Suspension of Disbelief
Poor little widow woman, have you come to the end of yourself? There is a subtle impoliteness that open cupboard doors demonstrate when raw carpentry is stripped of pleasant goods. It is an emptiness that screams to the world that you are in no position to play host. There is no weight of bread or jarred fruit. Just a lightness of anticipation. Your children cleave themselves to doting grandparents without need of a reason. Yet the extended stay has made them revile the laps upon which they listen to colorful fables of an era that is not there own. Lift your weary chin skyward and inhale the crisp atmosphere deeply. The fresh air from above is just as hopeless as the stagnant air below. Debt collectors are a special order of nastiness, aren't they? Even when they go into the pockets of strangers we tremble with a mild revulsion. Their legal impunity enjoys full bloom under the cool shade of judges and magistrates. Yet for all of this immoral excess, there is rumor of a fantastical being with a ridiculous top hat. It is an opossum that can slide into worrisome thoughts. Inner monologues snap into a dialogue within an instant. He is more than the content of sugar cookie dream. This is no myth. He never graces the same place twice. Some argue that it is a direct result of the terrible work he carries out. One does not have to wish upon a star for the cause of disappearing bad people. Grandma and grandpa have always delighted your toddlers with stories of talking animals that solve difficult quandaries. It's funny how they look at you from the corners of their eyes as they read to your kids. Were they reading to your kinds? If they are to be entertained for the sake of intellectual generosity, the opossum is turned away by flatteries. What complement can you pay an oversized rat? What wealth can you fetch a nocturnal scavenger? He is no respecter of bribery. His joy is complete in the satisfaction of balancing evil. No treachery is outdone by the rodent. There is a clearing near the Jefferson's sprawling estate. Go to it, and you will suffer no hurt nor fall guilty to charges of trespass. Stay until you spot that upright marsupial of diminutive stature. Do not, and I repeat, do not break eye contact with him. Wait for him to tip his hat. Then extend your hands as if you mean to give him something. Upon this gesture will he return his hat to it's original position, and your money problems will fade along with the unscrupulous men that sought you.
