Too Much Ambition

His flaming desire to rise to the pinnacle of his career was not doused even when he succeeded in acquiring the pulpit. He still yearned for more. His determination would only cease when he would have risen to the equivalence of the likes of Siddhartha Gautama-founder of Buddhism and Marin Luther king - founder of the Lutheran followers. What kept Rev.Magadi on his toes was his desire to be referred to as 'The Great' or 'Mighty' or 'His Holiness' Magadi - founder of a so and so denomination, cult or even religion!what an ambition he had.It is this inquest that made Rev. Magadi think of the possibility of maneuvering a tactful twist on the 'rigid' story of creation.

This man was determined. His meteoric rise to become the arch-diocese arch- deacon testified just this. All the information in the Bible was at his finger tips(he claimed so), even though he was a mere semi- literate chap- holder of the only primary school certificate and immediately tossed himself into the field of preaching. After a chain series of promotions, he had found himself at this current position in authority over priests and deacons. With these credentials, he thinks he has an idea and gives it a thought of convenience. He uses his handkerchief to only rub sweat. This goes on day in day out for weeks and months until the handkerchief stinks of saturation. He still wipes sweat with it!

Adam Magadi is equally ambitious. He goes to the local high school where he takes sciences. He is child to Mr. Magadi and is fond of taking assignments home.One evening he comes home in his usual way carrying a documents file and shot straight to the kitchen where he spots a can on the stove. The liquid in it was warm as he touched it. He dipped his fingers into the liquid and licked them to establish the contents. It tasted salty. Astutely, he fished his thermometer from his file and lowered its bulb into the now boiling liquid. He recorded the reading on his thermometer that stood at slightly above one hundred degrees Celsius.

Happy at the completion of his days homework,he re-organized his items back to the file and was headed for the door. He made sure that he was leaving behind everything in the order he saw so that it would not appear as if someone had messed up with whatever was cooking. He slanted a gaze backwards to affirm this but, Alas! something was amiss. The can was upside down on the floor and its contents overly spilled on the floor.(maybe)by accident,he had been a little bit careless and fell the can. In a quick action thought,he wiped the floor and made a mild solution of salt and water in the can which he replaced on the stove,and then stealthy vacated the kitchen.

"What is it in the kitchen that's cookin....?"

"Hey please, don't tamper!", cut in his father sharply even before Adam had finished asking.

Shocked at such a sharp reply from his father, Adam just kept quiet and took his usual seat next to his father at the sitting room to watch the television.

"Through with your homework?",asked the Reverend.

"Oh, Yes" replied Adam.

The task given at school that particular day was to establish the actual boiling point of water with impurities especially salty water. Rev.Magadi was busy between the pages of the Bible as he usually was at this hour of the day. Contrary, Adam was fixedly paying audience to the television as if trying to curb his father from shooting in anymore questions. Instinctively, he thought something wasn't quite right after messing up in the kitchen. Somehow, he started feeling guilty.

The salty water continued to boil merrily over the stove. Science followed its course as the level of water fell in the can while more kept on disappearing in the form of steam. On and on it continued to evaporate amid intervals of check -ups by Rev.Magadi who wanted to know how his project was picking on. Meanwhile, Adam was busy with the remote control occasionally switching from channel to channel. Guilt,Guilt,Guilt!

"Eureka!" came the wild shriek that took Adam by a big shock. "I've discovered the LOT THING! what simple science! this is me,hey!" continued the shouts. Adam couldn't continue watching the T.V. He briskly made his way to the kitchen from where the shouts seemed to be originating. Equally surprising, he saw his father deep in prayer holding the can high above him.

"This is more than I can handle",thought Adam and simply went his way.

It was the next Sunday at the chapel and Rev. Magadi was delivering his sermon.
"Fellow Christians. I salute you in the mighty name of our Lord with a verdict for you. You may be surprised to learn how we have been deceiving ourselves all along by thinking that we are made of soil. My dear brethren,WE ARE NOT!",he emphasized. "If you have ever stopped to think and ponder why Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt and not clay during the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. I personally have a practical evidence and can comfortably affirm it today that we are made of salt and not sand...", he said these at the back of his mind referring to his previous experiment in which -he thinks- he boiled his sweat in the solution that resulted when he squeezed the saturated handkerchief in the least possible water and poured it in a can - and collected salt! At least,in his primary school science,he had learned that there is a lot of salt in our bodies that is wasted as sweat and other metabolic processes which is what he had wanted to collect.

It is a sermon that was perceived indifferently by the congregation some of whom looked startled while others doubting. Some made cat-calls, din some looked worried and still some were attentive!

All was not well.I hear that after two weeks,the man was in hospital beds with other mentally challenged fellows!poor man