The Weekend Eudemon
This week got uglier than Al Capone. The day job hopped with one fire after another, Marie had to go out three evenings, and now, on Saturday, the day I revere (must be my hitherto unknown Jewish roots), Marie is leaving again.
It's her annual shopping day. She tries to knock out 90% of the Christmas buying in one terrible sweep. She leaves at 8:00, drives to Kalamazoo, and gets back at dusk. I stay home with all the kids, except Tess, who is still nursing.
Although most Saturdays are filled with reading and writing, today's itinerary is:
5:00-6:30: Blog
6:30-8:00: Pray for strength
8:00: Fake heart attack so Marie doesn't leave
8:02: Throw a tantrum because doesn't believe it
8:05: Cry as she drives away
8:06-8:45: Lecture children about how I'm tired and can't put up with any shenanigans
9:00: Rake leaves at annual church-grounds clean up
10:00-11:00: Work at office while big kids watch the little kids in break room; periodically interrupt work to yell at little kids for being little kids
11:00: Go to McDonald's; sit in play area with divorced fathers
12:00-2:00: Naps (Meg, Max, and me)
2:00-2:03: Clean house
2:15-3:00: Go for exercise walk and go to video store to rent DVD
3:00-Dusk: Watch DVD and play and drink wine
I'll make it, probably.
Malcolm's Messages (What's this?)
Chapter 5: Malcolm Speaks of Dark Things (continued)
Mounting the speaking stone, Malcolm said:
"Beware the Berserker! For I have seen him, and I know he is to be feared. And you all fear him already, though you do not know his name and do know him not by sight nor sound nor feel, so you do not believe he exists. He is crafty and strong and wild. The Wicked Gnome loves the Berserker and the Berserker loves the Wicked Gnome, though they really hate each other, for hate is all they know. But until all their foes are vanquished–until life breathes no more on the sphere–they love each other through common hate.
"I sense that many of you think I talk about the Great Evil, the evil pictured in the wonder box and the grand cinema, the evil joked about. No. Though I, too, fear the Great Evil, it would have no power on the sphere if it weren't for the Wicked Gnome or the Berserker. I am not talking about the Great Evil.
"But the Berserker is within and without. He craftily carries things past the Four Sentinels and takes them to the Wicked Gnome and thereby helps the Wicked Gnome hurt, maim, and kill. He sneaks past the Four Sentinels in different disguises, and when that fails, he overpowers them with strength, or speeds past them with his wild quickness."
And the assembled shook. Few understood Malcolm's words, but all knew he spoke truly and fear rode the waves.
And a man startled out,
"The Four Sentinels! Tell us about the Four Sentinels. Do they help us?"
"Yes, they do," said Malcolm, looking at him kindly.
"They guard the Maze, where the Wicked Gnome lives and where the Berserker enters. When the Berserker comes, they shoot him with arrows and slice him with their swords. And though the Berserker can never die, they wound him mercilessly, until he flees the Maze.
"The Four Sentinels are brave and smart, and they are also temperate and just in their actions. They guard the Maze from the Berserker, whom they always smote without pity, for the Berserker comes with none himself. But the other things that seek to enter the Maze to help the Wicked Gnome–the double agents I have spoken about before, including other people who act out of malice or foolishness–they deal with harshly, but fairly. As for the Wicked Gnome himself, the Four Sentinels cannot eject him, but they seek to keep him cornered, cramped and cut off from all sustenance, where he will hopefully atrophy into a miserable and weak little beast.
"By decree of the Kings Beyond the Purple Islands, the Four Sentinels help the Maze Elf whether we want them to or not. But they do not help every Maze Elf equally. The Four Sentinels help some Maze Elves effectively; others, less effectively. This is not surprising or unfair. For the Four Sentinels, like any guard, are better able to defend when the thing they defend is strong. If an army defends a mighty fortress, the army can concentrate its efforts on defending the top of the walls and assailing its enemies. But if the army must defend an ordinary city with no gates or walls, it must expend all its energies on defending every inch of its boundaries and thereby waste its powers to kill the enemy. If the Maze Elf is strong, the Four Sentinels can merely assist, effectively dispatching the attack of the Berserker and his allies when needed, and otherwise saving their strength. If the Maze Elf is weak, the Four Sentinels must work constantly and are eventually exhausted.
"Indeed, the Four Sentinels not only grow exhausted, but they also grow careless. They are like any other guards: The precious things they guard ferociously; the less precious things, they guard but with less ferocity. If the Maze Elf prepares the Maze and keeps it pure and, to the best of his abilities, straight for the Charioteer, the Four Sentinels will help the Maze Elf that much more. If, through ignorance or weakness, the Maze Elf allows the Wicked Gnome to poison the Maze and its pools, the Four Sentinels will still help, but less so.
And the assembled were amazed and wanted to know more about the Maze, the Four Sentinels and Maze Elf, and the Berserker, and the Great Evil. About the last, Malcolm refused to speak again, but of the others, he spoke for thousands of years.
