CROSS EXAMINATION
"Man
On A Tightrope" by Michael J. Clark
A Major Work in Progress
by
Michael J. Clark
mclark7@mindspring.com
"Remember,
the hero keeps going, and even his ruin
Is only a
subterfuge for achieving his final birth..."
Rilke,
Duino Elegies
"You were
bred, fed, fostered and fattened from holy childhood up in this two easter
island on the piejaw of hillarious heaven and roaring the other place (plunders
to night of you, blunders what's left of you, flash as flash can!) and now,
forsooth, a nogger among the blankards of this dastard century, you have become
of twosome twiminds forenest gods, hidden and discovered, nay, condemned fool,
anarch, egoarch, hiresiarch, you have reared your disunited kingdom on the vacuum of your own most intensely
doubtful soul.. Do you hold
yourself then for some god in the manger, Shehohem, that you will neither serve
nor let serve, pray nor let pray...?"
Joyce,
Finnegan's Wake
"Allah
loves the ink of the scholar more than the blood of the martyr."
Koran
"Faustian
architecture, on the contrary, begins on the grand scale simultaneously with
the first stirrings of a new piety... and proceeds at once to plans of gigantic
intention.... We may say that the
Catholic faith is to the Protestant as an altar-piece is to an oratorio. But even the Germanic gods and heroes
are surrounded by this rebuffing immensity and enigmatic gloom. They are steeped in music and in night;
for daylight gives visual bounds, and, therefore, shapes bodily things. Night eliminates body; day (eliminates)
soul. Apollo and Athene have no
souls. On Olumpus rests the
eternal light of the transparent southern day; and Apollo's hour is high noon,
when great Pan sleeps. But
Valhalla is lightless; and even in the Eddas we can trace that deep midnight of
Faust's study-broodings, the midnight that is caught by Rembrandt's etchings
and absorbs Beethoven's tone-colors.
No Wotan or Baldur or Freya has 'Euclydian' form."
Spengler,
Decline of the West
DEDICATED TO MY WIFE, HOA-LAN
TRAN, WHO HAS WALKED WITH ME EVERY STEP OF THIS NOVEL. WE HAVE CREATED OUR NEW DREAM LANGUAGE
TOGETHER AS BEST FRIENDS.
CROSS EXAMINATION
OUTLINE
Part One
The Trial
I. Cross Examination
II. The Jury's Deliberations
III. The Verdict
Part Two
Fame/Infamy
I. The Oprah Winfrey Show
a. Millenium Celebration
b. Crossmann interviewed: Bound and Gagged: This Is Your Life! "Unravelling the Truth About
The Oregon Vigilante? Is he a progressive -- or just another racist reactionary?"
c. House Un-American Activities Meeting:
Examination of the Crossmann manuscript Conversations On A Dying Age to determine the cause of Crossmann's
transmutation from McGovern Liberal to Reagan Conservative.
Conversations as a type of "American Book of the Dead", chronicling the life and death
of Jacob Heimkreiter; and his subsequent resurrection as his own son. Documenting
Crossmann's own psychic life, death and resurrection.
II. New York City: Millenium Eve
a. Harlem Night. Crossmann appears in front of New York mosque. A bald-headed black muslim
curses white devils. Crossmann meets Jim, his black guide thorugh the underworld of
New York. Jim gives Crossmann his coats, a military jacket, with a blood stain near the
right rib cage. Exodus south out of Harlem south toward midtown.
1. Church of St. John the Divine: Crossmann mistaken for the Messiah
2. Through streets of Harlem, Spanish Harlem. Crossmann confronted by gang
members. Jim gives Crossmann a pistol for self-protection.
3. Through store window: Crossmann and Jim watch Oprah show continuing.
Oprah announces that Crossmann is running for office as Second Coming of Christ.
4. 94th Street: Crossmann, mistaken for James Joyce, reads from his Conversations.
Feminist riot, followed by book-burning.
5. Inside, dark hallway, into boardroom: Crossmann overhears President Clinton speaking
with tough bald man about fixing the Florida election. Bald man tries to stop
Crossmann.
6. Television: Crossmann (in a glass booth) is cross-examined by Hillary Clinton.
7. Television: Oprah plays tapes of Crossmann's life; interviews sister. Presents
Crossmann as son in dysfunctional family; brother William accused of saboutage.
8. Television: tapes of Crossmann's love affair with married woman, Leslie Rhodes;
cross examination by Oprah.
9. Television: tapes proving Crossmann's wife Irene was engaged in adultery since
before her marriage; questions of Crossmann's paternity for Christina, his
daughter; admission of Irene's abortion of Crossmann's son prior to marriage to
Crossmann. Irene also accuses Crossmann of having a love affair with Sophie
Tucker, his fifteen-year-old student. The audience hisses Crossmann. Doctor
Joyce Brothers offers analysis and condolences.
