How Green Becomes Wood

Cooger did a double take, not knowing if he was ready to engage on the 'is evolution real' discussion with her. He was a bit surprised by her opinion, but... It was weird. "Do me a favour, eh? Don't mention that to Daizi and Dark. Especially not if they're together, you'll be there for a long, long time. I think feelings will only end up getting hurt."
 
Lex chuckled. "Says the guy who brought up life on other planets to begin with, eh? If Bigfoot and Mothman and Nessie and all the rest of them can be real, then why can't some of the stuff we're taught as fact be fake?" She shrugged good-naturedly. "But I don't think it really matters. It'd be nice to know for sure, but knowing how a world came about thousands or millions or billions of years ago won't put food on the table or a roof over your head."
 
"Dark would say evidence," Cooger said uncomfortably, "I guess I feel like, you know, people accept the theory of gravity and germ theory, but then you call evolution a theory, and it's a big debate. I don't really think, you know, divine plans and evolution need to be opposites. Religious texts are parables, you know? Gotta be, 'cause Genesis says light was created one day and the sun on a different day, just lessons. I ain't really an atheist, or nothing, but I'm not a church goer either, although when I was with my Nana over the summers growing up we went every Sunday. But like, a divine creator could've divinely created the big bang and set it all in motion. Anyway, I think Tarot's archaeologist and paleontologist coworkers would say knowing how life came to be does put food on the table. Probably religious scholars, too."
 
Lex watched Cooger, clearly amused by his discomfort. She let him dangle a bit before saying, "So, have you seen anything interesting when not under any influences? I've seen some doozies, but I was always under the influence of at least one thing at the time, so who knows?"
 
"No, not yet. I think I want it too much." Cooger answered, relieved the subject had changed. It was just way too sensitive. People held those beliefs too closely, he didn't like meddling with it. "Like I said, you gotta be a kook. Although, I guess, a lot of people have their lives destroyed and then become kooks. You gotta be careful when you're doing the reading though, because it'll suddenly take a sharp left turn into antisemitism or racism, or something else awful. That's what made the theory that the government and Hollywood are both run by Reptilians way less fun. Did too much reading there. Although, one time, I was out in the desert on a road trip, and I thought I might've seen a UFO, way, way off in the distance."
 
"I love a good conspiracy! But, like you said, some people just take all the fun out of things like that," Lex said, making a face. "I gave up reading about them a long time ago when I came across one that went from, what was it... something about spaghetti monsters and jumped off a cliff into some insulting crap about the Chinese. Blah. A UFO, huh? That's more than what I've seen!"
 
"Is it a conspiracy to say harmful conspiracies are more profitable?" Cooger asked with a little laugh, "I think the Flying Spaghetti Monster is meant to be like... a pseudo religion. I forget about it now, exactly, it had some purpose, but it wasn't originally designed to be taken seriously. But I guess that's the sort of thing some people love to take and run with. Do you know there's a theory where Avril Lavigne died and was replaced by a clone?"
 
"Really? Now that's a good one!" Lex grinned. "I personally like following all the Presley sightings. There's some good ones! I like the one where he has an underwater mansion like some kind of Atlantis in a bubble."
 
"Atlantis is also something not to mention with Tarot unless you want a long, long talk on it." Cooger shook his head, "I like the idea that birds aren't real, they're all drones. I don't believe it, but it's sure fun to joke about."
 
Lex snapped her fingers. "Toby went on a class trip to a museum, and he brought back a picture of - I kid you not - two drones, one made to look like a hummingbird and one that looked like a mosquito! The hummingbird apparently didn't look much like one in flight, but the mosquito was accurate. I'm not sure if that was a stupid idea because of all the people who swat at little bugs or brilliant because people also don't notice little bugs."
 
"Shoot, that does sound real neat. When did he do that? Dark and Tarot call Ivy 'Hummingbird,' they'd be thrilled, even if it didn't look so accurate in flight. Were they the same size as the actual critters?" Cooger asked curiously.
 
"This was a couple of years ago back in New Jersey," Lex told him. "They were about the same size, I think, maybe a little bigger, but still quite small. They were for something military, I think, or something like that. I forget the details."
 
"See, that makes it untrustworthy!" Cooger exclaimed, mostly joking, "There's no way to tell what's spying on you anymore! And that's how they keep you complacent. It's uh--- Panoptical!" He paused, sensing he had said the wrong word, but was unable to figure out what he was meant to say instead, because it was too similar to the correct panopticon to get it right. "You know, when people behave properly because they never know if they're being watched. Like in Guardians of the Galaxy."
 
"No, pantropical isn't the right word. I can't remember the right word. It's this idea that is you build a prison with a central watchtower, and the rest of the prison is built around it, but looking at the watch tower, you can't see if your area of the prison is currently being monitored, you'll behave as if you're being watched, even if you aren't, because you never know. Guardians of the Galaxy is just a movie where there's a prison built like that."
 
"Oh, I gotcha," Lex nodded. "That makes sense." She hesitated a moment. "Why were we talking about prisons? Oh, right! The drones. I wonder how far they've come since their debut in the museum? Maybe I'll look into that when I get home."
 
"I hope the project has been destroyed, I don't need to be spied on by some random NSA agent. At least, not any more than I already am!" Cooger teased as he approached their neighborhood.
 
"If you are being spied on, I bet you and your cats and chickens are the highlight of their week," Lex told him with a grin. "So much more interesting than most other people."
 
"Sure, but I don't need the government seeing me walk around in my drawers," Cooger joked, "That'd just about kill me dead. I don't need that embarrassment, I live out in the woods to avoid prying eyes."
 
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