But nothing lasts forever: on that point, at least, the proud skeptic and the addled theophile can agree. As suddenly as the symptoms of faith came on, they subsided. One day, somewhere deep in the waistband of the country, I glanced up from the lectern and saw that my angel was gone — not airborne, not seated, just . . . gone. A woman in the audience was in the process of inviting me to her church, where she assured me that all my blasphemies would be forgiven. I looked at her round, unsuspicious face and felt — Heaven be praised — a surge of the old contempt. What fun I was going to have with her! I smoothed my hair and took a belt of the refreshment. Crisis over. Like the Terminator, I was back.
Yrs ever,
Hitch
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