10. Television: Ricky Martin in Millenium Celebration. Dan Rather, Barbara Walters,
Geraldo Rivera report on celebrations around the world. Y2K threat.
11. Television: Pete Hamil, William Styron, Charlie Rose and Harold Bloom appear
before Senate Un-American Activities Committee defending Crossmann's novel.
Beginnings of exegesis of novel.
b. Riverside Drive: Crossmann in limousing with Truman Capote (real estate salesman), Faramarz
(Arabic architect), ghost of Alan Ginsburg, brother William. Jim drives the limousine.
Truman tries to sell Crossmann NY apartment. They continue to watch Oprah Show on
limo tv. The drink champagne to celebrate the millenium; there is speculation that
Ginsburg has put LSD in the champagne.
1. Television: Senate Committee cross examines Crossmann's claim in Conversations
that he had incarnated as Michael the Archangel.
2. Old Russian woman dressed in black (Helena Blavatsky) appears in limo to coach
Crossmann for his upcoming appearance on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?"
3. Crossmann criticizes 'Beats' and anti-hero mythology to Ginsburg.
4. Regis Philbin appears in limo to question Crossmann for qualifying on "Who Wants
To Be A Millionaire?" Crossmann answers three questions correctly to qualify.
5. Television: 4 'apostles' read to Senate Committee from Conversations, putting people
to sleep.
5. Limo driving toward World Trade Center. Tower explodes. Faramarz (the Arab in the
limo) cries that everyone will blame him. Jim takes a shortcut north back toward
midtown. Faramarz accuses Crossmann of being a fascist, and anti-Arabic.
Oprah, on the television, is echoing these thoughts.
6. ABC television studio: Crossmann appears on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" --
Occult Version. He begins to answer the questions correctly. He reaches
$500,000. Break for a commercial. Crossmann is in a dark hallway. He enters a
boilerroom. He enters the room fearfully. Three teenagers are hanging from the
rafters. Harry Truman is sitting at a small table off to the side. Truman explains
that being a man means sometimes having to do what one would rather not do.
Crossmann comprehends: "Oh, you are the real Truman." "We are the middle
principle, we Americans," Truman explains. "We have to defeat both the
extremes on the right and the extremes on the left. To the fascists we appear to
be communists; and to the communists we appear to be fascists. We are like the
Archangel Michael, with a two-edged sword. We defeat each extreme; and,
thereby, we balance the world...." Truman gives Crossmann a silver medalliion
on a chain, a St. Michael's medal. The engraving has Michael driving Satan out
of heaven. The lights come up again in the studio. Crossmann plays for $1
million. Regis asks the question: "Who is the highest angel in Hebrew
angelology?" Crossmann answers correct: "Metatron." and wins a million
dollars. The confetti falls. President Clinton's bald aid seeks to arrest Crossmann
after the show as suspected Republican spy. Crossmann escapes.
7. Columbus Circle. Bald man passing Crossmann picture out to police. Crossmann
passes gallery, sees own paintings in window. Crossmann is also a fine artist
apparently. Crossmann demands to know how his paintings had been stolen
from him. Gallery calls police. Crossmann makes date with Clytemnestra who
is working in the gallery. She gets off work at midnight.
8. Crossmann and Jim pass movie theatre: "Man on a Tightrope" playing. The life and
times of Michael Crossmann, starring Robert DeNiro, directed by Martin Scorcese.
9. 66th Street: Jim leading. Crossmann bewitched by beautiful black prostitute dressed as
Egyptian singing aria from Aida. Aida proposes sex across the street in Central
Park. Then she bets Crossmann his $1 million dollars that he will succumb to
the devil tonight. It is a bet.
10. Across 72nd Street. Woody Allen sings 'Ella mi fu rapita' from Aida. Woody begins
to flirt with Aida in front of German Renaissance apartment house. Crossmann
speaks
with Allen's Asian girlfriend.
Young man in crowd holding Double
Fantasy album begins shooting in to the crowd. A man in a green miltary jacket
is down: John Lennon. Neo-Nazi in the crowd shouts: "The nigger did it!"
Pointing at Jim. Jim and Crossmann escape into Central Park across the street.
11. Jim and Crossmann take blood brother pledge in the darkness.
12. White Supremacist Posse captures Crossmann and Jim. Taken to compound. Crossmann
is vigilante hero. Posse wants to hang Jim. Crossmann asks for favor: Jim's life.
Jim had saved his life, he explains. Both released back in to park.
13. Jim and Crossmann hide from gang of Bloods first; then gang of Crips. Then past a
garbage dump. Crossmann begins to dig through rubbish: finding a long letter in
manuscript form. Jim and Crossmann surrounded by militant black muslims.
