by Joao Cerqueira
Publisher: River Grove Books; 2 edition (December 25, 2012)
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File Size: 373 KB
Print Length: 189 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1938416163
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
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About the book:
God receives a request for help from Fatima because a war between Fidel Castro and JFK is about to start. Worried, God asks his son Jesus to return to Earth and difuse the conflict.
Meanwhile, JFK and his counselor are about to interrogate a captured Fidel Castro’s spy (Varadero). Following a testy Communism versus Capitalism debate, JFK set him free and Varadero returns to Cuba. However, his faith in Fidel Castro is shaken and the spy begins to suspect that he is supporting the wrong side.
In Cuba, Fidel Castro faces protests on the streets and realizes that he is about to be overthrown. Suspecting Varadero betrayed him, Fidel imprisons the spy as he previously did with the revolutionary hero Camilo Ochoa. Desperate, he decides to invade JFK’s country as a way to divert people's attention from his own problems.
Fidel’s' army invades part of JFK’s country but cannot conveniently convince the inhabitants of the advantages of Marxism. Whilst peasants refuse a land reform, whores prefer free enterprise. Castro is then forced to ask Varadero for advice. Varadero seizes the opportunity accusing him of having betrayed the revolution and responsible for Cuba’s misery. Disturbed and distressed, Fidel isolates himself in unknown territory and following a fall which leaves him amnesiac. He is found by monks who take him to a solitary convent where mad people are ministered by the Church. Once inside he see’s the fools are enslaved, Castro starts a revolution against the friars. The course of events reignites his memory.
By this time, Christ has arrived on Earth accompanied by Fatima, who is convinced she can create a miracle to avoid the ultimate battle between JFK and Fidel Castro.
Back with his army, Fidel Castro receives a visit from the Devil and makes a pact: he sells his soul in exchange for being remembered as a hero who fought for a better world. In the future, nobody will call him dictator.
Finally the two armies meet in battle, but JFK proposes to fight Fidel Castro in a duel to avoid wholesale carnage.
Fatima, Christ and Varadero watch the duel behind a bush. After a violent struggle, JFK overthrows Castro with a stone. Then he grabs a knife. But when everyone thought that he had killed him – much like David and Goliath – it transpires that JFK had only cut Castro’s beard.
At that moment, miraculously, an eclipse occurs.
A Father and Son dialogue
’’Don’t upset yourself. Just as they’ve stripped us of our merits, so they’ll exempt us from responsibilities, you’ll see. Just as they invent theories to explain the beauty of a flower, so they will find a way of justifying killing between men.’’
’’Fine words, but one day someone will use mathematical formulae and computer programmes to prove that we don’t exist….’’
’’First of all, there are a great many people that no longer believe, and secondly, that would mean that our problems would be over….’’
’’And then what would we do? What sense does it make for us to be considered products of the human imagination?’’
’’Aren’t you the one that usually has an answer for everything?’’
This was followed by some moments of somewhat embarrassing divine silence. Then, after millennia of celestial contention, God decided to bare his soul.
’’I confess I’m intrigued. Could there be someone above us? Who created me, then?’’
’’No one, you are the only being that has not been created.’’
’’But that is completely illogical, an affront to basic rationality….’’
’’What is fascinating in this mystery of origins and beginnings is that not even we understand it….’’
Absorbed in the contemplation of the firmament, God digressed. .’’To have no beginning and no end…’’
‘’The specialist books on the subject insist that we are immortal…’’
‘’Would that be a gift or a punishment?’’ Christ looked confused but God went on with his musings. ’’I also wanted to have a father and a mother….’’
’’You have billions of children….’’
’’I sometimes wonder if their real father wasn’t someone else….’’
’’It’s the adoptive father that counts….’’
’’But, if I created them in my own image, then why do they behave as they do?.’’
’’You’re in no position to complain. Before I was born you were terribly mischievous...and in any case, you gave them the freedom of choice, free will.’’
’’That doesn’t seem to have been a very good idea….’’
’’That’s the problem. Only thinking beings can conceive transcendental existence. Can you imagine a turkey in a mystic ecstasy, contemplating his magnificent Baroque sculptures?’’ God frowned. He’d never been very keen on sacred art. ’’We’re getting off the subject….’’ ’’It’s all related, can’t you see? Your creation is trying to break free of its creator. Look, they have already discovered that you didn’t mould them out of clay and that women were not made from a man’s rib. Nowadays almost everyone agrees they’re descended from apes. No one believes in hell, no one goes to confession. They’ve even managed to create test-tube babies and clones.’’
’’Are you telling me I’ve been fired?’’
’’You can’t be fired because you’re the boss. What they want is to set up on their own.’’ ’’But why are they so rebellious?’’
Christ hesitated before replying, and his countenance grew serious.
’’I suspect that none of them, not even those that claim to be believers, are really convinced that another life exists….’’
God placed his hand on his forehead and closed his eyes. ’’So, what do they believe in, then?’’
’’Oh, they believe in power and money, in the good life, wild parties, things like that….’’ God remained silent, lost in eschatological ruminations. ’’You know, son, maybe you’re right. I sent you to Earth to save men, but they ended up fighting amongst themselves in your name, enslaving each other and burning people on bonfires….’’
’’Even the angels defy you. What do you expect?’’
’’I might be old but I’m not finished yet. I can still conjure up a plague or two.’’ - God began to sing an old song, ’’...Look at me, I am old, but I'm happy….’’ to which Christ countered, ‘’... from the moment I could talk, I was ordered to listen...’’- (and their exchange continued)
’’Plagues? They would invent a cure right away and say it was all caused by genetic mutations.’’
‘’You’re right, the time for anger and revenge is over… This time, we’re going to think before we act.’’
’’I warn you, father, I’m not going to be the court jester all over again. With me, history doesn’t repeat itself....’’
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