Time and the Riddle: Thirty-One Zen Stories by Howard Fast Page B

a show cause order. Can we show cause?”
    RABBI COHEN: (sadly) “I am afraid not.”
    WHITEHALL
    CHIEF OF INTELLIGENCE: “I’ve put four of our best men on it. We’re running them north of the Afghan border.”
    THE CHIEF MINISTER: “What do you hear from them?”
    CHIEF OF INTELLIGENCE: “We’ve lost touch with them.”
    THE PRIME MINISTER: “I think you ought to get in touch with the Archbishop.”
    CHIEF OF INTELLIGENCE: “I’ll put one of my best men on it.” (Thoughtful silence)
    THE VATICAN
    FIRST CARDINAL: “I can’t believe it. After two thousand years of effort.”
    SECOND CARDINAL: “Backbreaking effort.”
    FIRST CARDINAL: “No word of appreciation. Just show cause.”
    SECOND CARDINAL: “Have you spoken to the legal department?”
    FIRST CARDINAL: “Oh, yes—yes indeed. He’s within His rights, you know.”

    The above excerpts are just a sampling of what went on in the upper circles of every government on earth. Both the Vatican and Israel, due to the singular nature of their antecedents, attempted to probe for a time limit, and at least four times they were given the use of the broadcasting facilities of the Voice of America, both medium wave and short wave; but their frantic pleas of “How much time do we have?” were simply ignored. Day after day the resonant and majestic voice, same hour, same minute, called upon the people of the earth to show cause.
    By the third week, Russia and China and their client countries joined in a public statement, denouncing the voice as a tasteless bourgeois prank, directed at the moral integrity of the peace-loving nations; and while they admitted that the source of the signal was not yet apparent, they stated that it was only a matter of time before they pinned it down. But Moscow’s efforts to jam the voice continued to result in failure, and China accused Moscow of being a part of the Western conspiracy to foist their primitive and anthropomorphic concept of a Biblical God upon the civilized world.
    Meanwhile, the various sectors of the human race reacted in the entire spectrum of reaction, from hooting disdain to indifference to anger and to riot and panic; and the President of the United States had a long and earnest talk in his study with his friend, Billy. Knowing only the results of this talk, one has to deduce its content, but one can safely presume that it went somewhat in this fashion:
    â€œI’ve read your bill of particulars, Billy. It’s not very convincing,” the President said.
    â€œNo? Well, I didn’t think too highly of it myself.”
    â€œI think you could have done better.”
    â€œOh? Perhaps. Perhaps not. I never liked show cause orders—I was never wholly convinced that they are constitutional.”
    â€œThey’re constitutional,” the President assured him. “I had a long talk with the Chief Justice about this. He says it’s quite constitutional.”
    â€œI meant in a general sense. We must not become too parochial about this.”
    â€œOne falls into the habit,” the President confessed. “You must admit that we’ve always been on God’s side.”
    â€œThe question is—is He on our side?”
    â€œYou’re not losing faith, Billy?”
    â€œIt’s just the problem of making a case for us.”
    â€œHe must be on our side,” the President insisted. “Take the very fact of show cause. Our country has pioneered the legal field in the use of show cause orders. We were putting an end to subversive strikes with show cause orders before the rest of the world even thought of the device. And as far as a case for us—where else in the world has a nation provided as free and abundant a life as the American way?”
    â€œI’m not sure that’s to the point.”
    â€œBilly, I’ve never seen you like this before. I would