They want to kill Crossmann. "Execute the White Devil!" Jim asks for Crossmann's
life. "He just saved my life!" Muslim tells Jim that a prophet has sent them to this
garbage dump in search of a letter that they must find before a white man does. This
letter threatens the black man in some way. Jim says nothing about Crossmann
already finding the letter. Crossmann explains the letter is one he wrote to Harold
Bloom announcing his novel Conversation; this letter led to Bloom's reading the
manuscript and subsequent publication. Jim asks if the book is about 'resurrection
of the White Man?" Crossmann replies that the novel is about "Nature's thoughts" --
God's thoughts.
14. Jim and Crossmann find a raft on the bank of a lake in the park. They take the raft across
the lake. About half way across the lake, a vehicle appears in the sky, shining a
spotlight down on the raft -- hovering above the raft. Crossmann notices that his
watch has stopped.
15. Digression: Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel critique the movie, "Man On A Tightrope". Ebert
loves it; Siskel isn't sure. He draws obvious parallel to Huckleberry Finn -- which
Siskel finds 'heavy-handed'. Not a movie for the masses.
16. Chicago: Oprah releases results of latest poll on who is the Second Coming of Christ:
John F Kennedy 17%
Martin Luther King 16%
John Lennon 11%
Lady Di 11%
Michael Crossmann 7%
Mother Theresa 7%
David Koresch 5%
Elvis Presley 5%
Ronald Reagan 4%
Someone Still Unknown 4%
Billy Graham 3%
Robert Kennedy 3%
Malcolm X 2%
Sting 2%
John Kennedy Jr. 1%
17. Chicago: Oprah interviews Billy Graham, who throws his support to Crossmann.
Graham, by Gematria, proves that Crossmann (MJC) is, indeed, a manifestation of
Michael the Archangel who is the heavenly aspect of Jesus Christ. M is the 13th
letter of the English alphabet; J is the tenth; C is the third. 13 + 10 + 3 = 26.
M(Michael) J (Jesus) C (Christ). 26 is the number of letters in the English alphabet.
The Jewish God, Jehovah, JHVH, is Hebrew Gematria is also 26. J=10, H=5, V=6,
H=5. The meaning of the name Michael is "He Who Is Like God (Jehovah)." The
last line of Conversations is: "Mikael, I am you."
18. Chicago: Further exegesis of Conversations by Four Apostles before Senate Committee.
Presentation of mystical system in novel. Also presented into evidence is picture
from newspaper of President Ronald Reagan and his wife Thusday May 8, 1986
with group of school children in Washington, DC. In back of picture is crowd of
on-lookers. Standing in a black suit coat and red tie is someone looking remarkably
like Michael Crossmann. Conversations portrays Ronald Reagan as Regin, Norse
god similar to Vulcan, lord of the underworld who prepares for his tribes a magic
weapons Sigured (Sun Hero) will use against the darkness.
19. Digression: Michael Crossmann confronted by dark giant in Eugene who threatens to kill
him. Crossmann, under aegis of Michael the Archangel and Metatron, Michael's
sword, the highest Hebrew angel, prepares for combat. All portrayed in Conversations.
20. Digression: Crossmann defeats the dark giant in spiritual combat. Crossmann's rebirth as
a force for order and law coincides with the collapse of communism in the east.
Another Michael (Gorbachev) having worked to bring about the triumph of light
over darkness.
21. Chicago: Harold Bloom reads to the Senate Committee the letter written to him by
Crossmann. "Then do you believe this man is the Messiah?" the public
prosecutor asks Bloom. "I don't know what to believe," Bloom replies. "But I
do believe that Michael Crossmann is a special person sent to us with a special
message. He is a prophetic writer, like Melville. All prophetic writers, the
literary ones, are special people, with a special vision...." Judge Brink looks again at
his watch. He says: "Michael Crossmann is, hereby, found innocent of witchcraft.
This hearing is adjourned." The prosecutor tells Hillary Clinton they will appeal.
22. New York: Crossmann and Jim back on the raft, blood brothers. Floating down the East
River, past villages and farm land. Jim reminds Crossmann that he (Jim) is a
fugitive. He explains that a business deal went bad. Another vehicle in the air, a
spotlight. A police helicopter. Jim steers the raft toward the waterfront.
23. New York Waterfront. Crossmann is greeted by Mayor Guiliani and the city fathers with
a band and presents him with the Key to the City. Fireworks, cameras, the press.
Crossmann meets Donald Trump; then Albert Gore, Charles Shumer, Alphonse
D'Amato.
