I was flying over Orange County
one night last year, and
…I sat next to a guy
on the airplane
who said he was the
chief executive officer
of a corporation
(can’t recall which one)
and we drank
two double scotch
whiskeys
together
as we flew over
the Grand Canyon.
“There’s the Big Ditch,” he said,
draining his plastic cup
“none bigger,” I said back

then
he told me
a joke about
the President
of the United States
and then he told me
another joke
about
someone who
I didn’t know,
…a Hollywood actress
and I laughed
tho’ I didn’t know the woman
and then he told me
that his wife had
founded her own
Foundation in the name
of her father
a saintly old fool
who’d quite by accident
made more money than
God should allow
but who had died too young
and very conveniently
…and quietly
and with no remorse
or regrets
whatsoever…

“God” I said…
“God is a good thing”
…and the CEO said God was
a fine and good thing too
…money…God
…all of it
…
and we’d laughed
because we were
both
…drunk
at 35000 feet,
…he in a fine suit
AND
me with a half-written
valise of shit
in the overhead
But
…the two of us
were rushing
together
toward the same end
just
four and a half hours
out of Cincinnati