Explanations and Akiva
"Okay," said Carl, "Let me go over this again, I was murdered and because of this type of death, my time on Earth was ended by a human's hand instead of by the hand of the Lord, then I have been given a chance to redeem myself of my past sins, and therefore I have to work under you and do the missions the Lord sets down for me. Is that about the jist?"
"Yes," said Gabriel.
They were both sitting in armchairs facing the huge fireplace in which burnt a great fire. They had been talking for a whole hour about Carl's life and death and it was now six o'clock in the morning and a bell rang from somewhere in the confines of the building's tower, "My goodness is that the time?" Gabriel said looking at a huge clock set above the Crucifixion of Christ painting, "Akiva will be here soon."
"What's an Akiva?" asked Carl.
"Akiva is a man," said Gabriel, "He works here also, just part-time, but he's a good guy."
With that Gabriel walked off, leaving Carl alone to reflect on his situation, he had a choice now, he could accept this chance and work under Gabriel, eventually earning his way into Heaven or he could run out of this place and get a one-way ticket to Hell. He found his eyes wander over to the Crucifixion of Christ painting and he just stared at his Lord and Savior, hanging from a cross, dying so he could live. Something shiny caught his eye and he looked in its direction and saw a crucifix hanging on a necklace and a Star of David hanging from a necklace, Carl picked up the crucifix and looked at it; a silver image of Christ hanging on it, he put it around his neck. He was about to leave when the Star of David caught his eye again, he picked it up and twirled it around in his hands; Jesus Christ was a descendent of David so…he put it around his neck along with the crucifix necklace and put them both under his shirt and went off in the direction Gabriel had gone.
When he saw Gabriel, Carl saw him talking to a young man (about mid-twenties) about what appeared to be the huge stack of books in the man's hands. The man had black-hair and Carl was a head taller than the man and the man had a Star of David around his neck.
"Ah, Carl," said Gabriel, "This is Carl, Akiva."
"Hi," Akiva said, shaking Carl's hand.
"Carl will be helping around here for a while," Gabriel told Akiva.
"Really," said Akiva, "Thank Heavens. This has been a real tough life hauling books around this humungous Chinese puzzle."
"Hauling books?" Carl asked as he looked at Gabriel.
"For now," said Gabriel, "Now, Akiva, these books to X13."
"I'm not hauling these books to X13," Akiva protested, looking at one of the two piles of books on the table next to the entrance doors.
"All right," said Gabriel, "Carl, take these books to X13 and Akiva take the other pile to Z20."
With that, Gabriel left and went through a small door with OFFICE written above it, "I don't know why I put up with this job," said Akiva and he led Carl up some stairs.