One evening Herman stopped his son in the middle of The Confessions of Saint Augustine and said, "This is the power of the world, boy. The memory of an unattainable paradise where everything is predictable and outwardly control-lable. It is all that we are; history, memory. It is what happened, or what we decide on believing has happened. It is yesterday and a million years ago. It is today but still we cannot grasp it." "I don't know what you mean, dad," Cornelius said. He was sixteen that day but his father, for all his interest in history, did not remember the date. Since he was in his bed almost twenty-four hours a day he had no need for a calendar. "I mean that the person who controls history controls their fate. The man who can tell you what happened, or did not happen, is lord and master of all he surveys." "But if he claims something that isn't true then he's master of a lie," Cornelius reasoned. Herman smiled and leaned forward. "But," he said, holding up a lecturing finger, "if everyone believes the lie then he controls a truth that we all as-sent to. There is no true event, Cornelius, only a series of occurrences open to interpretation." Though Cornelius did not know it for many years, this was the moment of the birth of John Woman. Excerpted from John Woman by Walter Mosley All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
