I was on the Tung Chung MTR, in the direction of Tsing Yi, when the old man in the next seat unexpectedly began to talk. 

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“Recently I’ve come to a conclusion, and I think it inevitable that you will agree with me: it is not really God who runs things, but Jod.”

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I looked up, surprised. It was a foreigner, pale-skinned and white-haired, speaking English in an educated way. Why had he addressed me?

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“It should be obvious to a student like yourself—you are a student, aren’t you?—if you even take half a minute to consider. The Creator set up the rules, left poor Jod in charge, and laughed, ‘So long, suckers!’ while roaring away into the Heavenly Sunset on His Divine Motorcycle.”

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The old man, hunched and frail, had surely never driven a motorcycle. But my cousin, who had one, always managed to insert it into his conversations, so perhaps this man was the same.

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“Even Jod Herself doesn’t know where the actual Creator buggered off to. And frankly, the system God left behind sucks. Whoever said God was benevolent and loving was full of it. Among other things, what is with all of the murder? Clearly, God was reasonably powerful—look at the Big Bang—but He is not huge on details. He thought nothing of what would come next. Looking back on everything that’s happened, there’s only one conclusion: there have been a stupendous number of avoidable accidents.

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“So here’s Jod having to pick up the pieces, but with very limited authority to make any decisions that really count. Thanks a lot, God. Typical.”

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I nodded politely. He reminded me of an English teacher I had, long ago: irreverent, and oddly unconcerned with my other instructors’ usual preoccupations—test scores and practice papers. I shifted uncomfortably on the cool, metal seat.

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“Actually the first 13 billion years were mostly fine. Passed by in the blink of an eye, really. It’s just when intelligent life started to evolve that things got out of hand. Well, if you ask Jod, the early animals were already heading in the wrong direction, and She thought it would have been better to stop things before they got any worse. But what could Jod do?

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“Well, God obviously had some kind of big plan. But it certainly would have been nice if He had informed Jod about some more of what He had in mind for the later parts of the whole brouhaha.

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“So if Jod ends up pulling in a few favors, and just calling the whole thing off, don’t tell me you’re surprised. 

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I finally spoke up in response. “Well, maybe Jod will have better luck next time.”

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He stared into my eyes. “Oh, She will. And She’s working on it already.”