And For What Price?

Julius sat on the park bench staring at nothing in particular. It was as though he were looking into the distance; but he hadn’t the luxury in this city, everywhere you looked were brutalist deco-ish buildings scraping the sky. A life with a view constantly obstructed, literally and figuratively. He was stuck in more ways than one, both to this bench and in his path of life. Julius knew there was something more out there than what we see physically, but what? He didn’t even know where to begin, what questions to even ask. It was always a shaky subject, and today shook his world enough to push him over that curb and start asking a better question. What else is out there? He didn’t simply wonder what was beyond the George Washington Bridge any longer, but who engineered it, and what gave them the drive to do so? What fed that person’s soul?

And he wondered not only what gave someone ambition, but also what brought them down. What oppressive forces leave a person in the wake of depression? What drives a loving mom to slap her husband, or a little boy to push a girl down on the play ground? Not the reason behind the choice, but what caused and was behind the reasoning?

A newspaper blew in the wind, slapping Julius in the face. It woke him from his trance from reality, leaving a smear of some sort of scum on his cheek. He was repulsed, pulled his hand in his thick sleeve and wiped his face. The city he used to think was magical had been trashed by years of neglect. It could be so much more if people loved it better, if they loved each other better. It still held it’s historical charm, but was slowly dying in a way you could only understand as a native.

His eyes slowly teared up, his mind was racing with a myriad of questions, it became overwhelming. He hadn’t cared prior, he hadn’t to face this existential problem til now, there wasn’t a reason to ever consider a life outside of the cards you were handed because most people he knew never got anything outside of what they were given. How could you earn more when earning wasn’t possible. It’s hard to move up when you can’t move.

He had taken a slice of Champion Pizza across the street to the park while his dad worked. He was only halfway through it when he couldn’t help the slurry of thoughts. But he took another bite while it was still warm. The warm pizza on the autumn day brought him back down and helped center him. He was still practically petrified by both the thoughts racing in his mind, and the fact that someone had just handed him a brown grocery sack with twenty thousand dollar cash in it. While a frog sat in his throat, he knew better than to act out in this crowd. He simply had to suffer through the heart attack he felt like he was having while his chest tightened. Another bite of warm pizza.

All the noise slowly crept back into his head. Kids were running around screaming, horns honking, countless people taking selfies, it all became a large wave that was over whelming for Julius. Even after he finished the crust, he was too nervous a wreck to throw away his plate, so he just sat. Everyone around him felt like an enemy. Julius may not have understood many things, but he well understood greed, a very innate feature of humanity. He’d be torn alive as easily as that brown paper bag were a single bill to slip out. Julius pretended that the bag held groceries, it made him more comfortable with the knowledge of the large sum that sat next to him, as though no one in the never ending crowd would ever consider stealing something even simple as groceries from a teenager. It was a false security, he knew that people are capable of stealing much less. Julius began to sweat, so he took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.

“Hey pal!” One guy exclaimed as he dropped down into the seat next to Julius. Julius’ eyes got wide enough to roll out of his head and he choked on his air. The guy threw his arm around him and shook him, “Any chance you could get a picture of me and my friend?!” As he shook Julius he kept hitting the brown bag next to him. His other friend sat on Julius’ other side, crunching the side of the bag. Every little shake and hit freaked Julius out.

“Ok, I’ll take the picture if you please, leave me alone” Julius said.

The guy got up and noticed he crunched the bag on the seat.

“Oh, I’m sorry man, I didn’t mean to smash you groceries, man.” the stranger said,

“Let me fix that for you.”

Julius snapped at him, “No! Leave it!”

The two guys seemed to get more interested at Julius’ possession since he acted more defensive.

“What’s in the bag that’s so important, man?” he said.

“Yea, what do you have in there?”

“None of your business,” Julius replied. He kicked himself internally, knowing full well saying that made them want it to be their business. He had never fought two people at once, but he was scrappy and had a hard fist, Julius felt a strange sensation that he was willing to knock some teeth out in an instant if he needed to. He hesitated at that thought, he had never once before thought to himself that he would knock someone’s teeth out, but he caught that thought very quickly, where was it coming from?

