Out of Balance: Two Novelettes

By Brigitta Gisella Geltrich-Ludgate

The two novelettes in the book Out of Balance refer to two almost impossible situationsone between heaven and the underworld and the other between two brothers about the house of their father. Each has a hero or heroine who has to work his or her way through the imbalance. In the novelette Out of Balance, it is St. Michael, and in the Odd House, it is Sally Biskaier.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 21, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524543273

Brigitta Gisella Geltrich-Ludgate

Brigitta Gisella Geltrich-Ludgate was born in Kitale of the British East African colony, today’s Kenya, and was raised until school age on a farm with the name Kalua-Estates. She received her basic education in various European countries as well as in a boarding school in Lucerne, Switzerland. Even though Lucerne is in the German Swiss, the school conducted all its classes and communications in French. Her BA and MA degrees were earned at the University of Arizona in Tucson, and her Ph.D. studies were completed at the University of California Berkeley and the University of California Los Angeles. She holds an AA degree in creative writing from the Palmer Writer School, at-tended several years of memoire writing through the Monterey Peninsula College, where she had the opportunity to share her writings with fellow students, most of them outstanding writers, and bought several courses in creative writing from The Great Courses. As professor in academia, she has numerous academic as well as creative writings presented at national conferences and published in academic journals as well as in local papers. She is the author of twenty-four books, with two volumes of memoires in the final stages and a novel about a father and son moving to Alaska almost completed.

Book preview

OUT OF BALANCE

Two Novelettes

Out of Balance & The Odd House

Brigitta Gisella Geltrich-Ludgate

Copyright © 2016 by Brigitta Gisella Geltrich-Ludgate.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2016915352

ISBN:   Hardcover     978-1-5245-4329-7

             Softcover      978-1-5245-4328-0

             eBook           978-1-5245-4327-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 10/19/2016

Xlibris

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Contents

Introduction

Personages

Chapter 1 ~Everything Was Out Of Balance~

Chapter 2 ~Michael’s First Fall~

Chapter 3 ~The Decree~

Chapter 4 ~Roger Smudge~

Chapter 5 ~Mankind’s Reaction To The Decree~

Chapter 6 ~Lucifer’s Reaction To The Decree~

Chapter 7 ~Ernestine Bundy~

Chapter 8 ~The Space Station~

Chapter 9 ~Michael’s Second Fall~

Chapter 10 ~Lucifer At The Pearly Gates~

Chapter 11 ~Michael’s Third Fall~

Chapter 12 ~Abolishing The Decree~

Chapter 13 ~Christopher Clark’s Successful Plan~

Chapter 14 ~A New Beginning~

Out of Balance

A Situation Completely Out of Balance

Between

Heaven and the Underworld

INTRODUCTION

The novelette Out of Balance, a Situation Completely out of Balance Between Heaven and the Underworld was written in the 1970s and revised in 2015/2016. The out-of-balance situation is a matter of who receives more souls of the earth’s departed mankind. Is it the Almighty in heaven or is it Lucifer in the underworld? The period during which one of the two powers receives all the souls, every single one of them, 100 percent of them, has been agreed upon by the Almighty and by Lucifer to be one thousand years. As it looks like, Lucifer was winning. That was where the imbalance between heaven and the underworld needed to be addressed more seriously by the Almighty, by his archangels, and by all other angels in heaven, as well as by the saints and would-be saints.

