6. The Cannibals In The Garbage Can

  

         

                                            THE CANNIBALS IN THE GARBAGE CAN


 

     The next day was Heraklion. The Venetian Castle was brooding over the harbor. The parchment colored buildings of the city rising up from the sea looked like wedding cakes. The tour bus to Knossos left at eleven. Lucia and Dan were the first to arrive. Her billowy, white Greek blouse glowed in the late morning sun. The swaying necks of the camel caravan the Tuareg rhythms had evoked the day before came back to Dan as he watched Gladys and Nadine painfully make their way to the bus each protected from the sun by a ridiculously large straw hat. How the hell did they manage to get those in their luggage, he asked himself. Any sympathy he may have felt for the pair of hung over potentates was purely self centered. He shuddered at the thought of himself at their age sweating out the scotch from the night before while trying to negotiate a broiling Cretan sun. Bob and Sally showed up in matched floral and striped outfits. Bob waived, gave Dan a beaming smile and an almost sexual thumbs up. Sally blew him a kiss through slightly crossed eyes and an all suffering wince. Cesaria was decked out in an even more eccentric outfit and proudly refused any help as she worked her way up the stairs of the bus. Buck was the last to arrive. He appeared distracted and out of breath, but he soon turned magnanimous and flush with life. He shook Dan's hand while fanning himself with a baseball cap and gave Lucia a little too long and a little too hard of a hug. Everyone began to board the bus. The tour guide looked at Buck and then looked at a piece of paper in his hand. Buck smiled awkwardly and muttered something to the guide under his breath. Dan was behind Buck but could not understand what he was saying. It almost sounded like he was speaking Greek. Buck reached into his pocket and pulled out some cash. He handed it to the guide who paused for a moment then nodded. Dan looked up and saw Gladys staring down at them through the bus window.
     When the bus had fully boarded, Dan was surprised at how small the crowd was. There were the eight of them from the bar last night and only three other Americans: a young blonde couple in jeans and tee shirts and a tall, lanky man in his forties with bright red hair wearing a Hawaiian shirt and very tight shorts. The bus rumbled into gear and lurched forward.
     The tour guide blew into the microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the beautiful city of Heraklion on the glorious island of Crete. We will take a brief tour of the city before proceeding on to Knossos.”
     The bus shuddered and wandered toward the town. Dan looked across the aisle at the young couple. The girl looked back. He smiled. “I haven’t noticed you on the ship. Have you been to Greece before?” The girl’s expression turned cold look and she turned away. “Oh, I’m sorry.”, Dan stuttered. “I thought you were American.”
     The girl turned around. “We are American.”
     “Forgive me then.” Dan offered. “I was just being friendly. Everyone is on vacation and all.”
     The young man offered a strained smile. “We’ve never been anywhere and now we’re going to go to as many places as we can.”
     Lucia smiled. “I can’t tell whether the tone of your voice is defiant or desperate.”
     The man seemed surprised then irritated. “I am Justin and this is my wife Courtney. We’re both defiant and desperate.”
     “Dan and Lucia.”, offered Dan. “Those are odd emotions for two young people on a cruise of the Greek islands.”
     Courtney stared back. “We are desperate because we have just graduated from college with tens of thousands of dollars in debt hanging over our heads and can’t find work. We’ve been looking for months and -”
     Justin broke in. “We can’t just take any job. Our loan payments can be delayed if we are unemployed but if we find minimum wage work we have to pay and we can’t even live on minimum wage let alone service a loan.”
     “And we are defiant because we still have credit cards!”, said Courtney. “There are no jobs. We can’t go bankrupt on a student loan. We’re doomed so we said. to heck with it, to heck with them all! If they are going to crush us, we are going out with a bang!”   

     Dan looked at the two of them and smiled. “You know, in a way I’m right there with you.”
     The bus had left the port and was careening through traffic. Lucia was enthralled and sympathetic. “But who are ‘they’? Who is trying to crush you?”
     “You are!”, snapped Courtney.

     Dan was taken aback. “We are trying to crush you? What are you talking about?”
     Justin gave them both a frosty look. “You Baby Boomers!”
     “What?”
     Courtney was imperious. “We Millennials are living in the ruin that you Baby Boomers wrought!”
     Lucia’s eyes widened. “You Millennia - what?”
     “Millennials!”, barked Justin. “My generation! You Baby Boomers had everything we don’t.”
     “Your college education was free if you wanted it or almost free, and what did you do with it?”, demanded Courtney. “Sex, drugs and Rock and Roll, hot tubs and peacock feathers, Peace and Love, Disco Music, the Grateful Dead.”
     “The Grateful Dead!”, sneered Justin. “They can’t even carry a tune. Your parents, the Greatest Generation saved the world and what did you do? You spit on the returning Vietnam vets.”
     “Where the hell did this come from and why have I never even heard of it?”, Dan asked in a stunned whisper.
     “Maybe because you are so completely self-absorbed.”, sniffed Courtney. “You had everything and instead of making the world a better place, you destroyed it.”
     “Destroyed it?” Dan couldn’t believe it. “The Civil Rights Act was initiated under our watch. We ended the war in Vietnam with the peace movement. We created the environmental movement, the women’s movement, the gay rights movement, the-”
     Justin cut him off angrily. “The affront to private property rights act, the capitulation to communism movement, the enviro-nazi movement, the abortion rights movement, the perverts rights movement -”
     “Movement, movement, movement.”, snarled Courtney. “Bowel movement. ‘Greed Is Good’ is your motto and your greed destroyed the economy and enslaved the rest of us and our children and our grandchildren yet most of you haven’t saved a penny for your retirement and think that the rest of us will continue to fund Social Security so you can take nice cruises of the Greek Islands. My God, you retire at sixty-five and die at seventy- five or eighty-five. That’s ten or twenty years the government has to support you, to say nothing of the free health care you get with Medicare. You just keep on living and living and bleeding the country dry with your entitlements!”

     "Haven't I heard this before?", shot Dan. "Like yesterday?"
     “Entitlements?”, sputtered Lucia. “But we paid into it all our working lives! And how is a few hundred dollars a month going to support us anyway?”
    “I’m sorry so many of us are living so long.”, growled Dan. “Health care is expensive because the Health Care Industry is bleeding us dry. And Social Security is completely funded through 2037. What are you so worried about? Your input only guarantees there will be money there for you when you retire.”
