1. One hundred and ten bricks
Not everything in this world is free and I’m not referring to money; I’m talking
about our actions: everything we do has a consequence. Everything. It can be good or
bad; positive or negative; nice or unpleasant, but it does have a consequence. This is
what happened to Philip, a good-natured man who, as you and me, fell into a trap.
Sometimes, we are victims of horrible tricks and Philip was a victim of one of those.
Let me tell you about it.
Philip was sleeping by the sea, covered by big leaves and he was relaxed
because of the sound of the sea, the splash of the sea waves against the rocks, when a
strange deep voice woke him up. It was strange. Philip’s heart started beating fast.
‘What do you want from me?’ he asked.
There was a five-second silence, enough to ask himself: “Am I going mad?”
No. He wasn’t mad. He was living a reality, a harsh reality.
‘No, you’re not going mad,’ the voice said.
‘How do you know what I’m thinking?’
‘I know everything.’
‘God, is it you?’
‘No’ something appeared behind his back.
Philip was startled to see that something.
‘No, I’m not God. But I’m a gnome. I’m God’s messenger, so I want to
communicate you something.’
‘What do you need?’ Philip asked in an angry voice.
‘Don’t raise your voice to me,’ the gnome ordered. ‘God told me that he wants
you to remove all the bricks from the Cora Wall.’
‘Cora Wall?’
‘Yes. Cora Wall. Do you see that wall over there?’
‘Y… yes, I do´ Philip stammered nervously.’
‘Well, Can you see those red bricks at the bottom? They’re different from the
rest, which are green. There are one hundred green bricks and ten red bricks. When God
created this wall, he made a mistake and, instead of building it with one hundred bricks,
he built it with one hundred and ten. And he got angry. You bet he did.’
‘But… what’s the point?’ Philip interrupted.
‘Let me finish.’

2. ‘Sorry.’
‘God wants you to finish the wall.’
‘What should I add, then?’
‘No, You don’t have to add. You have to remove those eleven red bricks.’
‘And what happens if the wall falls on me?’
‘It won’t fall upon you. You are protected by God’s energy.’
‘Really?’ Philip asked with suspicion.
‘Really. I can swear it to you.’
Philip believed in the gnome’s words. The gnome went away with a smirk on his
face.
‘How fool he is’, the gnome whispered.
Philip started taking away all the bricks. First, he took away the one from the
left, then, the brick which was beside it, and he repeated this sequence to the right
slowly and making an effort with his hands. He got tired. “I need to take a rest” he
thought, and he went to sleep. It was night. When he woke up, the sun had already risen.
There was still much job to do, five bricks to remove, precisely. He started again, brick
by brick. The first one was very hard, so he felt he needed a shovel. He took it, and he
started to remove the brick. After five minutes, the brick was out the wall. The same
happened with the following two bricks, until there was only one brick left. He felt too
tired to continue, so he went to take a one-hour rest. When he woke up, he immediately
started again, but with a better shovel.
“Come one, Philip, be strong”. When he was about to finish, God saw him.
‘What are you doing’, God screamed with a resonant voice.
‘I’m removing these bricks to build my own house; I don’t have any home to
live’, Philip lied to God.
‘I didn’t tell you to take away the bricks from my wall.’
‘Well, so, if you’re that omnipotent, why don’t you build me a house?’ Philip
challenged God.
‘You can’t say that to me, dear Philip. I feel really betrayed. I will help you to
finish your job’, God said ironically.
God loosened the last brick with an astonishing quick movement and when the
last brick disappeared, as a punishment, all the green bricks fell on Philip, killing him
and covering him with the rubble.

3. Then, God immediately found the gnome, and killed him with an amazing hard
thunderbolt. God turned the gnome into one hundred green cinders, took Philip out of
the rubble and used them to cover Philip’s body. The rain started to fall.