A Piece of Eternity

This story is meant to be read in one sitting, so seeing as it is meant to be read as a whole I did not break it up into chapters. If you do not have time or attention span to read 15 some pages, I apologize.

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"Success is not characterized by what we achieve, but by what we achieve through character"

The sign was aggravating. Abhorrent, in a word, a burr in the mind of normal people everywhere. The only kind of person who could appreciate a sign like that was the same kind of person who could also leap out of bed in the morning with a smile, peruse the Business section jovially, and jaunt off to work in high spirits. Jeff was not one of those people.

'I imagine those peoples' ties are usually emblazoned with a perky cartoon character every day, too.' he mused darkly, adjusting the somber length of cloth encircling his own neck. Jeff was nothing like Those People. The line separating Him from Them was actually quite thick, believe it or not, for the simple reason that Jeff hated Those People and would never in his life want to join Their ranks, and that Those People lived in a kind of focused state of inattention to Jeff. 'How do they find substantiation, always in a good humor like that? They always bask in the sun but never seem to come back burnt.' The pencil in Jeff's hand went tap tap tap on his computer desk as he daydreamed, and the swivel chair he sat in squeaked as he reclined slightly in boredom. Surreptitiously the pencil snapped, a sound enormously loud in the quiet hum of an office being managed by Them. His eyes darted across the narrow area between cubicles to see if anyone had noticed. The somewhat attractive woman in the box across the way was fastidiously typing, if anything had phased her she failed to let it show. The executive office further past the woman's pretty little array of blond hair was closed and shuttered. Nothing short of a nuclear holocaust would breach those stolid glass windows. Things were continuing just like they always did, and Jeff's pencil sure wasn't going to impact the efficient system that flowed around here like a stream. There were very few things that Jeff did that made much of any impact around here. The broken pencil tip dove into the nearby sharpener and was surreptitiously deposited in a nearby mug that held a scant few other writing utensils. The cup itself was decorated with a single yellow smiley face, one of countless others that employees received as a free gift. He would just as soon have ejected it out the twenty-first story window than let it sit there in mockery of all that was Jeff, but it was simply taboo. The smiley cup held pencils, end of story. Though not quite as banal as the sign on the far wall, it ranked up there with things that rankled Jeff. Those People seemed to populate their spaces with these objects in the sole mindset of tormenting Jeff.

Somebody's head popped in all of a sudden, the grinning visage of the mousey man just down the way. "Morning, Jeff." he said, lifting a steaming mug to his mouth and sipping in the exact way that made Jeff's teeth want to grind. "How's the work going?" The work. At the moment, it consisted of a dimly glowing screen displaying a document which described rather vaguely the budget to date for some obscure part of the company. Not a word had been typed since his computer had been turned on.

"Fantastic." replied Jeff acidly, "Never been better." That was the honest truth.

"Great! See you around sometime." and with that he was off to pester some other soul down the line. There lay another facet of Those People, they seemed to have no grasp of sarcasm at all. It made demeaning them difficult.

Lunch break came and went. When Jeff returned to his bland gray cubicle world he just sat and stared at his screen for a few minutes. There really wasn't much of anything for him to do, 'I mean, who really reads this stuff anyway?' he mused, clicking on Solitaire and wiling away the rest of his work hours until quitting time. Miraculously he was left undisturbed by his co-workers in this endeavor. When at last the hour hand hit the five, he closed up shop and headed out with the rest. The elevator was the last contact Jeff was forced to have with his associates, and he noticed sourly that they were checking their watches, or flipping through day planners, or ticking away at Pocket PC's. Even once the day was done they were still at it. He expected they had an exciting night life.

From the elevators it was a quick walk through the lobby where security checked the employees coming in, and he was free. The doors opened before Jeff, and he was treated to the distinct pleasure of city air and the veritable wall of sound that accompanied a big city. His gaze was drawn upward, to the towers of man made wonder rising all about him in alabaster glory. The effect was lost on Jeff, though, who immediately upon stepping out onto the sidewalk proceeded to loosen his tie and run a hand through his hair. He took a step, and let himself drift on the current of people moving about the streets, content to just get his legs going after a remaining stationary for most of the day.

As he walked his mind began to wander. What was he even doing here? Not in any cosmic or phantasmagorical way, or in relation to how he was currently on a sidewalk, but what was he doing here? In the big city? Just another face in the crowd, just another Joe in a suit on his way home from work. One of a million others exactly the same. Was this really what he wanted to do with himself? Obscurity hadn't been his goal when he'd left college so many years back. He'd had dreams, just like everyone else, a degree in Communicative Arts from a well to do college, and a drive to make something of himself. Reality, however, hit a dreamer like Jeff hard. The big picture became painfully obvious at that time in his life. There's no place for free thinking in the modern world circa the year 2000. In real life, you work. You don't design, you don't act, you don't write, you work. Despite what some sixteenth century scientist may have discovered, the earth didn't revolve around the Sun at all. It revolved around good old George Washington. Money. Cash. Additionally, the only real way to get hard earned money in the city was the corporate world, a place of virtuous procedures such as Advancement through Backstabbing, and Knowing of the Right People. This happened everywhere Jeff could look in an office, and only a special type of person could really master the system. A man like Jeff, however, could be content with his mediocre salary, always have a few bucks to blow, and have a relatively comfortable place to sleep. No need for advancement at all. His wistfulness for something more had faded long since. It just wouldn't do, and it distracted him from the facts. This was life, and he was content. Well, maybe not exactly content, but at least stable. That's all a guy could really ask for, right?

