Glorious Exploits

by Ferdia Lennon

What people expect rarely happens. Things that seem impossible come to pass. It’s always been the way. The gods have the best seats in town, and we’re their favourite show. This view is liable to ruin your buzz if you like what you have, but I don’t. Common sense says I’ll never get Paches or any other Athenian out of that quarry without being caught, and if by some stretch I do, Hyccara’s the other side of the island, a week’s walk under wind and rain over shitty roads. They’ll die before we make it, and even if we get there, it will be too late ’cause Tuireann won’t wait long, a few days, and he’s off to Carthage. But common sense said we should have surrendered two years ago. Common sense is common, has no imagination, and only works by precedent. It leaves the man who follows it poorer, if not in pocket, then in his heart. Fuck common sense.