PERSONAGES

In Heaven

The Almighty: The heavenly master

St. Michael: Michael preparing for the defeat of Lucifer

St. Peter: Peter, Guardian at the Pearly Gates, the owner of a heavenly privy

St. Gabriel: Gabriel, the heavenly television viewer and trumpet player

St. Raphael: Raphael, the roller skater

St. Jeremiel: Jeremiel, the heavenly radio announcer

St. Haniel: Haniel, the heavenly casino manager

St. Barachiel: Barachiel, the heavenly motorcyclist, riding on rose petals

St. Uriel: Uriel, one of the other seven heavenly archangels

In the Underworld

Lucifer: Himself

Firebolt: One of the satanic foremen

Super-witch or Uber-witch: Hell’s cackling witch

On the Earth

Stephan: The beggar man

Roger Smudge: A boot cleaner

Ernestine Bundy: A righteous soul

Christopher Clark: A computer whizz

CHAPTER 1

~Everything Was Out of Balance~

Everything was not right between heaven and the underworld. That was obvious. It was completely out of balance. The souls going to heaven were rather few if any at all, and the souls going to the underworld… well, let us say it this way, all of them went to the underworld. Something had to be done to turn this situation around, to balance it. So many souls to heaven and so many souls to the underworld. Heaven was sure of that. It needed souls. Modernization of heaven seemed to be the only answer, getting souls. It would certainly attract mankind to come up to heaven and check out what was going on and with some luck, heaven could convince these souls to stay.

At the point of starting modernization, St. Michael, one of the archangels up in heaven, could not remember who actually had come up with this thought of modernizing heaven. All had gone so fast. All the archangels, all the angels under them, all other angels and would-be angels, and all the saints and would-be saints have agreed to it. And so had the Almighty.

It is not a bad idea at all, they all agreed, and so they went about to modernize heaven.

*~*

Introducing earthly clothing was the first in the process of modernization, and since everyone in heaven was an angel or would-be angel or a saint or would-be saint, it mattered little what sex they had been on earth. It was the conventional earthly suit in all sizes, shapes, and designs, and of all types of fabric woven on earth, which was introduced. The Almighty, when in human form or during the process of modernization, favored a gray flannel suit, fitting him just nicely. The others wore all types of suits, each to their own liking. It was a refreshing sight, a relief from the sterile look of white gowns, feathery wings, and golden halos. St. Michael thought a light khaki summer suit would be most appropriate for him. He was to combat eventually that dark spirit known as Lucifer, the ruler of the underworld, and the light suit would offer greater mobility when the fateful day came and would be light enough to sustain some of the hellish heat where the battle was to take place; the suit was to reflect that heat. Michael could move around in the light suit swiftly, a counterpoint to the dark appearance of that dark spirit from the dark world, way below the earth, which moved at times rather slovenly. From the moment of the introduction of human suits, all references to the Almighty or to the archangels or to the angels or to the would-be angels or to the saints or would-be saints were stricken. The Almighty became the heavenly master, and the saints and would-be saints went by their former earthly names. So did the archangels and the angels assigned under each of them and all other angels and would-be angels.

At the moment—at least that was the belief in heaven—the day of Michael battling it out with the dark spirit of the underworld seemed to be imminently near; signs to it were all around them up in heaven. But when exactly that hour would come was not quite clear, obviously it was near, frightfully near, with everyone in heaven knowing it. Even though the dark spirit had been once part of heaven, he had been banished from it millions of years ago with all of his rebellious companions, maybe it was trillions or more than trillions of years ago. His abode was on the other side of heaven, way down in the hellish fires of the underworld. Ever since this expelling of the dark spirit so many years ago, there has been a striving for superiority—the main power so to speak—over the earth and with it the universe by the two overlords, ruling the good and the evil, the heavenly master and the dark spirit known to all as Lucifer or any other devilish name, which describes his hellish nature: Satan, Diabolus, Beelzebub, beast, serpent, deceiver, enemy, and many more such names. Neither the heavenly master nor Lucifer was winning over the other. To settle once and for all as to who would be the final victor—the victor over the earth and the global system in which the earth spun and the galaxy to which the global system belonged and all galaxies of the universe—a verbal contract had been devised by the heavenly master and agreed upon by Lucifer that in the course of one thousand years, whosoever would successfully garner 100 percent of all human souls dying on the earth during this time—men, women, and children—would for all eternity be the supreme ruler, not only over the earth but over the entire universe as well. The losing power and those still loyal to him would have to vacate his respective dominion and move to an alternate universe, there to try again if that was at all possible.

