Deals to be Made

I was at the college campus where I attended school.  I had found that I had left my bag sitting unattended in a campus building.  I was quite concerned as the bag carried my books and cash. When I tried to remember my day I had a hard time even beginning to consider where I might have set the bag down.  I ran all over campus and eventually I tracked it down for what little good it did me.  All of my books had been stolen which was not surprising as they were like instant cash at the bookstore and of course the money that I had left in my wallet stashed in the bag was gone.    I was completely upset.  There was little chance that I could finish the semester in good shape. Finals were approaching and I had no books or cash to by books.  At one point in the day I made a deal with a brilliant math student that did not need his book to let me use it until after finals but that left me without help for my other classes.    Later that night I found myself in a long slender room off of a campus-building hallway.  With me were about a dozen other people.  We were evidentially in this room for various reasons but all of which had something to do with making a deal with the devil, literally.  I was scared to death and knew that I had to be there.  I knew I had little chance of living past that night.  I wanted to leave the room in the worst way but could not.    Barbara my wife came in to take a seat. Her entrance coincided with the entrance of the guest of honor, Lucifer his malevolent self. I said, “Here is the nasty man coming in now.” A slumped man walked by to the end of the room.  This was Satan there was little doubt.  Every hair on my body was standing straight and I was chilled to the bone.  I told Barbara that she should leave.  She said she would after the night was over.  I told her that she better leave right then.  When the devil’s back was turned she did open the door, which I thought was much too loud for safety, and exited.  I was scared to death that she would be told to come back into the room and await her injustice. I was scared that my remaining in the room meant survival, that it meant either living to the next day or not.  I did not want Barbara to be a part of that.    As the devil began business one request or another was passed by him.  At one point a man with a carved wooden stand up bass in a case opened it up for our viewing.  We could see that it was a hull of an instrument and unfinished.  His request was that it be made into a finished instrument ready for use.    This man joined the devil with the instrument and a huddle of other people at the end of the room.  They surrounded the hull of a bass and the man near it and began to bring about its changes.  At one point I could hear a string being plucked.    I on the other hand was still very scared.  I picked up a paper nearby that was a church paper of some sort and was reading about this news or other about the church building and its congregation.  I knew that it would be a long night and that the outcome for me was uncertain.