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PAYING THE CAPTAIN
Russell Edson
We get on a boat, never mind if it sinks, we pay the captain by throwing
him overboard. And when he gets back onboard we say, captain, please don't
be angry. And he forgives us this time. And so we throw him overboard
again just to make sure we have fully paid the price we have set upon our
passage. When he gets back onboard he is not anxious to forgive us, and he
would like it much better if we would get off his boat. There is nothing
left for us to do but to repay him and hope that this time it will be
enough. And so we throw him overboard again. When he comes aboard again we
say, now this must be the last of this, we will pay no more, we want the
journey to begin.
But it seems there will be no journey since we have gotten the captain
used to a good thing. And so we must spend the rest of our days throwing the
captain overboard.
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