     “We’ll never see a penny of it! You have borrowed trillions against it!”, blurted Justin. “And we aren’t going to continue to support you parasites! Not that we could if we wanted to. We’re $113,000.00 in debt. We’ll never own a home. We won’t even be able to afford children and why would we want to bring children into this world? It’s corrupt. It’s mean. It’s filthy and it’s about fall off the cliff of global warming. There will be conquest, war, famine and -”
     “Where’s Jesus when you need him?”, asked Dan more flabbergasted than angry.
     “He’s on his way!”, announced Courtney. “The Jews have returned to Jerusalem. The Anti-Christ sits in the White House -”
     Dan threw up his hands. “And now the world is about to end. You must have enjoyed Patmos. Did you get to the monastery?”
    “What’s that got to do with anything?”, Justin demanded.
     “I didn’t think so.”, Dan said. “And how exactly does Jesus fit into all this?”
     “We decided to accept Jesus just before we left.”, Courtney sniffed.
     “How convenient.”, smiled Lucia. “Does the Rapture accept American Express?”
     “You’ll find Jesus soon enough,” Courtney spat. “when there’s no Medicare to take care of your cancer and no Social Security to pay your mortgage. You’ll be selling your belongings on the street for food then you’ll be living on the street.”
     “Maybe you can hum Grateful Dead songs to yourself under your card board box.”, Justin hissed.
     Courtney gave us a withering look. “Or maybe you’ll finally find some morality in your life and do yourselves and the country a favor and check out early.” The two of them turned their backs to us.
     Lucia looked at Dan with wide eyes. “What monsters.”
     The roar of the bus and the chattering of the passengers filled their stunned silence. The guide was expounding on the beauty of the old town the bus was passing through. Dan caught a glimpse of Gladys waiving at the guide. “Can’t you take us to a nice part of town?”, she brayed. The guide's eyes widened and his jaw dropped.
     He slumped in his seat. “My God, Lucia. Could you ever have imagined? They’ve turned one generation on another.”
     Lucia was exasperated. “They? Who are they?”
     “We. We have turned one generation on another.”, Dan sighed. “We have allowed a bilious slime to rise up and smother us all. I know where they got the check out early idea. Some smarmy columnist in the New York Times suggested it. Even the Grey Lady has lifted her skirts. We have stood by while a few poisonous rich old men and a few poisonous rich young freaks fester in poisonous think tanks and spew filth on us.”

     Lucia offered a mischievous smile. “Spyoo? Is that Chinese?”

    “A few tortured shit heads have captured our world and turned us against each other and they dance and cackle like witches. ‘Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble’.”
     Lucia grabbed his hand. “Fillet of a fenny snake, in the cauldron boil and bake…”
     She amazed Dan. He bit. “Eye of newt and toe of frog, wool of bat and tongue of dog.”
     “Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting.”, she moaned.
     “Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing!”, He gasped.
     “For a charm of powerful trouble, like a hell broth boil and bubble.” Her breasts were heaving.
     “Double, double toil and trouble: fire burn and cauldron bubble!” He kissed her. “You are so hot! This trip is a revelation. Bach and sex and now Shakespeare and sex!”
     She pushed him away and started to giggle. “What are you talking about?”
     “You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
     “It’s so absurd, it’s surreal.”, she laughed. “Zombie baby boomers sucking the brains out of all who come after.”
     He shook his head. “We’re howling horrors from the depths of hell coming after you and your children…”
     Lucia gave him a mischievous smile. “And your grandchildren and your great grandchildren. Oh wait, there won’t be any great grandchildren, will there?”
     “If there are, they’ll have hair in their mouths!”

     “That would scare the hell out of even a Zombie!” She kissed him.
     Lucia looked out the window again. They had left town and were on our way to Knossos. “Daniel, what did you mean when you told those two that you were right there with them?”
     Dan avoided the question. He looked around the bus and noticed Cesaria was sitting by herself. Buck was in the seat in front of her. They were talking to each other. “Lucia, do you mind if I go and sit with Cesaria for a bit?”
     “Of course not, Daniel.”, she said with a slightly concerned look on her face.
     Buck had turned around by the time Dan got to Cesaria.  He patted him on the shoulder. Buck raised a hand with outstretched fingers in salute. Cesaria looked up and smiled. She nodded her head toward the empty seat. He sat down. “I wanted to thank you for letting Lucia and I dine alone last night.”
     Cesaria looked into his eyes. “I trust everything worked out?”
     “So far, so good.”, he sighed. “How was your night?”
     "Very good, thank you. The kitchen puts out very good food. Did you two enjoy your dinner?”
     Dan smiled. “Greek food is one of the only things we have in common, that and Shakespeare.”  
     Cesaria smiled back. “Greek food and Shakespeare and...?”
     Dan was surprised. “Yes, and…”
     Cesaria changed the subject. “I overheard that most unusual conversation between you two and those college kids. Isn’t it sad that those most victimized can be so evilly manipulated? The people who have enslaved the young and educated with debt have done so purposely. If they have their way, there will be no higher education for the next generation, no education at all, really except what’s needed to serve the system.”
     “Be careful what you say, Cesaria.”, Dan warned. "Gladys will report you to the authorities."
     “Oh, they already know all about me.”, she scoffed. “I’m surprised I’m not on the no-fly list. Educated young people are a threat and the few that run our country know that. That’s why they are destroying public education. College age kids who looked forward to a good public education now face the tripling and quadrupling of tuition from year to year.”
     “With no tax money coming in and federal and state money drying up in this recession, the only way for the public universities and colleges to stay open is to lay it on the backs of the students.”, said Dan.
     “That’s what they’d have us believe.”, frowned Cesaria. “The school administration has turned into a kind of cancer, multiplying and spreading throughout the schools sucking up all the expenses for itself. Presidents, deans, administrators give themselves salaries on par with corporate America while the salaries and benefits of professors are going the way of the rest of American middle-class jobs. Do you know that seventy percent of professors are contract labor who now? Instead of working a secure job, they must bid for each class each semester for insanely low pay. Many are living on food stamps. They have no health insurance, no pension, not even unemployment benefits.  Education has become a privilege for the rich and an entitlement to be taken away from everyone else.”
     “There’s that ‘entitlement’ word again!”, Dan snapped. “Where did that word come from, The Heritage Foundation, The Cato Institute?”
     Cesaria’s response was quick. “The Cato Institute's Policy Analysis 269 is blunt. ‘The Goal: Complete separation from school and state.’ Laws have been written that use taxpayer money to compete with and defund public schools.”
