O l i v e r B e n j a m i n
work to do. In two weeks it’s going to be New Year’s Day. He nodded
in Yeshua’s direction as if to say,
Congratulations on the calendar
thing.
“Obviously,” Gautama went on, “New Year’s Day would be the
most symbolically auspicious moment to make a reappearance and
let man know that the day of reckoning is here. However, we also
need to figure out the most practical place to do it. There’s no point
showing up at city hall when everyone’s going to be in bed with a
hangover. So, after extensive research, Mohammed and I think we’ve
found the perfect venue.” He handed the floor over to the darkly
bearded prophet.
Mohammed shuffled his notes and spoke authoritatively, “The
data we’ve compiled today suggests that most people are watching
some parade on the morning of January first. It’s somewhere out in
Pasadena, and is watched by a large portion of Americans who are
able to open their eyes before noon. Most importantly, it’s televised
live and most of the television and radio stations are there to cover
highlights at least, so we should have no problem getting heavy
media saturation. It seems like a good choice. The Pasadena New
Year’s Day Rose Parade as the arena for our united reappearance,
then. Are there any objections?”
After the obligatory hemming and hawing that even the most
enlightened are compelled to do at times, they decided that yes, they
would make their surprise reappearance somewhere in a town called
Pasadena.
The waitress brought them their menus.
As it turned out, deciding what to eat was far more difficult than
deciding where to stage the Second Coming.
“It’s like they’ve never heard of mutton nowadays,” complained
Krishna.
“We should have gone to Denny’s,” said Moses. “They’ve got
those nice pictures on the menu. It makes it so much easier.”
CHAPTER 3
Harvey Futterman didn’t know where to stop. All the places he had
seen in the last hour looked so unremarkable, so pointless that he
was surprised anyone would ever choose to live there. He had spent
all his life in the city, at its universities, where one encountered
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