The Silent Minority

remember the first lunch we had together?"

  "How can I forget that?"

  "I wonder what he wants."

  "Whatever he wants you must be prepared."

  "For what?"

  "First of all, after lunch, we go and buy some new clothes for you for this occasion."

  "And what else?"

  "I want you to learn to drive my car. I want you to impress, and tomorrow you go with my car."

  So Michael did. It didn't take long to learn to drive the sports car and with the trendy clothes and shoes Aphrodite bought for him he looked very smart. The CEO told him to come and see him any time after two o'clock and it was about three when he reached the boom gate of the television network. This time was a new boom-man.

  "What is the purpose of you visiting this premises sir?"

  "I wish to see the CEO of the company."

  "Have you an appointment, sir?"

  "No. I can see him any time in the afternoon."

  "What is your name sir?"

  "Michael Armstrong"

  "Do you know the CEO personally, sir?"

  "Yes, I do."

  "What is his name then?"

  "I ...can't quite remember."

  "What is the purpose of your visit to see the CEO?"

  "I don't know. He rang me to came and see him."

  "He rang you to come and see him!?"

  "Yes"

  "Did he tell you why?"

  "No."

  "Sorry, sir; I cannot allow you to enter. You have to go back."

  "I am not going back. I came to see the CEO and I will see him."

  "I am going to call security."

  "You will make a mistake."

  The boom-man tried to call security but the last moment he changed his mind and decided to ring the CEO's office. As his secretary was out the CEO answered himself.

  "Sir, there is a young man here by the name Michael Armstrong," said the boom-man, and then he bent down to have a better look at the car. "He's with a... boxer and he insists on seeing you."

  "With a boxer!?"

  "Yes sir."

  "How do you know is a boxer?"

  The boom-man bent down again to have a better look at the car.

  "I am pretty sure is a boxer sir, looks like one."

  "Why don't you call security?"

  "I was going to, sir, but first I thought to notify you."

  "Hold on a minute... did you say with a... boxer? How old is the boxer?"

  "One minute sir. I'll find out." He put the palm of his hand on the phone and asked Michael, "How old is your car?"

  "I am not telling you."

  "He won't tell me sir."

  "Hold him. I am coming down."

  The CEO recognized Michael from far away as he was out of the car waiting and he signaled the boom-man to let him in.

  The CEO told Michael to park his car near the entrance next to his car where all the VIP cars parked and they shook hands warmly.

  "That is a mighty car you got there."

  "Yes sir. It is a Boxter."

  "He told me a boxer."

  "Don't blame him; I made the same mistake first."

  "He told me your name but it did not occur to me, we all remember you as the rookie rep. I thought they would know you."

  "He is a new boom-man apparently, and very zealous for that mater."

  They started to walk to CEO's office. In the lift the CEO asked him, "How was the experience in Patmos?"

  "It was a wonderful experience sir."

  "Did you really become a monk?"

  "Not quite sir. I was a trainee."

  When they reached the office the CEO asked Michael, "Would you like a drink?"

  "No sir, not when I am working."

  "But you are not working now."

  "Well sir, you did not invite me here to socialize. There is obviously something that will have to do with work."

  "You are right. The managing director told me you are looking for work and when he offered your old job back you declined."

  "That is true sir."

  "Why?"

  "Because it does not fit my requirements sir."

  "And what are those?"

  "I want flexible hours so I can study, sir."

  "How about if you work under my wing? I will give your old job back and you will work for me with flexible hours."

  "I must inform you, sir that my priorities will be with my studies."

  "What do you study?"

  "Law, sir. It should not take me long for I have done most of it."

  "That will be good. Listen, I know your abilities. Take this job. Now that I know you are studying I will be very lenient to you concerning your appearance at work and whenever I need you I'll make sure it won't affect your studies."

  "So I will be employed as a senior representative?"

  "That is right. And I will make a deal with you; the moment you finish with your studies you will be promoted as my special adviser and you will be able to attend the board meetings. I want you to become my troubleshooter. You will only report to me."

