God, also known as Quince, was a salesman, he sold the best
product in the world, lives. He sold it to the timeless
souls that floated around him in a timeless zone.
Quince himself was timeless, lives didn't interest him, he
liked being at the timeless zone, being symmetrical without
having a shape. So Quince sold lives, day in and day out,
how long did he work he didn't know, for there was no time.
Quince loved his job, he loved explaining to his costumers
about his great product called life, especially he loved
showing them how a life would end, because for these souls
life was a passage that led to death which for the souls was
a ticket back home to the zone with no time. He didn't care
for the lives he sold, he said that they're not for him,
that he created them for the souls, although every time that
a soul bought a life, Quince became a bit sad.
The years passed, the metaphysical years to be exact, for
time didn't exist there.
Quince continued selling lives, he enjoyed selling lives,
and he knew exactly what to say in order to convince the
soul to buy the life he was offering him. Quince's job as a
salesman was timeless, because he knew that there would
always be souls in a search of life floating around. One day
he discovered something, he was amazed to see that in one of
the lives he was selling was a pair of oddly familiar shoes
with a golden line on one side.
From now on, when he sold a life to a soul, he made sure he
hid this life from them, for the souls were very greedy and
saucy.
In his free instants, he pondered over this life with the
familiar pair of shoes. He was thinking to himself who does
this life belong to, who sold it and when, but above all he
wondered why in the world these shoes looked so familiar. He
was so obsessed with this life that he didn't do his job
properly, he started to stutter, he started to invent things
about the lives he sold, nevertheless, the souls continued
to buy from him.
Then, one day, the answer stroke him like a bolt of
lightning, this life was his. Still, the questions about
this life kept bothering him.
The life occupied him so much, that it took away all his
concentration.
One day while he was busy with the life, a costumer
approached him, he was so busy that he hadn't noticed the
costumer's approach and didn't have enough time to hide the
life. He started to convince the soul to buy the life he was
offering him, but the soul wanted the life which Quince was
hiding behind his back, Quince insisted that the soul should
buy the life he was offered, he said that this was a great
life which ended with splendor, death by drowning in a deep
blue sea. All that talk, and all in vain, he wasn't able to
convince the soul to buy the life that was offered to him,
the impertinent soul wanted the life Quince hid, the soul
wanted his life.
This argument went on and on, until Quince had had enough of
this impertinent soul, so he took a life from the pile and
thrust it at the soul, it hit it in the stomach area, and
the soul vanished.
Hours, days, months and years passed, business was good,
Quince was much calmer, he didn't stutter and didn't lose
his concentration, and business was as usual. Quince didn't
have to worry about his life, for it was well hidden, and
therefore out of sight, so that the greedy souls wouldn't
want to buy it, so Quince could continue doing his job in
peace.
All was well, until that impertinent soul appeared, at that
very time Quince was at his workplace looking at his life
and pondering over it.
The soul approached him, and once again Quince hadn't
noticed the soul's approach, and didn't have enough time to
hide his life.
The soul was the most impertinent of all the souls and the
most greedy one, it always wanted more than the other souls,
it got no satisfaction, it always argued with quince as to
which life it ought to have, and now, it coveted Quince's
life.
The soul began his complaint in a low sheepish voice, like a
little child that lost its confidence, and as it spoke, it
gained more and more confidence, until it seemed like it was
giving orders to Quince. It complained that the life Quince
gave it didn't suit it, that it wasn't its cup of tea, that
it hated the sea, and that death at sea was a terrible way
to die. When it finished its complaint, it ordered Quince to
give it his life, and it said it in such a loud voice that
all the other souls looked at them in amazement, at that
precise moment Quince couldn't refuse the soul's order, so
he decided to find out why exactly the soul didn't like the
life that Quince sold him, it was an aggressive sale, but a
sale nevertheless.
The soul repeated its complaint politely (the soul was
impertinent, but polite), and added that it didn't like to
suffer and said that death by drowning in the sea was a
great suffering. The other souls had averted their gaze from
them; they decided that this quarrel didn't interest them.
Quince kept refusing, the soul noticed Quince's refusal to
give it his life, so it decided to take it by force. It
successfully seized Quince's arm, and dragged Quince with it
into his own life.
A very curious thing happened two minutes afterwards, the
greedy impertinent soul was thrown out of Quince's life, so,
disappointed and outraged the soul continued to float around
in the timeless zone.
Somewhere, many light years away, Quince found himself in a
solid world, surrounded by people, toys, and those oddly
familiar shoes. He grew up pretty fast, all his family died,
his friend left him, some of them died, he was left
completely alone, and eventually also died. His death was a
religious one, he beat and starved himself to death, and he
was contemplating his sins and repenting them, especially
his loftiness.
After he died, he found himself somewhere between the
timeless zone and the solid world, he asked one of the
people in line what this place was. One of people in line
pointed to a sign which said: ''Preparation zone: prepares
you for the solid world''.
Quince thought to himself, if he has already been in the
solid world, then, what is he doing here? He thought and
thought, but came to no answer, so he took a number and
decided to stand patiently in line and wait for the answer
to his question.
When his turn finally arrived, he asked the man in charge
what was he doing in the preparation zone when he already
was in the solid world, the man answered him that when one
of his costumers dragged him by force into his own life and
tried to enter the life as well, it created an overload, it
threw Quince's costumer out, and transported Quince directly
to the solid world instead of here. Also, added the man in
control, that there were already two of him in there, in the
waiting room. Quince was so taken aback by what he just
heard that he forgot what he wanted to ask next. Before
Quince had a chance to open his mouth, the man giving the
orders started explaining to him what had happened, he told
Quince that because of the overload, he got split in three,
he was sent to the solid world and the other two Quinces
were sent here to the waiting room, this is the womb's
waiting room, people who sit there are waiting to be born
into the solid world. These words astonished Quince even
more than before, so he decided to stop trying to understand
the life cycle, and instead, focus on what he's good at,
helping, or in other words, selling.
Quince asked if they needed help here in the preparation
zone, the man in command replied that they're overstaffed as
it is, but if he really wanted to help, he should try at the
beginning, or the timeless zone. Quince agreed to that, and
the man in charge sent him on his way, but before he
disappeared out of sight, the man threw something at him and
told him to take it with him to the beginning, the thing was
his life.
So, Quince stood there, at the beginning, or the timeless
zone, and gazed in amazement at a life with oddly familiar
shoes, without remembering why the shoes were so familiar,
and without remembering what had happened.