Ecclesiastes - The New Absurdist Commentary . . 3

July 2, 2015
Qoheleth, camels, and needles

 7:13, 16.  Consider the work of God: who can straighten what he has made crooked? . . . . Do not be overly righteous; do not try to be too wise. Why destroy yourself? 

4:9, 11.  Two are better than one . . . . If they lie together, they will be warm. How does anyone keep warm alone?

A man walks down an alleyway that comes to a dead end. In the last building on the left is a small bar. Inside, at the bar is a woman, in front of her a glass of wine. The man sits down beside her. He orders “what she’s having” and thereby begins a conversation.

     They speak quietly. The bartender, politely standing at the other end of the bar, can hear only a word here and there: wine, wind, calypso; camels. Seams, soft. Coffee. Blue.

     The man raises his hand, pays the bill. The man and woman leave together. They go outside, in another door in the same building, up wooden stairs. In the entryway there’s a scribbled note taped to the wall: there’s a part-time job washing dishes and sweeping up at the bar.

The woman’s apartment is slovenly and warm. She turns on the television. They sit and watch. The man falls asleep. He wakes up around two with a headache. There’s an old black-and-white horror film crawling still across the screen. He switches it off.  He finds the bathroom, pees. He finds the bedroom, drops his shoes, socks, shirt, and trousers on the floor, and crawls in beside the woman, who shifts to make room. Against her, he falls quietly, easefully, back to sleep.