?This is where the revolution's gonna come from,? Lavant said. ?Here and everywhere where people work for ideas instead'a for money.?
?You mean these here papers you writin'?? Darryl asked.
?It's thinkin' that makes a man, son,? Lavant lectured. ?Ideas make us responsible for each other. Most people got money-colored glasses on. They think that they can put life in a wallet. They think they buy their souls when really all they do is sell 'em and then die and go to hell.?
Darryl looked down to avoid the zealot's eyes. He nodded and mumbled something.
?I thought it was you,? Socrates said. ?I thought it was you and so I come by to see.?
?That's what we need,? Lavant said. ?People who think about somethin' that ain't in your pocket, your stomach, or your crotch.?
Darryl giggled at the last word and Socrates smiled.
?So you a revolutionary, huh,? the ex-con said.
?Rebel,? Lavant said in way of correction. ?I don't have a revolutionary ideology. I fight anything that wants to keep a human being from being free.?
?An' you think puttin' up these posters do all that?? Socrates' words were a challenge but Lavant could tell that his visitor wanted to believe.
?The truth
set you free, brother,? the purple-clad fanatic replied. ?Did you know that there were three black African popes that sat in the Vatican? Yeah. Saint Gelasius, Saint Miltades an' an' an' um, Saint Victor.?
Socrates stalled for a moment, impressed by this impossible knowledge.
?You see?? Lavant said. ?We could tear the walls down with that kinda truth.?
Socrates wondered. He rarely spoke to anyone who told him anything new or hopeful. His Wednesday evening discussion group talked about all kinds of issues but Socrates hadn't learned much for all that talk.
?And that's not all I do,? the younger man continued. ?You know I help old folks fill out insurance and government forms and I taught two people how to read. I always bear witness when the cops make an arrest. And I preach to the young people in the streets.?
?You crazy,? Darryl said. ?That's what crazy people do.?
?Just remember what I say, boy,? Lavant said with his eyes alight. ?I might be crazy but you mark my words.?
Lavant showed Socrates how he made the poster board from rags and permanent dyes. He read to them from past broadsides and showed them a wall map dotted with red pins that indicated where he'd placed his posters.
After that they drank Coca-Colas while Lavant questioned and corrected Darryl's history lessons from school. When the boy started fidgeting, Socrates stood up.
?Well.? Socrates put a hand on Darryl's shoulder. ?I got to see Darryl off to a bus so he can get home and get to bed in time to go to school tomorrow.?
Outside the garage, under a strong-smelling bay laurel, Lavant asked Socrates, ?You know where the Pink Lady is over on Jeff??
?Yeah??
?Two blocks south on the cross side'a the street is a boarded-up hardware store with a picture of a clown on the door.? Lavant smiled. ?Around the back, between the buildin's is a door. Come on round after ten and you see what a rebel can do when he's on the job.?
Socrates put Darryl on a crosstown bus and went back to his place. On his butane camp stove he made scrambled eggs with chorizo sausage, garlic and onion. Alongside the eggs he had canned asparagus topped with lemon juice and mayonnaise. The smell of the sausages filled the house for hours. Socrates was reading about poisonous sea snakes in the South Seas in an old