     Buck turned around in his seat to face them. “That’s the real genius, amigos, forcin’ the public to pay for private education that turns a profit for the shareholders. Ain’t it grand? All our tax money goin’ direct into the pockets of billionaires, the poor and the middle class soon to be poor subsidizin’ billionaires to teach their kids what billionaires want to teach them.”
     The bus slowed as they approached the ruins. The tour guide picked up the microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have now arrived at…” A curious expression formed on his face as he looked out the window. They seemed to be the only tour bus there. The guide began rattling away excitedly to the driver. The driver picked up a cell phone. His call was brief as was his response to the guide. The guide’s eyes grew wide. He asked the driver a terse question. The driver shook his head. The guide’s eyes grew wider. He launched into an excited diatribe and the two of them began arguing. The guide’s voice rose. He waived his hands. The driver crossed his arms on his chest. The guide’s voice turned cajoling, then imploring. The driver’s angry expression began to soften. Finally, his shoulders drooped and his head wagged. 

     The guide let out an audible sigh. He slowly picked up the microphone. “Ladies and gentlemen…”, he paused to recover his thoughts. “We have had the very good fortune of having the entire Knossos to ourselves today. There is some problem with the other tours but I and our driver assure you that you will not be inconvenienced. You will have the tour and we will return to the ship promptly.”
     Lucia had come up to the three of them during the commotion. “What do you suppose all that was about?”
     Buck gave her a once over. “My Greek ain’t that good but I got it. There’s a general strike been called on the island. The tour guide just managed to bribe the bus driver into takin’ us back to the ship.”
     Lucia paled. “A general strike! I thought the island people were happy.”
     “Who told you that?”, Buck snorted. “Them two buzzards you hang out with?”
     Cesaria tapped Buck with her finger. “The guide didn’t bribe the driver. The driver agreed it would not be wise to just leave us here. Let’s hope no one else understood them. Why don’t we just keep quiet and enjoy the incredible fact that we have this glorious piece of history to ourselves?”
     Everyone slowly ambled out of the bus and gathered around the guide. He led them to a bronze bust on a plinth. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is Sir Arthur Evans, the English man who excavated Knossos. Shortly after Crete won its independence from the Turks, Evans purchased Knossos from the Crete government and in 1900 began excavation. He was sad to see the destruction of the island that had occurred during the war for independence and made a point of hiring both Turkish and Greek youths.” The guide then led them up a hill toward the ruins. “You can see several buildings with pillars, and we will be visiting several of the rooms inside. As Sir Arthur Evans uncovered and excavated the ruins, he built temporary structures to preserve them from the weather. When he was excavating Knossos, he decided in 1905 to build a villa nearby for himself he named Ariadne. He built it with reinforced concrete rather than traditional island construction. He soon began replacing the temporary walls in the site with reinforced concrete. His imagination was very strong and by 1930 the Knossos you see today was completed. This is Sir Arthur Evans’ vision of the civilization on Crete thirty-five hundred years ago. You may judge him however you want but Sir Arthur Evans truly loved Crete and Knossos. He would often walk down from Ariadne at sunset and compose beautiful writing about his Minoans.”
     The lanky man in the Hawaiian shirt raised his hand. “You mean to tell me that some archaeologist just built a bunch of buildings on one of the most important archeological sites in the Mediterranean?”
     The guide winced then shrugged his shoulders. “Sir Arthur Evans was not the archaeologist that we know today. At the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, rich Europeans like Heinrich Schliemann and Sir Arthur Evans were the fathers of the modern archeology. Heinrich Schliemann said that he had found Troy. On the island of Crete, Sir Arthur Evans thought he had discovered a civilization that was based on sea trade and peace rather than conquest and war. He said that he could find no evidence of defensive walls, that the fragments of fresco murals and sculptures that were uncovered showed that the society worshipped female gods. The rooms uncovered in Knossos reminded Sir Arthur Evans of the myth of the Minotaur and paintings and sculptures of bulls convinced him that he had found King Minos’ palace at Knossos. It was he who named the civilization the Minoans. You will please now follow me to the throne room.”
     Gladys was showing signs of life after hangover. “It’s so damn hot and desolate here. How in the hell did his wife put up with it?”
     The guide looked away. “He didn’t have a wife.”
     A smile crossed the red head’s face. “Are you trying to tell us he was gay?”
     Nadine had found herself as well. “Of course he wasn’t!”, she shot.
     A look of surprise on the guide’s face turned to irritation. “Sir Arthur Evans was an upstanding citizen. He was a supporter of the Boy Scouts all his life and left them his estate in his will.”
     The red head broke out laughing. “The Boy Scouts! You’ve got to be kidding me!”
     Justin had a scowl on his face. “Do you have something against the Boy Scouts?”, he asked angrily.
    The lanky man’s answer was abrupt. “I can’t stand the very idea of them. Is that a problem?”
     The guide's voice was strained. “Please, gentlemen. We are about to enter the throne room of the palace. You will see gypsum benches lining the walls and a throne with a large basin in front. Sir Arthur Evans noticed the feminine shapes in the seat of the throne and decided it was for a queen or priestess. The basin was for ritual bathing.”
     They had arrived at the top of the ruins which were crowned with an open and closed series of simple bunker like structures graced with brightly painted squat columns. They walked into a large room lined with stone benches around a throne all surrounded by walls painted with whimsical murals of reclining griffins. Sally let out a gasp. “How beautiful and how amazing these murals could have survived all those centuries!”
     “Actually they did not.”, corrected the guide. “Sir Arthur Evans hired a father and son team of artists to recreate the murals of Knossos based on some small fragments that were excavated.”
     It was the red head again. “My god! That girl was a control freak!”
     “Really sir. Must you?”, Sally sniffed.
     The red head grimaced. Dan decided something had to be done. He reached over and offered his hand. “My name’s Dan and this is Lucia. A bunch of us got to know each other rather quickly last night over a few drinks. We found we have almost nothing in common. What’s your name?”
     “My name is John.” The smile returned to his face.
     Bob was grandiose. “My name’s Bob and this is my wife, Sally. We’re all a little shaky after last night. You can say anything you want. My wife and I are not prejudice in the least.”
     John rolled his eyes. “Well, I can’t tell you what a relief that is to hear.”
     Dan tried the peacemaker again. “John, this is Gladys and Nadine, old friends of Lucia, and this is Justin and Courtney.” The four of them smiled through their teeth at John.
     Buck extended a hand. “The name’s Buck. Pleased to meet you.”
