Oggy Drinks Vodka and Burns Bridges

Oggy descends from the top of the bus lockers, straightening his wool poncho around his waist and scratching his curly beard, picking crust from his eyes and he rubs his back. He pats his pants pockets for the left over tofu crumbs from last night. He saved them from the night’s dinner, feeling that if he ate an entire tofu cake it would be gluttonous. What kind of a person eats that much food? What kind of a monster would devour the planet and leave only piles of pollution for the next generation? Not Oggy. Oggy lifts his head to the low clouds. Rain falls into his mouth and he thinks that rain is the purest form of water, even if it is filtered through a cloud of poison. The important thing to remember is that the water is not processed.

A man limps past Oggy with a bag of used clothes. That’s the future, thinks Oggy. Using clothes until they turn to dust. We’re procreating for no reason, complicating our lives and taxing resources with no objective. Literally manufacturing pets to drain our bank accounts. Why? Oggy looks around for someone to ask this question and sees a woman leaning against the lockers. Her eyes are half closed but she is standing and awake so Oggy says, “My name is Oggy.”

“Who the fuck cares?”

Oggy presses on.

“We’re pioneers. This is a land of unspoken reality.”

“Bullshit.”

“The most important thing are natural resources. We’re nearing 7 billion humans and the planet can only sustain 2.5 billion so I think it’s time we concentrate on minimizing our impact.”

“Ahhh.”

“Our goals should be to manage our appetites.”

“Uhhhh.”

“I had a whole plan to save civilization but it was stolen when I lived in the forest.”

“Errrrr.”

“The main point was the banishment of western consumer lifestyle and replacement with an agrarian-based culture.”

“You got any weed?”

“What that means is an intentional community. Nothing is manufactured that can be eliminated. No more waste!”

“Ohhhh.”

“And no more waste means we’ll begin healing the earth instead of destroying it.”

“Got a cigarette?”

“We’re toying with disaster. Our approach to resources is like there is no long term consequences and we live forever. The planet can not sustain 7 billion Americans.”

“I hope they got the apple cinnamon oatmeal for breakfast.”

Oggy begins to do deep knee bends as part of his morning preparation that Abe taught him in the woods.

“My teacher told me that if I believe in it then my mind can heal the world.”

The woman scratches under her breasts and nods off. She hasn’t slept in 40 hours.

During one of Oggy’s bends his right knee gives out and Oggy falls backwards onto the wet pavement. The woman coughs. Oggy rolls around on the pavement until he finds the strength to stand up.

“What happened?” he asks.

“Ya fell on your ass.”

Oggy sees a crow gliding over the shelter with black wings extended into the breeze.

“In the woods you can see the crows gather in the evening. They call each other home to the redwood trees.”

“Could I borrow a dollar,” says the woman.

“I renounced paper money. You know it’s not based on anything. It’s a false currency.”

“Eh?”

“False. It’s false. It represents nothing.”

“Eh?”

“If we respect a false currency then it only gives the government more encouragement to continue to print it. But it doesn’t represent anything.”

“I want coffee.”

“So this way, we’ll defeat the government. We’ll win.”

“Ah?”

“We’ll fly like the crow and gather in the trees like one big family.”

Oggy tries to stretch his legs out to touch his toes but can hardly touch his knees. He reaches high above his head.

“Not long ago I couldn’t do this. My arms were completely broken. I couldn’t lift my hands higher than my shoulders. Now look.”

“Ahh.”

“That’s what my teacher showed me how to do. He’s so smart. I’ll see him in a few days. I’ll see him and tell him what’s going on down here. He knows how to win. His name is Abe.”