24. Crossmann escapes up Wall Street. He enters the New York Stock Exchange. He has a
book of charts that shows the future. Crossmann uses the chart-book illegally,
turning his $1 million into nearly $1 billion. Three Italians, who suspect him of
cheating, taking him away, high int the sky: a penthouse. A masqued ball. Jim can't
go on. Beautiful naked women wearing only masks serve drinks. A beautiful blonde
takes his clothes, his pistol, his Key to the City for safe keeping. It is an orgy. No
names; everyone must wear masks. A naked brunette gives him a flu shot with a
penicillin booster. "Anything else?" she asks. "Heroine, cocaine, marijuana,
laughing gas? An enema bag? Dildos? Electric shock therapy...?" The beautiful
blonde tells Crossmann to meet her later in room 111. Jeeves the Butler
asks Crossmann at the main door for the password: "Fidelio". (There are frequent
allusions to Eyes Wide Shut throughout the novel. Crossmann, too, obviously has
his eyes wide shut.) Each chamber, new pleasures. New perversions. Pasing a
mirror, Crossmann sees his first mask, a nondescript black beak, has become a Bill
Clinton mask. A woman in a bllue dress and a Monica Lewisnky mask performs
fellatio on Crossmann in a private room. When Crossmann opens his eyes, a man in
a Richard Nixon mask standing beside Crossmann hands him a cigar, and says: "Use it
on her; she loves it." Crossmann hears a voice singing in the next room: Aida. He
knows that voice. Crossmann opens his eyes: a woman wearing an Aida mask
finishes him in her mouth. The Aida mask is gone; the Monica mask falls off.
Sophie Tucker is behind the mask. American Beauty. Crossmann's sperm soils her
dress. Aida appears to demand her $1 million dollars, reminding Crossmann that
Sophie is underage. The bald man (Clinton's aid) wearing a Rasputin mask and two
men wearing Al Pacino masks enter the room -- the bald man asks Crossmann if
he wants the women killed. Crossmann says to give each woman a million dollars;
and to release them unhurt. Crossmann moves back in to the masquerade. There is a
rape room, where 70 men use 30 women for their pleasure. An orchestra is playing
calmly. The next room has naked women hanging from the ceiling, bound and
gagged. He moves down a hallway to the final room: men and women are covered
with blood. Men are weilding knives; strangling women. A man wearing an OJ
Simpson mask hands Crossmann a knife:"Here you are, cowboy. Cut fast and hard.
And don't let up until they stop fighting...." A policeman approached Crossmann in
the main dance hall. He says to Crossmann: "We just found the body of your wife
and some fifteen-year-old girl floating in the East river. The bodies were strapped to a
raft. And you were seen on the raft earlier this evening. What do you have to say for
yourself...?" "Am I under arrest?" Crossmann asks. "No. You have money now,"
the policeman says. "You can do whatever you want. No questions asked. We will
expect a hearty donation, of course, to the Policemen's Retirement Fund...." Aida
appears again, pulling Crossmann out on the dance floor. They dance cheek-to-cheek.
Crossmann feels Aida's erection beneath his gown. Crossmann moves to room 111.
The blonde is waiting. She sings: "Happy Birthday, Mister President." Then they
make love. He raises the Marilyn Monroe mask; it is Leslie Rhodes, his lost love.
She declares her love for him; and asks him to give her a child. Two bodies and one
heart. Finally married. Saecula saeculorum. Leslie must leave. But she will meet
him at the Met later tonigh: the opera Fidelio. She leaves. Crossmann lies
in bed. She hears a woman scream. He grabs his Bill Clinton mask, puts it on; but
he is otherwise nude. He tries the adjoing room, which lets him in to a glass booth
looking in to the next room. He watches a younger Bill Clinton seducing a woman.
She resists; he bites her lower lip hard, until she stops resisting. Then he rapes her.
Crossmann bangs on the glass booth, crying for Clinton to stop. But Clinton is
performing for him. He finishes with her. The woman is now crying, trying to
cover herself up, pulling her dress down. The man moves to the door, swaggering a
bit. He puts on his sun-glasses, turns back to the woman, and says: "You'd better
put some ice on that lip." Her points to her upper lip. The man turns to his left;
he looks into the glass booth, looking Crossmann in the eye. He gives Crossmann
a thumbs-up signal. "You bastard!" Crossmann cries, pounding the glass with
his right hand. The man smiles a cynical smile. Then he puts on his mask
before stepping out in the hallway. The mask is the face of John F. Kennedy.
25. Crossmann is again a man in a glass booth but this time in a courtroom, still naked but
for his Bill Clinton mask. He is surrounded by hundreds of people, including Judge
Brink, Prosecutor Devlin; his attorney is again Ted Clause. Members of congress now
serve as the jury, each holding up a mask in front of their faces: the masks are Gloria
Steinem, Betty Freidan, Alice Walker, Patricia Ireland, Jesse Jackson, Tom Daschle,
Albert Gore. Woman are called to testify that Bill Clinton raped them, one after
another: Eileen Wellstone, a Miss X from Yale, Witness Y from the University of
Arkansas: the jury votes: INNOCENT. Then Juanity Broderick is called. The man
wearing the JFK mask slinks out of the courtroom. Crossmann recognizes the woman.