"Please, sir, spare something for a poor man?"

The voice snapped him out of his reverie. Jeff's feet had brought him to the edge of a dilapidated alleyway, one of countless other grimy spaces between the important parts of the city. He looked down, and saw that the owner of the voice was just as cracked and broken as he sounded. Scattered bits of everything covered his body, a sweatshirt, one glove, a scrap of a sheet, and other unidentifiable articles barely shielded him from the elements. The stench of cheap booze and deep set grime exuded from the man, in fact it was hard to tell where the dirt ended and skin began. Two beetle-like eyes peeked out at Jeff from a mat of facial hair and a battered cap, while the whole man sat up against the side of a building and held out his hands, cupped and pleading.

Jeff looked on in disgust, shuddered in revulsion and kept on walking. At least he wasn't as bad off as that guy. 'These walks home are so boring...' he thought, the beggar instantly erased from his memory. Ahead of him, civilization and metropolis stretched on.

Soon he had made his way back to the little flat he called home, munching on a hot dog he'd picked up from a corner stand. A stack of mail sat unattended on the tabletop, Jeff added today's to the growing pile. The living space wasn't much, had nothing in the way of decoration, and barely offered enough square footage to be comfortable in, but it was enough.

He sat down on his bed and turned on his TV, sighing and removing his tie entirely. It joined it's fellow clothing items carpeting the floor, and Jeff gave it barely any notice. One of these days he would clean things up, if he ever thought of an urgent or satisfactory reason to. It was still relatively early, but Jeff had nothing to do on a regular Tuesday, so here he was. The TV continued to blare, and Jeff relaxed. Yes, this was the life.

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The next day Jeff awoke to some sort of paid programming quietly chanting from the speakers of the television. He released an enormous yawn and ran a hand through his messy hair. Another day of work awaited him. The thought was not thrilling in the least, but despite himself he unwillingly got up and stumbled into the bathroom. After brushing his teeth and giving himself a hasty shave he walked out a few steps to the small table that served for eating food on. From a nearby cabinet he grabbed a box of cereal and the nearest bowl that was at least semi-clean. The last remnants of milk were deposited into it, followed by the cereal, which he spooned slowly into his mouth. Mornings were usually tough for him, and it wouldn't be until he was up and about that he would be really awake at all. Another spoonful went in, and he shifted about the papers scattering the rest of the table looking for something to read. A bright color amongst the gray and white caught his eye, and when he grabbed it he saw it was a red envelope with his name and address on it, from his company. That made him wonder what was inside, and he tore it open and unfolded the paper inside. Quickly he scanned the contents, mumbling it out loud as he did.

"Dear Employee... regret to inform... due to finance issues... restructuring... as of two weeks from posted date your job is hereby... terminated?!" he shouted the last word, looking at the date and signature at the bottom, some two weeks prior to today. His mind reeled, he must have brought the letter in with the rest of the mail and tossed it on the table without reading it, and after doing the same for every day that mail came it had gotten covered up and he hadn't noticed it. Why hadn't he seen it sooner? "They fired me! They can't just fire me!!" he exclaimed, mashing the paper into a ball and pausing, before unfurling it and cramming it into a pocket and rushing out the door, his tie-less shirt still all in wrinkles. 'There's no way they can do this to me!' he thought, shoes click clacking on the stairs as he went down flight after flight and burst out the door, startling a few passerby in the process. 'There's no way I'm letting this happen!'

The office building was, of course, within walking distance, but that still meant about three blocks worth of people. Nothing was stopping him front getting to the bottom of this. He sprinted directly across the street, weaving through cars stopped at a red light, his mind moving as fast as his feet. 'Was it something I did? No, couldn't be, I don't do anything out of the ordinary at work. Is that it? Is it that I didn't do enough? Is this even my fault at all? Why didn't I read that letter sooner?!' People were unceremoniously shouldered to the side as he ran, leaving him with a few startled shouts of "Hey!" or "Watch it!" or just obscenities from the less savory citizens he shoved. Jeff had ears for none of them. He came to a crowd waiting in front of a "Don't Walk" flashing sign, but his legs refused to stop their movement.

"Out of my way!" he roared, bustling through those not quick enough to jump to the side. He came out onto the street, and was nearly struck when a car screeched to a halt inches from him. Reflexively he slammed his hands on to the hood to try and catch his balance, then rolled and kept on going. Two more blocks. The people were getting closer and closer together as he moved toward the skyscrapers and office buildings nearer to the center of town, making his going tougher. Though he was forced to slow, he still pushed on with a feverish intensity. The rage burning in Jeff's eyes was enough to scare some citygoers out of his way just by a look.