In the moment of his hesitation, the two strangers pulled him away from the bag. Julius panicked, he made a one-eighty and was immediately willing to beg for it back. But he had never groveled or pleaded before. What was happening to him, he thought. He was getting strange feelings all suddenly like never before.

And at the perfect moment, another stranger stepping in between the two boys snatched the bag out of their hands before they could open it.

“Get lost!” she yelled.

Julius looked at her in disbelief as they ran off. Julius was perturbed that they would mess with him so easily, yet run away from an old homeless lady.

“Can I please have that back?” he asked her. She looked disheveled and dirty, but had a sweet face.

She sat down on the bench, still holding the bag and setting it on her lap. She patted the seat next to her, gesturing to have a listen. Julius sat, she could see the pleading in his eye, whatever was in this bag was important to him.

“Why did they run away from you so quickly?” Julius asked her.

“”What did I do differently than you?” she retorted.

“What do you mean?”

“What did I do differently?”

“You grabbed the bag?” he said half question half answer.

“I had faith”

“What do you mean?”

“My dear boy, do you not understand? You say I grabbed the bag, I said I had faith. You were more worried about whether or not you would get the bag back, that fearing that you would not dominated your thought process. Evil smells fear boy, it thirsts for it”

Julius shivered, pulling his coat around him tighter.

“Evil will know what it wants from you before you see it approaching, and you’ll be caught off guard every time. And faith is a double edged sword.”

Julius took a minute to run this over. She set the bag in his lap, he relaxed for a minute.

“Do you believe this bag belongs to you” she asked.

“Y-yes” he stammered.

“Do you believe this bag could belong to me?” she pried.

“I-I suppose it could, if you ran off with it” he hesitated.

“I can see whatever is in there is important to you,” and she pointed as his forehead “but I can also see there is something in there that is important to you. “A question perhaps, because you keep hesitating.”

“Who are you?” he asked.

“I’ll make you a deal,” she pried.

“There’s nothing that you could offer me that would make me want to trade.”

“Are you sure?”

“Well, what are you offering?” Julius asked.

“What if I could give you man’s greatest question and explanation, something that would help you to achieve everything you’ve wanted, and help you understand life along the way?” she offered.

“My dad always said ‘give a man a fish, he eats for a day, teach him to fish, he eats for a lifetime,’ something like that?” Julius asked. He found it a rather responsible thing to ask, but furthermore he knew that there was more to life and everything happens for a reason, he felt a sensation of understanding, he felt hope. Maybe this was no random occurrence, but evil had smelled his fear on the bench and now good was sitting right here offering the answers to life greatest question. How far could twenty thousand really get him in this city when he could sell the answer to everything and make so much more than that. He could become a published author and make millions!

“Will this make me richer?” he asked her.

“Yes” she affirmed.

Julius was willing to take that bet. He felt it right down in his soul. He wasn’t losing anything he hadn’t had before today, but this trade could change everything for him, and maybe even humanity depending on how he shared or published his findings. He realized the sound of the busy city had faded away. The winds had calmed and everything was gel and surreal in the midst of it’s busyness. He had been sent an angel.

Julius shook her hand and she smiled a warm smile. She stood, putting the bag in her shopping cart full of cans and what rags appeared to be clothes.

His heart skipped a beat as she pulled from out of her jacket a little black book.

When he reached for it, they both held it for a moment. He felt a tingle as she spoke with such confidence.

“After today, you will be much more rich than you could ever imagine.”

Julius immediately sat down and began to open the small leather book. The world around him was still quiet, before reading he was already lost in his own world. He knew this would change everything for him today.

Hungrily, he read--

“The Last Question: by Isaac Asimov

The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on May 21, 2061, at a time when humanity first stepped into the light...”

About half an hour later, he looked up from his book, and she was gone, the money was gone, and the noise of the city flooded back. He was richer, and for what price?