It's the woman the JFK mask raped in the penthouse suite next to Crossmann's. She
testifies that Bill Clinton raped her. Each member of the jury holds up an INNOCENT
sign. Crossmann bangs on the glass booth. He bangs so hard his mask falls off. The
jury changes their verdict to GUILTY when they see Crossmann's face. He puts on
his Bill Clinton mask; INNOCENT. He takes off his mask; GUILTY. On again:
INNOCENT. When he is Crossmann he is guilty; when he is Clinton he is innocent.
Clinton, in his JFK mask, sneaks back in to the courroom, counsels Crossmann by
telephone to 'lie, lie, lie' and begins to act as Crossmann's ventriloquist, throwing his
voice and denying all charges against Crossmann/Clinton. Sophie Tucker takes the
stand; she is asked to identify the man who shot sperm on hier dress. Crossmann puts
up the Clinton mask. Sophie can't identify him. Sophie turns in to Monica.
Crossmann drops his mask; Monica can't identify Crossmann. Clinton/Crossmann.
Sophie/Monica. Judge Brink becomes confused. The jury wants to acquit Clinton and
convinct Crossmann. But nothing is clear. The prosecution calls Dennis Fung to
testify about the DNA of the two dresses in question. Fung assures the judge that the
semen on Lewinsky dress does not match Crossmann; and the semen found of Sophie
Tucker's dress does not match Clinton. Fung is dismissed. The prosecutor changes the
charge against Crossmann from statutory rape to 'guilt by reason of insanity': he is
clearly schizophrenic. Jerry Spence, the Wyoming attorney, makes an impassioned
speech for mercy toward Crossmann, saying that his fellow Wyoming native must be
treated differently because of his Wyoming heritage. Wyoming people, Spence argues,
are not like other Americans; they are archaic; anachronistic by nature. Tolerance and
understaanding is in order. Crossmann is found guilty of being schizophrenic and
sentenced o Bellevue Mental Hospital. Crossmann is led away in chains, still naked,
except for the Clinton mask.
c. Bellevue Mental Hospital
1. Jim sneaks in to be with Crossmann. Crossmann is informed that there are only two ways
out of the institution. To be guilty of a serious crime or crimes and plea to being
cured; or to become a comedian. The only escape from Bellevue is through the
Comedy Club, somewhere in the basement. Crossmann meets regularly with
Doctor Himmelmann, a liberal man with a Fruedian training, who understands that
Crossmann is an adversary who is destined to remain incarcerated for ever. He
warns Crossmann not to seek an escape and warns him about a man called the
Magician, whom patients claim can show him the way to the Comedy Club.
The Magician is Michael C, a russian-born painter who emigrated to New York
after the fall of communism. It is Mikael Chemyakin. Solzhenitsyn is also
located somewhere in the deeper parts of the hospital; the Magician warns
Crossmann about going so deep that he will lose his desire to escape.
2. Crossmann eventually meets the Magician and they paint together. Collectors come to the
hospital regularly to purchase the Magician's work. The Magician tells Crossmann
that he will escape the hospital very soon because there is much humor in his work.
The enemy of madness is humor. There is no incarceration for the man who can
laugh at the world.
3. Himmelmann counsels Crossmann this his own artwork is too visionary for American
tastes. He steals one of Crossmann's paintings, just in case he does become famous
some day. He tells Crossmann that he too is a magician; and he concludes: "We must
keep all magicians locked up and out of sight. For the safety of the society."
Somehow Jim is outside the hospital now; and he is leading demonstrators demanding
the release of Crossmann. This is making Himmelmann very uncomfortable. He
would like to be able to have someone murder Crossmann; but now that won't be
possible because of the press. Crossmann says to Himmelmann: "You know why the
liberals are better than the conservatives? The liberals put you in an insane asylum
when they don't like you. The conservatives kill you." Crossmann tells Himmelman
that he will escape -- but that he will be back for his paintings. Himmelmann laughs
and tells him that he better get back before the conservatives take over -- because they'll
burn his paintings if they get the chance. And what will the liberals do? They will put
the paintings in a museum and make you famous.
4. To get to the Comedy Club, Crossmann has to go down to the deepest level of the
institution, where the religious zealots congregate. Solzhenitsyn. And others. The
deepest dungeon, where no light is allowed. Voices. Voices of angels and voices of
demons. The number 111 has followed Crossmann throughout his recent life, since
his initiation into the occult. Exegesis of the number 111 follows. This includes the
prophecies of St. Malachai, an Irish saint who predicted in the early Middle Ages that
111 popes would rule and then the Catholic Church would end. The 109th pope in
this line is Pope John Paul -- so two more popes are expected. Then the end of the
Roman Church. Prophecies of Nostradamus are read. Crossmann is familiar with
some of the voices he hears: James Earl Jones; Van Morrison; Hal Holbrook;
Holbrook. "Is there anyone in this room with me?" Crossmann asks. He is
touched by the hand of the angel. "I feel as if I am sitting in a dark room with
an invisible man and a radio," Crossmann says. "With voice projections. And
this angel, you -- you are merely turning the radio tuner. What is this --
Christian radio...?" The angel says: "You are a radio receiver, Michael. You can
pick up the sound of voices only when your mind is silent. And when it is
darkest, when it is night, the voices travel much further, all the way from their
homes in the stars...." Crossmann is further educated on the nature of his own
spiritual prototype, Michael the Arkangel. "It seems that Michael is Jesus
Christ! All through the Old Testament we see that there is an angel, The Angel
of the LORD, that is also God. Michael must be that angel. He is the one who
came down to die for our sins! After all, doesn't Michael's name mean (one) who
is like God? If He is like God and He is God, and He is said to be our guardian
angel; wouldn't He be the natural choice for our redemption?" The unity of
Jesus and Michael the Archangel is proven by mystical logic. The voice of
Ariel Sharon warns him to prepare for war. The radio changes. Billy Graham;
Vernon McGee. Then a coversation between Doctor Himmelmann and an
unknown man suspected to be the bald aid of President Clinton about Crossmann.
