CHASING THE DEVIL (from -the book of maybes-)

Ten principles from the book of maybes.

1 No one can plant a cabbage for its sake.
2 I am not living my life, life is living me.
3 aLL activity is product of imbalance.
4 Love discriminates and is evil.
5 The only two things that are exclusively mine are my folly and my death.
6 Death is the ultimate and most forbidden beatitude.
7 All history is present history.
8 Tolerance rides high or low on the economy.
9 All is mathematical expression Ugh, the devil made me say that. I can’t vouch for it but speaking of the devil, I saw him once. He came in a vision you might say. Others get the Virgin, God, Christ, Buddha or whoever, it just shows you how far I must have strayed from the straight an narrow. Further than Pogo maybe, because I came face to face with him and peered deep into his eyes. It only lasted a second maybe, but I downloaded a lot of information in that moment.
I found myself in a dark open space, not so dark like on a moonless cloudy night way out in the boonies when it is as dark as being inside a cow. It was a grey kind of dark place, and I felt an overpowering conviction that my enemy, the devil in person, was nearby. I started running,just as I got up to full speed three other guys appeared beside me,obviously running for the same reason. We all came to a sudden stop and took a few seconds to size up the situation which was so obvious that there was no need to say anything, we were allies. Strangely we also all looked the same. And not only that, we all wore the same clothes and hats (Fedoras!) and so we all looked like Harrison Ford in one of his Sagas. The only difference, which was crucial to me, was that the others carried weapons. One of them had a baseball bat, another a pitchfork and the third, which was closest to me had a shining brand new carpenter’s hand-saw with a kink in it. Their intent clearly was to catch the devil, clobber him, stab him and then saw his legs off… I had to have a weapon. Oddly enough given the momentous situation, that kink bothered me. Any fool knows that you can ruin a beautiful instrument like that by putting too much pressure on the push stroke. That you must let the tool do its job, controlling your impatience or haste. So I was staring down at that kink, which I knew could never be straightened, as I reached for it and indignantly ripped the tool from his hand. It surprised me that I felt no resistance at all.A moment later the four of us were running to beat the band around a dome-like knoll. And we ran and ran round and round this mound when it occurred to me that we were chasing and trying to catch up with the devil himself, not some stupid criminal. I imagined that it woukd be as easy as pie for him to always be where anyone least expected. On the opposite side of the knoll maybe, or on top of it laughing his head off. And that if we climbed to the top he would be underneath, and if we tunnelled underneath he would be at the top again, and that we might keep at it for ever which is just what he may have planned with the stupid chase. I stopped abruptly and the others followed suit evidently puzzled. if they could not conceive of a reason for me to desist and that did it for me. It took care of any lingering doubts; I just knew that those dodos would keep running round and around the dome for ever. So I went to hand the saw back and as I was doing this I happened to look up at his face and our eyes locked for a second. I recognized him! There was no doubt and the expression in his eyes told me that he knew it. I hesitated momentarily and in that instant I was able to examine and reflect upon an enormous amount of data and arrive at a decision. I realizes that if I kept quiet about it he would be forced to run ROUND THE KNOLL FOR EVER in order to cover up his identity and to escape the fate they had planned for him. Perfidiously I smiled as I forced the saw back in and say nothing to the others. The expression in his eyes changed in a flash. It now said with total resignation as clear as any tongue or writ could convey: -I thought you might do that.you devil!
Ha-ha! Coming from him it was a real compliment! There was indeed something diabolical about my decision and his predicament was something familiar to me. What was it? Had I revealed his identity to the others, his ordeal of chasing himself for ever in order to survive would have been over. I had no idea how this related to me, but I knew it did. Right after that the threesome kicked up their heels and were driven off in their relentless pursuit.