The Scent of the Blueberry -- 15

Evelyn laughed ruefully. “Well, it would be pretty damn inconvenient if you didn’t have it.”

Michel smiled. “True. But let me go on. We usually select a new body, but there are times that we borrow one that’s already in use.”

“Now that sounds a lot like the plot of a bad sci-fi movie.”

“Maybe, but it’s not fiction. You know how sometimes they talk about someone being possessed?
Well, it’s something like that. That’s the alternative. The possessing spirit generally leaves the body when it’s killed. The only thing is that the spirit can’t repossess the same body. ”

“That sounds kind of arbitrary.”

“No, I think it has something to do with the activation of an immunity function. That’s the current thinking anyway. We have a bunch of R&D scientists working on that.”

“Somehow I’m not surprised,” she said dryly.

“Anyway, on with the story. When I was still young and in training, they took me away from my parents and removed me from the school.”

“Who is ‘they’?”

“It doesn’t really matter. They were acting under orders. You see, if you’re religious, you believe in something called ‘the will of God’. That’s the ultimate authority, and the ultimate reason for doing anything. Part of the purpose of life would be to discern the will of God, and to follow it.”

“Not in my book.”

“You and a lot of other people. But, anyway, they told my parents and the school officials that it was the will of God. And, of course, they let me go.”

“And this was all because you were different? Because you were some kind of child prodigy or something?”

“Not in any way that I could see. Now this is the funny thing about God – the thing that I have never figured out. One of the things, at least.”

"If I had been a human being, a regular human being, the government or someone might have come to my parents, or to the school, and said, ‘Look. This kid is really good in math. Or music. Or tiddlywinks, whatever. We want to take him aside and put him with other kids who are also good at that.’ You see what I mean? I would never have had to learn basketball, or French, or anything else – because the community had a whole bunch of other people who could do that. Besides, they probably would have pulled out anybody who was especially good at basketball or French, and they wouldn’t have had to study music or math. You know what I mean?’

Evelyn nodded.

“God doesn’t work that way – it’s like he has an entirely different set of rules. So I get pulled out, and I receive specialized military training. Martial arts.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense. I mean, if God were God, you’d figure that he would do smart things. So how smart is that?”

“I don’t know how smart it is. But I do know that he does it pretty consistently – pick people to do things that really weren’t the most likely individuals. David to fight Goliath, almost any one of the Apostles, Mohammed – take your pick. If humans had been creating a short list, none of those people would have been on it. But hey, you know, it does seem to work out in the end.”

“Did it work out in the end for you?”

“In the end, yes. For the divine will anyway.” Michel smiled. “For the divine will – definitely. For me, well, maybe that doesn’t matter so much.”

“So how did it work out?”

“It went on for a long time, especially if you measured it in the way that humans measure time. Martial arts on a spiritual level are different from martial arts on a human level – but the underlying ideas, the essence, is still the same. Discipline, self-deprivation, self-sacrifice, respect for authority. . .”

“Doesn’t sound like an easy program for a little boy. Especially a little boy who loves to hear his mother sing around the house.”

Michel paused. “Or who loves to look at the clouds and the stars. No, there was no more of that, and no more singing around a house, as you put it. It was all about the drill. Each day had its structure, and we never deviated from it.”

“So they wanted you to become a little soldier. But why? I mean, God is supposed to be so powerful, right? Why would a God need a little boy, a little mathematical prodigy, to become a soldier?”

Michel smiled. “Well, you do have to realize that the Almighty doesn’t always confide in me.”

Evelyn whistled through her teeth. “Well, at least that’s one piece of disbelief that I won’t have to suspend, eh?”

“But, the way it turned out, there was a real danger, a real threat. I don’t know if that threat was powerful enough to pose any kind of real danger to God himself – I mean, if you’re Almighty, I figure that you don’t have to worry about that kind of thing. But there was a threat to God’s creation and, of course, he saw that long before it actually developed.”

“But if the author of this threat had free will, it wouldn’t have been predetermined – so God couldn’t have foreseen it. Right?”

“You’ll have to ask God about that one,” Michel smiled. “I don’t know. All I know is that he saw it coming, and my training was part of the preparation.”

“I still don’t get it. If God knew everything, he would see it coming. Then, if God, your God, I should say, was almighty, no offense but he wouldn’t need you to stop it. Right?”

“You’re right. What I mean is, you’re right when you say that you don’t get it. It just doesn’t happen that way – don’t ask me why. God had decided that I was going to be the person who’d take care of this for him.”

“Kind of a hit man.”

“What?”

“You know – like a hit man for the Mafia. You’re telling me that God had a problem, and wanted you to fix it for him. You work for a God who doesn’t take out his own dirty laundry – he takes little boys, little boys who love music, the clouds and the stars, away from their mothers. That’s what you’re telling me.”

“Look, I’m not judging it. I’m not in the position to judge God.” Michel paused. “And neither are you.”

Silence. “You’re right, I suppose,” Evelyn admitted. “And I didn’t mean to attack your religious beliefs. I think that everyone has a right to worship and believe the way they want. Everyone that is,” she looked down at her ankle chain, “until it interferes with the freedom of others. I guess maybe you could see why I wouldn’t believe in this God of yours.”

Michel sighed. “As I said, the existence of God doesn’t depend on our belief.”

“Alright. We’ve gone around in one big circle. So, before I had so rudely interrupted you. . . okay, maybe that’s not fair. Look, Michel, I’m sorry if you feel as though you were taken from your mother like that. Whether or not it’s by a God, there’s really no excuse for that. And I’d feel sorry for your mother as well. You didn’t have any sibs?

“No.”

“No one to sing to. That’s something I would miss. I never thought of a baby as someone to sing to. Maybe God is a man after all. No woman would ever do that – take her child away like that.”

“Like having an abortion.” Michel regretted the words the moment they left his mouth.