Mindy Aber Barad

Ms. Barad moved to Israel in 1977, has a BA from Washington University (St. Louis), and an LLB from Hebrew University. She practiced law, but writing is her first career choice. In 1997 Ms. Barad won second prize in the Jewish Librarians' Choice competition, for a children's story, Hannah's Succah (published in a Pitspopany anthology: Jewish Humor Stories for Kids). Her poetry, stories, book reviews and essays have been published in Wild Plum, Current Accounts, the Jerusalem Post, the Jewish Press and other publications both on and off line.

The following work is copyright © 2008. All rights reserved. No distribution or reprinting in any form whatsoever without written permission from the author.

  

The Sixth Day

We sat down at the edge of the lake, G-d and I.

            "It's really lovely," I said, "I'm impressed."

            "You should be. Took me five and a half days. I'm bushed." He tossed a flat stone into the water. It skipped along the surface five times. "Would you look at that," He said.

            "That's a neat trick, let me try." I gently tossed the flattest stone I could find and it sank like, well that's what stones do, they sink. Unless you're G-d, I guess.

            "So, why the glum look? You should be ecstatic - just look around us," I said to Him.

            Around the pear shaped lake was a riot of plant and animal life. There were literally tons of thick foliage of every kind. As we spoke sleek deer began to run through the fields to the far shore of the lake. They gracefully bent their heads and took a drink.

            "Say, where did those come from?" I pointed to the deer.

            G-d shrugged His shoulders. "It's not that difficult, once you get the hang of it." Then He pointed His finger, and the deer leaped away as lions and leopards playfully pounced them.

            "Wow!"

            The water in the lake was so sweet; none of the animals could resist. By and by I saw squirrels and monkeys running up and down the tree trunks. They swung from vines high up in the air and teased the sloths and possums that were just hanging around. The trees and flowers were sensational - every color imaginable. And the birds. What a symphony coming down from the trees. All the while G-d was merely pointing silently, gesticulating at His creation. And every time He did - something new appeared.

            "Say, G-d, do that tree trick again for me, would You? It's just great."

            "Sure. Got any seeds left in your pocket?"

            I dug into my pocket and pulled out a tiny speck. "Last one," I declared.

            "No prob." And He tossed it into the air. The seed landed in a clearing between the forest and a fruit orchard. "Watch this," He said.

            I loved it. It was such a good trick. Right before my eyes the seed sprouted a tiny shoot. The shoot shot up and sprouted leaves while it thickened, darkened and grew tall. The leaves grew within seconds and then blossoms and fruit. When the first fruit fell off the tree, another one sprouted right there! An entire grove of trees sprouted up, just like that.

            "It's such a good trick, really. One of Your best. Too bad that was the last seed."

            "Nah. I've had about enough of this."

            "So, what's wrong? You're so tired? So take a break," I suggested.

            "No, it's more than that. If I take a break then that's it. You know. But something's missing."

            "Missing? How could anything be missing?" I asked. "G-d, just look around you."

            He skipped another stone in the water. "That's just it. I am looking around. Look over there. Animals are scurrying around, but they have nothing to do, really. See that cat? It's been filing its nails on that tree trunk all day long. There's gotta be more to it. There's too much fruit rotting on the ground. The animals can't possibly eat it all."

            "Complaints, complaints. That's all I'm hearing. If you don't like it - do something about it," I told G-d.

            "You know what bothers me most?" G-d said. I thought He ignored my comment completely.

            "Okay, so what bothers you most?" I figured I'd humor Him a bit more. After all, no One did such good tricks like Him.

            "What bothers me is that there's no one around to appreciate it all."

            "What are You talking about? What about me? Don't I count? I love this stuff. You did a great job," and I patted Him on the back.

            "Look, don't be insulted, but it's just not enough. I need to be appreciated."

            "But Dude, this world is phat."

            "Come on. You know it's not phat without a social structure. And, honestly, you have no free will anyway. You have no choice. All you're capable of is telling Me how great I am. That's just the way it is. I want someone to say, 'wow, this is great!' of his own free will. Can you understand that?"

            I sighed. I was just a tiny bit insulted, really, just a bit. "So, what are You thinking?" I asked hesitatingly.

            "Let's make Man!"

            "Man?! Oh G-d, no! Man? That spells trouble."

            "Yeah, I know. But there's also no doubt about it. If you want to be appreciated - make man. He's got free will."

            Oh no, I thought. I could see G-d's enthusiasm growing. And He continued,

            "Yeah, man. Just picture it. He'll tame the animals; he'll name them, for My sake, I haven't even given a thought to their names.

            "He'll bake delicious fruit pies with all that wheat and fruit. And you were wondering what we were gonna do with all those fields of wheat. Ha! We'll feed people! Of course! Why didn't I think of it?"

            "You did think of it, G-d. It was Your idea, remember?"

            "Oh sure. I just meant that I should have thought of this earlier in the day. Let's get to it. I'm all psyched up. Come on! Just think. Maybe then I can really take a break. I deserve a rest. Man. Wow! He'll do the plowing and planting from now on..."

            "Wait!" I interrupted Him. Hold on a minute! Are You sure this is what You want? It could get pretty messy. Man's capable of almost anything, You know.

            "Maybe I have no free will, like You say. But I still think You're the best. And I'm not capable of doing anything wrong - You said so Yourself."

            "Sure. But just look around you. What do these animals know? Look at the flowers. Do they know Who I am? No. And, frankly, neither do you. I wanna make man! I wanna hear him say, 'praise the Lord!'

            "Even when times are tough. I want man to till the soil, wipe the sweat off his brow, see the first seedlings grow and say, 'thank You G-d!' You could never understand. I've created a virtual kingdom here. I want it to be real. I wanna be crowned King! Come on. Let's do it. NOW!" G-d must have seen my look of trepidation, my hesitant walk.

            "Stop worrying, will you?" He said. But He didn't get up to go - not right then.

            We were quiet for a while, sitting by the lake, me and G-d. It was so beautiful. But I tended to agree with Him. It was a bit chaotic. Maybe making man wouldn't be so disastrous after all, I thought.

            Then G-d spoke, "You know what I'm thinking? Maybe I'll write a book. A kind of instruction manual for man. He'll read it; he'll follow My instructions. Then I can really relax, and you won't have to worry. I can have fun with it too, you know. I can write it in code. That way no one will doubt that it comes from Me. I can give them hints, you know, like riding horses into battle. Or like turning shale into oil. Even if it takes thousands of years for them to figure it out for themselves. And that's something you could never do."

            Maybe I was slowly becoming convinced. But I was still frowning, so G-d said,

            "What's the worst case scenario? The world will become totally evil? So I'll just have to wash it all out and do it all over? Big deal."

            "Free will's overrated," I mumbled. But I went along with His scheme anyway.