I came in with my phone in one hand and my laptop in the other and the Bose speaker connected to “Yousef’s MacBook Air” and I thought, So what should I do when I’m eating?
You should eat, He said.
And what should I do while I’m driving?
Drive.
And when I’m reading?
Read.
Okay.
Did you finish your soup? Then, you better go wash your bowl.
Keep going. Count to ten. One foot in front of the other. And notice things and say to yourself, What are this boy and girl doing alone in the park on a day like this?
You have inherited the City of Knowledge. Now Enter through Its Gate.
In line at Home Depot, a man behind me asks, “Are you from around here?”
From around here, I think. How do you mean? Like do I live around here?
Well, sort of. I mean like…
Around here, do you mean ethnically?
Like where are you from?
Right. I think I understand the kind of thing you’re asking. And if that’s what you mean, then No. I’m not from around here. Not in one million years.
An old man in a light gray suit sits at the Barnes and Noble café sucking on the end of his plastic coffee cup and his stringy white hair spills out from beneath his yarmulke. He navigates his phone with his index finger.
Is this it for you, Jack? Is this the way the world ends?
Back to chapter one.
