by Steve LeBel
“Billy had him down on the ground and was hitting him over and over. Do you know anyone who could control their cloud with that going on?”
“No, I guess not.”
“Zachariah, the headmaster, banished Bernie from school until he could be evaluated. He also required Bernie get additional training to control his cloud. Finally, they determined it was an isolated incident, and they let him come back.”
“But still…”
“Will you stop saying that? Bernie felt awful about it. I think that’s why he’s such a pacifist. He can’t stand the idea of hurting someone ever again.”
“What happened after Bernie returned to school?”
“Billy never stopped picking on him. Billy’s a mean-spirited kid, and he and his buddies made life hard for Bernie. I remember a story that went around the teachers’ lounge about Bernie’s clothes—”
“I heard about the way he dresses,” Ezrah interrupted. “Gabriel told me he dresses in T-shirts and torn blue jeans. He said it’s in defiance of the school’s dress code.”
“That’s not true. Let me tell you what really happened. One day Bernie came to school dressed in new clothes. He was very proud of them. Billy told him in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear that he really liked Bernie’s new clothes. Then, smirking, he said they used to be his before his mom donated them to the secondhand store. Poor Bernie was mortified.”
“Ouch. That was mean. Something like that leaves emotional scars.”
“That’s when he started wearing the blue jeans and T-shirts.”
“He couldn’t compete, so he went the opposite way, huh?”
“I’d say that’s a good guess. By the time I met Bernie, I found someone who doubted he was as good as the other kids. But he has a lot of talent. He did well in my classes because I wouldn’t let him sell himself short.”
“How did you do that?”
“Let me give you a mental picture of Bernie. He was picked on by other kids, which made him doubt his self-worth. And most of his early building experiences hadn’t gone well. Add to that his chaos cloud, which he can’t always control. Now you have a kid who doubts whether he can succeed. And because of that, he wasn’t doing the preparation or planning he should for his building projects.
“To be really blunt, I wouldn’t let him get away with that mind-set. I told him I knew he had the talent, and I insisted he do the proper planning. After that, his performance improved dramatically.”
“It sounds like you left your mark on him,” Ezrah said.
“No builder gets out of school without taking at least three or four of my classes. I leave my mark on all the kids.” She laughed.
“So, it sounds like you’re an advocate for Bernie to get a job as a builder.”
“Absolutely. You won’t be sorry.”
“Thanks for filling me in on Bernie. It’s always fun to talk with you, Beatrice.”
Stock Boy
Ezrah found his way to the company where Bernie had his co-op job. It was located in Northeast, Section Two, where most of the importers were located. Peter, the owner, stood in the doorway waiting to greet him as he arrived.
“Thanks for taking the time to talk with me, Peter. I appreciate it,” said Ezrah.
“I’m glad to help out. You want to talk about Bernie?”
“Yes. He’s applied for a builder job with The Business, and I’m doing background checks to see what kind of young god he is. I talked with a few of his teachers, and now I want to know how he performed as an employee.”
“Okay. Before I try to answer that, can you tell me what you know about my business?” Peter asked.
“Not a lot, really. I know your business is called Good Shimmer Imports, and you’re a supplier to some of the businesses around town. Maybe you should fill me in.”
“Sure. We supply businesses with retail products. We specialize in non-tech products like books, furniture, hand tools, clothes, and kitchenware. We also have a fine range of office supplies, so if you could put in a good word for us with your Supply Division, I sure would appreciate it.”
Ezra just smiled.
After a moment of awkward silence, Peter continued, “We have contracts to maintain the inventories of our customers. For example, we supply several bookstores with whatever books they need. You know how the publishing business works, right?”
“Not really. It’s a bit outside my normal work.”
“Okay. If you’re an author and you want to publish something, you go to the bookstore. They review your book. If they like it, they work out a payment arrangement with you. The bookstore contacts us, and we negotiate a price to publish and deliver the books. We’re then responsible for keeping copies of the book on their shelves until they tell us they don’t want it anymore.
“It works the same for other products too. If you’re a hardware store, and someone comes in with a new idea, you buy it from them and give us the design specs. We manufacture it for you and maintain your inventory of the product.”
“You do all that here?”
“Yep, back in the manufacturing section. Come on. I’ll show you.” The man is proud of his company, thought Ezrah.
Peter led the way into a large well-lit back room that boasted four skylights. The square room was divided by three walls that ran the length of the room, yet reached neither the ceiling nor the outside of the room, leaving plenty of room for the push-carts to move up and down the aisles and around the outside of the room. Viewing windows had been mounted every twenty feet, and next to each window was a neatly printed label with planetary reference points for the manufacturer’s location, the contact person, and the contract terms. Hundreds of windows were hung on the walls.
“I’ve never seen this done before.”
“See the youngster over there?” Peter pointed to a boy who looked about sixteen. “That’s Tony. He works in the hardware section. See the paper in his hand? That’s his shopping list. Tony made it when he visited one of our customers an hour ago. It’s a list of what’s been sold and what needs to be replaced to bring the inventory level back up.”
