Deviation by Scott M. Williams Page B

idea.”
    “You'll get over it. It must have occurred to
you that there are countless religions and that they each have their
own holy book. All the books are different. Were they written by
an assortment of gods? Of course not. They were written by man,
and as I've already told you, I don't take the word of man
seriously. Man is a shit beetle, and his words have no value to
me.”
    Dianne finally tore her eyes away from the bible and
put the stem of the pipe in her mouth. She sparked the lighter and
took an enormous hit, almost too much to hold. She coughed
slightly, smoke coming out her nostrils, and then got herself under
control, holding her breath and passing the pipe to Frank.
    “It's pretty good stuff,” he said, taking
the pipe. “A few hits of this and we'll really be
brainstorming.” He took a deep drag and then handed it back
to Dianne.
    When Dianne exhaled, she tilted her chin up and blew
the smoke out at the ceiling. “I can't believe I never heard
any of this before. Why don't more people know about it?”
    Frank also exhaled. “You didn't really think
god sat down one day and typed up this long, complicated series of
nonsensical stories and sloppy essays, did you?”
    “I guess I never really thought about it.”
    “No one does. That's the problem. It's why it
keeps perpetuating.”
    “I guess so.” She held the pipe to her
lips and drew another hit.
    “It's not just the bible, either. It's not just
religion, for that matter. The entire world is plagued by lies.
The governments, the schools, almost all societies. There might be
a few ancient tribes out there in the Amazon, still uninfluenced by
the rest of the world, but for the most part it's everywhere. And
even those tribes probably base some of their reality on lies,
although they likely refer to them as myths. It's the same thing.
You've got to be very careful what you believe.”
    Dianne nodded, almost captivated. She held the pipe
out to Frank.
    “Societies and systems in general are arranged
to benefit and protect the wealthy. If you follow all their
so-called truths, Dianne, you don't stand a chance.” He
raised the pipe to his mouth and inhaled deeply, filling his lungs.
    Dianne exhaled and took several deep breaths. She
turned slightly toward Frank, their knees almost touching. “I
feel like... I don't know... like everything I learned in school is
now suspect. Like it might all be wrong, somehow.”
    “It is,” Frank croaked. “It's
intentional. They teach you what they want you to know, which is to
say, what they want you to believe. That way you'll be just like
them and carry on the tradition.”
    “But what do they get out of it? What's the
point?”
    Frank blew out another cloud of smoke. “Safety.
Conformity. The goal is to make everyone too frightened to live
their lives the way they really want to live them. If everyone is
afraid of being punished or imprisoned for following their natural
instincts, the world is a much safer place. Of course, it doesn't
work for everyone. But the masses in general follow the rules and
live like cattle, working their 40 hours a week and spending their
nights in front of the television. Have a few kids and teach them
to be the same way. It goes on and on. It's gone on so long that
most people don't seem to make the connection any longer. And if
they do, they shrug it off. They've forgotten that they're alive,
and that they're free to do as they wish.”
    They passed the pipe again, each taking another hit.
    After Dianne exhaled, she considered Frank carefully.
“I think I agree with most of what you're saying. At least,
it seems to make sense to me. But I'm still a murderer. There's no
getting around it.”
    “No, there's not. And there's also no getting
around the fact that the person you killed was a piece of shit. No
sane society would or should tolerate an abuser of women. He
deserved to be butchered, Dianne, and that is exactly what he got.”
    She nodded. Lifting the pipe again,