The Good is Always the Enemy of the Best, Part 1 – The Discovery

Guest Post by Freed Radical

I wrote this story for my daughter when she was a young teen. The title is taken from an Oswald Chambers devotional passage.

In Part 2, we’ll examine how this relates to our lives, and believe you me, it relates, so stay tuned.

In the desert lived a girl named Mia. She had lived in the desert so long that she could not remember not being there. It was a tough, lonely life, especially for one so young, not the worst of it all being the food she ate, mostly grubs and roots.

Now before you go getting all grossed out, let me tell you that grubs are a rich source of protein, and one does not have to chew them up, but only swallow them whole. That’s no problem given their slippery nature. Even though Mia lived in a desert, she appeared the right size for her age, though her skin was a little dark from all the years in the sun.

Not many others were around for conversation with Mia, but she did have a friend, Geoff. He, like Mia, scratched out a meager existence on what the desert could offer. They had a keen sense life in the desert was not nearly as good as they would like, but the commiseration of companionship gave them a common bond. Geoff did not let on to that, though.

One day Mia and Geoff were scrounging under rocks for grubs in the hot sun. Mia said, “If I ever found a way out of here, I’d be gone in a minute.”

Geoff replied, “You think there’s a way out of this desert? We been walking for days and days and all we found was the same thing, rocks and cactus and grubs for dinner.”

“But we did see the one four legged creature. What did you call it? A lope?”

“Antelope, stupid,” Geoff replied. “But that was the only thing different for miles and miles, and I could see its ribs.”

“Makes no difference,” said Mia. “All’s I need is a pointer on which way to walk and I’m gone.”

The next day, Mia was sitting on a rock on a hill where she often went at sunup. The desert was cool at night and temperate still at sunrise, and the sunrises were sometimes quite pretty. But like everything else the least bit good they seemed so far off.

Mia was gazing at the horizon, looking for the little sliver of light that the eye could stand before the full body of the sun burned above the earth. Just before it was visible, however, Mia saw a glint of something shiny. It was as if something tall out on the horizon was catching the light between her and the sun and throwing it at her a little early. From this height on her perch, she judged the horizon had to be fifty miles or more. She squinted and strained, but could not make out more than a flicker of light, but it definitely was not the sun. When the sun rose a moment later, it blotted out the new glimmer, and it could not be seen for the rest of the day.

“Probably a soda can,” said Geoff later, not showing the least enthusiasm for Mia’s discovery. “You get to seeing stuff in the desert if you stare long enough. No telling if it was real or not,” he said as he kicked over a rock, rousting a desert spider from its cool spot.

“I’m sure it was something real,” said Mia, staring off in that direction. “I’m sure.”

The next day, Mia saw the same glimmer of light at the same time of the morning, so she told Geoff she was setting out that night (when it was cool) in that direction. She invited him to come, but he muttered something about her being kooky as he was scraping the brown coating off a root he found. Mia gave up, but sat with Geoff silently until the sun went down.

The moon was about half bright that night, when Mia departed. Geoff just stared at her quietly, thinking she’d be back in the morning.

Little did he know that what Mia saw was real. What she saw was the top of a new skyscraper in the city, one she could not have seen too long before because it was just built. This building had a large glass greenhouse on its top, with angled glass sides that were just perfect for refracting the sunlight over the horizon at sunup, like a big prism. But the fact that the building was so tall meant Mia’s journey was double or triple what she estimated from her lofty perch on the desert mountain.

Fortunately for Mia, the journey was uneventful. As she knew how to find water and roots and grubs in the desert (it was not a totally barren desert), she made out fine, traveling mostly by night to avoid the heat. And after about four day’s journey, at sunrise she was able to see her glimmer of light, glimmer of hope, from the ground where she stood, and this thrilled her heart.

Every morning she would wait for the sun to come up to see the pinpoint of light. She did this both to reassure herself of her journey’s purpose and direction.

After eight days walking, Mia could see the light at other times during the day, but mainly in the morning. After twelve days on foot, she could make out other buildings on the horizon. It seemed as if there was a city literally springing out of the desert before her eyes!

Actually that was the case. The desert in which she walked was in fact a government property, fenced off decades ago for some military purpose. The city was not allowed onto that land, so the border of the government property was the very edge of the city, and the city had taken up every square inch in front of the fence.

Mia stood at the fence and gazed agape at the city. She had never seen such a thing. There were tall buildings in the distance, but everywhere there was a buzz of activity. This would be great, she thought. Finally! To be out of the desert. And the fence was so old that getting out of the desert took just a little detective work until a suitable hole was found. She squeezed through to freedom.

Mia wandered in awe. She had never seen cars, or electric lines, or freeways, or even people dressed in more than rags. It was full daylight now, and her eyes hardly blinked. A wonder it was she did not get hit crossing the streets.

All day long Mia strolled through the city. People were going to and fro’, getting into and out of their cars more often than she thought necessary, and looking more busy and important than she could have imagined. No one took notice of her, though she was dressed strangely by comparison. In fact, these people seemed quite self-absorbed.

Some hours into her tour, a familiar sensation struck her brain. She was hungry. Perhaps it was the smell of food outside a restaurant that triggered the pangs. Something had to be done.

She eyed the building the pleasant odors were coming from. People were walking up the front steps and going in a door. She saw few people leave and was a little afraid. Thinking for a moment, she decided to do a little scouting and walked down the alley by the establishment.

Much to her surprise, she found a green box from which some pretty delicious scents were coming. She looked inside the box and what did she see? She did not know, but it smelled great! Mia crawled inside the box, giving herself a little boost on an old tire, for the box was huge. It was made out of plastic and had a gigantic lid. You and I would call it a dumpster!

