Vagabonds: Anthology of the Mad Ones Vagabonds Vol. 3 | Página 25

In John We Trust: Cannibalism in a Can: The South Pacific Cargo
Cult of "John Frum"
John Edwards
“Where are you from?”
“United States.”
“What is your name?”
“John.”
“Hey, I am John, too!”
Although the polite fisherman was dressed like a mere native, in
imported out-of-date Salvation Army garb straight out of “That Seventies
Show,” I couldn’t believe that he was neither an AWOL backpacker nor
an unemployed Import-Export artist.
For real, he was a local.
“When my mother gave birth to me,” she was divorced from her
husband,” John related sadly. “She denied that I was a bastard, but the
other villagers threw stones at her.” Thus, they were forced out of
Vanuatu--“and now we live here,” he added for effect.
“That’s a very sad story,” I replied with mental alertness, hoping for
the sake of a formulating magazine pitch that he would say more.
“When I asked who my real father was, she just said ‘John Frum.’”
I had read a brief section on Oceanic cargo cults in my classic used
Moon South Pacific Handbook, still pretty much the bible of time travel in
Polynesia and Melanesia, but I never expected to actually meet one of its
members, albeit one of obvious European descent!
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