     “I am Cesaria!”, boomed the tiny woman. All heads turned to her.
     John was smitten. “Darling! I’ve been admiring you all morning! Where did you get that fabulous outfit? I’m absolutely dazzled! You look like some ravishing pilgrim in search of Gandhi. What is that carved on your cane, some sort of bird?”
     “Thank you, young man.”, smiled Cesaria. “That is Garuda, half man and half bird and the chariot of Vishnu. It was given to me by a holy man when I was living in Kerala.”

     Dan touched Cesaria’s arm. “Ah, Kerala. Beautiful music.”
     “Damn straight.”, Buck chuckled.  
     John smiled warmly at Cesaria. “I don’t care where you got it, honey. It’s to die for.”
     Courtney winced. “Must you go on like that? Do you always have to make such a show of everything?”
     The guide was waving, trying to catch their attention. “Ladies and gentlemen –"
     John whirled around. “What did you say?”
     The guide was exasperated. “Please! Ladies and gentlemen! Follow me now to the Temple Repositories! There is a beautiful view of the surrounding hills from there.” He turned on his heals and walked away.  
     “Come on, Courtney.”, growled Justin as he followed the guide. With that, everyone began to move. John caught up to the guide and kept pace with him, asking him for more details on Arthur Evans. Bob and Sally were a few steps behind, and Dan followed them. Lucia took his arm.
    Cesaria took the other. “You know, Dan, Evans’ take on the Minoan civilization had a very extensive audience. Before and after the First World War people were desperate for some peaceable kingdom in history that was an exception to the rule of interminable war. Artists, writers, ordinary people still reach for that idyllic promise. Evans looked at the ruins of Knossos and saw what he desperately wanted to see and then proclaimed it unto the world. He was a prophet in a way.”
     Buck was walking behind Dan. “We got a lot of them prophets these days that see what they wanna see, paintin’ pretty murals around the ugly truth, Boy Scouts or no Boy Scouts, and they ain’t doin’ nobody no good.”
    Gladys and Nadine were behind Buck. Gladys was sporting a cane herself. She tapped Buck’s shoulder with it. “Slow down, big man. We need your shade.” He paused and turned to look at her as she continued. “Mr. Buck, what is your last name?”
     “That’s a job for you and the purser to find out.”, he answered.
     She looked up at him. “OK, I was drunk last night.”
     “Ain’t no crime in that.”
     “And I am an old lady.”
     “No crime in that neither.”
     Gladys sighed. “With little ahead of me and not too much to brag about behind me.”
     Nadine’s eyes grew wide. “Gladys, what on earth are you talking about?”  She looked at Gladys then at Buck and frowned. “Well, we all have our burdens to bear, don’t we, Buck, honey? Tell me, what’s a big, strong man like you doing all alone on a cruise?” She suddenly realized she was overstepping and looked around nervously.
     Gladys went on. “And here I am walking around a bunch of half-baked ruins on a half-baked island looking back at my half-baked life and wondering why I never got up on stage.”
     Buck began walking. Gladys took his arm. “Can I take your arm and fantasize for a moment that my life and the world await me?”
     Nadine took his other arm. “Will you, big man humor two old ladies for a few moments?”
     “The pleasure’s all mine, ladies.”, smiled Buck.
     Gladys glanced at John who was still talking intently to the guide. “That guy sure doesn’t have a problem telling the whole world he’s gay.”
     “Why should he?”, asked Buck. “You don’t have no problem tellin' the world who you are.”
     Nadine pulled herself close to Buck. “Why do they have to go around trying to prove that half the world is gay too?” 
     “So what if they do? And what if it is?”, Buck asked. “I read that they found gay whales and dolphins and monkeys and dogs and birds and even bugs. Who the fuck cares who other people screw? Unless you ain’t happy with who you’re screwin‘, or what you’re eatin’ or how you’re livin’. It’s the miserable people in this world that drag the rest of us down with ‘em and the ones that don’t know they’re miserable are the most dangerous of all. Them little shits are bringin’ the world down around our ears.”
     Gladys squeezed Bucks arm. “You are so oddly charming, you seem almost poetic. Too bad you’re on the wrong side. Sometimes I think you liberals have different brains than the rest of us.”
     “Funny you should say that, your highness.”, Buck laughed. “I also read that the part of the brain that handles fear is twice the size in conservatives as in liberals. Are you afraid all the time?”, he asked, looking at them both.
     “Certainly not!”, snapped Gladys.
     “Not even afraid of losin’ your money?”
     “Well, my God!”, gasped Nadine. “Who isn’t afraid of that now days? We aren’t all
hedge fund managers or CEOs. I have some money, sure but my husband and I worked
hard to make his business succeed, to buy our first home and our other homes. Our kids worked hard to get into good schools, and we paid through the teeth to keep them there. Am I a thoughtless aristocrat because I want to hold onto what I’ve worked so hard to get? Do I have to turn it over to every immigrant drug addict who wanders into my country and fills it up with countless brown babies? The resources of our great country may have seemed infinite once but they are certainly not anymore.”
     “Immigrants ain’t taking your money away, your highness, corporations are, big oil, Wall Street. The world is teeterin’ on a tightrope above a hole that makes the Great Depression look like a sand box. People ain’t gonna wait in bread lines this time, your highness, not when they got AR15s. There’s so much to go around. There’s plenty of money to keep the masses you’re so scared of happy but it’s been taken away from ‘em and now they’re boilin’ mad.”
     “I own a great deal of stock in those corporations and that has done fine by me.”, sniffed Gladys.
     Buck looked down at Gladys and smiled. “What are you gonna do when your portfolio ain’t worth shit?”
     John had slowed down and let the guide walk ahead. Courtney and Justin walked quickly past John. Lucia, Cesaria and Dan caught up to him. He smiled. “What’s with that pair of little twits?"
     “They’ve just graduated from college. They’re flat ass broke, unemployed and a hundred thousand in debt.”, sighed Dan.
     “And they’re on a cruise?”
     “They’re maxing out their credit cards in defiance of the banks.”, sighed Cesaria.
     “You know,”, John offered. “that’s not such a bad idea. Maybe we should all get together, all of America and do that, you know, give Wall Street the shaft.”
     Cesaria seemed impressed. “Young man, you just might have something there. And how did you come to Greece?”
     John looked down. “My husband and I had always talked about it but things never got good enough to for us to be able to afford it. Then these last few years everything went to hell. He got sick and we decided to sell the house and take the trip while we still could, while he still could. He didn’t make it but he made me promise that if he didn’t, I would go anyway, for us.”
