The Second Chosen One

THE LIFE OF HERMES

THE LIFE OF HERMES

In the beginning, Hermes gained experience working alongside humans as an invisible and gradually, somewhat awkwardly, also as an earthling. When, if need be, he wanted to appear as an ordinary earthling, he wore elegant dark clothes and tennis shoes, lived inside a mutant spaceship, could choose a camper van, a car, a boat, had no limits in his mutation, not even to move at will from one continent to another at the speed of light. Intrigued by the ice-cream, pasta and hot dog, he decided to try them, but he had to buy them, and he equipped himself to do so: the coin appeared in his hand the moment he had to pay, he could not be seen by humans and he wanted to be sure he was handing over the banknote of that nation. In order not to make a mistake, he always asked the cashier but, despite himself, he was in Rome that day.

"I have to pay for a hot dog, what is your currency called?"

"Give me ten sacks," replied the baker from behind the counter.

"Sacks? I don't know sacks I can pay with other coins; I don't have the one you asked for."

"A lout! Do you have these?" repeated the big bald head who was one with his neck and his voice like a trombone, while with his hand, he waved a banknote.

"Those are ten euros! Of course, I have them."

Hermes awkward by the circumstance, opened his hands and ten euros appeared, the baker, to get a better look stretched his body, he looked like a moving mountain as he approached Hermes' hands with his eyes out of his head.

"You fell for it, eh!" replied Hermes jokingly.

"Look at this... he tricked me!". The paninaro quickly pulled himself together, he couldn't explain the trick and let out that snoring-like breath. Hermes walked away thinking, next time he had to be much more careful.

He liked that life as a human, above all he liked spending, he had adapted to that new civilisation different from the one he had lived two thousand years before. He could buy anything, but he betrayed himself a little in his conversations with people he met at random, but also on purpose; it often happened to him that he recalled characters from two thousand years ago, recounting events as if they had happened yesterday. He made yet another gaffe at the café:

"This coffee is excellent, the last one I had was in Galilee and I guarantee there is no comparison. Even Herod would crack with envy'.

The elegant barman stared at him, but without countering. He did not know what to say. Hermes immediately tried to distract him from his awkwardness.

"How much do I pay for coffee?"

"One euro."

Hermes spun around....

" Voilà! Here's one euro."

"That's the great thing about my job, every day I meet all kinds of people," said that barman with a sympathetic laugh.

Hermes was content to play the part of not being taken seriously by mortals, those nine years on Earth had flown by quickly. By the thirtieth of April 1985, only a few hours remained until the birth of the ten candidates. From that moment on, everything would change.

He had the highest esteem in the Supreme and he absolutely did not want to disappoint him. Fond of Italy, he decided to remain there until the birth of the candidates. Nine months earlier, he had chosen duly married pregnant women, all from different walks of life: heads of state, managers, and ordinary people from all over the world, chosen at random from his portal of the future. All would give birth at midnight Italian time. He waited serenely seated in a pub in Milan, next to him, many ordinary people sitting at tables. In his hand he held what looked like an ordinary tablet, but he could see the whole world in the future too, but not more than a year from his real time. Suddenly, at midnight on the dot, ten squares lit up on the screen simultaneously, in each one a newborn baby, all ten began to cry, the emotion of the mothers astonished even Hermes, and that hot dog that had just arrived, he just couldn't start it.

He secretly monitored the growth until the age of thirty-five.

Eventually, among the potential candidates, the son of a farmer born in Gala, a small hamlet of a municipality in the province of Messina, Italy, stood out. He was gifted with an intelligence that distinguished him throughout his development and the moral principles required to be the destined for the mission on Earth.

He reported this young man's path to the Supreme and, together, they sifted through his past. The others were excluded, because they committed errors such as deception and avarice, so the judgement on them was not lenient.

The chosen one, Helium Sacci, attended a football school at Don Bosco's Salesian Oratory in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto during his adolescence. Known for his skills as a footballer, he was allowed to play for important teams, so he managed to put some money aside to enroll in university. Despite this, he went off course due to fees, and was forced to help his father in the countryside, so as to speed up his only income. Eventually, however, Helium managed to graduate with a degree in nuclear engineering with 110 c*m laude.

Throughout his life, he sided with breeders and farmers to make the government aware of the 'Made in Italy' issue and demanded that Italian products be promoted. He did not get anything, from the Italian state, but, for the mere fact of having given voice, he became a point of reference in his country. Even the mayor, who was about to be reappointed as mayor, supported him for his political

endeavours, but only when he considered him a possible political opponent. Other politicians took their cue from his reasoned criticism of the country and gained ascendancy in politics with the usual long-nosed promises.

Helium cannot afford designer clothes but has good taste and takes care of his appearance. He is tall, athletic and has an honest character; his stubble is always a little unkempt. Aware that he has a good influence, he takes advantage of it a little with women.

Women, in fact, are a weakness for him and he aims high. He succeeds at this to the detriment of his social rank which, in his country, forms a natural selective preclusion by the usually well-to-do.