Author’s Note:
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Joseph walked into the store with his parents. His father presented Joseph’s birth certificate, and the salesman verified the boy’s age. Joseph was holding his mom’s hand, and in the back of his mind, he knew he would have to stop doing that soon. He was growing up now and growing up meant that you didn’t hold your mom’s hand when you were nervous.
The man behind the desk returned the papers to his father and handed a few more with them. Then the man opened a door, and the small family followed the man into the back room.
The area was full of aisles of shelving. Each shelf had a dozen orbs of glowing light. Some were clear with balls of light darting around inside like they were ready to break out. Others were cloudy with only a faint light inside. Those orbs looked like it needed to be polished.
The man squatted down, so he was at Joseph’s level. Joseph was short for his age, and adults always felt like they had to do this. He hoped that growing up would mean people would quit squatting to talk to him and that he could just be their size.
“Are you ready to pick out an orb today?” The man asked. He had a nose that seemed to blow up into a balloon at the end and a long face that came to a pointed chin. He didn’t look like a bad guy from television, but he wasn’t as friendly as his teachers at school.
Joseph nodded and let go of his mother’s hand.
“Okay,” the man said. He handed the boy a small pencil and a sheet of paper. “Go ahead and try some out. If you find one you like write it down on this sheet, so you remember where it is. Once you pick one out, I’ll merge you with it. Let me know if you have any questions. And try not to get lost,” he chuckled at the end of that statement.
Joseph looked at his parents and smiled for permission to go. His father waved him off, and Joseph rushed down the first aisle of glowing orbs.
Before the aisle twisted, he looked over his shoulder at his parents. The shopkeeper was leading them towards some seats. He noticed his dad was now holding his mom’s hand, he looked proud, but she seemed nervous like he was. Then for the first time, Joseph noticed that there were other parents in the waiting area. He must not be the only boy to have his birthday today.
He ignored the first few aisles that he traveled down. He was looking for something specific. He didn’t know what it would look like but he felt like it wouldn’t be on the first aisles. When he turned to walk down a new aisle he saw another boy staring transfixed into one of the glass spheres.
Joseph approached the boy and looked over his shoulder at the sphere. The light inside the globe was making an image of a man that looked a lot like the boy yelling at a woman. The boy seemed to notice that Joseph was there and rotated his hands so that it was balanced on one instead of sandwiched between two. Then with his free hand, he pushed Joseph away. “Hey that was my future, you weren’t supposed to be looking at it.”
“I don’t want that purpose it’s okay,” Joseph replied. He assumed that the boy was just being protective of the orb he found.
The boy put it back on the shelf, “it’s okay I didn’t want it either. No one seemed happy in it. What future are you looking for?” The boy was a little taller and looked down. He seemed to finally be giving Joseph his full attention. “Have you seen any cool futures here?”
Joseph shook his head. “I haven’t touched any of them. I was looking for a special one.”
“I’m Tim,” the boy said sticking out his hand.
Joseph noticed that the hand was bigger than his but still young and smooth unlike his father’s. “I’m Joseph,” he said as he shook hands with the new friend.
“So what special future are you looking for?” Tim asked in a quiet tone.
Joseph looked around. Tim’s hushed tone made him wonder if someone might overhear them and steal his purpose away before he could find it.
“I’m looking for a purpose where I can make people happy and laugh because that’s the most fulfilling thing of all. Maybe if I was rich and famous too that would be nice. My dad always says he wished he had picked a purpose where he was rich.”
Tim’s eyes went wide. “You want a future that will make your rich?”
“Yeah, why not?”
Tim let out a light laugh, one that reminded him of his father’s right before he taught Joseph something. “You have to be rich to buy a future that will make you rich. Have your parents been saving up a lot of money?”
Joseph shrugged, “Not that I know of.”
“Well, I’m sure you can find something that will make you happy. Come on let’s look around. Nothing on this aisle is any good.” Tim whirled around and started running to the end of the aisle.
Joseph’s short legs could only barely keep up. When they got to the end of the lane Tim skipped a few aisles and then randomly dashed down one.
When Joseph finally stood at the edge of the aisle Tim turned on the boy had made it halfway down. He was picking up a purple orb not waiting for Joseph to catch up. When Joseph finally met with the boy he saw a small scene playing out in the purple orb. Tim looked back at Joseph and the scene disappeared.
“Look at that one,” Tim instructed.
“How?”
The bigger boy laughed at him then replied with, “Just look at it. After a little bit, it will show you what your future might hold.”
Joseph looked into the purple ball and he saw a man that looked like his dad but a little shorter. The man wore a fireman’s outfit and there was a building burning in front of him. However, instead of orange and red flames, the flames were tinted purple. Then Joseph noticed everything in the orb was tinted a little purple. As the building burned the man finally rushed into the house.
Joseph watched as the man avoided the rubble and smoke that the burning building poured down on him. He found his way into a bedroom where everything was lit up in purple fire. A small girl was huddled on the ground hugging a small bear. The girl a little younger than Joseph was right now.
There was no sound but he could see her body shaking with furious coughs. Between coughs, she tightly hugged the bear. Her mattress and dresser were both putting off a lot of smoke.
The man picked her up and bundled her in his arms like she had done to the small bear. He carried her out of the house and once they were a safe distance he put something over her mouth and her coughing slowed down.
“Wow,” Tim said in amazement. “When I looked at it there wasn’t anyone inside for me to go save.”
“Was that me?” Joseph asked.
“Of course, who else’s future would you be seeing?”
Joseph considered answering the question but stopped himself.
“Let’s look at some more!” Tim said, then he picked up a small lime green orb and stared at it.