     “Lucia frowned. “I am so sorry.”
     “Yeah, me too.”, sighed John. “Life’s a bitch. I thought I’d seen enough dying in the AIDS epidemic but I was so young and somehow, even though so many people were dying hideous deaths all around me, I survived. I got another chance that they didn’t and yet here I am all over again.”
     Cesaria voice was comforting. “You have lived more lives than most, young man. Pain begets wisdom and you will find consolation in the sharing of it.”
     John looked around the ruins then up at the sky. “An old chestnut, a beautiful old chestnut but of little consolation.”
     Cesaria stopped in her tracks and stopped us all. “I am sorry. The holy man in Kerala
didn’t rub off much. Tell me about him.”
     “I cannot.”, said John, color coming to his face. “I don’t know you at all.”
     “I'll offer you another chestnut.”, the old lady smiled. “So much the better.”
     John sighed. “We met when I was twenty-two. I am forty-seven. He was all I have ever known. I am lost.”
     “It appears just about everyone I’ve met on this cruise is lost or has some skeleton in their closet.”, Dan said wistfully.
     Lucia pulled on his arm. “Don’t tell me you are lost, Daniel. What was that you said to those two, that you’re right there with them?”
      "I saw the recession coming, everyone buying houses the banks were offering for no money down and no interest. ‘Welcome to my parlor said the spider to the fly.’ I was burned out by the restaurant business and drowning my disgust in booze. I saw the country led into Iraq like lambs to slaughter and I saw the country led into disaster by Wall Street. I sold the restaurant and watched from the sidelines as the country went down like the Titanic and now I’m almost broke myself. I’m fifty something and unemployable so I said fuck it all too. I’m going on vacation. I’m going to Greece one last time just like you, darling to see where democracy began before it’s over.”
     Lucia’s face fell. “Oh, Daniel.”
     Courtney pointed to a large saddle like sculpture some distance away and called out to the guide. “What is that awesome thing?”
     “Those are the Horns of Consecration.”, the guide replied tersely. “Sir Arthur Evans claimed they represented the horns of the Minotaur, the monster that was the child of the Queen of the Minoans and a sacred bull.”
     Justin crossed his arms across his chest and squinted at the horns. “They’re cool but they don’t really look like horns to me. Did Arthur Evans build them too?”
     “The symbol of the horns was found very often in Minoan excavations. Sir Arthur Evans thought it appropriate to restore them here.”
     Gladys and Nadine were still clinging to Buck’ arms. Gladys couldn’t let Buck’s challenge go. “So what if it all goes to shit? I’ve gone to shit. What the hell do you care anyway? Where did you come from? What was all that out of breath routine this morning?”  
     Buck didn’t look at her. He just kept walking. “There was a ship leavin’ Heraklion to join the Gaza Flotilla. I was goin’ to be on it. It was leavin’ this morning. Mossad agents sabotaged its propellers and told the Greek authorities. Everybody split.”
     Both Nadine and Gladys let go of Buck’s arms and stopped in their tracks. “My God, you are a terrorist.”, Nadine whispered.
     “Guilty as charged, your highness.”, laughed Buck as he walked on.
     The crowd had arrived in a courtyard framed by two large stone doorframes. A set of carved stairs led up to an area overlooking the surrounding hills. “My goodness, what impressive doors.”, said Sally.”
     Justin stood in one and looked around. “Awesome. They are very sturdy. At least they
survived.”
     The guide sighed. “Sir Arthur Evans reconstructed the doors when he excavated -”
     “Dude!”, sputtered Justin. “I know the ruins are ancient, but it sounds like there was nothing left but a pile of stones. What happened?”
     The guide was tapping his foot. He ran his fingers through his hair and gnawed on his lower lip. “There are many, many earthquakes in Greece. In Athens in 1999, a hundred and fifty people were killed in one. We also have volcanoes. Archeologists think the Minoan Civilization was destroyed by the eruption on the island of Thira that produced horrible earthquakes and Tsunamis.” He paused and took a deep breath. “When he was excavating this area, Sir Arthur Evans noticed some of the floors were sinking. More digging found large repositories filled with storage jars and vats. In one repository many sacred objects were found including statues of female gods holding snakes.”
     Gladys was fuming away and hadn’t heard a thing. “That big man infuriates me!”, she muttered.
     “Do you think he really is a terrorist?”, whispered Nadine. “He is so sexy! If only I were younger!”
     “Get a grip on yourself, Nadine!” Gladys hissed.
     “Is that where Arthur Evans got the idea that the Minoans worshiped female gods?”, asked Bob.
     The guide’s answer was terse. “Sir Arthur Evans thought that the Minoan priests may have dressed in female clothes when they worshiped their goddesses.”
     “It sounds like this guy was making it up as he went along.”, said Courtney.
     The guide frowned.  “As I said before, Sir Arthur Evans was not the archeologist we know today.”
     Justin continued. “And framing history in his life style.”
     “Life style?”, shot John. “Where the hell did they dig that word up?”
      "Well, it is a life style!”, announced Sally loudly. “The gay life style!”
      “A life style is something you choose!”, said John, his voice rising. “It’s what kind of clothes you wear, whether you play golf or play tennis. Do you think I would have put up with all the shit I put up with all my life if I had a choice?”
     The guide was pale. “Please! Will everyone be calm?”  
     “What I’m trying to say”, said Justin. “is that everything we know about this awesome civilization has been fouled by a -”
     John cut him off. “Fouled? Fouled? So this fag excavates an ancient civilization, builds himself a fairy palace a few steps away and waltzes down every day to fantasize about an ancient fag world where cross dressing priests worship dyke goddesses? Then he slaps the myth of the Minotaur on everything like cheap mascara all the while constructing a reinforced concrete fag Disney land on top of a priceless archeological ruin and diddling the young Cretan help every chance he gets? Is that what you’re trying to say?”
     “I couldn’t have said it better!”, snarled Justin.
     Nadine was taken aback. “Good grief! What is all this about? I thought you young people were more tolerant. There’s nothing wrong with being gay.”
     “And you call yourself the greatest generation!”, spat Courtney.
     “I do?”, asked Nadine.
     “I could see that nonsense coming out of the mouth of a Baby Boomer, not you!”, said
Justin.
     “Oh shut up, you little morons!”, snapped Lucia. “I have heard just about enough out of you two!”
