Itinerant Wizards

May I Share the Hero's Journey With You?

The wizard came to tea last week; he's older now and impatient.
If you don't answer the door...well, what's wrong with tea?
We keep ours in a pitcher in the fridge, never warm it up this time of year.
Don't fuss with it--just pour it in a glass (Ice? No ice?) and there it is.
Drink it while we talk but don't make it precious.
Of course, I'm always interested in hearing about "adventures."
I'm not adventurous, personally. I'm the left-over-receipt-for-a-forgotten-tchotchke sort,
Not the kept-in-the-back-pocket-for-emergencies kind.
Well, yes, I've heard of the hero narrative...
But our heroes are more--political. They march and protest or battle online--
Online? Real enough.
Outside, you mean? Like, down the block?
Oh, and on to the wider world. The city? Across the state, maybe?
I mean, you could. Get lots of online followers, probably.
Enough of them and your quest would be funded...underwritten by ads.
But few actual doors would open. And people here own guns, not swords.
You'd probably be confused with LARPers. Or worse.
They'd be critiquing your costume. Sending surveillance footage
Of the "creeper with the cape" to the news.
Yes...I mean--but good and evil? Distilled into one person or another?
As in the War to End All Wars?! That's on TV all the time.
Black and white burr of gunfire and commentary.
Would you like to see it? 
Sorry. Of course you have.
No, it's nice to get to talk to someone. It's lonely here.
Not many people around during the day. And I don't mind a sales pitch with my tea.
I can't see that I need a quest right now. There's the dogs to feed and protests to like,
Memes to deplore...and I get so angry about all that stuff.
But who am I to get angry? This is a nice house, good neighborhood.
You have to bank your fury right down into contentment.
I know. Useful to one side or to the other. There's no middle ground with you questers.
Don't argue library shelves with me. They're not altars, just...shelves.
Books.
Please don't turn into one of those jackasses who sell magazines---
Sweet until you're refused.
Then they're all pissed that their cheap-assed pitch (which we've all heard a million times)
Doesn't inspire me to rip out my wallet and start ordering magazines
That are ALSO trying to sell me something.
I'm not grabbing my tennis shoes at the first mention of good versus evil.
If I can't afford to replace my tires why would I buy Total War Fantasia?
I do have more tea. All those deep breaths before closed doors
Would make me thirsty, too.