4:8

It was at this very moment that —

Well, it always is at this moment, isn’t it? Whatever other moment could there be? Since the days of good old Quintus Horatius, the moment has been seized, grabbed, fondled, mutilated and spindled, but it’s always been there. After all, where would the moment have gone? The man said seize the moment and it wouldn’t have been a very clever thing to say — it would have been downright silly — if there weren’t a moment to seize.

And which moment would it be if it weren’t this one? It always is the moment right in front of one, isn’t it. Silly would inadequate to describe the situation arising from someone attempting to seize that moment or even the other one. It wouldn’t be there for the person to seize, would it? It would be somewhere else, wouldn’t it? Can you picture the poor, misinformed fool wildly grasping at the wrong moment? It would be a more farcical sight, more extravagant and foolish, than Tartaglia trying to climb out of a pool of mud while the other characters “helped.” It would be more exaggerated than Pinocchio’s nose after he tried to explain away the magazines under his bed. It would be as impossible to imagine as the the antics of a long-haired cat having a bath after living in a barrel of peanut butter for a day. It would simply be utterly impossible.

But in any case, the moment was or is upon us, within our grasp, and not in any way past, and in that precise and ever-present confluence of time, space and events, the one rat in all of Alberta, which had been living comfortably in the cool confines of the temple basement and was alone and destitute and friendless beyond all reason, was awoken by the horrifying sight of another giant rodent looming out of the gloom, reaching toward his cozy nest with its enormous claws and terrifying teeth.

The rat, whose name was Ezekial, quite understandably screamed. At the top of his tiny little lungs. At high B (although he was a bit flat due to the fright).

And the sound of fear and despair reverberated round the dark cellar.