He caught the next crosswalk on the "Walk" sign, so he didn't have to risk his neck getting across. Something reached his ears as he moved down the sidewalk, a voice saying to him,

"Could I interest you in any trinkets, young man?"

"Move it!" was Jeff's only response, along with a hard shove to the speaker that gave Jeff a clear view of the big doors into the building he was searching for. There was little traffic going into the building, Those People would already be at their little stations working busily by now, so Jeff bustled through and into the lobby without any trouble.

He was given a view of the lobby's black tile floor leading to sweeping stairs off and away that led to the elevators and some of the ground floor offices. Between him and those elevators, his passage to the people he really needed to see, however, was a range of metal detectors and suits at computers checking people in. There was a brief line, so Jeff stepped quickly into place and stopped. This was the first time he'd really come to a halt since leaving his apartment, and it was only a moment until his body caught up with him, causing him to lean over and try to catch his breath. He had the presence of mind to pat down his hair and made an attempt with fumbling fingers to do something respectable with the buttons of his shirt, but gave up.

"Can I see your identification please." said the security guard standing off to his left. Jeff nodded and stood up straight, fumbling in his pants pocket to find his wallet. These were the same pants he had worn since yesterday, so it was exactly where he had left it. He pulled out his ID card and handed it to the guard, who looked at his state of disrepair with a raised eyebrow, then stuck the card into a small terminal by the metal detector. Jeff ran a hand through his hair involuntarily, undoing any good he had done seconds earlier, and tapped his feet impatiently. There were important people that he had a few choice words for, and standing still didn't get him any closer to his goal.

The guard looked back at Jeff with a slightly confused look, then tapped a few keys on the terminal. This evidently did no good, because he turned to Jeff and handed him back his card with a 'Well-I-Tried' look, "I'm sorry sir, but it doesn't seem like you're in the system here. Your ID hasn't come up with an employee match."

Something ice cold swept down Jeff's back, and he had to grab the edge of the metal detector to keep from falling over. 'Not in the system? But- that must mean...' Two weeks notice. Two weeks from today. He was fired. He couldn't even get into the building now.

"You don't understand." said Jeff, his voice ragged at the edges. "I have to talk with an executive. There's been a mistake."

"I apologize, sir, but I can't let you into the building without a proper ID." said the guard, still holding out Jeff's now useless card.

"You could get me in there, please, this is really important. I must have a word with an executive." said Jeff, desperation, entering into his voice. The guard noticed, and started edging for the opening to the building beyond waiting through the metal detector.

"Sir, there isn't anything I can do."

"No!" shouted Jeff, lunging for the opening. The guard caught him in strong arms and forcibly made him stop.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave." said the guard with a voice as firm as his grip. Jeff struggled and tried to get past, but he might as well have struggled with a brick wall. The man pushed him toward the doors, and Jeff could only stumble out and back onto the street. His mind was as much a mess now as his shirt. He was fired? Where was he supposed to go every day? Where was he going to get money? How was he going to pay his rent? What was he going to eat?

"Could I interest you in any trinkets, young man?"

Still in a thunderstruck daze, Jeff looked to where an elderly gentleman in a long coat was standing in front of a small sidewalk stall and grinning widely at him. A small Asian looking cap rested on his head, and frazzled white hair made wings at his ears and stuck out the back of his head. The man was so wrinkled that when he smiled it was like looking at a worn, crinkled piece of leather scrunched up instead of a face, with a dagger like nose jutting out and genial eyes peeking out from bushy white eyebrows. Overall he made quite a scene apart from the people around him, who ignored him as a whole. Their dismissal seemed to have no effect on his demeanor, but likewise the fact that Jeff was now observing him didn't change his expression at all.

"Trinkets?" said Jeff in an utterly defeated tone. He didn't have anywhere to go, so he had no reason to pass this weird old guy up.

"Yes, yes, why don't you come over here?" Jeff walked a few steps more away from the building he no longer had a place in and stood in front of the withered man's stall. Covering the overhang and inside of a glass display in front of him was all manner of things, trinkets was the only good word for them. Necklaces, rings, pins, chains, baubles, nothing in the same style or sorted in any manner. Some were ridiculous, some mysterious, some of metal, some of plastic, or wood, some adorned and some plain. They were altogether as strange as the man behind all of it. "I have quite a collection of things I've gathered over the years, and believe me," here he gave a hoarse but jovial sort of guffaw, "I've had a lot of years to gather things. I've got whatever you need to scratch that itch, I've got the cure for what ails you." Jeff stood in the exact same position he'd held since coming to stand where he stood, his face a blank as his mind tried to recover from the intense mental shock it had sustained. "What's ailing you, hmm?"

