“And finally, leaving aside the highly fantastical aspect of it, it seems to me that the material has been nowhere near adequately thought through nor considered from every angle. If I had time to write stories—”

“You find something missing in the story as we’ve heard it?”

“Yes, I find a great deal missing. From the literary-critical point of view, as it were. If I may speak to you as a colleague—”

I didn’t know what he was talking about, and humbly said, “You’re too kind, but I’ve never done any teaching—” Suddenly, something occurred to me. I broke off and he continued somewhat coolly:

“Just to mention one thing, it cannot be assumed (if we’re going to go into the meaning of the story that deeply) that God . . . that God . . . well, I mean . . . that God should have made no further attempt to see human beings as they are, that is—”

At this point I felt the time had come to placate our worthy schoolteacher. I bowed slightly and began:

“We all know that you have passionately espoused (and, if I may say so, not without encountering a certain reciprocal warmth) the study of social questions.” Our worthy schoolteacher smiled. “Well, so then I may assume that what I am thinking of sharing with you in a moment will not be entirely alien to your interests, especially since this will allow me to respond to your last insightful remark.” He looked at me with amazement.

“You mean that God—”

“Precisely,” I confirmed. “God is even now in the process of making a fresh attempt.”

“Really?” the teacher snapped. “Are the authorities aware of this?”

“I can’t provide you with precise information about that,” I lamented. “I’m not in contact with those circles, but would you perhaps still like to hear my little story?”

“I would consider it a great favor.” The teacher removed his spectacles and painstakingly cleaned the lenses, leaving his naked eyes bashfully exposed.

I began.

Once the dear Lord was looking down into a big city. When the pandemonium He encountered had tired His eyes (the power system with its electric wires had a lot to do with this), He decided to confine His gaze to a single tall apartment building for a while, because this cost Him a lot less effort. At the same time, He remembered His old desire just once to see a living human being, and with this purpose His gaze entered the windows of the various stories, rising floor by floor. The people on the first floor (a rich businessman and his family) were almost entirely clothing. Not only were all parts of their bodies covered with expensive fabrics, but the outer silhouette of these clothes displayed a form in various places such that no body could possibly be underneath. On the second floor, things were not much better. And the people living three flights up had significantly less clothing on, it is true, but they were so dirty that the dear Lord could see only gray creases and in His goodness was almost ready to command these to become fruitful. At last, under the roof, in a crooked little room, God found a man in a coat of bad quality who was busy kneading clay.