The Bewilderment

Chapter 1

'Who's got the brain of JFK?
What's it mean to us now?
Oh, it's sound insurance
But I can tell you, this is no lie

The whole world will be different soon
The whole world will be relieved

The whole world will be different soon
The whole world will be relieved

You, you've been taught
Whipped into shape, now they got you in line
Stand behind the stripes
There will be order, so give it a good mind

The whole world will be different soon
The whole world will be relieved'

'Having good fun guys? Could you please turn the music down, my head is cracking...' 

'Put your little pillow up your ears, Erica.'

'Very funny, Mark.'

'And by name
The name they gave me
The name I'm letting go

The whole world will be different soon
The whole world will be relieved'

'Turn the blasted music down, Joel! And stop singing, no more songs like that, no more garbage grunge! Juliette is trying to have a little nap, can you respect your friend? We've been driving four hours straight, she's tired!'

'The whole world will be different soon
The whole world will be relieved
The whole world will be different soon, soon'

'Okay, relax Erica. Garbage grunge? You think hip-hop or rap is better than grunge? You really think so, you've got one simple riff like bum, bum, bum, bum and rhymes that go on and on in endless yawning. Whaaa...' — Joel made a gesture of being bored just to tease Erica a bit more.

'Yeah, yeah, yeah, what do you know 'bout rhymes and rhythms. At least, black music is not being created on drugs and alcohol, and...'

'Hang on, hang on, you call rap and hip-hop black music? First of all, how can you call it black music, Kevin Donovan was African-American and rap has its African roots, truth, but are there no white or Asian musicians making great hip-hop stuff? You cannot classify music down to races. It's all about to connect people, not to divide them. And another thing, you think black musicians never take drugs and stuff? Come on, you must be kidding me! And thirdly: See, I think drugs have done some good things for us, I really do. And if you don't believe drugs have done good things for us, do me a favor, go home tonight, take all your albums, all your tapes and all your CD's and burn'em. Cause you don't want the musicians who've made all that great music that's enhanced our lives throughout the years.. were rrrrrrrrrrreal fuckin' high on drugs.'

Mark started laughing out loud.

'Tonight? I can't get home tonight, cause we're heading to Mark's rancho, and actually it's not possible to get even there tonight.' — Not buying Joel's sense of humor, confused Erica answered in a tired voice.

'It's not my ranch yet. I haven't signed my uncle's contract yet.' — Mark interjected turning his head backwards to glance at Erica and Juliette on the backseat.

'Erica, don't tell me you're about to burn your CD's.' — Joel started laughing as well. — 'That was a quote from the famous song called 'Third Eye' by Tool or actually a text from one of Bill Hicks' shows, the comedian who inspired them. First time you heard that, I suppose.' — He grinned and sent Erica a flirting wink through the rearview mirror. — 'Don't bother, you're sexy.' — He added and winked again.

'All right, Mr. Wise Guy I've heard some of the satanic Tool band, you should be ashamed of listening to them. They affront God.' — Erica's voice sounded with disgust. — '...and could you please slow down a bit for Christ's sake?! I'm not gonna die here!'