"Oh, nothing. Nothing." mumbled Jeff, looking down at his shoes, then back up at the man who was grinning and raising his enormous eyebrows at the bedraggled state Jeff was in.

"Nothing. A horrible state to be in, I know. The only cure I have for nothing is something, or anything for that matter. I have plenty of somethings here and," the grin devolved into a warm smile," a few anythings."

"There isn't anything you have that could help me now." responded Jeff blandly, 'Not unless you've got something that makes money or can get me a new job.' he added mentally.

"What you need," continued the man as if Jeff's words were just droning in his ears, "is a very specific something. Let me root around in here a moment." at this he dove under his cart and was heard to be rustling noisily about some drawer or another and making quite a racket. Jeff looked about nervously, a few passerby were shooting him strange looks or shaking their heads. 'You lose your job then tell me how strange I look.' he thought glumly, turning back to the stall as the man stood straight once more.

"Try this on for size." said the man, handing Jeff a pin in the shape of an oriental dragon, crafted from metal. "Should put a spark in you and get you up on your feet."

He held the little dragon pin in his open palm, and looked incredulously at the old man. "You can't be serious." In response the man gestured at Jeff and proclaimed,

"Try me! You won't regret it. I've been around the block a few times, I know what works."

'The only thing around the block is a night club and a coffee shop.' mused Jeff, sighing and pinning the dragon to his shirt. There was an utter lack of difference moments later, and he flicked it to see if that would jump start it. "I think it's broke."

"Oh, foo, it's not working because you don't want it to. A spark isn't what you need, you need something better. I have just the something." the man reached out and forcibly removed the pin from Jeff's shirt, then tossed it somewhere out of sight. "Here we are..." he looked up to the bundle of necklaces hanging from the rack overhead and started sorting through them intently.

'This is ridiculous, why am I wasting my time here? I need to figure out what I'm going to do to fix things.' Maybe it would be best to call the company, and explain his situation. If he gave enough reasons they had to hire him back. No, how was he ever going to get an executive on the phone? Those guys were picky enough about their contacts without some ex-employee wanting to beg at them. Well, there were always jobs in the city. Restaurant work would be immediately available, but he had no measure of dexterity at all when it came to cooking things, and waitering was not a level he wanted to stoop to personally. 'I can think of something but I'm not getting anything done standing at this imbecile's stall waiting for God knows what to be stuck on me. I should just walk away and go home.' The words were easy to think, and he could picture the classic moment when the man would look back at Jeff and see only the throng of passerby and the street, he himself already being blocks away. Somehow, though, Jeff wanted to stay and see what this old geezer would cook up, he wanted to think that something was going to come of this, and he knew he would miss it if he didn't stick around.

"Yes, this is it." the man pulled the necklace off, then held it out in front of Jeff. "Do you know what this is, young man?" It was getting annoying that this old guy kept calling him that, he was a fully grown adult after all, but in comparison this guy was probably at least forty years his senior. He could deal with the aggravation.

The necklace looked to consist of a thin leather strap, with a jagged piece of blue glass hanging from some wire spindled around it. "Junk." answered Jeff, grinning mirthfully. The man's eyebrows flew together in consternation, lining his forehead in deep grooves and ridges.

"No, no, this is far from junk. What you see here is something that took me a very long time to find, and an even longer time to acquire. This trinket has a most extraordinary effect on a person, it grants an ability that many men think they have, but don't realize they are bereft of until they too acquire it. This necklace can show you that ability that you, yes, even you, have buried deep inside."

"And what ability is that?" said Jeff, unimpressed with the man's theatrics.

"The ability to see." This was, evidently, quite a joke, for the man broke out into his hoarse guffawing afresh. It was a few seconds before he calmed himself enough to wipe a tear of mirth from his eye and continue, "Yes, I see you are not enthused. Listen, I'll let you have this free of charge, as a gift from me. Just wear it, maybe you'll start to see it's worth in time. Maybe you'll remember a little old man and his stand of trinkets, hmm?" Once more he proffered the necklace at Jeff, who took a step back and held up his hands.

"Listen, I-" he stopped. 'Where's the harm? Maybe this guy has gone senile and wants to sell fake charms to people, I should just indulge him. Who knows what he would do if I refused?' thought Jeff, who sighed and took the necklace. 'Here goes nothing.' Before putting it on, he had one last question as it dangled in his hand.

"What is it, anyway?"

"That, my friend, is a piece of Eternity. A little bit of what really matters in this world, quite literally." said the old man with a tone of utmost solemnity, smiling only slightly by an upturn at the corner of his mouth. Jeff decided he'd been pestered enough, so he wasn't going to ask. With one final shrug, Jeff put the necklace on and fastened it at the back of his neck. It hung down in front of his rumpled dress shirt, the brown and blue clashing with the stark white. To fix this, he pulled it up and stuffed it under the shirt, where he could feel the cool glass touching his skin. A twinkle entered the old man's eyes as he did this, and he nodded his consent. "I wish you good luck, fellow." And with that Jeff was on his way.