Tony pushed a large flatbed cart to one of the windows and positioned himself between the window and the cart. Ezrah watched the boy as he prepared to enter the universe on the other side. The boy reached through the window and appeared to bend down. Moments later, he returned to this side holding several small boxes, which he carefully placed on the pushcart. He repeated the process several times, each time adding to the pile of boxes on the cart. Finally finished, he looked at his cart, crossed several items off his list, and pushed his cart to another viewing window where he began the process again.
“When he is done filling his list, he brings the new supplies back to our customer and places them on the shelves.”
“That’s very interesting,” said Ezrah. “I assume you have contracts with higher life forms on those worlds to do the actual manufacturing for you.”
“Yes. We keep track of what they’ve provided, and we pay them once a week.”
“And this is what Bernie did?”
“Yes, he was a stock boy, just like Tony. Bernie worked mostly in the book section. He did a good job. We also used him as a paymaster when he wasn’t too busy.”
“What did that involve?”
“He would go to the manufacturer’s contact person, make sure our paperwork agreed with their billing, and he would pay them in whatever form they wanted,” said Peter. “And, by the way, I wouldn’t trust just anyone to do that job.”
“What was so special about it?”
“It can be a delicate business. You want to pay your manufacturer fairly, but you have to avoid misunderstandings. Bernie is someone I trusted to pay them and not show off.”
“What do you mean?”
“You don’t want someone to just create gold or diamonds right in front of your manufacturer. If they see that, they start thinking it’s easy for us, and then they start wanting more. I’ve lost good manufacture
rs because they got greedy. I finally realized the problems were caused by my paymasters. So now I only send people I trust.”
“Was there anything about Bernie’s performance that makes you think he would not be a good builder?”
“No. He’s a good boy. The only complaint I ever had was the way he dressed. His clothes were in pretty bad shape. I talked to him about it once. I asked him what he spent all his money on. I was going to suggest he buy clothes instead of games or toys or whatever it is kids spend their money on nowadays, but he said, ‘I give it to my mom, sir.’ I didn’t have the heart to say anything else, so I bought him a company uniform, and he wore that when he worked for me.”
“Well, thank you for your time, Peter. This has been an enlightening experience.”
“My pleasure. And don’t forget to talk to your Supply Division about us,” Peter said with his most ingratiating smile.
The Interview
Ezrah had expected to see a tall, thin boy with long hair and glasses. The young god walking in the door was pretty close. Bernie’s hair was more unruly than he had expected, with multiple cowlicks sticking out in random directions. I can’t hold that against him, Ezrah thought. Neat hair would be impossible for anyone with a chaotic nature like his. He’d half-expected to see Bernie wearing a T-shirt and torn jeans, so he was pleasantly surprised to see him wearing nice, although worn, shirt and pants. His belt did not match, and his old scuffed tennis shoes, with one lace dragging on the ground, seemed out of place. Well, it’s easy for a cloud to untie even the best knots, thought Ezrah. He could see from Bernie’s shimmer how nervous he was. It was probably all he could do to keep his cloud under control.
Ezrah put on his professional manner and said, “You must be Bernie. My name is Ezrah. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”
“Thank you, sir,” said the young god.
“Let’s go into my office and sit down. Would you like some coffee?” Ezrah asked.
“Ah, no… Thank you.”
Ezrah led the way into a large office with a beautiful dark wood desk. Nearby bookshelves and the conference table were made of the same dark wood, leaving no doubt Ezrah was a very important person in The Business. The sun shining down through a private skylight illuminated the far side of the room, which was furnished with a small sofa, a coffee table, and three chairs. Ezrah gestured to the sunlit corner. “Let’s sit over here. It’s always nice to enjoy a little sunlight. Have a seat wherever you feel comfortable.”
Bernie chose the sofa, but he remained standing until Ezrah, who selected one of the side chairs, said, “Please sit.” Bernie’s mom certainly taught him manners, Ezrah thought as he reached for his notebook and pencil.
Ezrah glanced again at Bernie’s shimmer. Hmm, he thought, we need to work on your anxiety level, Bernie, or we’re not going to have a very productive interview. Let’s start off easy.
“How was your graduation ceremony?”
“Ah… It was great, sir.”
“You’ve been working on your building degree for a long time. It must feel good to have finished it.”
“Yes, sir.”
Ezrah smiled inwardly, and said to himself, Okay, let’s try some open-ended questions.
“Can you tell me about the graduation ceremony?”
“Yes, sir. We had one hundred and seventy-six graduates this year. There were twenty-three of us in the Builder Program. Zachariah, our headmaster, made a speech about how proud he is of us. The weather was beautiful so the ceremony was outdoors. It was great.”
“I imagine everyone is very proud of you. Getting your degree in Building Sciences is hard work.”
