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Chi

He was the size of a child, one of those twiggy ones they show on the guiltomercials who you can keep in shoes and chickens for just thirty cents a day, only he was an old man. His black t-shirt had holes in it.

His granddaughter was running the show, picking people from the sidewalk and telling them what to do.

She organized a cluster of firemen. The biggest one pushed on the old man's shoulders, and another guy pushed on the big guy's shoulders, and they formed a brawny sort of train that could probably bust through the walls of a burning building.

The old man didn't budge. He didn't strain. The firemen grew frustrated. There was grunting and veins bulging from muscular necks. The old man wore a small, day-dream smile. Then he touched the fireman in front of him on the chest, and about 900 pounds of NYFD flew back like dry leaves in a gust.

"Chi," the granddaughter said. "Internal energy. Power that flows through the body's meridians. Chi, the breath of heaven."

People clapped and dropped coins and a few crumpled dollars in her upturned Mets cap.

I approached her. "May I try?"

She gave me a be-my-guest gesture and suggested I attempt to knock over her grandfather any way I could.

He smiled shyly and gave me a small bow, spread his legs a bit, and I pushed down on his shoulder. His knees crumpled beneath him and he went down hard on the pavement.

His granddaughter tried to help him up, and there were boos as I walked away.

I strapped on my tool belt and rode the service elevator to the belly of the earth. When the doors screeched open, my ears popped and I stepped into the chamber.

Arranged on balconies above me, 999,999 monks hummed in meditation. The sound made my eyes vibrate. I found the silent one. He was small, guiltomercial-sized. He'd been down here a very long time and was almost spent. I laid my hand on his head and let the chi I'd stolen from the old man flow into his body. His eyes opened and he smiled. Grateful, relieved, refreshed.

The chi engine below the earth repaired for now, I took the elevator back up. I still had time for a sandwich and Coke before having to go out in search of more fuel.