In the wake of an offense

(Cont.)

So Yeshua the Zealot, and the workforce of the Volcano, and every visiting army of the potentates of India, all mixed and mingled.

Meanwhile, the yogis and gurus that had deceived them fled and hid themselves in a tomb, near the grassy knoll beside John F. Kennedy Street. (This place they chose because it resembled the cave that the two witnesses hid within, whom the Volcano sent to spy out Las Vegas dressed as olive trees, when, in the aftermath of their espionage, they spent three days in the Rocky Mountains; for the yogis and gurus never dared to do anything original, but they were always copying ideas from their rivals and competitors.)

And this news reached the Volcano, when the talk on the street said: “The yogis and the gurus have hidden themselves in the grave by the grassy knoll on John F. Kennedy Street.”

And the Volcano instructed Yeshua the Zealot, saying: “Roll the giant gravestone away from the mouth of the tomb that our ‘mentors’ are using as their hideout. And set an angel there to reassure them, if they dare to venture out. Then direct our workforce to continue to mix and mingle with the armies of the five boroughs. Also, speaking loudly so that the yogis and gurus can hear your voice, let it be known that all offenders shall be forgiven if they are willing to soften their hearts. Then keep looking for any of their ilk who have managed to fit in with the multitudes amid the Cambridge area, and just be kind to them.”

And it turned out that the masses in the caravan mingled very well with the visiting militias; also the samurai were welcomed, and any yogis and gurus who chose to rejoin the fold were warmly embraced – their recent misdeeds were not even mentioned. And anywhere around that part of Harvard Square where there happened to be a fence, its gate was left open.

And any souls who had sojourned in the grave at John F. Kennedy Street arose and came back outside, and walked around on the grassy knoll. Nobody hassled them.

Then Yeshua the Zealot shouted a command to the caravan’s pair of robo-butlers, Man and Satyajit, saying: “Enter the catacomb from which you helped to roll the gravestone, and see if there are any among the leadership left there. For we have waited long enough for them to repent, and I am desirous of using my sword.”

So Man and Satyajit entered the grave and found that all its living inhabitants had abandoned this place, but that there were five plastic mannequins posed therewithin, of the type that are used to display clothes in a storefront window. For the yogis and gurus, while they were hiding out, had begun to draw up plans to establish a retail clothing outlet; although they abandoned this idea when they learned that they would be welcomed back, without question, into the workforce, if they only agreed to stop bossing everyone around.

So the androids brought the mannequins out of the catacomb and into the light of day. And Yeshua commanded that these models be given away as trophies to the sovereigns of the five boroughs who were visiting.

Thus they did so, and they placed the first mannequin before the Lord of Righteousness, Eternal Emperor of Eldorado; and the second mannequin was offered unto the Supreme Ruler of the Happy Isles; and the third was presented to the Crowned Head of Golden-Age Hollywood; and the next was given to the Monarch of Hawaii and Alaska; and lastly the fifth mannequin was extended at the end of a physical javelin unto Jehovah, lord of the legendary “Promised Land.”

And it came to pass, when they bestowed the plastic models upon these potentates, that Yeshua the Zealot cried out to his mechanical servants and said: “Now, Man and Satyajit, go ye forth, and tilt these mannequins until they fall to the earth prostrate, so that our majesties may put their feet upon their necks!” And the robo-butlers drew near and tipped the models over onto the ground before them, and the sovereigns agreed to place their feet on their necks. And so they snapped photographs for publicity.

Then Yeshua the Zealot said: “Fear not, ye overlords of India, but be strong and of good courage: for thus shall the volcano of potential do to all who refuse to be at peace with your people.” And afterward Yeshua smote the mannequins with his sword, and sliced at them, and pierced their sides, and hanged them on crucifixes, which he ordered to be built there for that purpose: and these plastic models were left hanging there, in sight of all the people, until the evening.

And it came to pass at the time of the going down of the sun, that Yeshua gave a command, and his robots took the mannequins down off the crosses, because it was the day before the sabbath, and they wrapped them in fine linen, and laid them in the catacomb wherein they had been found; and unto the mouth of the sepulcher they rolled a great stone. For Yeshua the Zealot instructed that the grave be made secure; and he set watchmen to guard the entryway of the catacomb, lest so-called mentors come by night, and steal the mannequins, and claim to the people, “They are risen from the dead”: in which case, this new sin would prove more irksome than the original.