This is a continuation of Joseph’s search for an orb of purpose. You should read Part 1 and Part 2 before this otherwise it might not make sense. Part 4 will be out next week.
Joseph and his new friend Tim had searched through dozens of colorful orbs. Each one that they stared into had shown them a scene from their future life if they chose it. They had spent the morning and early afternoon looking at so many that each one became only slightly different than a previous one.
Countless shelves full of glass orbs stood in the storeroom. However, the young boys had grown bored of the spheres they could reach. Joseph gazed higher up to the shelves above, the ones he couldn’t hold in his hands while he looked into them to watch the scene from his future life play out.
The orbs on the top shelf were different from the ones he and Tim had played with all morning. Not all of these orbs turned on when he stared at them. Joseph stared intently at three or four top-shelf spheres before he finally found one that showed him a scene.
In a lemon yellow light, Joseph saw himself onstage with something that looked like a metal ice cream cone in his hand. He was talking into it, and there was a crowd of people in front of him.
The future version of Joseph would say something and then smile as the whole room laughed in response. It was a show or act of some sort, one Joseph had never seen.
After the performance was over Joseph walked off the stage and talked to a few of the people from the crowd. They were very enthusiastic to meet him, some took pictures with him while others wanted him to sign blank sheets of paper. He shook all their hands and happily obliged their requests. This future version of Joseph seemed very happy to meet these people, and the people were even more enthusiastic to meet him.
Slowly the crowd faded and so did the scene in the yellow orb.
When the scene ended, Tim said, “Wow! What was that?”
“That’s the purpose I want!” Joseph said enthusiastically. He wrote down the location on the slip of paper the store clerk gave him and looked at Tim.
Tim stared up at the orb intently. However, the globe of yellow light wasn’t doing anything. Tim looked to be focusing an uncomfortable amount to get the orb to show him a scene. When Tim broke his gaze, he said in a tone that was a mix of anger and complaint, “It doesn’t work for me.”
Joseph could tell by the way Tim said the words that the boy was upset. “I’m sorry, some of them up there don’t work for me either.”
“Yeah, but that was a really good future,” the boy whined.
“I know that’s why I want it. And besides, we can’t both have the same purpose. Let’s see if we can find one up there that turns on for you.”
“No!” The boy cried out. The shout caused Joseph to slightly stumble back, and he expected the boy to start crying. Instead, Tim continued talking with the anger growing in his voice, “I want that one. That one is the best one here.”
Joseph was hurt. He finally found the purpose that he came here for and Tim wanted it too.
Then Tim added in a soft and teasing tone, “It’s on a top shelf, I bet your family can’t even afford it.” The words cut Joseph. As if his comment wasn’t wasn’t bad enough Tim wrote down the sphere’s location and walked off.
“Where are you going?” Joseph called after him. He started running to catch up with the boy, but his short legs made it hard for him to keep up. As soon as Joseph caught up, Tim began to sprinting away from him.
In the end, they were both running as fast as they could to get to the store. Being the bigger boy, Tim got to the front of the store far before Joseph.
By the time Joseph joined him Tim had already handed his paper to the man who worked there.
“Wait! No!” Joseph cried out between labored breaths. It was hard for him to talk. “I picked out mine. I want that one,” he leaned on his knees to catch his breath holding out his crumpled piece of paper with the orb’s location.
The manager took the piece of paper and looked at the two boys confused. Tim gave a little shrug as if Joseph being upset and out of breath had nothing to do with him.
Joseph noticed his parents had come to stand next to him by now. His mother squatted down and looked at him, and he could tell she was concerned about his breath. She tried to comfort him and help him calm his heavy breathing. While she did this, Joseph heard his father talk to the manager.
The other adults in the room had gotten up too. Joseph noticed the resemblance between them and Tim. They just stood beside Tim paying politely, but condescending attention to the words Joseph’s father said. Tim’s mother wasn’t comforting him because Tim didn’t need it.
Joseph took a deep breath and stepped away from his mom. He looked up at his father and the shopkeeper. The things they were saying were important. He had to know what would happen with his yellow sphere and who it would go to.
“Well the boys can’t both have the same sphere,” the manager said.
“Tim came here first so he should technically get it,” Tim’s father interjected with a calm tone that didn’t comfort Joseph.
Joseph’s father looked baffled and looked down at Joseph. The man gestured at his son. “Tim only made it here because he ran faster.”
Tim’s father shrugged the comment off as if Joseph should merely been born with longer legs.
The manager chimed back in, “Sirs, this is a top shelf sphere. Let’s look at it. There are thousands of spheres in this store. I’m sure these two young gentlemen can settle this dispute. It seems they both have a few alternatives listed as well.”
The shopkeeper gave Tim and Joseph a smile that reminded Joseph of a lizard he had seen at the zoo once. It wasn’t a happy smile. It was merely an informative gesture that indicated everyone should be polite despite the chaos of the situation.
The manager turned down the aisle the boys had come from. The whole group was walking towards the yellow orb of purpose that Joseph wanted.