     “What in the world are you people talking about?”, asked Gladys. “Fruits?”
     “Don’t you tell my husband to shut up, you leech!”, Courtney growled.
     “Haven’t you heard?”, Dan asked. “These two are at the end of their rope and who do they blame, the republicans, the democrats, Wall Street? No! It’s the evil Baby Boomers who have ruined the world!”
     “It’s the terrorist you young people should be fighting!”, gasped Sally.
     “The fruits of the world are after your history and your children!”, John hollered.
     Buck was frowning at Sally. “When you swallow that terrorist line of shit, you’re playin’ into the hands of the security state!” 
     “Don’t you yell at my wife!”, snapped Bob.
     “He is a terrorist! Just listen to him!”, shrieked Gladys.
     “My goodness, woman!”, gasped Cesaria. “Are you insane?” She stepped back from Gladys unsteadily and lifted her cane up to catch her balance.
     “Don’t you threaten me, you old hippie!”, yelled Gladys as she raised her own cane in the air. “This man tried to join a terrorist ship sailing for the Gaza strip this morning!”
     “Is that true?”, asked Bob. “You support the terrorist Hezbollah?”
     “Israel’s a terrorist state occupyin’ Palestinian territory!”, snapped Buck. “Was the French resistance a terrorist organization? How ‘bout the American revolution?”
     “I would never have introduced myself to you if I had known you were antisemitic!”, roared Sally.
     “Stop it! Will you people stop screaming at each other? Will you shut up?" The guide was trembling with rage. "Who are you idiots? What are you? A rotten empire full of spoiled fools screaming at each other while the world falls down around you! You are a plague upon the world! You are monsters and you don’t even know what monsters you are! How are you different from the Germans, the French, the English, the Turks? You devour the world and then turn on yourself like dirty cannibals! Can you not hear yourselves screaming at each other? A hundred thousand businesses have closed in Greece! A third of my people live in poverty! Hundreds of families are abandoning their children because they cannot feed them! You are garbage! Garbage!! I curse you and your children and the children of your children!” The guide took a deep breath. “The bus leaves the ruins in half an hour!” He whirled around and stomped off.
     “My God!”, whispered Sally. “He even cursed our children’s children.”
     Lucia and Dan looked at each other. A smile cracked on her face. “But there won’t be any children’s children.”
     “Or if there are…”, Dan followed.
     They finished in unison at the top of their voices. “They’ll all have hair in their mouths!” They roared with laughter.
     “What on earth is the matter with you two?”, gasped Sally.
     “They’re insane! That’s what’s the matter with them!”, Justin shouted.
     “They’ve got dementia, Alzheimer’s!”, Courtney blared.
     “Maybe you oughta have ‘em put down.”, Buck sneered.
     John glared at Justin. “Or maybe we ought to put you down!”
     Justin rose to his full height. “Don’t you threaten me, you -”
     “How can you people go on like this when we’ve all just been insulted by a cannibal?”, brayed. Gladys.
     Nadine was fanning herself with her hands. “How dare that dirty little Greek speak to us like that!”
     “Well everything he said is true!”, shot Cesaria. “He dressed us down for screaming at each other and how do we respond? By screaming at each other!”
     “Oh, shut your liberal, pinko, socialist mouth!”, hissed Gladys.
     “Don’t you talk to her like that, you constipated, old biddy!”, ordered John.
     Dan had had enough. He stepped away from the fracas and looked over the valley. It was indeed a beautiful view. It was a miracle that they had these ruins to themselves and look how they were thanking fate for such a gift. One of the most mysterious and wonderful places in the world was theirs to witness alone and they might as well have been at Disney Land with a million other fools staring at an ersatz, twisted, corporate vision of the world while giant mice and ducks pranced around them. What the hell was this cruise he found himself on? Who were all these idiotic fellow citizens hollering like lunatics in a snake pit? He scanned the golden hills and sighed. There was no hope for his country. It would go the way of all rotten empires before, a nation of cannibals soon to be taken out with the trash.
     He gazed down the hill toward the bus and was surprised to see a limousine parked next to it. He looked closer and saw four people approaching. Two men in dark suits appeared to be bodyguards of a middle-aged couple. The man was portly and in his sixties. His white shorts and shirt matched his hair. The woman looked twenty years younger. She was dressed in a skin tight Barbie doll pink mini skirt. She negotiated the hill in matching pink heels. She had the strangest hair, something out of a science fiction movie, all severe planes and curves dyed platinum and sprayed so stiff they looked like armor plates. Dan was about to warn everyone that they had company, but he thought better of it. It would be interesting to see what kind of reaction they would have when they stumbled upon this caterwauling pile of garbage.
     Sure enough, when the bodyguards came within earshot, a look of concern flashed on their faces. “What is going on here?”, one of them demanded.
     The free for all suddenly stopped and everyone slowly turned. Dan gave a slight bow and gestured grandly to the crowd. “We are just having a lively discussion about the history of Knossos. You are American. Please join us. I’m sure you have something to add.”
     Gladys puffed up her chest and approached the two men, her cane waving before her. “Who are you and why in God’s name are you dressed in black when it’s ninety degrees out?”
     “Stay where you are, lady!”, ordered one of the men.
     It was then that Dan recognized the couple as they crested the hill. “My God, everyone, we have the pleasure to sharing the ruins with Sal Muculint and his wife Tweety!” He looked at the two guards. “And the Secret Service, no doubt.”
     “Sal Muculint!”, gasped Nadine. “The senator running for president?”
     John was next to Dan. He looked at the couple and smiled. “I don’t believe it!”, he whispered. “I read that that little shit took a sudden break from his campaign to go on a cruise and here he is in the flesh! And look at that woman! That pile of makeup would put Tammy Fay to shame. And that hair! It looks like a battering ram! How the hell do you fuck something like that without getting bruised and bloody? You’d have to take off the head and put it on the nightstand.”
     Dan put a finger to his lips. “Let’s let this play out.” He turned to the crowd. “Please, everyone!”, he announced at the top of his voice. “Can we not be civil and welcome one of Washington’s finest and perhaps the next president of the United States?”
     It was like feeding candy to a baby. Sal lit up. A proud smile spread across his face. His wife was right behind him. She was a frightening sight. She had the most astoundingly wild eyes. They had a life all their own. They seemed to almost rotate on her face. They were of another world, an ancient, brutal world. Dan instinctively turned away. As the senator stepped up into the Temple Repositories, Dan noticed he was just the right height to block the hill behind that held the Horns of Consecration so that the horns themselves seemed to crown his head.  

