When I first met Adam he was picketing cigarette sales outside a convenience store. When I think of him now, I think of his bulging eyes, sweaty stubble, the smell of aniseed as he leaned in confidentially to whisper something he thought must be a secret, but back then he was clean shaved and suited and not prone to whispers.<\/p>\n
“You got a light?”<\/p>\n
I didn’t.<\/p>\n
“That’s great, just great. You know how many kids those mofo’s send into chemo. Pain and suffering. We need\u00a0to stop this. It’s the kids, we can’t let this happen.”<\/p>\n
The boardroom haircut and ostentatious shoes threw me off for a moment, a pause. His look contradicted his sheer earnestness and sense of comradery, like we’d just fought our way up the hill and now had to dislodge the machine gunners below. Which would have been the end of it, but as if reading my intention to walk off, this strange strange being flicked a cigarette into his own mouth and lit it.<\/p>\n
“Hypocrite.”<\/p>\n
“What do you mean?” as he blew the smoke into my eyes.<\/p>\n
I walked off. But I saw him again, and a few times watched him accosting other pedestrians. Some people walked off unperturbed, others were lit up by discussions and arguments, and sometimes when the crowds were awash around him, he would turn unprovoked into a raving madman, cursing and promising retribution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I first met Adam he was picketing cigarette sales outside a convenience store. When I think of him now, I think of his bulging eyes, sweaty stubble, the smell of aniseed as he leaned in confidentially to whisper something he thought must be a secret, but back then he was clean shaved and suited […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[159,90,114,106],"tags":[110,118,119],"metadata":[],"class_list":["post-772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-posts","category-blog-posts","category-story","category-the-traveller-is-the-journey","tag-fiction","tag-god","tag-madness"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1740,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2010\/12\/04\/hide-and-seek-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":772,"position":0},"title":"Hide and Seek","author":"Pala","date":"December 4, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Hide and Seek\u00a0is the\u00a0third episode\u00a0of the franchisee show\u00a0Stargate Atlantis[1]. It first aired in July 2004. Spoilers?\u00a0Yes. Synopsis: An energy-feeding\u00a0shadow\u00a0is freed and a shield stone is found. They get rid of the shadow and can\u2019t use the stone any more.\u00a0Fin. DVD Commentary Instructions: (1) Print off this commentary. (2) Hire a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2392,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2011\/05\/27\/thomas-aquinas-five-ways\/","url_meta":{"origin":772,"position":1},"title":"Thomas Aquinas’ Five Ways","author":"Pala","date":"May 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Thomas Aquinas\u00a0spent the last twenty years of his life writing the famous\u00a0Summa Theologica; a guide to the\u00a0divine. The\u00a0Summa\u00a0included the\u00a0quinque viae, the \"five ways\" by which the existence of\u00a0God\u00a0can be proved. A few months before his\u00a0death, Aquinas stopped writing. When begged to continue he only said, \"All that I have written\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1153,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2017\/05\/11\/r-yona-at-jeta-grove\/","url_meta":{"origin":772,"position":2},"title":"R Yona at Jeta Grove","author":"Pala","date":"May 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Editorial notes: The short story below was found in Shai's Google Drive notes and is clearly incomplete. The Brain Storming section at the end of the narrative alludes to the continuation of the story An apocryphal Braisa, non-canonical and existing only in Arabic: \u201cRabbi Yona was lost at sea. Can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2391,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2011\/05\/05\/the-consolation-of-philosophy-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":772,"position":3},"title":"The Consolation of Philosophy","author":"Pala","date":"May 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Any man who has fallen never stood securely\u00a0(I poem 1) Whenever I think of the\u00a0variegation\u00a0of human lives I think of\u00a0Boethius\u00a0in his cell drafting and commiserating his own misfortune. Background: Boethius was born 476CE around the time that the last Western\u00a0Roman\u00a0Emperor\u00a0was being overthrown. In 493 the leadership changed again as the\u00a0Ostrogoths\u00a0took\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":817,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2016\/09\/13\/untitled\/","url_meta":{"origin":772,"position":4},"title":"Untitled","author":"Pala","date":"September 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Editorial notes: This untitled post was found in 'Draft' mode in the original blog and may be incomplete. It is published here in its original state. It was last updated on 13\/09\/2016 Like a captain far from any familiar shore, gifted with a map without which he could only be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":148,"url":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/2013\/08\/15\/temporary-introduction\/","url_meta":{"origin":772,"position":5},"title":"Temporary introduction","author":"Pala","date":"August 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Editorial notes: In August 2013, Shai starts his fourth blog, entitled \u201cmeanwhile-II\u201d which he dedicates to \u201cwitticisms, epiphanies, and emotional breakdowns\u201d. The content of this blog reflects a change in Shai\u2019s overall mood, writing style and direction. While his earlier writings are considerate, scientific and outward-looking, his focus now shifts\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All Posts"","block_context":{"text":"All Posts","link":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/all-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/padotI-cs","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772"},{"taxonomy":"metadata","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetravellerslastjourney.com\/shai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/metadata?post=772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}