Jeremy Irons' voice comes in and begins a lenghy discussion of Nostradamus's
predidctions for the near future: an alliance between China and the Arab World.
An invasion of Italy, France, Germany. Italy shall join the Muslim armies and dive
north against the French. Nostradamus, rendered by Ovason:
The year one thousand nine hundred and ninty-nine seven months.
From the sky will come a great King of Alarm
To bring back to life the great King of Angoulmois.
Before after Mars reigns by good fortune."
Static, then James Earl Jones' voice again. "The interpretation of
'Angoulmois" as the King of the Mongols is silly. 'Ang" is an apocope for
'ange', which is French for 'angel'. 'Oul' is held to be a term which divides the
word into meaningful structures. 'Ol' is the name for one of the Archangels of
the Zodiac found in Medieval literature and calendars; and for Nostradamus it
would
have referred to Verchiel in the magical scale of Agrippa's widely-read De
Occulta Philosophical. 'Mois' is the French for 'month'. Thus we are looking
at the concept of a play on calendars, both pagan and biblical in this Quatrain.
The Gregorian Calendar did not come in general use in France until 1582 well
after this quatrain and NostradamusÕ writing. The rulers of months and the
months themselves were seen as being equated. The king of the seventh biblical
month is the Messiah who comes at Trumpets. This was the Angel of Great
Counsel of Isaiah 9:6 in the Septuagint (LXX) identified with Jesus Christ by
the early and pre-Reformation Church. The seventh month of the solar calendar is ruled
by Leo who represents the sun. Sol is the source of Ol and Oel is an anagram for Leo.
The Archangel who represented this sign in early theology was Michael. The Archangel
Michael (Jude 9) is the great prince who was identified as the defender of Israel (Dan.
10:13, 21) and the defender of the church and head of the angels of heaven (Dan. 12:1;
Rev. 12:7), and the Angel of the Old Testament. Thus Michael was identified as Jesus
Christ by the pre-Reformation Waldensian or Albigensian system and subsequent
Churches of God. So, we are dealing with the activities of Jesus Christ here and through
his servants the elect in the church. It does not matter which way this text was
interpreted in terms of the pagan solar calendar or the Bible lunar/solar calendar." The
interpretation is that Crossmann's own sense of destiny as defender of the West, defender
of Israel, as adversary of the Satanic Dragon of Darkness, is vivified through his descent
into the darkest parts of the institution. Spirit voices instruct him that he is, indeed, the
manifestation of an archangel who has been chosen to be the New Christ, the Christ to
return to the Earth this time as a King as he had come the time before, as a martyr, the
Sun crucified. The examination of the meaning of the cross continues.
5. With guidance from an angelic voice, Crossmann magically recovers the Key to the City.
He is in a dark hallway, three doors. He chooses the central door. It is locked. He
uses his key. The door opens. He is in a classroom at New York University. The
madhouse and the university are connected in a physical and a symbolic way. It is an
English class. The professor is discussing Catcher In the Rye and the role of the anti-
hero in American culture. Crossmann argues that all anti-heroes, from Jesus Christ
through Ahab through Holden Caulfield through Randall P McMurphy end in tragedy,
murder, martyrdom or institutionalization. A female student suggests that Holden
Caulfield is really the "man of the tightrope" and Crossmann, himsmelf, is really the
"catcher in the rye". Class ends. The young woman is Leslie Rhodes. She is in a
hurry to get to another class. She will see him later.
6. Second classroom. Physics. Professor Peter Weiss presents a scientific lecture on the
existence of an anti-universe, the shadow of the universe, composed of anti-matter,
a 'place' where Time runs in reverse. Crossmann vigorously discusses with Professor
Weiss the conception of the anti-universe. Crossmann notes Jerry Seinfeld and George
Constanza in the row in front of him. Jerry says: "They Theory of Everything.
That's Really the Same As the Theory of Nothing..." "The Theory of Nothing!"
