There used to be a taco restaurant in the downtown in one of the old stone buildings, giant sandstone bricks with little waves texturing their outward facings — with show (1/2ft thick, and not actually supporting anything) and other flourishes in smoothest sandstone; and topped with a parapet of rough-quarried granite.

I was telling Jesus about it and wishing I could take him there for a bean burrito and a wine, though they didn’t used to sell wine, still, while I’m wishing. We were hungry and thinking of lunch, and walked by the spot where it had been and that’s what made me think of it and point it to to our candidate who was spending all his time hanging out with anybody and everybody, or off praying by himself, or doing miracles but in secret so no one — not even the healed — could pin them on him.

Suddenly the taco restaurant was back in its former place, and the restaurant that had taken its place had disappeared. And we ate bean burritos with watered-down wine on wire-mesh tables on the wide red-and-gray brick sidewalk out front. And when people who wanted to go to the old restaurant passed by, Jesus felt their anguish and confusion and he transported them to the clouds, where he was temporarily storing that restaurant and its waitstaff, all of whom called it a miracle, but also cautioned the customers not to go outside, since clouds can’t support any weight — they’re actually just cold condensed water vapors and only look warm and solid and inviting from below, when we gaze up through a pale blue sky filled with sunlight and aren’t we lucky to enjoy such skies so many hours of the year here in this city in the sun?

Crowds gathered to witness the miracles of the restaurant resurrection and the restaurant placed in cloud storage. They ate tacos and burritos and drank wine and beer and soft drinks and iced tea and iced water — everything served by angels from heaven who charged nothing and were so holy that tips bounced out of their tip jar, back into the wallet purse or pocket of their would-be tipper. So word spread, the crowds grew, and the people were amazed.

A woman in blue jeans over cowboy boots, and a satiny off-white blouse and red “Make America Great” hat spilled her beer on Jesus and apologized. Jesus said, “Nothing that falls onto one’s green khaki shorts can make one unclean!”, laughed at his own joke, and bade the woman to sit down in the chair next to him that no one had noticed until right then (because he made it appear miraculously! But shhh). “What do you want for this nation?”, he asked the woman, who was maybe fifty, with features a little rough under makeup a little thick.

“I want us to be great again. I want us to stand tall. I want us to be the land of the free. No more hand-outs. No more freebies. I want us to be a strong nation of strong people.”

Jesus leaped onto the table. Miraculously, the food and drink was not disturbed and “Somebody that I used to Know” from Gotoye began to play over the speakers that didn’t used to be there and everyone stopped to listen to the man on the table.

“You have heard it said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you: Love your enemies and bless those who curse you, do good to those hating you, and pray for those who accuse you falsely and persecuting you, that you may be sons and daughters of your God in heaven. For if you love only those who love and agree with you, what have you learned? Be then perfect, as Love is perfect.

“You have heard it said, the Truth is on your side; but I say to you: the Truth has no sides. The Truth is kind, the Truth is gentle, the Truth is eternal, the Truth does not grasp, the Truth does not put anyone down ever, the Truth lifts everyone up, the Truth is clear, the Truth is loving, is what flows out of Love.

“You have heard it said, the Democrats are liars and Trump is the Truth, but I say to you: The Democrats are people, Trump uses dishonesty as a weapon for victory no matter the cost to the nation, democracy cannot survive unless its citizens share reality, and to share reality people must share those values that come from the Light within and shining through all things: aware, clear, accurate, competent, loving-kind, joyfully-together. I say to you: democracy is a spiritual Good because what works for democracy works for the human soul: listen to one another, cherish one another, work together, be fair and honest with each other. I say to you: Tyranny is where lies, corruption, and cruelty reign; and democracy is where loving thoughtful discourse centered on the Light beyond all dogmas reigns. I say to you: ‘Idaho’ is a made-up word and has four electoral votes. The etymology of ‘California’ is uncertain — it may mean ‘hot furnace –, and California has 54 electoral votes. I say to you: Forget everything you think you know and listen to Love. I say to you: Everyone in the world is wrong about the details and right about what matters; don’t listen to the details — listen to the Love that chooses everyone and let that guide your heart and mind; don’t listen to the pang within desperate to win and put everyone else in their place — listen to gentle resolve that is glad to see everyone, because everyone is your friend forever. I say to you: Your beliefs about what you believe are mistaken — the Love that overwhelms every moment is the one Reality. I say to you: Pizza with olive oil and wine is fun.”

And on this day many Trump-voters were saved and realized Trump was a mean boring abusive lying bully, and not a wise chaperon of the human heart and mind as it unfolds itself in collective thought and enterprise.

But Jesus just laughed and said that it’s sometimes lonely to be completely holy on this earth, that it’s sometimes lonely to be 100% kind and to never take anything for yourself, that it’s sometimes lonely to never cheat a little, never tell a little fib, never pull a little pain and pleasure over to your flame, never do anything but shine God’s Love, never flinch in the face of the flesh.

And I Amble told Susan that she’s my little girl, and that I can’t help what flows through me and tosses everything like a windstorm forward. And Bartleby told us he was sad and couldn’t think well and needed to turn into a barn owl and live in a barn far up in the Rockies, and so he turned into a barn owl and flapped away, and everyone wondered what we could do when even the God among us was just a human and hurt with just human hurts and knew about the Love but were by flesh heart mind separated from the glowing center of all things.

Author: B. Willard
Editor: A. Whistletown
Copyright: AM Watson