What's Under the Chair

“No, I just know it’s there,” Braun Cotes mentioned. He shuffled a bit and sat up straight.

“But there’s nothing there,” interviewer Denise Grafton countered.

“And that’s why I have faith,” Cotes continued.

Denise placed her notes to the side. “There is no orange skinned, purpled haired monster under my seat,” Denise asserted.

A look of sheer reverence that could have been sheer terror ran across Cotes’ face. It was like the blood drained from his freckled face. “I believe it. I have faith there’s a Goblin under your chair.”

Denise then asked, “If it’s real, then why do you say you have faith in it? What do you believe? Things that are actual don’t require faith. They just are.”

“Regardless. I say it’s real down in my heart.”

The cameras continued to roll in the live interview. The electricity in the room felt palpable. It seemed charged with a bit of rage and restrained ill-temperament.

“I’m telling you. There are scrolls and scriptures that tell of this very beast. It knows my every move because it is omnipresent, it knows full strength because it is omnipotent, and it knows what I’m doing while I’m doing it because it is omniscient.”

Denise looked severe. It was as if her chiseled cheekbones and feminine lips and nose had been cast in plaster and her gaze had frozen upon her subject’s countenance. She looked down at her lap and then back up again.

“I will say this is beyond ridiculous. I uphold your right to believe in this beast. I respect your faith even though there is no evidence or facts or proof. I must say, yet, that there is no reason involved here. And that’s what you wish to do. You want to go on with this faith and still hold on to science and logic. You use them as the go-between of ideals. Is that fair?”

“No it’s not. I know there’s a Goblin underneath you. It made the world and the heavens and everything. Even you. And it loves you. It loves you so much that words cannot properly express the true meaning and depth of its love.”

Denise cleared her throat. “So let me get this right….This ogre—”

“Goblin.”

Okay, this ‘Goblin’ loves me even though it would have no trouble sending me to a place of horrors and death?”

“That’s right.”

“So what is the point of worshipping this monster?”

“You want to live an everlasting life, right?”

“I’ll live life right now and never worry about some alleged unlimited life beyond the grave.”

“But that’s just it. You enjoy life now, maybe you suffer and sacrifice here and there but you just worship and praise the Goblin and he will save your soul.”

There was a metallic, acrid taste in Denise’s mouth. “How do you square the reality of this universe with the supposed Goblin under my seat? I mean money, taxes, bills, the real world and everything in it….How do you position those things together?”

“Render unto this world that which is the world’s. The spiritual realm permits all of that to come into being. When I get paid, I thank the Goblin for the provision. He did that. He is the one to receive all the glory.”

Denise threw her head back. Her dark brown lochs caressed her brown skin.

“So, you say that Goblins can’t be seen but what is under the chair is actually nothing.”

“You say that, but you can’t prove that there isn’t anything under that chair.”

“Negatives are never meant to be proven,” Denise fired back.

For a moment, it was like time had shrunk into itself. The laws of gravity appeared to have been reversed, but it was all in Cotes’ head. “The Goblin is a spirit. His ways are unlike anything in the world. We must worship Him.”

“Why do you feel so adamant? If you were born in another time and place, would you possess the same fervor?”

“That’s not up to me. That’s why I’m here now, to gaze upon His excellence.”

With that, Denise shifted gears again. “So this deity under which I am allegedly seated…how did he get here? If he’s everywhere, why isn’t he someplace else, too?”

“I…I’d say he has the power of an all seeing eye. He has the ability to see, know, and have the might to control every aspect of reality.”

“You use the word ‘reality.’ That has to do with human consciousness rather than just existence. How do you square that with the good things in life? Most often people say the nastiness, the wars, child rape and cancer…but how could this being even begin to make beauty and art and technology?”

“Well…he knows…I’m saying he knows that it is up to humans to do all of that,” Cotes made plain.

Denise lowered her tone and tempo. “You mean free will?”

“Exactly!” Cotes exclaimed.

“This same free will distinguishes man from beast, no less?”

“Precisely.”

“So, why does this Goblin have the distinct role of meting out justice? Why has virtually every other being, save for a few, been relegated to mythology?”

“This Goblin knows how to show mercy and also how to punish those who go against his Word. Other monsters are false. That’s why myths have survived and their ‘real’ power has not,” Cotes explained.

“What if I told you existence exists?”

“Huh?”

“What if all there is around us and in us is all there is at this moment and we are to cherish every second as precious and try to hold onto this limited time we have on the Earth?”

Cotes looked cross, befuddled, and confused. He scratched his head. He fidgeted. “You know…I have to say that…there’s a way that you can still live this life and give your all to the Goblin.”

Denise shot a glance at her production assistant. The PA signalled to keep going.

“Okay, let’s just say in a scenario where everyone else has decided to follow existence. What is. Would you change your ideals?”

