the setup

i met joe smith at a meeting . he had a sad story to tell, and seemed to enjoy telling it. the next day i met joe at burger king to hear the rest of his story, and he introduced me to charlie martin, who was a zealous preacher against the unbelievers. you’re a strange fellow, charlie told me. but he is not an unbeliever, joe assured him. have you stood the test, charlie asked me. have you gloried in the struggle? i called to mind my past foulnesses before answering. what doesn’t make you stronger, kills you i told charlie, and that seemed to satisfy him. i bit into my angry whopper, snd its indescribable innocence and beneficence gave me a rush. what we are proposing to do has got to be a secret, joe said. how much are we going to make out of it? i asked as i reached for my strawberry shake. it depends on the girl, said charlie. you know with women anything is possible. who is this girl and when do i get to meet her? i enquired. her name is marcia, answered charlie. make sure you hold on to your head when you meet her. is she a most zealous preacher against the unbelievers? i asked. joe and charlie both laughed. i noticed they both pulled their burgers a little closer to themselves when they said marcia's name. this is too good to last, a fat woman at the next table said, and i wondered if she was spying on us. suddenly i realized that i was wandering in darkness. we all were. i often displayed the worst features of an umvridled egotism, but i was trying. charlie was right - i was a strange fellow. but who among us can not say the same? too good to last, i heard the woman at the next table say again, and began to wonder about her. we have to dispel the darkness, joe said and charlie nodded in agreement. i realized how innocent they both were - they didn’t know nothing. i like this job, i said, especially if we don’t get caught. in this world evil is the ruling power, joe reminded me. don’t worry, i told him, i can smite the infidel with the best of them. charlie smiled. you are showing features of an unbridled egotism, brother, he told me. i scratched my head and smiled back. i liked the setup. i had a good feeling about it. sources: the republic, by plato; confessions of st augustine; the prince, by machiavelli; oracles of noatradamus; romance of leonardo da vinci, by dmitri merejkovskii; life of michelangelo, by john addington symonds; pensees, by pascal; confessions, by jean-jacques rousseau; civilization of the renaissance in italy, by jacob burckhardt; walden, by thoreau; thus spoke zarathustra, by friedrich nietzsche; life of jesus, by ernest renan; varieties of religious experience, by william james