For nine hundred ninety nine years now, including eleven months, twenty-nine days, eleven hours, and fifty-nine minutes of the one-thousandth year—with only twelve hours and one minute left—Lucifer had been successfully gathering 100 percent of the souls every day, every hour, every minute, every second. From his hellish seat beyond the limbus, the edge of hell, separating the good world and the evil world, he had sent forth his diabolic ministrants to contempt mankind, which was not at all a difficult task, mankind being weak and Lucifer’s evil princes—Beelzebub, Leviathan, Asmodeus, Berith, Astaroth, Verrine, Gressil, and Sonneillon—and demons being cunning. They were everywhere in all forms and sizes and shapes: in the shape of jackals and lizards, in the shape of snakes, in the shape of roaches, even in the shape of fire-breathing dragons, the latter to allure children to the dark side with all sorts of promises, including riding the fire-breathing dragons any time they wished to do so and to do so forever once they entered the underworld. Lucifer knew no limit. His princes knew no limit. His demons knew no limit. All of them reached one and all of mankind. There was a demon for every human vice, and if there was not yet a vice established, there were devils who in human forms entered the earth as mentors of mankind, seeing to it that a vice would soon be in the making.

To stay ahead of the multitude of schemes of the evil ones, mankind had to gather all of its strengths to counteract the trickeries of the evil ones, but to no avail. It found itself unable to do anything more than blindly following the demonic schemes, traveling on a broad and soft, red-carpeted road straight down to the underworld. Lucifer had seen to it that it would be such. He and his princes and all the demons became entwined in every moment of mankind’s life—awake or asleep—it did not matter. The vile seduction of every conceivable sort penetrated the thoughts and minds of mankind, whether it was the men or the women or the children, whether awake or asleep. The demons were present in the dreams of mankind, and when all failed, the demons, large and small and middle-sized, stood everywhere, meting out one final attempt to get the individuals onto the enticing wide golden-laced fiery-red carpet for a smooth walk or a comfortable descent down to the dark world and into the arms of Lucifer and his court.

Mankind appeared to be more than willing to get on that wide golden-laced fiery-red carpet, setting out to satisfy its personal needs and constant greed. One by one, each entered the wide golden-laced fiery-red carpeted road, which took them straight to the underworld. If one of them hesitated to enter the broad, luring path, Lucifer and his entourage stood there, urging him or her on, or giving them that little shove, making sure that the triumph at the end of the thousandth year would be Lucifer’s. The traffic from the earth to the underworld took on such dimension that soon the hellish demons of lower orders had to widen the wide golden-laced fiery-red carpeted road to damnation even more to allow all those passing on it to reach the underworld in record time; yet, in comfortable speed.

By thousands—actually by millions—man and women and children followed the illusionary pictures drawn for them by Lucifer in the anticipation of finding restitution down there in the underworld. Great rewards were promised them, such as never-ending riches, never-ending leisure, never-ending such and such. All of which was made clear to them. They did not have to worry. What was not made clear to them was that none of the promises were going to be fulfilled. Lucifer and his kind were the greatest liars, but no one seemed to sense it. No one of mankind ever returned from the dark realm and informed their kind on the earth that things were not as what was promised. The people—uninformed, as they were, about what actually awaited them when they reached the dark world—never gave it a thought that it could be other than salvation, namely, true damnation.

Taking all this activity into consideration, heaven was limping dreadfully behind the dark world, miserably losing all hope for just one soul at the close of the end of the contract’s thousand years.