Cotes shifted in his seat. Some sweat trickled down his face like a spider descending a wall.

“I would still retain my faith. No turning back.”

“This whole Goblin issue, it says that you shouldn’t be self-interested when in all of its wisdom and strength, it exerts its will and shows the viciousness of collectivism and altruism. How do you represent that?”

“Selfishness is abhorrent. It is a disease—”

“Who feels this way?”

“I do.”

“You give yourself enough credit to speak and judge but you say that you are unselfish and selfless? Please explain this….”

Cotes coughed and wiped his forehead. “I—I mean we believe that when you take the Goblin out of the picture, it means your downfall.”

“Who’s downfall?”

“Yours—anybody’s,” Cotes mentioned, slightly agitated. He moved around in his chair and then sat straight up, his back off the chair.

“What do you think is the highlight of your relationship with this Goblin?”

“I know for a fact that there is a Goblin under your seat. I’ve known it ever since I was young. A boy. And now as a grown man, I’m ready to embark on a journey of discovery.”

“What kind of discovery?” Denise asked.

“I only say ‘I’ because it is myself I’m speaking of, now. It doesn’t mean I’m selfish. Anyway, I want to find the essence of me in all of this. That sounds like ego but it is the Goblin which drives me. I mean ‘what’s a goon to a Goblin’?” He chuckled a nervous, dry laugh and patted his brow.

“Will you continue to spread the message that there is in fact a Goblin nestled underneath where I am seated?”

“Yes. That is one thing I will do. I will continue to fight as a warrior for the Word. I will wave a sword at any perpetrator who tries to go against his plan for my life.”

“If there is one thing I can do to illustrate why there is a Goblin, what is it? Again, where is the evidence?” Denise asked.

“Look at me. I’m evidence. I’m a living sacrifice for the Goblin. He is right there.” He lifted his right first finger and pointed to the floor directly under where Denise sat.

“That’s not really evidence—” Denise responded.

“That’s what you say. I say there is definitely a Goblin who runs all things. Only free will can be the difference but it’s really about the Goblin’s will. Have I discussed his Daughter and the Spook that lives within Him?”

Denise raised her eyebrows. “Wow, no. What is this latest development in the ongoing saga that is the Goblin below?”

“Yes, He sent His one and only Daughter down to save the sinners. Well, you see now, He destroyed the world once and then sent Her down to die for us after the deluge. She actually appears in the scrolls throughout, from beginning to end. First She was there for the formation, then Her birth, then Her lifting up to the Goblin realm, then She came back and then lifted again. She’ll be back for Her fourth coming in the years ahead.”

“I’m intrigued. How did she become part of the picture? What are her powers?”

“She’s great for killing and then raising people from the dead. Yet some people weren’t dead when She raised them. They had just slightly overdosed.”

“Okay, now talk about how She died for the sins of the world….”

“Yes, the very Goblin that rests where you sit loved mankind so much that He allowed her to be raped and tortured. All of this was in the way of saving us from all evil.”

“And the Spook?”

“The Spook actually is part of a holy three-way with Goblin and Daughter.”

“This is all coming together to form a mosaic of mysticism….” Denise remarked.

“I find that term condescending.”

“But that’s what it is. It is the acceptance of ideas knowing there is no proof.”

Cote’s knees clacked together. He sweated profusely.

“No. This is a code of morality. This is a code that presents a way of life that has been going on since forever. I am focused on a code that says I have a savior from the Daughter. It is a code that says "She died for me and was raised from the grave.”

“And what about your worst enemies?” Denise queried.

“What about them?”

“Didn’t She die for them, too?”

“I don’t know. I’m only worried about my salvation.”

“But I thought you weren’t selfish….” Denise retorted.

“I—we who believe—we’re focused on our own lives and loving our enemies, too. If I am selfish for being someone who can love his worst adversary, count me in that number. I know the code.”

“It is a code you have never questioned. Never have you indicated how the adversary, man, is against the Goblin. You have been born into it and came about it every way but reason. Is that accurate?”

Cotes looked around, his eyes burning coals against his brown skin. He shot out of his chair and ripped the mic from his suit jacket. Though almost inaudible, his voice shrieked through the air. The television audience could still understand his words, nonetheless.

“I don’t care what you say. Man is inherently evil. He is intrinsically wicked. I’m fighting for my life! There’s a Goblin beneath you! You know it and I know it! All you have to do is admit it.”

“Mr. Cotes, you’re displaying….” Denise intoned.

“I don’t give a damn! I can do what I want when I want! Goblin has given me the power! He is my everything!”

Some of the production staff corralled the man who spouted what he would call gospel. Denise sat with her legs crossed and looked through her notes. On index cards she had inscribed her thoughts. She had a stack of unanswered questions. She combed through them, prepared to have them answered. She stood up from her seat. She looked under it and then at her staff. She shrugged, smiled, and exited the room.