Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: North (05/05/16)
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TITLE: Non-Compliance | Previous Challenge Entry
By Gary Ritter
05/09/16 -
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I arrived early at the office, but since I didn’t have a key, I waited for my new boss while sitting on a rock on the dirt road outside the building. Pondering my future I looked behind me at the sign above my head: Nephilim City Department of Red Tape. Pride swelled within my heart.
“Hey, kid, you my new help?” A man of slight build hovered over me. He had a constant twitch in his left eye and didn’t seem able to keep his fingers still.
“Yes, sir, if you’re Mr. Zerah.”
His eye twitched even more when he grinned, displaying several wooden teeth filling the gaps in his mouth. “That’s me. And you’re Eshban?”
I confirmed it, and we got right to work. He had a busy day for us in the field. We headed north from the city and after an hour’s donkey ride came upon the weirdest structure I’d ever seen. It was a massive wooden structure shaped like...I didn’t know what.
“What is that, Mr. Zerah?”
“Don’t know, kid, but it’s not in compliance.” He waved at a man high up on scaffolding. “You up there! Come down immediately.”
The man clambered down. Sweat poured down our faces as we waited for him. He wiped his own brow when he stood before us and towered over my boss. Muscles rippled on his bare chest. The hammer he carried made me a little nervous. “What can I do for you?” His gentle voice surprised me.
Mr. Zerah consulted his papyrus scroll. “Noah, you don’t listen very good. I’ve told you that this…this ark as you call it, is not allowed per Item 666 of the Uniform Building Code. You must destroy it. Failure to comply means I’ll have to burn it down.”
“I’m sorry, but God ordered me to build this, and I won’t disobey Him. Besides, it’s almost completed. Want me to show you around?”
“I do not! You have until next week to dismantle this thing.”
Noah shrugged. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m going to obey God’s rules, not man’s.”
The trek back to the city under the burning sun was made more unpleasant with the mutterings of Mr. Zerah.
I learned a lot over the next week but true to his word, we made our way back to the northern boundaries of the city to revisit my boss’ nemesis. From what he told me, no one else flaunted the rules like this Noah fellow. He was apparently bound and determined to build this ark thing, come Sheol or high water, whatever that was.
From a distance we came upon a scene that astounded us. Hundreds of animals lined up two-by-two were filing into Noah’s project. Mr. Zerah went berserk. “What’s this all about, Noah? Don’t you know that Article 6 of the Animal Compliance Act specifically forbids the gathering of beasts in confined spaces? Do you have any idea what we went through negotiating that law with PETA?”
The words seemed to roll off Noah’s back. He had such a calm demeanor. I wondered how he could be so peaceful in the face of Mr. Zerah’s attacks.
“Gentlemen, I’d like to offer you a place on the ark. God will soon make it rain and the world will flood. He’s told me you’re welcome to join us.”
My boss’s face grew red. He sputtered, “You’ll pay for this outrage!”
God spoke to him? I wondered what Noah meant by the words “rain” and “flood.”
Noah smiled. “God loves you.”
Mr. Zerah’s hand grabbed my robe and pulled me away. “Such rubbish.”
“But, sir, he really believes this. I’ve never seen anyone with such a moral compass that points straight north to God like his does.”
“You have much to learn, son.”
We hadn’t gone far when I felt a drop of something fall from the sky. Water. From the sky. How odd. We kept walking, and the water began falling more steadily. In reaching the city we found water gushing from the earth. Soon its levels began to rise.
Panic set in, for me along with everyone else. Water kept coming down and rushing forth from beneath.
I thought of Noah’s ark and his invitation. But by then it was too late.
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