This time it was harder to find him. I mean, it took me several journeys across the world and back. Only a few seconds in my life, but a few months for any human.
I finally found him on a beach in Mexico. He was bearded, slovenly, shacked up with a local woman, spending his days surfing.
“Do you have any idea . . .” I began.
The woman in his arms slid sideways and looked at me from behind her black hair. I remembered her, alright. The one born with the bedroom eyes in Mexico City a few decades ago. I could get into it, but it’s another story. Cali, her name was. She got out of bed and slunk away to the kitchen to prepare Jesus some tacos.
“Extra hot sauce please,” he called. Then he rolled over and looked at me balefully.
“Ellen? Again?” he sighed. “Several billion people on earth, and you need help specifically for Ellen.”
“Everyone needs breaks, I’m sorry to interrupt yours.” I tried to be understanding. “You’ve been working hard. But yes, I really need you at this particular moment. It’s a big moment.”
“I’m still working. Do I look like I’m not working? I’m saving Cali’s life. In a few years she becomes the director of an orphanage that will be famous for its nourishing and compassionate, culture-saving ways.” He took another sip of mescal and adjusted his loincloth. Cast a glance at Cali’s buttocks wandering around the steaming kitchen.
“I had a dream,” I began, “a dream I was walking along the beach.”
“We truly are one and the same.”
“At times there were two sets of footprints, mine and yours. But then other times, I only saw one pair of footprints. And I thought you’d left me and I was alone . . .”
“You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?
“Then I realized . . .”
“Yes. Yes, I carried you. It was then that I carried you. I carry everyone, alright?”
“Well, how about Ellen?” I said stubbornly. “If you could see what she’s getting up to these days. If you could carry her? Please?”
Jesus checked his watch. Looked over toward Cali in the kitchen.
“Let me finish my taco and then we’ll see,” he said with a wink.