts, growing to know that every soul has power.
   Much like the youngest seed of Jesse, David's brothers possibly made fun of him for being a mere shepherd, yet none had the scrotal qualities to defeat Goliath, and simply because:  David LOVED God.
   In Squirrel Girl we see a protector of Central Park.  An admiration for even the lesser mammals, knowing:  power is relative, and be can potent if we appreciate ourselves, and laugh at ourselves.
   I like Squirrel Girl due to a squirrel's tail I used to hang from the rear-view mirror of my Chevy Monza during adolescence, which everyone called a piece of crap.
   We all have bullies.  We all have potential.  So, send out love, and bury your nuts.  Whoever you are, if you love the Kingdom of God within you; next, IT will love you back.   

Crystalline Cool (7)

   
   "Crystalline Cool (7)"
   
   Duncan returned home to the mundane modesty of it all, yet as the Moon did offer a New and changing perspective, the mysticism of his beautifully bizarre life ignited--Roadkill jumping upon his chest for a doggy embrace as he exited the El Camino, and Dad, puffing away on his Dominican Republic cigar ordered off the Internet, smiling under a night sky only ornamented in the constellations that once offered Ronald Reagan the courage to speak the truth of things beyond the nature of man.
   After some heavy petting on Roadkill and innocent licks from the dog's slobbery love, Duncan approached his father, sitting next to him on a futon out upon their redneckish front yard, the old, mature-looking man, steeled by years of existence, crafted by God's Divine Hand, and armed with a sense of jocular joy probed his son's night out with a girl, like this:  "Was it better than that time you fornicated with a seedless watermelon?"
   Duncan blushed:  "Dad, I told the Priest about that at Confession.  Why are you giving me the business?"
   The old man laughed, saying:  "Oh Duncan, my child, how you loved your mother while all the rest ran, living their lives while you transformed yours--you took a beating, yet God spanks all of his children, though from now on--you'll only get a time-out."
   "You're such a sage Dad."  Duncan said, blushing.
   His Dad puffed away; next, stated:  "The Book of Life has already been written, and sometimes God rereads it; thus, time is relative, and there are funny stories, for some pursue that witch-scorned look of a man having a selfish discharge into his own jubilation, yet others suffer with the Saints, and those fools for Christ give the downtrodden water; then, Jesus gives them a hundred cups in the Heavens."
   "Have you been drinking tonight Dad?"  Duncan asked.
   His Dad blew a symmetrical smoke ring, saying:  "No firewater tonight; plus, I never wear a mask, you know that, or speak bravely of myself, yet lock my prayers in a secret chamber, unlike the hypocrites wanting to be seen giving false praises in public, while a dog gallantly poops underneath the Sun, and your mother used to lock the bathroom door when she made a bowel evacuation--that poor, nervous woman."
   Duncan laughed so hard his belly felt warm and cozy.  

Lando Calrissian and Redemption

   
   "Lando Calrissian and Redemption"
   
   Even the late, great General Schwarzkopf Jr. said that Lando betrayed Han Solo; however, when you possibly have Boba Fett's disintegration blaster and Darth Vader's powers of the Dark Side at your throat; next, there's not much of a choice--or is there?
   Regardless, Lando shows us redemption, displaying a heroic attitude in the rescue of his old buddy Han.  Plus, the deleted Tatooine sandstorm scene from Return of the Jedi possibly offers further illumination into Lando's apology to Han; furthermore, Han forgives Lando, allowing him to pilot the Millennium Falcon during a raid on the second Death Star. 
   What does this teach us?  Christ might wisely state:  "When your brother sins against you--rebuke him.  But if he asks for forgiveness many times; then, forgive him."  
   Lando, that scoundrel and gambler, turned out to be a pretty cool guy.