The man and his stall quickly passed from Jeff's mind as he began to contemplate on the serious effects of his being fired. Without a source of income, he wouldn't have any way to pay for the things he needed to survive, such as food, clothes, lodging. Without those things, he would be homeless, out on the street begging for stuff. There were always jobs out there, though, he could get something. But who knows if it would be enough for both the rent and food... he could barely break even with his salary back at the company, and a fast food chain sure wasn't going to give him more than that. Essentially, unless he got his job back, he was in quite a pickle. It made frustration well up inside him so much that he just wanted to cry, or scream, or paint a really wild picture or something. Anything to let him vent, because just thinking about things was going to make him go insane.

Jeff sighed and clasped his hands behind his head, looking up into the sky as he walked with the crowd aimlessly. He must not have been in this part of the city before, because looking up he could see the impossibly tall skyscrapers ascending into the heavens, the mirrored windows throwing back reflections of light and blue sky. It was an astonishing sight, standing in front of one of those buildings and being amazed at man's ingenuity to make something that tall that could still stand firm, something made up of so many pieces but still staying strong. Jeff's bleary face metamorphosed, first moving from a neutral expression, to mild amusement, then to some quirking at the edges of his mouth, and then into a full fledged smile. Why hadn't he noticed how... big they were before? All these years he'd been in the city and not once had he taken a moment to just marvel at the size of it all.

"Hey, are you gonna move or are you just gonna stand there like an idiot?" queried some disgruntled person from behind Jeff, and all at once he realized he was standing still looking up into the sky.

"Oh, sorry." said Jeff, beginning to walk again. 'That was strange...' The man behind him was evidently still dissatisfied with Jeff's walking speed, so he rudely pushed past and moved more quickly on his way. In fact, Jeff was moving a lot slower than the rest of the people around him, he was at a kind of relaxed stroll, while everyone was at a fever-pitch speed walk, or so it seemed. "Why are they moving so fast?" mumbled Jeff under his breath, picking up speed so as not to be trampled. Which way was back to his apartment? He looked at the street name and realized he wasn't too far, the street he usually took was only a block away.

Once he arrived at that corner Jeff put his hands in his pockets and broke away from the majority of the crowd so he could move at his own pace. Something about not having anywhere to be felt... freeing. He could walk at his own speed, for once, and he didn't have to care what anybody thought about it. Randomly, Jeff stopped, and felt like he'd been at this spot before. He looked around at everything, saw the stains on the brick of the walls, the cracks in the sidewalk, and his gaze was drawn to a nearby alleyway, where a man was leaning up against the wall and dozing. 'That guy from yesterday...' thought Jeff, moving closer. He was in the same state of uncleanliness as he had been the day before, although he'd found a new wall to lean against, at least. 'We're not so different now, are we? I might have had a shower more recently, but we both don't have any place to go. In a few weeks, maybe I'll be in his shoes.'

The man started and woke up as Jeff stood over him. He opened his mouth to beg, but Jeff shook his head, and amazed himself by sitting down right beside the beggar. The man's beady eyes widened in surprise, and Jeff smiled at him. "Hey, my name's Jeff." he said, holding out a hand. For once, the passerby walking a few steps away from the alley were just people, and if they stared or said anything they didn't matter one single bit. The beggar was too stunned to come up with a response, and he actually shied away from Jeff slightly, fearing some sort of mean trick. "What's yours?"

Slowly, the man blinked and moved his hand toward Jeff's. With a partially gloved hand he shook, and said "Jack."

"Well, Jack, how have you been?" said Jeff, trying to make conversation, goodness knows a homeless man wouldn't get much of it.

"Um, a'ight, I guess. A lil' hungry." said Jack, scratching the back of his head past a tangled mane of hair.

"Well, let's see..." Jeff reached into his back pocket and felt around smiling when he landed on something and pulled it out. It was a plastic wrapped red sucker, he'd probably gotten it out of a vending machine somewhere. He gave the little red sucker candy to the man and continued with, "So how long have you been around here for?"

The man was intensely appreciative for the sweet, and in a matter of moments he had unwrapped it and popped it into his mouth. "Five months."

"What did you do before?" Jeff leaned forward and looked sideways at the man.

"Used to be construction. Did some stuff building buildings around town. Got laid off and never got picked up again." the beggar drew on the ground with a finger in embarrassment.

"Construction, huh? Wow, that must have been something. Were you up high?"

"Oh, uh, yeah. I did a few skyscrapers, stuff like 'at."

"How many floors up were you?"

"Huh huh, I did stuff on duh forty ninth one time. Highest I ever went. Did it once and never wanted to again, huh huh huh." The man's laugh was a low chuckle.

