arthur and guinevere - 3. the communist

by horace p sternwall

part three of four

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well, how do you like it so far? the beatnik asked. excuse me - what? arthur asked. his attention had been diverted by another figure, who had emerged on his left side, with asmodeus moving up ahead of him. this individual was tall, almost as skinny as billy the poet, wore a black seaman’s cap and had a long white beard that almost touched the ground. yes, the newcomer said to arthur, what did you think of our friend billy’s poem? um - i don’t really know very much about poetry, arthur muttered. what! billy exclaimed. i thought you said you wanted to be a beatnik poet! uh - more of a beatnik than a poet, if you get my drift… you mean you just wanted to impress the chicks? billy asked in a sorrowful tone. yeah, that must have been it, arthur agreed. but you impress the chicks by writing the poetry, man. excuse me, the newcomer interrupted. i hate to interrupt this most interesting conversation, but permit me to introduce myself - my name is cleonardo da vinci and i am - let me guess, arthur said. you are a communist agitator. indeed I am - silence! the archangel roared suddenly. they had come to the river. the river that they could not see, thronged as it was on both banks with the living the dead… enough of your palaver, the archangel admonished in a more restrained tone. attend to what pope confucius is saying. pope confucius stood on a platform high above the river. st peter stood beside him on a slightly lower platform on his right, and st patrick on a slightly lower platform on his right. what is he saying? billy the beatnik poet asked. i can not understand a word he is saying. that is because the fish are swimming too loud in the river, said cleonardo the communist agitator. wait a minute, arthur said. where is the desperate fugitive? a voice behind hm, said, you are the desperate fugitive. a cloud passed over the sun, leaving pope confucius and the two saints in shadow . arthur could still not hear what pope confucius was saying , as the roar of the fish in the river grew louder. i would advise you to run for it, said the voice behind arthur, while you still have time. arthur turned. he saw that he was in the last row of the crowd, and the streets beckoned empty behind him. he ran. 4. the desperado