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	or supper, they both had tuna salad, a slice of cantaloupe and a tall glass of decaffeinated iced tea. Lily wanted to eat outside, so they put everything on a tray and took it out to the deck.       Even though the sun was low in the sky and there was a slight breeze, the air was still hot and thick. Lily unbuttoned the top buttons of her light cotton dress and kicked off her shoes.       “Look there, Jeanie. Did you see that?”       “What?”       “Those two hummingbirds. They’re fighting. Can’t you hear them? That high chittering noise. Oh, there’s one of them, now. See?”       “Where?”       “By the Buddleia. The bush right by the railing with purple flowers.”       “Oh. Yeah. I see it.”       “Do you want to have some ice cream? I’m still hungry.”       “No thanks.”       “You sound tired. Do you want to lie down? I can bring another fan in your room if it’s too hot.”       “No, I’m fine.” She scratched gray wood of her deck chair with her fingernail, frowning to herself.       Lily looked hard at her. She was beginning to feel impatient with Jeanie. “What are you thinking?”       “Nothing. Well, yes, I was thinking about the pipe city. Can I do my turn?”       “Good heavens. Have you already thought up another part for the game? I just did mine a few hours ago. I’m not sure it’s a good idea to go so fast. Are you sure you’re ready?”       “Yeah. I’m ready.” Jeanie’s voice was sullen. Without waiting for Lily to respond, she started talking in a flat monotone.       “Some of the wild people that were moved into the city are very unhappy there. They want to go back to the way they were. They think all the rules and regulations, and the restrictions in the city are terrible. So a bunch of them who work for the Pipe Making Dept. make a plan. They figure out a way to destroy the city and set everybody free.       “They agree on a day and a time, and, with several of them working together within the waterworks plant, they release all of the water in all of the water towers into the huge pipes that run all over the city. They had to do some secret reconnecting to get the pipes to actually be hooked up to the true water system and the big pipes are full of trapdoors and gaps where people have been getting in and out, but there is such a huge amount of water, that the plan works.       “Everybody that was in the pipes when the water was released is carried out of the city on a great flood. The water floods all the houses and bursts all the walls. It flattens the fences, and destroys all the machines and electrical plants. The city is completely destroyed. The people have to start from scratch, and everybody can do whatever want to do. They’re back out in the real world out of the control of the waterworks owner and all of his officials.”       “It wouldn’t work.”       “Why not? They would all be able to go back to being free. They could do whatever they wanted.”       “No. You’re not thinking. You want them to escape from Homer. But to fight Homer is to join him. Can’t you see that?”

	“Why? They are going away from all of his safety and control.”       “You said that ‘some’ of the wild people didn’t like the city. They felt that they had a better way. Do you hear what you are saying? They had a ‘Better Way.’ That’s Homer. They thought that their way was the right way. They thought that they were right and the city people were wrong. Can you see who that is? Right and wrong? Better way? To fight Homer is to join him. You fight him if you think you have a better way; if you think that your way is the Right Way.       “Never mind that they didn’t even ask all the other city people whether they wanted to be freed from the city. They forced their way onto all the other people. Can you see what I’m saying? That to fight Homer is to join him? Another city would have been built. The people would all move back in and things would be as before. Once people believe in Homer’s way, in a ‘Better Way,’ in right and wrong, they never go back to living wild.”       “Then how can anybody ever get out of the city?” Lily was startled by the urgency in Jeanie’s voice.       “Jeanie, sweetheart, being in the pipe city wouldn’t have to be so bad. They would have grown used to it. There are a lot of things that the wild people would like. Remember, most of them came in willingly because they liked all the things that were in the recreation room. They have better health, better food and housing, and they can read and write. I don’t think they would have wanted to go back to what they were.”       “I would.”       “I see. Well, let me think. What would Eunice do about being in the city? You know, she doesn’t fight for things. She’d probably fight to defend herself, but she doesn’t think or care about right or wrong. I expect she’d try to get out of the city any way she could. She would be bored in there, no doubt about it. Television and video games are a pale imitation of reality for anybody that’s been out in the real, wild world. Eunice needs a full body sensation to be happy. Video alone just won’t cut it. She wants to be up to her knees in it; to smell it, taste it, and rub her hands in it.       “I would think Eunice would find a way to escape. Somehow, some way, she would find a way to walk away and never be heard from again. Because that’s the thing about Eunice. She’s never, even for one second going to think about anybody else. It won’t even occur to her that her way is the right way, or the One Way . She has All Ways. She’ll try anything and everything as long as it’s new. And then drop it and go on to the next way.”       “Yes! That’s what I think, too. A real wild person would want to be in the world, not hiding somewhere in a box or a pipe, looking out of a peep hole.” Jeanie’s face was shining. Lily was startled.       “I understand the theory of Eunice and Homer. That doesn’t mean I think anybody would really want to go live like an animal in the woods. Homer is not what he is by caprice or accident. He’s that way because that’s the facts of where we are. This is his place. Ignore him at your own peril. You stay alive without Eunice. If you ignore Homer, with his fears and cautions, you could die.”       “I don’t think the wild people would not feel fear and hunger. They just wouldn’t believe in it. You can be aware of something, and know about it without believing in it, or letting it run your life. Don’t you think?”       Lily smiled. “Certainly. Most definitely so. I like to think that that’s the way I live my life. I try to keep a nice balance between being careful and comfortable but also being open to new things. The hard part is to not go overboard in either direction.” Continue on next page
	Copyright © 2002 by Jay Arraich. All rights reserved. All photographs copyright © 2002 by Jay Arraich jay@arraich.com	next page Animal Rights arraich.com Links