They went on conversing like this for minutes on end, and as they talked Jack started to perk up and really get into talking about days gone by. Jeff talked about his days in college, and the two swapped stories and jokes and any awkwardness that had existed at the beginning was soon gone altogether. At length, the two were just leaning against the wall and relaxing, with as much relaxation as could be had against a hard brick wall. 'You get used to it after a few minutes, I guess.' thought Jeff, stretching. He felt like it was time to go, so he stood and said to Jack,

"Hey, it was great meeting you. Listen," at this Jeff reached into a pocket and pulled out his wallet and started leafing through it. Jack's eyes lit up like flashlights at this, and he sat up very straight. Jeff pulled out a twenty and held it out to the beggar, still on the ground. "Get something to eat, you deserve it."

Jack could only sit it stunned silence, then he reached out and took the bill and crammed it into a coat pocket, tears filling his eyes. He fixed Jeff with an intense stare and said, "You're a saint, sir, a real saint, and God bless ya."

"Goodbye." said Jeff, moving off once again parallel to the crowd. His spirit felt light, and he was happy that he had been able to help someone. The feeling wasn't like anything he'd ever experienced before. 'Just yesterday I was like everyone else, why didn't I see he was so much like I am?' wondered Jeff. How could he have had such a cold, uncaring reaction to another human being? 'Is there something wrong with me?' he thought, feeling his head. Maybe the loss of his job had made him go straight off the deep end, that's why he was feeling odd and doing wacko things. He needed to get home and get some rest, tomorrow he could approach his problems with a rational mind, because right now nothing was making sense. 'Or maybe everything is making too much sense?'

He crossed the street, his apartment wasn't far away now. A racking cough came over Jeff, and he nearly doubled over and had to step out of the crowd and lean against some stone stairs to keep standing. His lungs felt like they were filled with something worse than air, and he was forced to cough and hack until he felt like he could breathe again. Once he could, he looked around for the cause but didn't see a thing. 'What was that!?' he thought, but there wasn't anything to see. Then, someone in the crowd turned and sneered at him with a cigarette between two fingers being pulled away from her mouth, cigarette smoke pouring from her lips. The lurid sight of the woman smoking turned from him and melded again with the crowd, and Jeff looked on in wonderment. The smell of smoke persisted, even once she was gone, and there wasn't anyone in the vicinity smoking. Jeff's sight was drawn to across the street, where white billows of steam were rising from a grate in the sidewalk, past which the flow of traffic moved naturally to avoid it. The steam dissipated up among the buildings, but still permeated the air. 'Air? How can we call this stuff air? Have I been breathing this smog this whole time?' he thought, feeling like he should cough again. City air like this seemed hardly breathable to Jeff, but it was thick around him, not a stray zephyr of fresh air anywhere. 'I need to get to my apartment!' he thought frantically, moving quickly with a hand close to his mouth. His feet pounded the ground, and after only a block he skidded to a halt and burst through the first floor doors of his apartment building. Only once he had ascended the steps and skidded down the hallway to his door, fumbled the key out of another pocket, pulled it open and slammed it behind him did he take a moment to exhale and fall listlessly against the doorframe.

'What was that all about?' he closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind. Everything was a jumble in there, these things he was seeing, him getting fired, the security guard throwing him out, the old man and his trinkets, the necklace...

The necklace.

Jeff reached under his shirt and pulled the necklace out, tearing it off and holding it in his hand. It glimmered slightly in the light coming through the windows of his little apartment, and refracted the sunbeams into little specks on his palm. "A piece of Eternity, he said. What was it he meant?" said Jeff to himself. The gem was cool against his skin, it felt nice to just hold and look at. Inevitably, though, Jeff was forced to look past it, to the disheveled and messy state of his flat. 'What the... have I been living in this?' Clothes strewed the floor, nearly every inch of it, any flat space above that held either old newspapers, cups, dishes, or more clothes. He could see into his living space from the doorway. The mattress of his bed was hanging half off, covered in stains, the pillow was incredibly rumpled and had taken a nasty off-white color from lack of cleaning. That color permeated the entire flat, in the walls, the windows, the ceiling, everywhere. Jeff took a few steps and looked into his kitchen. The sink was filled to the brim with soiled cups and dishes, which spilled out onto the countertop with reckless abandon. A few cupboards were half open, revealing mostly empty insides taken up mostly by scattered crumbs. Some clothing articles strewed a chair and parts of the countertop even here. All in all, it wasn't even fit for a caveman to live in. 'Well looks like I've got to do something about it.' Before he did, however, Jeff carefully replaced the gem at his neck and stuffed it under his shirt, before rubbing his hands and getting to work.

It took all day, cleaning up his apartment. His first order of business was getting his dishes in order and clearing away trash. He found he had a roll of trashbags, completely new, in one of the lower cupboards, goodness knows he hadn't had a use for it in a long time, one bag of which he opened and started throwing garbage into. Three empty pizza boxes showed their ugly countenances, countless used napkins turned up, paper plates were in abundance, and an obscene amount of junk mail and old newspapers went into the big black bag. This done, he left it open in his living area and moved to the sink, where he took a dishrag and started methodically cleaning out cups and dishes. There seemed to be thousands of them, but Jeff worked with a feverish intensity that soon had the sink cleared out and water flowing freely, and one cupboard full of clean stacked plates and cups. The stray drinking implements dotting the countertop went in turn, and he hunted down the rest of the hidden plates strewn all over his apartment and washed them spotless too.

