They always told me that
my dream of playing pro
ball was impossible,
so I left this town as
soon as I was able.
I never made it to
the majors, but I was
good enough to pitch in
Mexico and Taiwan
for many years. But then
the gamblers threatened me,
and when I told them to
shove it, they shot me down.
When I came here, I was
consoled by an ancient
roman ghost named Martius.
He said I had earned much
more than I had received.

I was always
chasing Kharyn Green,
hoping she would
let me in. But for
some reason, she
always told me no.
When I saw her
with Giovanni
Moss, I was so
embarrassed, that I
decided in
that instant that I
would stop spending
time on frivolous
pursuits and I
threw myself into
my schoolwork. I
went to business school,
and later used
my inheritance
to buy in to
Broderick Deegan’s
real estate firm.
The week after I
made VP, the
Galleria burned,
the company
collapsed, and I lost
everything. I
realized that I
had traded the
chase of one hussy
for another,
and neither wanted
anything to
do with me.  Some guys
were just born to
be losers, I guess.

I was never the best looking
man in the room.
But I knew how to dress, and how
to stand in the
right light, how to speak to women
with just the right
tone. How to walk into a room
and make every
head turn. How to smile at the
married men while
taking their wives and daughters. Most
importantly,
how to take what I wanted and
get out with a
minimum of fuss. The mistake
I made was that
I grew old. And I ended up
living alone
in a shabby nursing home, and
watching the young
nurses laugh at me.  I wonder
if things would have
been different had I taken
less, given more.

When I grew my breasts, I
asked my parents what
they meant. But they wouldn’t
explain. I asked my
teachers, and they told me
to keep quiet. I
asked my friends and they laughed
at me. So I went
to find out myself. And
I learned. I learned a
lot. From boys and girls my
own age and from men
like Giovanni Moss,
who people thought was
taking advantage of
me. But the truth was
that they sneered at me and
called me a slut for
doing what they all wished
secretly they were
free to do.  Their scorn set
me on my path. Had
they answered my questions
truthfully in the
first place, maybe things would
have been different.

When I married her, I thought the
urges would go away.
But they never did, and I was
forced to sneak out, to make
excuses, to pretend I was
working and not at the
baths. Then she became ill and I
stayed close to home taking
care of her. Which is how we made
our poor little girl. And
years later, when the men in my
secret fellowship all
began dying horrible deaths,
I began to hear the
voice of Jesus, urging me to
confess what I had done.
I was going to. I wanted
to. I just kept putting
it off and delaying. I could
not imagine saying
the words to my blind little girl.
Then one day, I didn’t
just hear Jesus. I saw him in
front of me. Then I was
out of time to tell anything
to any one at all.

I was renowned for
having the largest personal law
library in three states.
Judges and lawyers
from all over the country would ask
to borrow my volumes.
I even loaned one
to Justice Stewart once. I guess it
was fitting then, that when
there was that giant
explosion at the shopping mall they
were building down the street
from the courthouse, that
my bookshelves would crush me to death. The
law giveth and taketh.

My mother was always
sick, and I was born blind. All my life
people pitied me.  But
what they did not see that in taking
away my sight, the Lord
gave me the gift of patience. As the
pace of world made all
those around me sick and unhappy,
I built a life and a
home and a family that was an
oasis of calm. My
husband Dom fought crippling fears all
his life, until I helped
him find peace. In a world devoted
to breaking people, my
children grew up strong, whole and unbent.

I lived a life full of
light and color. I have no complaints.

You won’t believe
what I say, but all
that money that
you worry your lives
over, it’s all
imaginary.
And your morals
are just handicaps
beaten in to
you by all of your
competitors.
Nobody has your
interests in
mind except for you.

I built and lost
fortunes a dozen
times over, and
was unconcerned. It
was all a game.

All games can be gamed.

Doctors
are supposed to be public
servants, priests and saviors.  But we
also
have to make money. And woe
to anyone who tries to do
one at
the expense of the other.
I was just trying to help my
patients.
At first, I was as convinced
as my clients that my weight-loss
products
really worked. By the time I
was able to admit that they
didn’t,
I was so far into debt
that I didn’t have any choice
but to
keep selling them. Then the deaths
started, and I went to prison
for the
rest of my life. At least my
creditors couldn’t reach me there.

I spent years organizing protests
against the War in
Vietnam. Later I became an
entrepreneur and
made a killing. When they started up
another war, I
tried to make my voice heard in the great
debate.   But I had
too many friends in the differing
camps, so neither side
would trust me. Pick your side and stay with
it no matter what.