George says, excited. "That's it! Our show can be about the Theory of
Nothing...!" "What?" Jerry asks. "Nothing?" "Yes." "Well, it has to be about
Something," Jerry reasons. "No. Nothing," George says, adamant. "Well, how
can it be about Nothing?" Jerry asks. "Nothing. It's about Nothing!" George
shouts, his face and bald head growing red with animation, signalling conclusion
on the subject.
7. Crossmann follows Seinfeld in to the public restroom, hoping to ask the location
of the Comedy Club. He overhears Al Gore and the bald man discussing a plan
to have a black woman accuse Judge Thomas of sexual perversion if he does not
get on board with liberal legislation. Gore and the bald man discuss what it
means to be black in America, Uncle Tom-ism, and racism. "So, there will be
justice in America for the African-American only when some force in nature,
God or...." "The Democratic Party," the bald man adds. "Raises them up, as a
race, from their state of poverty and affliction at the hand of the white man?"
Gore asks. "Precisely." "They can't do it on their own, as individuals?" "No. Not
without becoming an Uncle Tom. It's a good system, don't you think?" the bald man
asks. "They can't do it without us. If they try to do it without us, they are traitors to
their own kind. Uncle Toms. We defame their character. We say they are trying to
be white if they become conservative. If they forget that race is everything...." They
also discuss plans to buy electoral votes in New England if their man in Florida can't
steal the election. Crossmann washes his hands. He sees two buddhist monks in
orange robes handing suitcases to the bald man. A young student is standing
next to Crossmann, drying his hands on a paper towel. "Why do you always
portray the democrats as the corrupt side?" he asks. "Don't you know that the
republicans are corrupt too?" "Yes," Crossmann replies. "The republicans are
corrupt too. But I am in the universe now -- so I see my opposite. Were I in
the anti-universe, I would be showing the republicans' corruption. If you read
my earlier books, you will see that I spent a great deal of time castigating the
conservatives...." "So, there is no truth?" the student asks. "There is
only....perspective?" "Each side is dark and light, light and dark by turns,"
Crossmann responds. Crossmann finishes drying his hands; then he says: "The
Republicans believe in the individual; and this is the Man's voice, the defender of the
Father. The Democrats believe in generalities; and this is the Woman's voice, the
defender of the Mother. The Man's voice believes that the individual is good and that
the group is dangerous; the Woman's voice believes that the individual is dangerous
and that the group, the community, is good. The Man is born from the Woman to
create order, law, in the world, to defeat chaos. The Woman then seeks to defeat the
Man, the individual, the Day, so that she can rule. But her rule is governed by
darkness; the Woman rules the night. Poverty, crime, disorder. Chaos threatens her
world. She seeks again to give birth to the Man, her son -- and the Man who
eventually regains power, driving away the darkness, chaos, poverty, disorder. But the
Man eventually becomes a tyrant, against whom the Woman again will conspire to
destroy. In this movement is everything. Both sides are good; but the shadow of each
side is evil...." The bald man notices Crossmann; and tries to grab him. Crossmann
runs. The bald man can't keep up, weighted down by two suitcases of money.
8. Next classroom. Crossmann takes his oral exams on Roman history. Crossmann is grilled
by three professors: Harris (jovial moon-faced), Greenleaf (grumpy, looking at his
watch) and Whitcomb (woman with long dull brown hair, oval face, fifty-years-old).
A series of questions about Rome. Harris and Whitcomb begin bickering.
Harris: "Was Cleopatra a nymphomaniac?" Whitcomb: "Did Marc Antony suffer from
satyriasis?" It becomes clear that Harris and Whitcomb hate one another. "When
a woman likes sex, she is a nymphomaniac," Professor Whitcomb concludes.
"When a man likes sex he is a healthy, normal man...." Professor Harris gives
her a deep, abiding look of rage. "Bend her over, doc," Professor Greenleaf
suggests. "She wants to be a healthy, normal woman, for a change." He takes a
sip from a flask he has discovered in his briefcase. "That, you understand, is
sexual harassment," Professor Whitcomb replies. "You cockless sot." "Castrato
and his entourage, Curly and Moe," Greenleaf replies. "Crossmann," Greenleaf pivots
on a word: "Explain how the medieval social and economic system worked." Harris
admits that one of the reasons Crossmann has been invited to take his orals was
because the three professors felt Crossmann's knowledge of Roman history was scanty
and did not justify his sweeping comparisons between Rome and America. They had
been watching him on Oprah and were upset with his conclusions. Crossmann asks
about the Comedy Club. Professor Whitcomb asks for information about Galla
Placida; then wants to know more about her barbarian lover. Then about the love-
making of Placida and the barbarian. "I don't know," Crossmann responds. "Then
make it up!" Professor Whitcomb cries. Crossmann begins to concoct an erotic tale
for the professor. "Placida grabbed him by the shoulder, sinking her lean fingers
deeply into his olive skin," Crossmann says. "She gasped, crying out in
delight, as he touched her midden mound through her undergarments..." "Oh, that's
nice," Greenleaf cries out. "Midden mound. Muddy mound, more like it..."
