Fear is the heart of love

Jack went to the office on Tuesday because he was not feeling well. After the nurse called me and we made a plan for me to come and get him, she sent him to his locker to get the rest of his stuff. He left a pile of books on a desk there and when he came back, a letter saying;

" Careful what you read an atheist wrote this book. and in

the third book the kids kill God. Don't take it for truth."

had been placed into his copy of the Golden Compass. Now, it is not the first time someone has given us the information we seem to have been missing for many years, but it is the only time it came from a thirteen year old.
Our neighbors two houses away are an amiable family who happen to be very religious and their son felt compelled to let Jack in on this little secret; and boy now do we get it. Apparently this fellow had been in the office while Jack was there and felt the compulsion to set him straight about the religious ramifications of this book series, and sort of ruin the end for him. It's compelling, the indoctrination that occurs in places of worship and subsequently in people's homes. The heart of the matter is that I didn't and don't care about the undertones that delusional people portend exist in stories, I just care about the everyday shit that seems to be missing when holiday cheer means a nice fuck you if you get in someone's way when they see the item they want to buy and you are an obstacle to the promised land.