"13. Recognize a Lover from a Thief--Bryan Duncan"
The apparently downcast expression on Bryan's face seemed fitting as this one opened, ominous notes drifting downward like autumn leaves at midnight.
One's educated, one has been to school / Who is the genius and who is the fool? / Well, it's hard to tell one from the other / They both have the answer / One gives a promise and the other his word / One is a teacher and the other is heard / They're both calling your name / And the offer's the same, yeah / But only one delivers
You nurse your wounds and immerse your pain / But you still can't seem to break it down / I said,
How long, how long will you suffer / Caught between the pleasure and the grief? / How long, how long / 'Til you recognize a lover from a thief?
A loving smile and a counterfeit grin / With open arms one is taking you in / It's give and take / And your heart's at stake, well / But who's the giver and taker? / One is a lover, one would love to be / Which is the romance and which is the fantasy? / They don't give up when your mind's made up / No, no, you keep choosing over and over...
As the song wound down into slightly varied repetitions of an already painful chorus, she encountered a final twist: a recording of Martin Luther King Jr, seeming to offer an answer to the question:
How long? Not long, 'cause mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
Though whether Bryan himself had meant it that way was debatable, even unlikely, the effect in this context was that of an ironic coup de grâce, made all the more potent by time. How long had MLK been dead now? More than a century. And here was his successor, still caught between the pleasure and the grief, still slow to recognize a lover from a thief. She wasn't going to lie; that implication hurt. A lot. But was he wrong?
Though she wanted very much to contest that point, she couldn't actually do it. All of her attempts fell flat before she could even put the words behind her teeth, sapped of their heat by an avalanche of information that was both new to her and older than her. And could she blame him for feeling that way? Not really. If she was interpreting this playlist correctly, he had been watching one of his very worst nightmares play out right in front of his eyes. Would she have been calm in his position? No. Not even close.