Chet The Dog

Posts Tagged ‘Ollie Filipoff’

Sneak Peek: Theological Discussion From Book 3

Sunday, meaning Elvis gospel, but don’t get me started on that, because then I might forget what I’m meaning to post today. That might have happened before about this very same post. In fact is it kind of happening now? What was it I was going to …? Oh, right. A short selection from book 3, just right for Sunday, Bernie says. So all I need to do now is hold that thought. Hold that thought, big guy. And one other thing, Admin says: spoiler alert!

We walked across the lot. Ollie was swinging one leg over the motorcycle when he saw us. He paused, then sat slowly on the seat.

“Got a moment?” Bernie said.

“Pressed for time, tell you the truth,” Ollie said.

“The truth is always a nice change of pace,” Bernie said.

“Huh?” said Ollie.

Bernie smiled, the kind that’s only about showing teeth. “Cool bike,” he said, putting his hand on it.

Ollie gave Bernie’s hand a look – he didn’t like his bike getting touched, hard to miss that – but all he said was, “Yeah. Thanks.”

“Came to express our condolences,” Bernie said.

“For what?”

“The circus’s recent loss.”

“What was that?”

“Uri DeLeath,” Bernie said. “Unless we’ve got the wrong funeral.”

“Nope, it’s the right one. He passed on.”

“One way of putting it.”

“Like, to the other side,” Ollie said.

“How do you feel about that, Ollie?”

“The other side, you mean?”

“Sure, why not?”

Ollie squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. A certain kind of dude, the kind we always bring down, does that when he’s trying to have a thought. “I don’t know,” he said, eyes opening. “Is there a hell, too? Or just heaven.”

Bernie smiled again, this time the actually-having-fun type. “What if there’s hell and hell only? Ever think of that, Ollie?”

“Damn. You think that’s possible?”

“Depends on the point of all this,” Bernie said, “assuming there is one.” Ollie glanced around the way humans do when they’re trying to figure out where they are.