The Bureau of Dreams to be Continued by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

The Bureau of Dreams to be Continued

Page 222

The Gospel

"The Gospel According to the Dreams to be Continued Bureau"

Filed under: Christian, Subsection of Untranslatable Joy

In The Bureau's waiting room a man with a shattered violin waits beside a woman whose laughter is stuck in reverse. The receptionist hands them both a pamphlet titled "How to Believe Without Wanting To." The walls hum with hymns written in languages no one speaks anymore. Charlie enters, wearing a halo made of expired political slogans.

"Hope," he says, "is not a promise. It's a bureaucratic error we've chosen to worship."

Elsewhere, a child is baptized in a fountain of melted clocks. The priest recites scripture from a manual on elevator repair. The congregation weeps; not from faith, but from the realization that they've been crying in the wrong direction their whole lives. A dove lands, then explodes into confetti. No one claps.

Charlie ascends; not into heaven, but into a cubicle suspended by wires of unresolved longing. He's greeted by an angel who speaks only in disclaimers. They review Charlie's file:

Miracles performed: 0