The day’s temperature drops,
the picnic basket is empty of all edible content.
Skunk
(passing her the hip-flask): It’s reminiscent of when you find out that Santa Claus isn’t real, because for... because
Santa, at that age anyway, when you’re that age, Santa supercedes even Jesus as
the representative of the whole Christmas thing, and so if Santa doesn’t exist,
you know, then... It’s so long ago, the time when I really believed in all of
that, in the whole thing, and Santa too, that I can’t really remember what it
was like to believe in it so whole-heartedly, but... I think there is a
period where, when you... when you discover that there’s a certain amount of of
dishonesty to the whole thing... See
the point is, even when you’re that young, it’s not the presents, that's the
thing right? It’s not... When you’re that young it’s damned wonderful to get
that amount of stuff for what appears to be no real reason, you just get given
stuff, but the gifts are just... they’re, it’s not that you’re getting all this
free stuff, stuff you want, even at that age, I think they represent a... they
become a, dammit what’s the word, they represent a
taking
another run up to it,
Skunk: they’re great yes, but they’re also a
physical manifestation of something else, of hope, a sense of hope, and that’s something you understand even as
a little kid, that all the things that worry you, or upset you, or upset the
people around you, that maybe that time of year is a time for that to change,
or if it’s not to change, it’s the time when it seems that everything will fall into place and soon, and the presents and the toys and
books and stuff, they’re just the surface of that, but then... Santa Claus is
the first big lie, and after that
things start to get a little... you begin to get wary of stuff, of other things
that might be untrue, that might be lies, and maybe that’s the root
cause of all of our cynicisms.
ache1:
Yeah but how can you say that? On the one hand you’re ahm, you’re saying here’s
this great lie you’ve been told, or sold, or whatever, and yet on the other hand you’re talking to Jesus? You know, you’re
actually spending all that time talking, you’re talking with, with, how can
you, on the one hand you say that... In the, in the, in the, in the broader
picture of things, you can’t be talking to Jesus,
you can’t be talking to Jesus, and
expect something to be, to come from that, when
Skunk:
No but, no that's missing the point, because really Santa comes first, and in
on the back of that disillusion,
disillusionment? comes Jesus, who
really
ache1:
What? I don’t agree, no, I can’t
agree, I think that ah, God you know, I can’t actually remember who, which of them I knew about first, but I just don’t
think it’s that defined. Maybe kids
Skunk:
The point is that Jesus should be the centre of Christmas, but
really Christmas isn’t that important for that. Jesus is like an omnipresent
symbol of hope, but no no, see, after it’s, after you become aware of the
mythology of certain provable things, it makes sense... We need
the mystery, we need a spiritual
life, and that's why people turn to
whatever religion, or faith is a better word here, religion’s too... clinical,
or defined or something, but faith is... Of course, after Santa, you need something nobody can take away from
you, and while you can’t prove God and Jesus exist, neither can you prove them not to exist, so, no, that makes perfect
sense to me.
ache1
(picking up the tiny pewter cap for the flask and screwing it back into place):
That doesn’t make sense at all. You,
you’re ahm, shit, you’re taking two, two, two abstracts, two abstract characters, and then trying to justify
the existence of one of those against
the other? Even I can see that
that’s, these aren’t, just because one of them exists, or doesn’t, that doesn’t
mean that the other one can or can’t exist too. Do you see what I mean? Skunk?
Do you see what I mean here? When you have two things that don’t really, that
neither of them
Skunk:
But when
ache1:
Hey! I’m talking if you don’t
mind. Why can’t Santa and Jesus both exist, is what I’m
saying, or asking anyway. You seem to just accept that because you personally think, and that’s fine, I
mean it, there’s absolutely nothing wrong
with that, that’s fine, but as far as, I mean, as far as this discussion goes, just because you think that way, just because you think that the existence of one
cancels out whatever the, ahmm, the existence of, just because the, the
existence of one cancels out the existence of the other, but that’s, neither of
them, it doesn’t have to be that you were lied to about either of them, to make
one or the other of them not a real person, or not a real person ahm... not a
real person historically.
Skunk:
Look, when everything else is, when you find out you’ve been lied to about everything else, how can you not believe in Jesus, when that’s
something that’s just between you and him?
You can disprove, disprove? You can disprove the, that Santa Claus exists
by just sitting up though Christmas Eve and waiting,
ache1:
No you can’t. Just because, if you ahm, say...
making
a sort of purring sound between her lips, then
ache1:
Just because you don’t see Santa
Claus, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t exist. The the the, the scope, or the scale of this is beyond just you and your, what you, ahm, what
you...
Skunk:
and then, you know, or you see your folks putting the Santa presents down, but
you can’t do that with Jesus. You can’t do that with Jesus.
Neither
of them appear any too healthy, at this point.
Skunk:
Hey! Are you okay?
ache1
(head in hands): Oh God, I’m sorry, sorry, I’m sorry. Skunk I’m drunk right off
my ass.