In the dumpster, Mia found treasures beyond belief. Some kind of round things with brown peelings and the most delicious white insides. Brown slabs that smelled as if they had been cooked over a fire (she did not cook her grubs over a fire – they pop!), but juicy and tender. Green leafy stuff that tasted like a cool breeze. And some jugs of liquid, some white, some orange, that had none of the dirt taste of the water she drank from cacti and open springs.

The further she dug in the dumpster, the more Mia found to eat. Some of it did not taste too good, but she had plenty to choose from. She was in heaven.

The days and weeks rolled by. Mia had no shortage of food. She slept in the alley near her treasure, and it was not nearly as hot as in the desert. Several times a day (and night) someone would come out of the building and dump a new load of food and drink into her dumpster! This was the life! Mia was actually putting on some pounds.

One day, some people stared at her from the far end of the alley. They pointed and spoke quietly to each other, but did not approach her. About an hour later, as Mia dozed after another great meal, she was startled awake by two people standing over her in the alley, the same two she saw before. But her fears were calmed as they simply held out a few pieces of clothing, in colors she had never seen before. They said something, but Mia could not understand, as she did not speak their language. They motioned for her to follow. Mia drew back, visibly afraid, and the two strangers laid the clothes on a dry patch of ground and walked away, whispering to one another.

After they were gone, Mia fingered the clothing. Strange. It was dark now, and she ducked behind her dumpster to change clothes. It took her a while to figure out how to work the buttons and zipper, but she managed.

It had been six or eight weeks since Mia left the desert. Geoff waited for her to return, but was disappointed. He never let on that he liked Mia’s companionship, but he did. That’s what drove him up the side of the mountain in the desert, wondering if Mia’s light was real. He saw it, too.

Mia noticed that on some days the man who replenished her dumpster would not come. We call those “days off” but Mia did not have such a concept. A few times a huge, loud machine lumbered down the alley and emptied Mia’s dumpster as she cowered nearby. No matter because there were enough meals in the dumpster every day for more than ten Mias. She did not even have to eat the grubs at the bottom of the dumpster! She wondered at times why the other people in the city were not dining with her, but only for a moment until the thought was forgotten in favor of a piece of airy, spongy stuff with sweet icing on top.

About the time the lower half of Mia’s face was covered with icing one day, another face peeked into the dumpster. “Geoff!” Mia shouted. Geoff’s eyes got as round as saucers, though he had never seen a saucer.

Mia climbed out of her dumpster and gave Geoff a big hug, which he was not expecting. He looked tired and thirsty, as Mia had looked every day she was in the desert. She offered him some of the orange liquid she now loved so, and he drank it dry. He then gorged himself on Mia’s dumpster delicacies, none of which she had a name for. With each bite, he looked at her in disbelief, but kept eating anyway. If you are having a good dream, why mess it up with questions?

After Geoff ate, slept and ate again, Mia explained her whole trip to him. Geoff was quiet, taking it all in. It took him several days to grow to believe their good fortune.

Life was good. They both had their fill, though sometimes one or the other of them would inexplicably get sick for a day or two, but that was little price to pay for their bounty. They stayed right by their treasure chest, not wanting to lose their ground to other desert escapees.

But they were visited several times by the two people who brought Mia’s clothing. They brought other things as well, including some pretty good food. Mia and Geoff were now clothed at the courtesy of these folks, but were still wary. They were constantly bidding Mia and Geoff to come into the building where the dumpster-provider-man came from. But why go there when the food’s here? Their language was strange and they dressed funny.

After several more weeks the weather turned a bit chilly. They were still on the edge of the desert, but even there it would get cold sometimes. Geoff was particularly sensitive to the cold and the clothing they had was no match for it. Geoff was shivering.

Just about the time his teeth were chattering, along came their two benefactors. Their hands were empty, but they bade Mia and Geoff come into the building once more. Geoff reasoned that their food could not be any better, but they might have a fire (there was no firewood in the alley), so he cast a glance at Mia and got up to follow. Mia drew back further, feeling alone again.

Geoff was gone for more than two hours. Mia huddled in the cold (it was windy, too), and tried to stay warm, but all else she could think about was Geoff and what had become of him. How could he leave her alone like this? After she had shared her wealth with him?

Suddenly, Mia spied someone running down the alley toward her, and it was Geoff. He was alone.

“Mia! Come with me, you won’t believe what’s in the building!” Geoff panted, out of breath.

“What?” said Mia.

“Food and drink! And fire! And friends!” he shouted.

“Really? Why did you leave me?”

“To see what they wanted to show me, and I saw it. There is a huge table inside, all loaded with food. Things you have never tasted, and all at their best,” said Geoff.

“I have all the food I need here,” Mia said angrily, looking away.

“But you don’t understand,” Geoff said. “The stuff inside is the real food and drink. What you have out here is the garbage, the refuse, the leftovers, the trash.”

Mia shot him a look of disdain. “You ungrateful slug! You come to my city and I feed you and you talk to me like that?”

“I’m sorry, but that’s the way it is,” he said. “Come inside.”

The door to the building swung open and out sailed a bottle, straight for the dumpster. It hit with a bang. The door was open for only a moment, but they could hear in their own tongue a snippet of a song, and there were beautiful voices singing like this, “…his banner over me is love.”

Mia spat, “And I suppose you sing songs like that?”

Geoff paused. “They taught me a few songs, yes, and they are lovely. I have never heard such voices.”

“Then go back inside, leave me out in the cold, and sing your songs and eat your food that’s better than mine.” Mia turned her back on Geoff and would not be persuaded.

Geoff walked away sadly, to go back inside. As he got to the door, it was opened for him and he simply walked in. “He brought me to his banqueting table…”

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