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Show Flying - 181 I could in time become a natural feature, part of the Western landscape, walking along Highway One, trudging along beside the road blessing the cars as they pass. They would point me out to tourists, include me in the guidebooks. Chambers of Commerce would come to consider me a natural resource, insure ne with Lloyds of London. There might be festivals in many small towns, linked to my annual passage. Bring me your sick and your lame and I will make them whole. Man could make a fortune, if he worked it right. A chain of Begging Friar Inns, with a twenty-foot ponchoed John Henry standing in front of each one, begging bowl held out, the other hand raised to bless the donor. Outlined in blue neon. After a while I could run for governor. A vote for Brother Pierson is a Vote for Practical Asceticism. I could be the world's richest mendicant friar. A nonk to end all monies. I could have "fe y oro" inscribed on the bottom of my bowl. You better believe it. The rain is beginning to let up and John Henry walks down toward the cluster of trucks in the hollow. In another hour or so Wilberforce will have finished inspecting this site, and we'll be off again. He walks into the carrier van, where Wilberforce and the sergeant in charge of the site are sitting and drinking coffee, watching a Pfc, tech manual in hand, trying to line up the bays. |