15 Comments
Mar 22Liked by Alexander Hellene

Fantastic writing. I had an RCIA teacher who also taught me that Hell is the absence of God. Jean-Sartre told me that "l'enfer c'est les autres." Then again, Jimmy's Chicken Shack taught me that "Everyone you meet is a mirror of yourself." Sometimes I wonder.

Chris Rock said, "Only women, children, and dogs are loved unconditionally. A man is only loved under the condition that he provide something." I'm pretty confident at least three-quarters of that is true. The last part certainly is. That fact is so fundamental to our society that it is virtually fractal, holographic:: cut off any piece of our culture, zoom in to any random section, and there it is. It could well transcend our society. It is interesting to posit why this is, but I find it perhaps even more interesting to wonder why I--and it would seem at least some of "les autres"--would ever assume differently, And why would it still make me a bit sad?

I have theories, of course. I always have theories .But, that's a story for a different day. Alex's excellent tale is the story of this day, and I am a grateful he shared it.

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Excellent, young man. Excellent.

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Mar 23Liked by Alexander Hellene

You show a hell of a lot of range here. It's hard to believe this is the same author as the Swordbringer books.

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Mar 29Liked by Alexander Hellene

I enjoyed the story- thank you for sharing it!

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The little guy

remains the little guy

in strict proportion

to his unwillingness to lie

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