Logos

The Rules of Etiquette. How can you avoid all kinds of trouble? Never be impolite. Being polite is a tricky thing. It requires that you predict the move of your opponent by one step. You have to forsee and avoid the oncoming barrage instead of getting embroiled in a conflict. The Rules of Etiquette follow the rules of common diplomacy.

But how did you transform in front of me in the elevator, Motion? Why did you tell me that I was everything you could see. I was all that you could see? How did you transform into something that looked exactly like me in the elevator? How did I write the code that changed the world? Why wasn’t Montreal allowed to have the Night of A Thousand Screams? Why haven’t I been able to have my night of a thousand screams? Why did I have to Bleed on the night of No Blood? I was doing Kung-Fu and it happened. The metal end of the half broomstick. How did I get the voice of the Universe?

Sifu, why was I chosen? Why don’t I know how to control my own powers? How can I walk so normally through life and no fly in the sky when I want to, or float through the minds of all humanity at the same time like I used to? Why can’t I perform the Crane as perfectly anymore? Why is Gravity so heavy and quarrelsome with me right now? Why have I gained so much weight since putting my shoulder back in place?

Why must I be so confused by all the information that my life has gathered? Where are the voices that guided me this way and that like eunuchs at the court of a Chinese emperor? Why has Fay Wong been allowed to win? My mortal enemy? Why aren’t I still bad-ass? How was I able to talk to Gravity? How did I defeat Gravity at the Fountain of Youth? Why have I grown old since?

Dear CSIS, why was a led around Montreal in military convoys only to meet the head of Hell’s Angels? Who were those Arab guys at the bar who looked through my bag? How did I survive that encounter without being shot dead? Why were there so many guys coming out of the shadows at that bar? How did that man at the Greek restaurant know to find me there? How did he know I would react the way that I did? How is it all started when I emailed the CDS? How is it that that coincided with Putin meeting Bush at Walker’s Point? Why did I have Henry Kissinger’s phone number in my Palm Pilot?

Dear Birt, who was that Motorcycle rider wearing the black ski mask? Why did I have to see him on my way back from the Synagogue? Dear Sifu, why did I see him again when I went to the martial arts equipment store? Who was that masked rider?

Was that Fay Wong? Was that the fight that I was supposed to fight? How did I manage to duel that taxi driver when I came back from the martial arts equipment store? Did he understand that I was paying with two-dollar bills that I had spent my entire life saving up? Why did it mean so much to me?

Who was the taxi driver who was taking me to class that day? Why style of martial arts did he practice? What were the flower and the feather left there for me? Who were those two men in the BMW who watched us duel? Why was that the most beautiful duel I have ever had? Was that the fight that I was supposed to win? How did I have so much floating energy?