Jack_ Secret Vengeance - F. Paul Wilson [14]
As they got on the bus, some girl in the rear called out, “Where’s Easy Weezy?” to no one in particular.
Jack glanced at Eddie and saw no reaction. SRV was drowning out the real world. At times like this, Jack almost wished he could live inside the headphones like Eddie was doing lately. But sometimes he had to listen to his own voice.
Especially now when he was plotting the overthrow of King Carson.
3
Mr. Kressy, Jack’s favorite teacher, was discussing next year’s presidential election in civics class, talking about the Democrats who would be vying for their party’s nomination to challenge President Reagan for the White House.
“Listen to the candidates when they appear on television,” he was saying, “and maybe—just maybe—you’ll be able to determine their guiding principles. If one of them has principles in tune with yours, he may be the man you want for your president.”
He turned quickly and snapped his fingers.
“Wait … you each do have a guiding principle, don’t you? You know—a fundamental law, doctrine, or assumption that guides you. Quick: Somebody give me a good guiding principle.”
Dark-haired Liza Escovedo said, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
“Ah, yes. The Golden Rule. That sounds great, but when you think about it, it means the decision of how to treat other people originates with you, rather than with them. What if you’re, oh, say, a very guilty person who feels a great need to be punished, so you want people to hurt you—punch you, kick you, curse you. That makes you feel better. By the Golden Rule, you’d be free to punch, kick, and curse other people, because that’s the way ‘you would have them do unto you,’ right?”
Liza slunk lower in her seat. He noticed and said, “It’s a good thought, Liza, and probably works well for ninety percent of people, but we’ve got to think our guiding principle all the way through.” He looked around. “Anyone else?”
Matt Follette, the class cynic, said, “What’s in it for me?”
This got a laugh.
Mr. Kressy pointed to him and grinned right back. “You’ve got the makings of a great politician. Or an even better lobbyist.”
Another laugh.
Mr. Kressy turned Jack’s way. “Anybody else?”
Deciding to go for it, Jack raised his hand and said, “How about, ‘Do the right thing’?”
Mr. Kressy beamed. “Perfect.” Then frowned. “Except … who or what determines the right thing?”
“God,” said Liza.
He shook his head. “Sorry. I’m not allowed to discuss theology in this class beyond the concept of separation of church and state. I will say that if ‘God’ works for you, fine, but as far as politics goes, you should remember that a lot of different religions are practiced in this country, worshipping different gods. I don’t know about you, but I definitely don’t want this class arguing about whose god is best.
“So we need to approach from a different angle. By what process do you arrive at the criteria for what is ‘right’? For that, you have to dig deep. You need to have a first principle to work from. So let’s think about that for a couple of days. Ferret out your prime or first principle, the touchstone belief to which everything you think or do must answer. Searching for that is going to take you places in your head most of you have never been before. We’ll see what we come up with.” He picked up the civics text. “And now for the easy stuff.”
Jack frowned as he thought about a first principle. Did he have one? He’d never thought about it. He always tried to do the right thing, but he’d never thought about the path he took to deciding what was right.
The frown eased into a smile. Mr. Kressy was right. This was going to take him places he’d never been before.
Cool.
4
After finishing lunch, Jack again went in search of Toliver. As he passed the table where Weezy usually sat, one of the girls said, “Weren’t you looking for Easy Weezy yesterday? Guess what? She’s out again.”
Jack realized