At the End - before the Beginning.

He stood before the man with the flowing beard

“How do you justify your existence?”

“I did not choose to exist. I don’t have to justify it.”

He wasn’t sure if that was the right answer. He did not know how things worked here.

“Were you a good father?”

“Yes”

“Were you a good husband?”

“Yes”

“So were a million others. What did you do?”

“I thought you knew”

“I want to hear it from you”

“I started my own company. I introduced a new concept to the world.”

“Did it help people?”

“Yes – it was something they needed but did not realize they needed. I helped them.”

He could not stand it any longer. He blurted out, “Are you going to send me to Hell?”

“Where do you think you were for a part of the past 75 years?”

That made sense. He smiled – “You know – there were times when I did think I was in Hell. The days before my company started doing well. The days immediately after the kids left, when the wife and I had not yet started taking those amazing vacations -you know…” His flow was stopped by a wave of the hand. He stuttered again – “Is this Heaven?”

“No”

“What is this?”

“Nothing”

“Where am I?”

“Nowhere”

“What am I doing here?”

“You tell me.”

“Who are you?”

“No one. Do you like helping people? A couple is trying to have a child – would you like to help them?”

“Yes”

“Would you like to go to Heaven?”

“Yes”

“Which would you rather do – help these people or go to Heaven?”

“Is that a trick question?”

“Not at all. I assure you that this is not a criterion. I am just curious. I never lie. You know that.”

“I would rather go to Heaven.”

“Ok”.

The trap door began to open – “What are you doing?”

“What you asked me to do.”

He was falling. He was crying. He was screaming. “Why are you sending me back?” “You will understand – I did not lie.” Then the screams were gone.

The old man laughed. Softly. Lovingly. “The fool!” – he thought. “The blessed damned fool!”

A sperm met an egg.