Professor Whitcomb turns to Professor Harris. She says: "I bet he looked just
like Fabio Lanzoni...!" She pulls off her blouse, exposing large breasts in a
maroon brasierre. "Athaulf!" she cries to Professor Harris. "Make love to me
like a barbarian...!" "Do you mind?" Professor Harris asks Crossmann. "No,"
Crossmann says. "Enjoy!" While Harris and Whitcomb make love on the floor,
Greenleaf asks Crossmann why America doesn't trust its intellecturals.
Crossmann argues that America trusts its intellecturals who present them with a
positive view of the future; it doesn't trust its intellectuals which portray the
future as dark and tragic. It trusts its scientists but not its artists and poets.
Greenleaf informs Crossmann that he will have to service Agrippina Whitcomb
next if he wishes to pass the class. Crossmann refuses. Whitcomb demands
that Greenleaf join them on the floor. They continue to examine Crossmann
while engaged in sex. "What happens to the giant in mythology?" Whitcomb
cries. "What brought about the decline of Rome?" Harris cries. "Who are our
barbarians?" Whitcomb calls. Crossmann answers. "I have one more spot
open," Professor Whitcomb announces to Crossmann. "But if you indulge me, I
won't be able to ask you any more questions." Crossmann is tempted by the
silence; but he refuses. She threatens him with failing. Then she goes into the
verbal throes of climax: "Oh, Clodius Macer. Galba. Otho. Otho. Ohhhh.
Vitellius. Vespasian. Oh, yes: Titus. Titus hands upon our cross. Matrix and
mandible. Come big to me in Iran, me boys. Flavian Amphitheater.
Domitian. Nerva, Nerva, the red redhot nerva. Hammer the hammerhead home
to me, boys. Trajan, the Trajan Horse -- good red ridinghood ridinghead hood.
Lucky Catherine the Insate Insensate -- she had it all. A woman who knew what
giddiness was. Ahh, yes. Come to me big in Iran, me boys. Pax Romana.
Pax Romana. Hadrian's maidrien. Lucius Verus killed his sister. Glad he ate
her. Glad he ate her. Commodos comes when everything's done. Crispina
Lucilla; Commodos forebode us. Pertinax. Pertinax. So lucky am I to touch
your ass. Harder, harder. Retarded but fun. You both are swell fellows.
Smelling of seas. Oystergods gagging fishygods. Tell mem ore lies. You're so
good to me some times. I'm sorry I get mad some times. Didius Julianus.
Ahh, Didius me too. Tools on a hill; fools on a hill. On seven hills. Coming
down. The long archway. Oh, the bone is a' bleeding. Bury it inside the shoe
of the moon. Glad he ate her. Glad he ate her. Pescennius Niger and Clodius
Albinus. Black and white, two stones a' knocking. Coming down big on Iran.
Making her so blue. Ohh, yes. Faster. Faster. Right there. Come big to Iran.
Papa and mama. Crossmann has a sword for two. Two sharp sides. Two sharp
sides. Killing both. Black and white. White and black. Each in turn. Turn in
each. Septeimius Sever Us. Spreading lovely Julia Dom-Domina. Domina for
bliss, cum. Beauty and love and astrology too. Oh, yes. I'm nearly there. All
your work will find its answer, gentlemen. Oystergods gagging fishygods.
Spelled with a C. Crossmann, come here. Crossmann, bring your crossbow.
Be a gent, dear. Geta. Caracalla. Elagabalus. Sever us. Sever us. With those
two sharp swords...!" Then Professor Whitcomb begins to buck like a wild
horse, emitting deep-throated moans and talking in tongues: "Brˇkkek Kˇkkek
Kˇkkek Kˇkkek! K—ax K—ax K—ax! Ualu Ualu Ualu! Quaouauh ..." Both male
professors announce Crossmann has earned an A; Greenleaf counsels him to
follow the Seinfield fellow.
9. Physics II. Professor Beach lectures of the "Theory of Nothing". Lecture with slides.
Students mutter on length of lecture: 'boring'. Crossman tries to follow
Seinfeld but loses him in the crush of student bodies.
10. Hallway.
Soldiers pass in full battle dress, warning Crossmann of Y2K chaos coming.
They are followed by citizens singing Christmas carols. Leslie Rhodes is in this
group. Crossmann tries to follow -- but they vanish. The doors in the hallway
are locked. Crossmann uses his key.
11. Courtroom: The State Versus Mark Twain.
b. The Charlie Rose Show: Crossmann the Literary Figure
c. Exegesis of Crossmann Novel: Conversations On A Dying Age
d. Examination of Crossmann's Manifestation of Michael the Archangel
In Conversations On A Dying Age -- and implications for the Millenium