     Cesaria smiled. “The Minotaur has arrived.”
     Gladys and Nadine hobbled toward the senator, their eyes and mouths wide open with delight. The agents closed in but Sal motioned them off. Gladys took Sal’s hand. “What an amazing thrill it is to meet the next president of the United States on a God forsaken island in Greece! I am Gladys Euryale!”
     Nadine was right behind her. “And I am Nadine Sethenno! I hope Mrs. Muculint doesn’t mind if I tell you how handsome you look!”
     Sal chuckled as his eyes darted around the crowd sizing it up. “She hears it all the time and it drives her crazy.”
     Gladys was furiously beckoning Lucia who stepped forward. “This is our dear friend Lucia.”
     Sal gave her a long, slimy once over. “What a beautiful - name.”
    Tweety was just behind Lucia. She stepped too close to her, forcing Lucia to step aside. Her terrifying eyes swept around the crowd. Her platinum hair was a satanic halo. Her beaked nose seemed to sift through the dust and sweat searching for any threats. Then she smiled. Her pupils swam in the whites of her eyes. Her eyebrows danced like spider’s legs. Her twitching lips smeared with screaming red lipstick framed saucer like teeth.  Lucia let out an audible gasp. Tweety’s voice was calm and monotonic. “What a lovely crowd. I trust you all are enjoying your own private tour of Knossos.”
    Lucia composed herself, offered her hand to Sal then turned to Tweety and smiled graciously. “I don’t suppose you are on that fabulous yacht I noticed in the harbor this morning?”
     Tweety‘s bouncing pupils froze. “The Argonaut Adventure? We are.”
     Gladys huffed. “We were enjoying our own private tour until our filthy little guide had a fit and told us off.”
     “Who else do we have here?”, demanded Sal, brushing the two old women off like flies. “Who are these two delightful people?”, he demanded as he walked toward Sally and Bob.
     Bob offered his hand. Sally put her nose in the air. “Two delightful people who voted for President Obama.”
     Sal was undaunted. “A decision I’m sure you’ve come to regret.”
     Nadine pointed a finger at Dan. “That man has regretted that decision!”
     “Tell me about your suite.”, said Lucia, trying to change the subject and warm up to the frozen pink apparition. "“Does it have a spa? We are on a Greek ship, very charming and all, but minimal. We do have a balcony of sorts. It’s all really quite quaint.”
     Tweety’s voice was robotic. “I’m sure it is. Of course we have a spa. What are you people doing here? We were told there was a general strike on and that no tours would be at Knossos.”
     “A general strike?”, gasped Nadine. “Why didn’t that little cannibal say anything?”
     John offered the senator a venomous smile. “Sal Muculint, you recently referred to gay marriage as a ‘temporary aberration’. My husband and I were amazed that someone who has cheated on two wives,”, he glanced at Tweety. “so far, would have anything to say about the institution of marriage.”
     Nadine grasped Gladys’ arm. “Oh Gladys, a general strike! We should never have left the ship! We should never have taken a cruise in this decrepit part of the world! What are we going to do? How are we going to get back to the ship?”
     Sal offered John a broad smile in return. “I’ve been around congress for a good long time, young man. There are many things a man has to say in life to get by and a good many more to get elected. When are the American people going to learn that all is fair in love and war and politics? What the hell do you care what I think anyway? You people don’t like me and I don’t need you people to get elected. You people are the shining example of the secularization of American society. My dealings with Vatican officials confirms that the Church is appalled by the Godlessness of Europe but is shocked by the direction of American society. We need to go back to what America really is, one nation under God. I hear you people are getting ready for an appearance before the Supreme Court. When I am president, the corruption of the Judiciary will meet its match in the power of the Executive. It is outrageous that nine people have such power over the rest of America.”
     Buck lumbered up to the senator. “Howya doin’, Senator? The name’s Buck. Sounds to me like it’s gonna be one person over the rest of the country if you’re selected. Hell, the way things are goin’, none of our selected officials need any particular group of Americans from the silent majority to the loud minority to get selected.”
    Tweety’s eyes popped wide and started to spin. She called out to her husband. Sal turned and stuck out his hand. The dry, grey skin on his face cracked and quivered into a smile. “It’s a pleasure to meet a man with strong opinions! Don’t mind my wife. She’s a little upset that there is a bit of unrest in Greece.”
     Buck gave Tweety a slow once over. “Sorry to ruin your day, princess.”
     “Don’t make light of it, Sal!”, Tweety  squawked. Her voice was no longer low and lifeless. She cawed like a crow. “I set this vacation up so you could have a little hiatus from the campaign! I was sure that we would have the ruins to ourselves!”, she looked around at all of them and a cold smile slithered across her face. Her voiced dropped again. “Not that we are disappointed that we have the good fortune to share Knossos with my husband’s future constituents.”
     “What are you going to do about the student debt crisis if you are elected?”, Justin called from across the room.
     “Didn’t you hear what he just said?”, asked John.
     “He was talking about you people.”, sniffed Courtney.  
     Justin reached out to the Senator. “My wife and I had every intention of paying back the loans we took out for college but we were scammed. The bank and Sally Mae told us they were offering us simple loans with fixed interest but the interest was compounded and fees came out of nowhere, late fees, forbearance fees, return item fees, back end premium fees, repayment fees. Repayment fees!” 
     Courtney grasped her husband’s hand. “The school we went to added to our loans when we didn’t need it and without our permission and without even telling us.”
     Justin was almost pleading. “We worked two jobs at once when we were in school to service the debt and to eat. Only a tiny fraction of our payments went to the principle and the fees and interest just kept going up and up.”
     Courtney was looking at all of us now. “Half of what we owe is interest. Half! Then they turned us over to collection agencies who called us ten times a day and told us we were losers and scumbags and -”
     “They even started calling and threatening our family and friends!”, Justin gasped.
      Nadine was rapt. “My goodness, children. That’s terrible.”
      Courtney looked as if she were about to cry. “All those years of hard work and we’re $113,000 in debt!”
     Tweety’s eyes narrowed. “What the hell is someone $113,000 in debt doing in Greece?”
     Sal suddenly realized he had been left out of the conversation. “I’m going to readjust all student debt to help people live a decent life. We need to bring the middle class back into the conversation in our country. But most of all, we need to get Americans back to work. We must cut corporate tax rates so businesses can compete and start hiring again. We have to get rid of the regulations that keep businesses from expanding. We have to reform entitlements so that people will have control over their future.”