  "What concerns me mainly right now sir is my studies. If you think that the job will not interrupt them, I am willing to give my best shot."

  "I will make sure the job doesn't interfere with your studies; I give my word on it."

  "And I give you my word, sir, that I will fulfil my position until I finished my studies to the best of my abilities."

  "Well it is a deal then."

  They shook hands and the CEO told Michael, "On the way out go to the personnel office to register. I will ring to notify them."

  "Thank you sir."

  On the way home he stopped at a bar and ordered a drink. He needed a drink to think of everything that happened in his life the last few days.

  Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed an old man at the end of the bar counting some coins. He apparently realized he did not have enough, and he decided to walk away.

  Michael went and asked him if he would like a drink.

  The old man said he would love one, so Michael asked the barman to serve him a double and went back to his stool. He tried to reflect on everything that happened last week for he could not make up his mind if all this was a fluke or coincidence or what the religious people would call providence.

  Only a few days ago he didn't have a room a job or anything and he remembered the day he went out looking for work and an apartment. He remembered how tired he was and how sore his legs were. And now out of nowhere he had everything. He was going back to the college, and he lived in an apartment with a beautiful woman that many would envy him. He had the use of a car, some money in the bank and a job with flexible hours exactly as he wanted. Could that be luck?

  But how could it be? Didn't the same thing happen when he was on Patmos? And even before that when so easily he got a promotion at his last work in the television station.

  Was there such a thing as the Teacher said that whoever helps his fellow man he actually helps himself?

  But I don't do that in order to get something back, he thought.

  They also say providence comes from God and that God provides for his children but was he a child of God? He hardly mentioned his name and he didn't even belong to a religious organization. He did not even acknowledge the existence of God. He just felt there was something there; one power that drives and keeps everything in order.

  If science called it power and religion called it God that was fine with him. He had no problem with that whatsoever.

  What concerned him was justice; not in a narrow social-economic base as political parties and movements thought of it, but in a broader sense. He sensed that justice and love were identical. He could not possible imagine love to be incompatible with justice or real justice to be delivered without love.

  Michael finished his drink and went home. Aphrodite waited anxiously to see what happened with the meeting. He told her that everything went well and he got a job with flexible hours exactly as he wanted witho
ut interfering with his studies. They embraced happily and went out to celebrate the good news.

  Michael and Aphrodite lived in a dream; a dream full of joy and pleasure with the time rolling as fast as the pace of their lives.

  There was not one day wasted as though they wanted to make the most of all this before it came to the end.

  That was how Aphrodite felt; she had a feeling that all this would not last for long and she made sure to live to the utmost every minute of it.

  For an onlooker they looked the most perfect couple in the world. They were the happiest couple in the world but there was something in Aphrodite's heart that she was too afraid to face it and she let it slumber there.

  This frenzied kind of life they were leading did not allow Michael to study much but nevertheless, because of his extraordinary brilliant way of learning things he managed to finish the law college and became a lawyer.

  On the night after the graduation party that Aphrodite organized for him Michael felt a knot in his throat and uneasiness in his stomach...

  He recognized it from before as the time for reckoning arrived again. This was the feeling of arriving at a crossroads, and he knew he would again have to decide which road he was going to follow.

  Aphrodite sensed the day had arrived and that it would be absolutely useless to say something. She started to weep without a sound and when Michael fell asleep she went into the toilet and sobbed all night until the sun rose.

  That day everything changed abruptly in a dramatic way. Without either of them mentioning a word... without saying anything at all; without even looking into one another's eyes, they knew what was happening. The atmosphere was so electrified that at the same time neither could bear it anymore and both decided to go out for some air.

  Aphrodite went to her favorite spot, sitting on a bench overlooking the sea, Michael wandered the streets before finishing also on the waterfront on a bench; in fact a stone throw away from where Aphrodite sat.

  There is something in the natural elements that soothes the souls