I was trying to write Down the Labyrinthine Ways when I heard the knock. From what I could tell from my excursions outside my room, I was the only one in the City. And yet there was a knock on the door.
I opened it. There was nobody there, just the darkened street, now lined with wooden garages, each one painted white and marked with a number.
There was something in front of Number 4.
Perhaps it was because "4" kind of looks like "A," but they had left something for me. Something I remembered from my childhood.
An issue of Doc Savage and a blank domino. I remembered reading my old issues of Doc Savage, hiding in my covers when I was supposed to be asleep, my fingers achingly traveling from word to word as I became enraptured by the world of Doc Savage.
And I remembered this issue. The issue about John Sunlight. The only bad guy to ever be Doc Savage's equal. Oh, how he frightened me. "It seemed from the first that John Sunlight had been put on this earth so that men could be afraid of him." Men and little girls, as it were.
I flipped through the pages, looking to see whatever message A had left here. The book wasn't exactly like the one I had when I was a kid - it seemed like this one was a reproduction. The copyright said it was from "2006." And then I found what I was looking for:
"1 SAM 15:32."
1st Samuel 15:32. And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.
Maybe I should explain this for all of you without a Christian background. Agag was the King of Amalekites. God instructed King Saul to "completely destroy" the Amalekites; however, Saul spared Agag. Samuel saw this as a defiance of God's will. So he took Agag and cut him up into bits.
I don't know what to make of this. Should I be worried that A will cut me up? Am I Agag? Or am I Samuel? Should I obey A is if they were God?
And what about the domino? It has no dots on it - it's just blank. What does that mean?
At least I have some reading material now that isn't gibberish. Although the last time I read this story, I had such horrible nightmares.
Sam Norton
I don't know how dominoes were played in your time but last time I played blanks were a "wild card".
ReplyDeleteAs for A, well they certainly seem to think they're a god. I'd say that when it comes to A prove Friedrich Nietzsche right. If you aren't familiar with him he's a German Philosopher from the 19th century who famously proclaimed "God is dead."
Indulging in megalomania is hardly the best way to deal with it, for both the indulger and the indulgee.
ReplyDeleteWe all should know the dangers of belief by now.