     “By getting rid of them altogether!”, Justin blurted.
     Courtney’s eyes lit up. “And make the parasites work for a living!”
     Sal smiled grandly. “By letting everyone invest their retirement themselves. Instead of some government bureaucracy taking your money out of your paycheck in taxes, you take that money and invest it in the stock market.”
     “No.”, said Buck. “Instead of government takin’ your money out of your paycheck and savin’ it, government will take your money out of your paycheck and hand it over to Wall Street to gamble with it, and we all know what good gamblers they are on Wall Street.”
     “My husband has been in public life for decades. He has written dozens of books.”, announced Tweety dismissively. “Please don’t waste his time trying to argue the facts with him.”
     Gladys stomped her cane. “Don’t pay any attention to these idiots! I’m behind you! America is behind you!”
     Sal beamed. “I will see to it that Americans will be free of the monolithic overlord of big government. I will let Americans make their own future, a safe future, a strong and moral future, an exceptional future for the greatest country in the world.”
     Nadine placed a hand on her breast and stared at the senator. “The greatest country in the world!”
     Sally was nervously pulling at her shirt. “All you republicans promise the moon and turn 180 degrees when you are elected.”
     “That’s a strange comment coming from someone who voted for Obama. How’s that change you can believe in working for you?”, smiled John.
     Bob gave John a pleading look. “My wife just happens to love Obama. That’s all there is to it and the rest of you are just going to have to get used to it and give her a break.”
     “It don’t matter what any of ‘em say, Sally.”, said Buck as he raked Tweety with his eyes again. “Whether it be your great black hope or this witch doctor. Ain’t none of ‘em gonna do shit until the American people wake up and join the rest o’ the people pourin’ into the streets all around the world.”
     Sal laughed out loud. His eyes grew wide in mock amazement. “Doesn’t your little Greek barge have internet access? The people are rising up to shrug off the mean old machine. A few dirty hippies in New York have taken over a square in Wall Street and set up tents. Power to the people! They call themselves Occupy Wall Street. Whoop de do. But don’t get your hopes up, big fella. It won’t ever amount to much.”
    Cesaria tugged on Buck’s shirt. “It has begun.”
     Lucia offered Dan an imploring smile. She reached out and took him by the hand. “Senator and Mrs. Muculint, I would like you to meet my boyfriend, Dan.”
     Sal’s face crinkled and shifted. “It’s a pleasure to meet you sir! I hear you are regretting your vote for Obama. You are not alone.”
     “Tell me, senator Muculint, “, Dan asked. “what do you think when you see a ruined civilization thirty five hundred years old?”
     “I’ll see what you want me to see, my friend.”
     "And what will you see when and if you are President of the United States?"
     Sal’s eyes left Dan's and swept over the crowd. “I will see the future! I will see the future of our great country that is suffering so much, our country that needs to revive its strength and lead the world as it has in the past. You won’t see me groveling around the world apologizing for my country. Under my stewardship, America will be great again. The American people are lost and they need a leader to help them find their way out of the wilderness.”
     “They are lost.”, Dan agreed. “But the last thing they need is a leader. They tried that the last election. They are quite capable of finding their way out of the wilderness themselves. It is people like you who have led them into the wilderness in the first place and it is people like you who must be twisted from the nation like ticks and thrown under its feet. Only when the country sees its own blood gushing from your bloated corpses will it realize that you are sucking the life out of it.”
     Dan could feel Tweety’s eyes boring into him. Lucia was shaking her head. Gladys and Nadine had their hands over their mouths. Buck was grinning. The agent’s faces darkened. Sal masked his surprise with a knowing smile. “Ah, the sweet smell of sanctimony. Very poetic. Do you have a blog?”
    Dan smiled back. “The president of the United States will be chosen but not by the American people. You are as much a pawn as the rest of us. Where will the gas in your sails blow when you are vetted before the Bilderberg Group? Will you prance around the stage full of sound and fury? Will you blow Henry Kissinger a kiss?”
     “That’s enough out of you!”, barked an agent as he closed in. Tweety’s face was vermilion. The senator’s face twitched and crinkled. The agent grabbed Dan's arm. “All of you clear out of here right now! Get back to your bus!”
     “Easy does it!”, growled Buck. “I don’t think your boss here wants any kinda embarrassin’ mistake to muck up his campaign.”
     Cesaria’s voice was shrill and penetrating. “You will release that man this instant!”
     The senator’s eyes lit up. They scanned the crowd in front of him then swept across the ruins. “Not a camera in sight, no reporters, not even a cell phone. Let him go!”  Dan was released. He stepped back. Sal’s eyes bored into his. “Royal outrage? Please. You look like you don’t have a pot to piss in. What are you going to do when you crawl back home and face the rent? Stand on a street corner and howl at the moon? Erect a barricade? If you do, you might find yourself in a cage somewhere for the rest of your life. While your high and mighty ass has been off cruising around the Mediterranean, the big boys back home are finalizing things and it won’t matter if I’m president or your yes we can Kenyan is. We’re having the time of our lives right now, him included and we’re just getting started. Any starry-eyed misfits who try a Tahrir Square back home will be shuffled off to camp, detention camp. Everything’s in place. It’s just a matter of time. Did you get that, boy? Let me say it again. Everything’s in place! It’s just a matter of time!” Sal looked at everyone all standing around with their mouths open. They all slowly backed away. His eyes found Dan's. “These dirty Greek monkeys are throwing a fit because the IMF is privatizing Greece but guess what? They can riot all they want but it’s a done deal. It’s a done deal here and it’s a done deal everywhere including The Land of The Free. There’s no stopping history, boy. It’s a big, shiny new world out there so get used to it.”
      Tweety stepped up from behind her husband and took his hand. A ghastly smile crawled across her face. Her teeth glittered. Her eyes danced. “You’re going to have to strap on some balls, boy and fight to survive because it’s survival of the fittest! It’s dog eat dog! There isn’t any place for love and compassion! It’s eat or be eaten, that’s the - ”
     The ground began to shake. A cloud of dust sprang from the stones. There was a rumble, then a roar. The earth jumped and rolled. The noise was deafening. Everyone  fell to the ground. It was if something had taken hold of them and shook them harder and harder and harder. A large crack appeared in the floor stones in front of them. It shot straight toward the senator and his entourage to the stone door frames that were swaying above them like corn stalks in the wind. The earth moaned and howled then suddenly opened. They disappeared. The door frames exploded.