When the kitchen was clean, he found a laundry bag and started cramming in dirty clothes. One was filled up quicker than he liked, and he was forced to open a second, which was packed tight in turn. These two massive bags he hefted onto his back and forced out the door, then tromped down the steps to the washing machines. Two heads peeked out of nearby apartments to see what the racket was, and the two occupants looked at each other in confusion.

"Who was that?" said one incredulously.

"Oh, just one of Those People." replied the other in derision, and both shook their heads before shutting their respective doors.

With the clothes cleared off the floor, Jeff saw he really had more space in the apartment than he had ever known, enough that he didn't have to pick his way past piles of discarded clothing or carefully step over dirty undergarments to get to the bathroom. The bathroom was beyond description, and took him a majority of the time he spent getting it spick and span. A broom and dustpan was discovered in one of his tiny closets, and as a final touch he used it to sweep the floors that had lain untouched under the strata of clothing for so long, leaving them dust-free and almost shining. He took out the trash, picked up his laundry, put away his clothes and reclined on his bed of clean sheets and rested his head on an actually white colored pillow. 'Job well done. Wait a second...' Jeff stood up quickly, as if really coming to himself for the first time in hours. 'I just cleaned my apartment. I just cleaned.... my apartment?!' Now he knew something was the matter. There had never been any reason to fix his apartment for ages, why did he suddenly get the urge to go Mr. Clean psycho on everything and make it look nice? Why was everything making no sense to him? Had getting fired really unhinged him this much?

The ability to see.

That's what that the old man had said the necklace would do... grant an ability most guys thought they had, until they saw they didn't. All of this time Jeff had been working the daily grind, with his eyes tightly shut to everything but the next day of work. 'What kind of an existence is that? It's like... being a machine. A robot, or something.' mused Jeff, kicking off his shoes and unbuttoning his shirt. The necklace brushed up against his hand, and he stopped. Had it really managed to have that effect of him? Was it really what the old man had said it was? 'There's no way. Stuff like that just doesn't exist.' It was impossible. Things didn't work that way. Did he really want to be able to see the gritty, cruel city for all it really was? 'Give me my peaceful work life any day.' he thought with a shudder, but then he thought about it. What else was there in life? Was living in a daze really what he wanted? The City had become his world, his own personal bit of space, but there was so much more out there he hadn't experienced. It was like he had locked himself in a broom closet and called it the United States. That still didn't change the fact he was out of a job. 'But think about it. What did you go to college for? You had dreams, and what happened to them?' He had come to the city and it had eaten him whole. Maybe getting fired was the best thing that had happened to him yet, it let him see what he was missing now. This whole time his heart had been yearning for something more, but his rational mind had blocked all of that out. The city life wasn't for him, the daily grind every day wasn't for Jeff. So many of those people, the common people he passed all the time on the street, could live that life, but not him.

With those tumultuous thoughts mulling around in his brain, Jeff drifted off to sleep.

-----

Jeff awoke some time in the morning as quickly and with such a jolt that it was like somebody had screamed into his ear. He was late for work. Quickly he scrambled to get on his feet and out the door, but before he was even out of his bed he deflated with a sigh. He didn't have to go to work, he didn't have a job anymore. Instead of feeling remorse, though, Jeff felt an overwhelming sense of relief. His arms stretched out languidly, and he grasped the clock near his bed with a lazily moving hand. 'Wonder what time it is.' he thought, turning it so he could see. The time on it should have shocked him, instead he blinked at it in slight amusement. 'Wow... 11:00... I haven't slept this late since... since...' He couldn't remember the last time he had slept in. Any time he had tried he'd been too tense and had woken himself up. Any time he had tried to be on time for work, he'd slept late and felt terrible. This time, though, he'd slept late and felt full of energy. For the first time in a while, he remembered what it felt like to be fully rested. Jeff might have been pleased, but he was filled with anger instead. 'Alright, that's the last straw. This- this- piece of Eternity or whatever it is has turned my life inside out. I'm sleeping in, I'm choking on city air, I'm giving money to beggars for God sakes... I'm going to- i've... I have to go talk to that old man.' he thought. If anyone could explain what was going on, it would be him. 'But what if he's not where I found him last?' A stab of fear shot through him, and he jumped up and into his shoes. He had the presence of mind to switch his exceedingly mangled shirt for a clean one, and he switched off his work pants for some more comfortable jeans. He had almost forgotten how those felt.

