Sometimes he (He) appears directly:
Sometimes by reference or association:
And sometimes only in the most oblique of glimpses (most of my favourites are these):
At once seemingly transparent and puzzlingly oblique, Ninety-Nine Stories of God (as Kim pointed out today, spotting me sitting on a bench re-reading it, a title that sticks out like a sore thumb) is something different. The effect is a bit cumulative, but even still, at its best it's remarkable in the way it offers 'that glimpse of truth', though inevitably some of the 99 fall considerably short. Incidentally, it's been a good companion to Lydia Davis's collected stories, which I've also been working through lately.
69
The Lord was in line at the pharmacy counter waiting to get His shingles shot.
When His turn came, the pharmacist didn't want to give it to Him.
This is not right, the pharmacist said.
In what way? the Lord inquired.
In so many ways, the pharmacist said. I scarcely know where to begin.
Just give it to him, a woman behind the Lord said. My ice cream's melting.
It only works 60 to 70 percent of the time anyway, the pharmacist said.
Do you want to ask me some questions? the Lord said.
You're not afraid of shingles, are you? It's not so bad.
I am not afraid, the Lord said.
Just give Him the shot for Pete's sake, the woman said.
Have you ever had chicken pox?
Of course, the Lord said.
How did you hear about us? the pharmacist said.
INOCULUM
25
Churches have pews, and when the congregation falters they have too many pews. They end up in the kindergartens and the music rooms and the covered walkways. They seem to multiply. Fine old oak uncomfortable pews.
Then they start showing up in bars and finished basements and in mudrooms where people take off their boots and shoes.
There was a little girl once in a birthday bounce house that wasn't tied down properly. A freak gust of wind picked it up and sailed it three backyards over, where it killed a beagle eating his supper.
Nothing happened to the little girl. She was a funny kid anyway. She never showed emotion about anything. But people felt terrible about the dog.
The young couple whose dog it had been had a pew in their kitchen, but they got rid of it. They replaced it with a bar made from the rear of a '64 Airstream Globetrotter. It became apparent pretty early on that it wasn't an actual rear of a Globetrotter but a copy. The neighbors who had felt so sorry for them began thinking they were frivolous and, even more, couldn't be trusted.
VERACITY
38
The child wanted to name the rabbit Actually, and could not be dissuaded from this.
It was the first time one of our pets was named after an adverb.
It made us uncomfortable. We thought it to be bad luck.
But no ill befell any of us nor did any ill befall the people who visited our home.
Everything proceeded beautifully, in fact, until Actually died.
ACTUALLY
