"And Lo,
the lion did lie down with the lamb, for they were both tired. And it
was good. And all was peace in Eden, for a neweth day had dawned."
- Darren was listening
to the bible on his headphones. It was actually a bootleg remix, splicing
the Old and New Testaments to form a new text that wasn't entirely up-to-date,
but was fairly contemporary. Darren liked to be on the cutting edge,
even if this meant that he sometimes fell off his seat.
"And lo,
Jesus did emerge from the burning bush, and his beard sparkled with
embers, and Moses was truly pleased. For it was good."
- The bible was
more interesting than he had expected. There was rutting and violence
and he detected a darkly bleak humour underpinning the text. Before
he'd done his sociology classes he would never have noticed that.
In his mind he reeled
off the west London tube stations ahead of him. He could feel the rhythm
- Westbourne Park - the beats - Ladbroke
Grove - the energy - Latimer Road
- of the city pulsing through his body, starting in his elbows and spreading
down his legs like a heart attack.
"And when
the Lord did speaketh, the burning bush did quake with fear. And then
Barabas did rise from the bush and curse the Romans, for they had given
Britain roads and adequate sewage systems."
- The voice in his
head was insistent and hypnotic. He pressed his walkman, and the CD
skipped to the next track. He really needed to get an Ipod. Listening
to the bible on a CD walkman made him feel out-of-date.