In a matter of moments he was out his door, just like the day before, and running. He ran, and ran, crossed the road a few times, then before he knew it he was outside his old workplace. The mammoth structure of steel and glass looked imposing, almost sinister in it's blacks and grays, rising up high into a sky that was bleak and overcast. It made Jeff shudder, and he quickly moved away from it. He turned quickly, scanning the streets, but the stall was nowhere to be seen. 'Right here, his stall was right here but I don't see him anywhere!' thought Jeff frantically, feeling the gem cool against his skin and making him see what he hadn't before. It made him feel queasy that something was affecting him that much, but he couldn't tear it from his neck, something inside him wanted it to stay there. 'I have to find that old man! Where is he?!' He turned and turned, his head whipping about like a madman trying to get any glimpse of what he was looking for. Then there, he spotted it, a long coated figure moving off into an alleyway adjacent to the office building. Jeff sprinted full speed to catch it, and when he turned into the alley there the man was. The elderly gentleman turned to him with a little toothy smile and said,

"Aah, my customer has returned. Have you found everything satisfactory?"

Jeff wanted to pound the man and thank him profusely at the same time, it was a confusing reaction and Jeff could only run a hand frustratedly through his hair in response. "Look, I- I don't- your trinket has- this thing has turned my life upside down and I want it gone." That wasn't totally true, all he wanted was for things to start making sense. The man looked intrigued, and turned fully to face Jeff.

"And how has that little trinket turned your life... upside down?"

Jeff looked up to collect his thoughts, then pinned the man with an intense stare. "I'm noticing things I didn't before. The skyscrapers, people, even the air I breathe! It's freaking me out, and whatever magic your little necklace has I want it gone." The man only grinned and said,

"Has seeing really had that much of an effect on you?"

"Yes, it has! Listen, it's changed things and I don't like it. Take it back, now!" Jeff pointed accusingly at the man, who held up his hands and took a step or two back, still grinning.

"Nothing's changed, young one, you know that without me telling you. The city is just the same as it was yesterday, and will be exactly the same until kingdom come. If you want things the way they were, then take it off. Nobody's keeping that necklace on you."

It was a good idea, so Jeff reached frantically into his shirt and gripped the jagged gemstone in his hands, but stopped just short of ripping it from his neck. Sweat sprung up on his brow, and his hand started to quiver. The old man nodded as if he had expected this.

"You can't take it off, can you? Why is that, do you wonder? Well, I'll tell you. It's because deep down inside you really do want to see things the way they are. In reality, hah, you don't want to be bamboozled by the things of this world. You want to see what you see, and all this time you were just tricking yourself."

Jeff's jaw dropped in awe, the man had hit the nail right on the head. "But, how could you possibly know that? What... are you?"

"Just an old man who's been around the block, young one." said the man, giving his little hoarse guffaw, his face crinkling into a big smile.

"Listen, listen you. I was perfectly fine the way I was." he said, though his voice quivered as much as his hands now. "I had a job. I was secure. I want that back. I want it all back!" the last words he nearly yelled, frustration and confusion having built up like a volcano inside his chest.

"Alright, then." said the man quietly, walking slowly up to Jeff, putting his withered hand around Jeff's and pulling at the necklace. Jeff gave an involuntary start at his surprisingly strong touch, and gasped as the man pulled. He really didn't want the necklace to go. Despite his innermost desire, however, the leather strap snapped with a dull thwap, and it came away into Jeff's clenched fist. The man patted it and smiled, then walked a few steps away from Jeff.

That should have done it, the gem wasn't touching him anymore, it was dangling from it's broken leather strap in his fist. Jeff looked up, expecting some kind of force to overcome him, but all he saw was the massive majestic skyscrapers, all he smelled was the rancid city air. His eyes widened in surprise as he looked slowly back to the old man. "I don't understand."

The old man raised his eyebrows and waggled a finger at Jeff. "Now now, listen up, young one. This is very important." He paused for effect, then clasped his hands behind his back before continuing, "When I saw you, when you first came to my stall, I saw a man who had nothing to show for his life, a man who had put all of his soul into something as fragile as 'work', and saw it shatter before his eyes. What I gave you, that piece of Eternity, was something that will last past my life, past your life, past everyone. Eternity is forever. That's what we really want, young one, is for something of us to live on past our short lifetimes. That "piece of Eternity" you're holding there?" the man pointed to it, "is exactly what you saw it to be, a piece of blue glass on some ratty old leather. When you walked away from my stall, you started to see things because once the focus of your life was gone, you could finally start to see what was around you. You could see people's needs, you could see the works of men, you could see the condition your own life was in. Whether you had met me or not, you would've begun to see, I just gave you a little head start. You're a dreamer, I can see that, and I know you'll make something that will last an eternity. I didn't lie when I said it took me my whole life to find a piece of it, it took me that long to realize I found mine in helping other people find theirs. The world is waiting for you to make your piece of Eternity, young one, that's what you needed to see. That's what I helped you find through that funny little trinket."

Jeff screwed up his face and dangled it in front of his eyes. "So... there's no magic in this thing at all?"

The old man let out a contented guffaw and consented, "Well, maybe a little magic."

Jeff held the necklace in his palm and felt it's cool weight lying there. He looked to the man and said, "I just don't believe..." The alleyway led to a dead end. The old man was gone.

Somehow, the walk home didn't seem so boring anymore