“I don’t want you to speak like that again. Do you hear me? It’s blasphemy, that’s what it is, plain and simple. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
Jakey blew a blast of air out of the side of his mouth and decided it was better not to retaliate, not when she was in one of those moods. It was true no one really knew what the box was for – it had stood next to the cemetery for more years than anyone could remember.
Jared, the wise old man, had said that once upon a time, people had used it to talk directly to God, but it had since fallen into disrepair. Now people talked to God by kneeling in their rooms and talking to him directly. As Jared had said, wasn’t that a better idea than using the contraption in the box.
Jared, the wise old man, had said that once upon a time, people had used it to talk directly to God, but it had since fallen into disrepair. Now people talked to God by kneeling in their rooms and talking to him directly. As Jared had said, wasn’t that a better idea than using the contraption in the box.
Talking to God had been upgraded, and now everyone was happy.
Except for Jakey, that is. He was cynical about most things in life (and death) and wondered if there wasn’t more to this box than met the eye. The box was constantly kept in light by the use of an old battery that Jared had placed behind the box.
“Although we no longer speak to God via his instruments, we must keep the box in light in case he should make a call, to us poor sinners again,” said Jared.
Always with the sinners, thought Jakey. No one asked to come here, and yet we are labelled as sinners if we don’t do what we are told.
Sure he talked to God himself, I mean it felt good to get things off your chest, even if he was just blowing hot air into the sky.
But this box, this upright box next to the fence was a sacred place in the village. It had been here before the dark skies, before the wars and before the world had grown tired and old. It wasn’t to be touched, but that didn’t satisfy Jakey, so one warm night, he took an old torch (another relic from an unknown age) and dug around the sacred box. He knew if he were caught he would be banished to the high hills – but at least he’d meet his brother who had gone there a few years before.
A few feet below the box to the right-hand side, he found long black things made of a material similar to the things in the box. They looked broken somehow, so Jakey did what he always did, he tried something and hoped for the best.
He twisted the long shiny things and joined them up. He didn’t know what to expect, perhaps if there were a God, he would strike him down there and then, just as Jared had said would happen.
Jakey came around to the front of the box and waited on his fate.
Suddenly the box made a noise. A noise like the bells old Sally would play at mid-summer. It seemed to come from the black thing in the box. The piece that was used once upon a time to talk to God.
Jakey crawled carefully over to the box and then thought, what the heck, stood up and lifted the black piece – he could hear a noise coming from it. He put one part of it to his ear.
“Hello”, said a voice from the black thing. “Can you hear me?”
“Yes”, shouted Jakey at the top of his voice.
“Are you God?” Jakey screamed at the black thing.
“No...”
bobby stevenson 2019
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