(If you’re wondering what this is about, read this.)

My five random words for today’s exercise are board, tornado, faint, pile, prophet.

Chosen word for free association: prophet
leader, seer, visionary, profit,

Exercise:
“Prophecy is a tough business, kid.” The seer lit a stogie, pulling the flame into the cigar as he drew in a breath. “First of all, there’s no money in it,” he said, shaking the match to put it out. “If you’re going to be a prophet, you’d better be financially independent. Or on food stamps.”

“But what about fortune tellers?” asked the young man. “They make money.”

The seer looked at him and rolled his eyes. “Boy, you are green. There’s a big difference between fortune telling and prophecy. Fortune tellers deal with individuals; prophets deal with civilizations. And believe me, the people only want to listen when you’re foretelling something that they think is good for them. Prophecies of doom only attract weirdos, and even though they may be the only ones prepared when the shit goes down, having them around can be kind of a liability. So I generally keep the small stuff to myself if it’s not going to kill too many people. It’s too much trouble otherwise.”