Page 20 - Ferry Tales

Cado

Heaven, then? Only those who are good all their lives and don’t
try to make salvation a condition for their virtue; in other words,
the innocent. Animals, of course. And a few uncorrupted humans
who manage to avoid religion. As the poet says,

God’s busy
Tuning forks
In our path;

Devil, too,
Pitching them
In his wrath;

Odds that our
Tine will come?
Do the math.”

As the ride ends, he looks as if he might be about to admit to
the validity of my demolition of his pitiful self-justification. But
no.
“Charon, I see that I will have to re-negotiate the terms of my
contract. Either I acted as the Devil’s powerless instrument or on
my own under the assumption of a tacit agreement. Either way an
injustice has been done, and I must argue my case before an
unsympathetic judge or tribunal. But I’ve no doubt I’ll prevail!’
And off he went, ready to debate the first demon he could
find—that was you, man’s worst friend. Very touching faith in
the system he so willfully ignored and misunderstood!
Always a pleasure to gossip with a fellow worker, Cerberus. See
you next trip. We should have time to chat again: the next war
hasn’t started yet.

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