The sound of his bike did not disturb my calm. I looked at the horizon and saw the ocean waves dissapear into oblivion. It was an uncomfortably humid afternoon. Yet, I sat there, with my eyes straining to remain open. I wish I'd brought a pair of sunglasses.
"Pretty meek, ey" , said he as he walked over and stood towards my left trying to see what was it that i was looking at for a while.
"Ah.. boring", said he, and with the wipe of his hand, changed the scene to a grass mountain overlooking the city. But, then appeared a metal fence all of the sudden, and it made the view mesh-like.
D: "God damn it, oops, sorry. See, I tried to fix the boring hot afternoon beach with a greener mountain top watching the city lights, and voila, there comes a fence that disturbs your view now. I always goof up one thing or the other. And yes, I can't change the time, its still 6 pm"
I just looked at him, smiled and continued my gaze into the oblivion.
He understood that his little magic did not work any wonders on me. I had seen it before. He stood by the fence and tried use one of the Matrix dialogues to start the conversation.
Devil: "Look at them, city lights. millions of people driving, going home, going to the bar, going to the school or whevere, just living out their lives. and you, you decide to stop doing whatever it is that you are doing, and sit on your butt atop his grass mountain (yup , i cheated, you were warming your ass on the beach), and stare into oblivion. I can't read whats in your mind you know, I am not him"
Human: "Why are you even trying?"
D: "What? To read your mind? We are all his lost children you know. Am his creation too". He chuckles into a peel of laughter. "Na... am just curious about humans who live right in the middle you know. You are neither overly affiliated to him , or me. You stay right in the middle -as human".
H: "I don't do it on purpose"
D: "Exactly, thats why you are so good at it (Courtesy: Memento, 1999)."
D: "I am surprised that you lasted this long. I thought you'd give up much earlier. Maybe in the first year, when I made you falter at your first steps and made you doubt yourself. Or , your year 3, when I sprinkled some spice on your weakest territories, ha ha. Or , your recent pat, where I tried to fill in with worries of your future. The What-If What-If scenario. But heck! you persist. What about this is so promising that you choose to persist?"
H: "Does no one last as long as me?"
D: "Well, its not that. Most give up much earlier than you, you know. Its only in weird persisters like you, that I have to take a personal trip and have a one-to-one conversation like this to understand what is your driving force. And with you, this is not our first conversation, so need of the pleasantaries, I can get straight to the point".
H: "I could ask the same to you, I am surprised that you lasted this long in your attempts. What about me is so challenging for you? Why don't you send a vampire or fire ball or some disease or misfortune and claim my allegience".
D: "Well, thats fun with those who really believe in me. The problem with you lots is that you know its all my game. You know, I am bored with the billions who falter over easily. I want a better game. I mean, I want it to happen to you, the same way as it happens to others, slow steps of temptation, stepping in to the realm of clouded decisions and then finally abandoning thought. But you don't! You stay as human. Its irritating that I still have to put your file in the "Unclassified" shelf. I know what rocks your ship, but I don't know yet, what will topple it over completely".
H: "Give it some time"
D: "True. That. He didn't give me access to that tool - 'Time'. I can only stretch, squeeze time when someone is under the influence. Sometimes it works, startling them with hallucinating images of dreams of predictive future. But its momentary, I really cannot speed up from the 6:06 pm now to 9 pm , if i wished. Nor can I send it back to where it all started".
H: "Is that remorse in your tone? that you can't go back?"
D: "No way. I'd try out a different path, but never kneel to allegience. You humans having it easy. You can kneel and plead for forgiveness saying - oh good lord, I was tempted. Ever wondered who tempted me to rebel? Or is that innate is some of us?".
H: "Whats wrong with allegience?
D: "Hey, you are the human, you are being spot-checked, not me. Don't ask me!So then, how long do you intend to sit here? When will you move on?"
H: "Why don't you wait and see? Isn't boring to predict or know all thats going to happen. I mean, I understand your need for feeling alive by trying to influence my decisions. But why make me commit on a specific time when I will stop being this or that and move on? Don't worry, our paths will cross again".
The roar of his bike echoed into the night. The fire from his bike tore down the fence and off he raced down the grass mountain into the city that was beginning to get dark. 8 million souls lay await. Who knows, what he will discover today?
Sometimes I wonder though, do I spit out enough venom and negativity that it even pisses of the devil himself ?
