Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

Richard sits alone in a quiet field and thinks about why Don chose to stay among the crowds after Richard left. He wonders what Don meant when he said, “It’s all illusions!” (83).

While going through his things, Richard finds the nine-sixteenths wrench Don had floated to him the day before. Richard tries, unsuccessfully, to make the wrench float. He finally gives up, wondering what the point of living is if everything is an illusion. Richard sings, loudly, a song he makes up about his airplane. In doing so, he forgets his questions about and the difference between reality and illusion. Before he falls asleep, Richard wishes Don well, wherever he is, and hopes he finds what he’s looking for. At that moment, the Messiah’s Handbook falls out of his pocket to a page that reads: “[Y]our true family is not of one blood, but/ of respect and joy in/ each other’s life” (84). Richard doesn’t understand how the passage applies to him and expresses suspicion about books in general. Then he goes to sleep.

Richard awakens at dawn as something brushes against his face. He swats at what he mistakes for a bug and hurts his hand: It is Don’s wrench floating in front of his face.