The Torah Codes by Ezra Barany Ch1

8/6/2019 The Torah Codes by Ezra Barany Ch1

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TheTorah

Codes

Ezra Barany


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Chapter 1Oakland, CANovember 5th,Present Day

Digging up a corpse buried underneatha busy sidewalk creates all sorts o problems. Forone thing, you get on-lookers. People who arent nec-

essarily going to like what they see. For another, thekiller could be watching. And who knows i hes the

kind o killer with a one-time vendetta, or the kind o

killer who makes a sport o killing as many people as

possible in one ell swoop. But the biggest problem o

all is that, i youre like me, and you value your per-

sonal space and privacy, such valuables become hard to

keep with an audience around you.

So it was time to make a decision. Did I walk away

and pretend the body wasnt there, or did I start dig-

ging like a madman?

And what i the body wasnt there?My work had given me a pretty extensive com-

puter programming assignment to do at home over the

weekend. An assignment I wasnt eager to start, so on

my way home that Friday aternoon I stopped at Pied-

mont Avenue. Piedmont Avenue is like a piece o Paris


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in the middle o Oakland, a city known or its slums.

Seriously. Smack in the middle o a tough town, youvegot a street lined with chi-chi restaurants, a movie the-

ater showing art lms, and dessert specialty stores. Its

like a muscle man wearing lingerie.

Normally, Id steer clear rom such a place, but that

evening, I was looking or a distraction, and that dis-

traction was right o the reeway.

Piedmont Avenue was busy as usual. Teres some-

thing to be said about anonymity among masses.

Excuse me, sir. Could I ask you a ew questions or

a survey?

Whoa! Where did he come rom?Tis kid was dressed in a white button-up shirt,

navy blue slacks, and a narrow tie around his neck that

said, I have the best ashion sense in nooses. His clean

shaven ace and trim haircut matched the proessional

look o his clothes. Looked as i he just let church. o

do a survey? Seemed unlikely.Normally Id tell him to nd a lake to piss in, but

today was dierent.

Sure, I replied. Anything to delay my work.

Okay, great! He introduced himsel and asked or

my name.

Nathan.Do you live in an apartment, condo, or single am-

ily home?

None o the above. Duplex. My landlord lives in

the other hal.

Ah! Youre smart! Te kid smiled. Getting the


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THE TORAH CODES | 3

luxury o a house at the cost o renting. Okay, next

question. What area do you live in, Nathan?Oakland hills.

Wow! Tats a real nice area! Te kid wrote on

his clipboard. Would you call yoursel the head o the

household?

I live alone. You gure it out.

Ha, ha. He looked at his clipboard and made a

mark. Do you have any electrical equipment? V?

Stereo? Tat sort o thing?

Both o those, plus a laptop, and desktop.

Te kid scribbled and asked at screen V?

Nope. Regular.Great. Do you value the security that your home

provides?

You have no idea, I replied.

And do you eel sae at home?

Sae as cement.

Excuse me?No one steals cement, I explained.

Great. Ill just check the box eels sae. Now i

someone were to try and break into your home, would

you do whatever it takes to stop them?

O course.

And do you have an alarm system?Dont need one. I gure, i a burglar wants to

nd a house to break into, why drive all the way into

the Oakland hills when he can nd one closer to

downtown?

Excellent! So Ill mark you down as not having


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4 | Ezra Barany

one. Te kid made a check on his clipboard. Not

many people know that crime has gone up 23% in theOakland hills.

Ah. Here came the pitch.

Im certain you wouldnt want to wake up one day

to nd your stereo, television, laptop and desktop taken

by someone who broke into your home, he contin-

ued. You said that you would do whatever it takes to

prevent someone rom breaking into your home. And

knowing how much you value the saety and security

o your home, surely an intelligent man like yoursel

understands that purchasing an alarm system or only

$499 would be a small price to pay to protect yoursel.Commitment and consistency.

Uhexcuse me?

Youre using a tactic Cialdini calls commitment

and consistency.

I dont Te kid looked like hed been slapped.

You got me to commit to certain values, suchas saying I would do whatever it takes to protect my

home, and now youre relying on my desire to be con-

sistent with what Ive said. But I could design my own

alarm system or a lot less money, and Im not about to

let a tactic like that take away my dignity. Lastly, i you

think Id give you my address when you know I donthave an alarm system, then its going to take a lot more

than a nice tie and clean haircut to look the kind o

smart youre gonna need.

Te poor kid turned white, stammered something

resembling a thank you and walked away.


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THE TORAH CODES | 5

I steered mysel into a store that premiered exotic

ice cream avors. I chose vanilla. Te cashier was easyon the eyes. Problem was she had this nose ring. Made

her ace completely asymmetrical. o me, beauty was

in the symmetry o things. Like in math. A bunch o

really complicated math can be cancelled out i its also

on the other side o the equal sign.

Imagine walking into your bedroom and seeing are-breathing dragon on your bed, or example. You

got the orce o gravity pulling the dragon down, but

youve also got the beds support orce pushing him

up. Since the orces are equal, they cancel out and the

dragon doesnt move up or down. Tat sweet symme-

try keeps him steady and now he doesnt have to worryabout alling. He can just ocus on burning you to a

crisp.

So Im not sure why the cashier decided to ruin

all that symmetry by punching a hole in her nose and

sticking a piece o metal in it.

Te ice cream came in a dainty cup with a daintyplastic spoon, which was ne with me, because it would

take longer to nish. But I preer those at, wooden

spoons or my ice cream. It just tastes better. Ive heard

wine tasters use wooden to avorably describe wine.

Ive never heard them say, Ah! astes like plastic.

Walking outside, I took cold bites in the chill o the

winter air. A homeless man about thirty years old, not

much younger than me, held out his hand and asked

or change.

I set down the ice cream on the sidewalk, pulled

out my checkbook, wrote him a check or $499, and


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handed it to him. A look o surprise and shock crossed

his ace. I picked the ice cream back up and went on

my way.

It was just ater 4 p.m. on Piedmont Avenue. I hadlet work early. Usually, I dont even need to show up

at the ofce. Tat was the beauty o being a computer

programmer. I just went to the meetings that hap-

pened once or twice a week, and the rest o the work I

did at home.

I nished my ice cream and peered into the shopwindows. All o the items or sale the magazines and

cigars, jewelry and scarves, the ashionable gowns and

womens shoes had only one purpose in mind. o

help people, be they rich or poor, show o a wealthy

liestyle. I wasnt one o those people. Even though I

could aord such a liestyle, I kept my money.I needed to walk around someone, so I had to step

on the dirt o one o the tree plots that lined the street.

As I stepped on the sot dirt, my heart grew cold. I

nearly threw up. A body had been cut up and recently

buried underneath the dirt. A man with dark hair, a

pin-striped suit, a golden wedding ring on his nger. I

knew this. I knew this like I knew my own name.

Tere was nothing to indicate such a thing. A mil-

lion reasons could be given or why the dirt was sot.

But I knew there was a body down there. And that I

was next.

The Torah Codes by Ezra Barany Ch1

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