“Help! Help!” he shouted, as loud as he could, “If someone hears me, I’m sitting in the whale’s mouth and can’t get out.” Actually, a stupid phrase, Jonah thought to himself, this “If someone hears me”, because it only works if someone heard him and if his screaming wasn’t heard, then it was redundant at first. He pressed his ear to the inside of the whale’s mouth. Apparently, it was built very sturdily because no one seemed to hear its screams, or they were simply ignored.
“Mom, Mom, the whale is making such strange noises,” a child suddenly cried out. Jonah assumed it was screaming because he heard it very faintly, but the panic in the voice stood out.
“Oh, such nonsense, how is he supposed to make noises, he’s not real,” the mother tried to calm the child, but it remained adamant.
“Yes, he does,” the child persisted, until the mother agreed to fetch one of the supervisors.
“Well, why is it closed at all. It has to be open,” said the warden. Again, Jonah let out his cry for help, whereupon the orderly worker came very close to the whale, put his ear to it and listened with closed eyes. There, another sound. He then straightened up and raised his voice in full falsetto, telling the prisoner in the whale, “Open your mouth and come out at once!”
“That was good. Do you think I would still be sitting in there if I could get out?” Jonah replied angrily.
“How do they even get to be in there?” the overseer asked.
“Because I took refuge in it from the rain, it closed and now it won’t open anymore,” Jonah said irritably, “So you’re going to let me out now?”
“You don’t be cheeky than first manipulating the mechanism that closes the mouth and then blackmailing others into opening it. If you can close it, you can open it again,” said the Disney World employee, so that Jonah resorted to begging.
“Please, I want out of here. It’s musty and stuffy and I’ll soon die of thirst. I will never set foot in a whale’s mouth again, I swear,” Jonah declared contritely.
“All right, but I have to find someone who knows what’s going on first,” said the warden and walked away.
“It’s too late today, but the specialist can come tomorrow. And you will be billed for all of this. Close it first and then complain that you can’t get out, that shouldn’t go unpunished,” explained Jonah the employee when he returned after what felt like half an eternity.
Late in the afternoon of the next day, the whale’s mouth was actually opened. When Jonah cautiously stepped out, there stood before him a man with a snow-white beard and hair wearing a gray cap. He also wore a gray fitter’s overalls. Without Jonah having to say anything, this old man held a bottle of water under Jonah’s nose, which he eagerly drank.
“God, is that you?” Jonah asked very carefully after he had quenched his thirst, because he felt a little stupid.
“Of course, or did you really think you could escape your quest once you accepted it? Do you think I can’t think of anything better than the well-known story from back then?” he said, amused.
“If you really want to know, yes,” Jonah replied honestly.
“And will you fulfill your task now?” God asked.
“Yeah, ok,” Jonah said shortly, whereupon he immediately found himself in front of the conference hotel. He took another deep breath and entered. To his no small surprise, he was not stopped, but was able to cross the large reception area unmolested, heading purposefully for the room in which the most important people in the world were gathered. He was quite sure he was on the right track, even though he had never been to this hotel, but he had stopped wondering about anything. At last, he reached a large double door, which he pushed open with a rough shove, stepping through it, then standing with legs apart and arms crossed in front of his chest. Everyone turned and fixed their eyes on him. A tense anticipation filled the air and then he began to speak:
“I’m Jonah and I came here, with a detour via a whale’s mouth, but not in the way you think, anyway I’m here to bring you an important message.”