*~*

The narrow, stony path, winding its way around the earthly stumbling blocks of life, leading cumbersomely toward heaven, started to sprout weeds eons ago, being tough to walk on. It had become a treacherous path. The underbrush, grown dense and intertwined, could—short of a miracle—only be penetrated by the most daring explorer of virgin territories aided by the sharpest machetes. Michael had repeatedly suggested assigning some of the lesser angels or the would-be angels or the would-be saints to weed the path and remove the stones, but heaven’s council of other angels and the archangels and the saints did not agree to it. They referred to the Path Bill, passed a long time ago by the heavenly master—no one could remember when exactly—which clearly stated that the uneven and winding path from the earth to heaven could only be kept up by those living on earth, by mankind to be exact, willing to do so on their way to heaven. Since mankind only knew the wide and easy golden-laced fiery-red carpeted road straight to the underworld, nothing came of the weeding and of the stone removal of the heavenly path. The path soon faced a new name, the forgotten path. The Pearly Gates at its heavenly end had slipped into being the forgotten gates, no one on the earth remembered them. The gates, once gleaming in golden splendor, were now hanging tarnished on rusty hinges, creaking and whining loudly when a breeze or a wind lost its way up to heaven, and that was about the only thing which ever lost its way up there. The bolts and locks lay scattered. It was a dismal sight. Not a single soul of mankind had come to knock on these once stately heavenly gates in the last nine hundred and ninety nine years plus eleven months, twenty-nine days, twelve hours, and some odd minutes. There were only eleven hours and some minutes left of the one-thousand-year contract.

*~*

Peter, the former St. Peter, sat yawning on the pearly bench behind the Pearly Gates in his earthly clothes, thumbing through roster after roster indicating souls that had entered heaven during the last nine hundred and ninety nine years, including eleven months, twenty-nine days, and twelve hours and some minutes. All pages were empty of entries, on both sides of the ledger. For the last nine hundred and ninety nine years, including eleven months, twenty-nine days and twelve hours plus some minutes, there was not a single soul that had come knocking at the Pearly Gates, requesting entry. Only zeroes stood entered by Peter’s trembling hand, zero after zero on every sheet of the ledger. Peter thumbed further back, about a couple of thousand years back, and found the entries of that time not much more impressive. There was an occasional entry, nothing spectacular to boast about. It was a different matter before the onset of three thousand years back. One steady entry replaced another. The tally favored heaven heavily, at least three to four souls more for every soul snatched away by the fiendish princes of the underworld and their hellish brood.

Today was just like any other day. It was like it had been day in and day out of the almost one thousand years past. Michael stood silently, watching Peter affixing another zero on the line set aside for it, Peter’s hand trembling. Peter had become a master of zero setter, which was obvious, the great zero illuminator. Something worth to watch, if it would not have been so bad. Yet Peter’s great length of time on each swerving outline of a zero soon became boring to Michael. As deliberately as Peter set out to make swooping outlines around the zero, Michael grew sorry about heaven having become a place of such boredom, such immense inactivity; no soul processing was on the order, no weighing of souls of their good deeds and not so good deeds while alive on earth. Absolutely no judging of souls. No wings and haloes being bestowed on new heavenly recruits who had successfully passed the weighing process. No transporting of retrained souls to other universes. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just boredom. Just sitting around affixing unimpressive zeroes one after the other on the sheet of that enormous book lying in front of Peter or standing behind the zero affixer, watching these zeroes being entered as Michael did almost every day in the hope that there would be at least one soul reflected in the number, just one single soul. Just a number one.

It was good that someone had those thoughts about modernizing heaven. It fell on a welcoming note, at least Michael thought so. It was a salvation, promising the archangels, the angels, the would-be angels, the saints, and the would-be saints something to do. Most of all, if word of it trickled down to earth, heaven was modernizing, it would surely lure souls heavenward instead of hellward. Mankind would come out of sheer curiosity. Ones entering the Pearly Gates, Michael could do the weighing of mankind’s souls before sending them on into the inner heavens. And then what to do next with the souls, once they arrived in the inner heavens, whether a good soul or an evil soul,