Today and the Day Before

Today: The boys participated in a study of autism at Stanford Psych. They each were given IQ tests, interviewed, and observed. At the end of the experiment blood was drawn. The researches are looking at levels of various chemicals in the blood of autistic and normal children. Anselm Samuel and Basil Wenceslas will each get a check for their service as part of the control group. This is not Anslem's first paid work (My mother paid him $1 for sweeping her porch when he was 3 and 4 years old.) but it is Basil's. They will buy silver bullion with their earnings.

At dusk Basil and I went back into the pool/garden area (we check on it each day to make sure everything is okay) where we encountered a skunk. It ran away as we approached, and because of the small amount of light, I thought it was a cat. Only later did Athanasia ask, "Why do you smell like a skunk?" The skunk didn't spray us, obviously, but just being where it had been has left a slight noxious odor on us.

The day before: A girl in Anselm Samuel's class directed a solitary middle finger at another girl in the class. The offending girl was sent to the Principal's office. No explanation of the sign was given to the class. None of the other kids knew what it meant. After school, on the walk up Lincoln Avenue to our house, told me what happened and asked what the sign meant.

I said, "Can you think of any powerful signs?"

He said, "The Cross is a powerful sign."

"Yes it is", I answered. "But it is a good sign. The sign you saw today is an evil sign. It is like Satan. What was Satan before he became God's enemy?"

"An angel."

"Yes. He was good but became bad. The sign you saw today represents a word that became bad. The good word is love. And love is what God is. But the word was changed from love to something ugly. And that was worse than when an angel became Satan. An angel is like us, a created being. But the bad word we are talking about is an insult to the nature of God. The word says that what God is is hateful, and saying that is evil. The word is evil."

"How did someone change God's name?"

"They didn't change the name of God. God's name can't be changed. By using that word people say God's love ugly, and since God is love it is saying God is ugly. That is the main reason we do not say that word, and why I will not tell you what it is. Additionally, the word is so powerful and hurtful that it makes people attack each other. In California that word is called a fighting word, and using it or the sign is the same as challenging someone to a duel, which is also a crime in California. Think about that: Love, because it is God's nature, is so powerful that even the wicked and corrupted name for love is so dangerous that California has laws against it."

"Love is really strong! What about in other States?"

"You mean are fighting words against the law in other States?"

"Yeah, what if there is a State where it isn't against the law?"

"I don't know about fighting words but challenging people to duels is illegal in many States, and fighting duels is crime in all 50 States and the District of Columbia. But we are Californians. What other States do or do not do is not our business."

"But what is the word?"

"I won't tell you. It's better not to know. If you don't know it you can't say it."

"Can Basil and I have some frozen custard?"