“Thank you.”
“Bernie, I’d like to get to know you better. Can you tell me something about yourself?”
“Sure. What would you like to know?”
“Well, let’s see. What classes did you like best?”
“I always liked math and physics. And, ah… the creation classes were great too.”
“What did you like about math and physics?”
“I like solving problems. That’s why I like math. Physics is even better because there’re lots of different ways to solve the same problem. It’s fun to find a solution no one’s thought of before.” Bernie’s enthusiasm began to show.
“I noticed you were active with the Off World Technology group. Is that related?”
“Oh, yes. Some of the technology they’ve invented on other worlds is amazing. A lot of it works in our world too, you know. I love that kind of stuff.”
“Can you give me an example of something you’ve done with this technology?”
“Sure. I have a planet at home that was developing a problem with overcrowding. One of the OWT guys mentioned a portal device that lets life forms teleport across space. He gave me one of the portals. I made a duplicate planet on the opposite side of the sun for them. Then I made a hundred portals and put them all over both planets. It didn’t take long before they figured out it was less crowded on the new planet, and thousands of them migrated. It was a great solution.”
“Why didn’t you just cull the population? You know, introduce a disease or a predator. That would have done the same thing.”
“I didn’t want to hurt them.”
Oh, yes, thought Ezrah. Now we are seeing Bernie’s problem with not wanting to hurt anything.
“Then why didn’t you just talk to them about birth control or something?” Ezrah asked.
“We aren’t allowed to talk to our life forms, sir. I could get in a lot of trouble for that.” Bernie seemed surprised Ezrah would ask such a question.
“I see. Are there other classes you liked?”
“Well, I liked classes that combined different disciplines, like social engineering, anthropological design, social-psychology, physiological-psychology, genetic engineering, social-anthropology, astrophysics, and stuff like that. I like learning new things.”
“How do you do with repetitive tasks?”
“Hmm… I’m not sure. I can’t remember ever doing the same thing twice in school, sir. There were so many things to cover. They’ve been talking about changing the five-week semesters into four-week semesters so they could get more classes in.”
Ezrah thought back to his days in school. He’d stayed in the builder program for many years. When he finally changed majors, it was unbelievably different. He went from constant studying to having a social life and friends. He still had plenty of classes, but the homework dropped away to almost nothing. The kids in the building program, on the other hand, never had time for themselves.
“Can you tell me how well you get along with others?” Ezrah asked, thinking of his conversation with Beatrice.
“Ah… Pretty well lately, sir.”
“Hmm… Beatrice told me you had problems with some of your classmates.” Ezrah fumbled through his notes. “Yes. Billy and some of his friends.”
“That’s true, sir. I had problems with Billy until a couple of years ago, but I haven’t had any problems since then.”
“What happened a couple of years ago?”
“Billy and I had a lot of the same classes, but his schedule got changed during his last year, and we weren’t in the same classes anymore. He graduated a year ago, so I haven’t seen him for almost two years.”
“Have you had problems with anyone else?”
“No, sir. I’ve never had problems with anyone except Billy.”
“Another question I have is about dressing properly for work.”
The disappointment on Bernie’s face was clear as he said, “Isn’t this okay? We bought them just for work.”
“What you are wearing is fine for work. I’m talking about what you wore at school. You need to know torn jeans and T-shirts are not appropriate here.”
“I understand.” Bernie looked visibly relieved.
“Bernie, I have to ask you about problems Gabriel said you had in your creation ethics class.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Sir, I just don’t think we have to do some of those things. Gabriel said we have to install the death directive in everything we create. He said it’s the only way to evolve our life forms and avoid overpopulation. I asked him about situations where those things could be handled in other ways, and he got mad at me.”
“He says you argued with him almost every day.”
“Sir, I didn’t try to. I… Every day when he was lecturing, he would say something like, ‘…but I’m sure Bernie has a different opinion on this. Tell us what you think, Bernie.’ I didn’t want to argue with him, but I couldn’t just lie.”
“He said you are opposed to blinking out life forms if they aren’t contributing to your creation goals. Is that true?”
“Sir, I don’t think we should destroy the life forms we create. There are times we have to, but that should be the last resort. In class, Gabriel was upset because my definition of ‘last resort’ and his are different. He’s ready to blink them if they get in his way. I do it if it’s the only way.”
“Okay, I think I understand your position.” Ezrah glanced through his notes and jotted down a couple more.
“Can you tell me why I should hire you as a builder?”
“Yes, sir. Being a builder is the only thing I’ve ever wanted. I’ve been working for it my whole life. If you give me this job, I promise you won’t be sorry. I’ll do my very best for you and for The Business.”
Ezrah liked the conviction and sincerity he heard in Bernie’s words. “Thank you, Bernie. Now, before we finish, is there anything you want to tell me or you think I should know about you or your qualifications?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Are there any questions you would like to ask me?”
“Yes, sir. How long will it be before I hear from you?”