“I did not choose to exist. I don’t have to justify it.”
He wasn’t sure if that was the right answer. He did not know how things worked here.
“Were you a good father?”
“Yes”
“Were you a good husband?”
“Yes”
“So were a million others. What did you do?”
“I thought you knew”
“I want to hear it from you”
“I started my own company. I introduced a new concept to the world.”
“Did it help people?”
“Yes – it was something they needed but did not realize they needed. I helped them.”
He could not stand it any longer. He blurted out, “Are you going to send me Hell?”
“Where do you think you were for the past 75 years?”
That made sense. He smiled – “You know – I always thought it was so – “His flow was stopped by a wave of the hand. He stuttered again – “Is this Heaven?”
“No”
“What is this?”
“Nothing”
“Where am I?”
“Nowhere”
“What am I doing here?”
“You tell me.”
“Who are you?”
“No one. Do you like helping people? A couple is trying to have a child – would you like to help them?”
“Yes”
“Would you like to go to Heaven?”
“Yes”
“Which would you rather do – help these people or go to Heaven?”
“Is that a trick question?”
“Not at all. I am just curious. I never lie. You know that.”
“I would rather go to Heaven.”
“Ok”.
“What are you doing?”
“What you asked me to do.”
He was falling – he was crying out. He was screaming - “Why are you sending me back?” “You will understand – I did not lie.” The screams were gone.
The old man laughed. “The fool!” – he thought. “The blessed damned fool!”
And then there was life.
1 comment:
read this conversation in tanu's paper, bhaiya..
this is one fab piece.
enjoyed reading it.
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