Jumper

The tears started to come and I blinked hard, got them back under control.

The tears came again then. I was ready for cruelty but not kindness. I blinked hard and said, Okay. Id appreciate the meal and the ride.

On Saturday, a week after the hijacking, I jumped to the Dairy Queen in Stanville and had a dip cone, seventy-three cents, please, here’s a napkin.

does your government support Israeli fascism in Lebanon? Why did your country overthrow the democratic government of Iran to put the Shah back in power? Why do your oil companies rob our countries of their wealth and power. Why does the west profane our religion, spit on our beliefs and holy places.”

Cooking gas! Much more explosive than diesel fuel and probably closer to the hostages

the scenery, alternating between steep hills and azure waves, was lovely

Neat! No wonder the air doesn’t go ‘pop.’ You’re not disappearing one place and appearing to another—you’re going through a doorway. Or, the doorway is passing around you, since you don’t move.

Hesballah, the ‘Party of God

Sunnis make up about ninety percent of Muslims. They believe that the succession of caliphs was proper after Mohammed died. The Shiites believe that the rightful successors descended from Ali, Mohammed’s cousin, not his best friend, Abu Bakr. They believe that the rightful descendants have been assassinated and discriminated against ever since.
“Sunnis tend to be more conservative and they don’t believe in a clergy or a liturgy. The only countries with Shiite majorities are Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Bahrain.”

There is an abandonment, an escape, that physical labor bestows