(The first paragraph will be printed on January 1 to 7, 2000
over and over in the
Omaha World-Herald, Omaha, Nebraska,
then tell people to read the rest on the Internet.)
Here is the scanned advertisement for January 1st page 48
(based on proof #2)
and the unexpected
advertisement for January 2nd page 11-A
(based on proof #1 which I corrected to make proof #2).

(This work is in progress.)

LINKS:
Sears Tower in Chicago, Illinois (now the Willis Tower)
Pyramids of Egypt
Eiffel Tower
Alpha Centauri
Andromeda Galaxy

The Mind of God
By Dan Boeckman
Internet site: spring2life.com

Version 9, January 10, 2000

This is the fictional story of a janitor named Sam who works at the Sears Tower in Chicago. Today God decided to give Sam a special gift. Sam is given this gift for seven days. The gift is a link to the mind of God. God will allow Sam to see and hear what he sees and hears with some restrictions. Sam cannot see the future nor spiritual things like heaven, hell or angels. He can see anything that is happening anywhere in the world at this present moment. He also has access to the past 48 years that he has been alive. He can’t go back farther than his moment of birth. He is an invisible spectator to what he sees and can’t interact to change history in any way. Sam had already planned to take this week off by coincidence to work around his house on various projects. God apparently has other plans for him. What will Sam do with this gift? What will happen this week?

On day one Sam vows not to tell anyone about this gift that he has. He won’t tell his wife, kids, family or friends. He will stay in Chicago. His mind starts to wonder. He can see the world. Is it a dream? Is it real? There are many sights to see. He turns on CNN and sees a live press conference at the White House. As a test, he turns off the TV and can still see and hear the press conference in his mind. Wow, what will he do with this gift? He is overwhelmed. He instantly becomes a tourist. He goes on a tour of Washington, D.C. He sees the White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, etc. He is fascinated like a child with a new toy. A new world opens to him. He goes to see the Grand Canyon. It takes his breath away. He can see it from any angle he wants. He is “flying” all over the place like an angel examining it. He goes back in time to see what it looked like years ago. He reaches the limit of 48 years. He can’t see them build Hoover Dam. (It was completed in 1936.) He is mildly disappointed, but then again he considers that he has a whole world to explore. Isn’t that enough? All he has to do is think of a time and place and off he goes. His tour continues with the pyramids of Egypt, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Great Wall of China and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. He watches many sunrises and sunsets from Mt. Everest. He checks out the beautiful beaches and surf of Hawaii. He has never been more than a few hundred miles from Chicago in his whole life. In Africa he sees the many wild animals and visits the Sahara Desert. He explores the South and North Poles. It is dark at the South Pole so he rolls back the clock 6 months to get some daylight. Then he goes to the North Pole and its dark there. “Not again. You just can’t win,” he jokes to himself and rolls back the clock another 6 months. Then he thinks of the Space Shuttle in Florida. He watches the last launch from a few weeks ago. He tags along for the ride and follows it up into orbit. What a rush! He sees the world from 300 miles up. Wow! Awesome! Cool! The earth is just so beautiful. Then off he goes to the moon. He searches and finds the American flags still flying there and the footprints and tire tracks in the moon dust. He tries to bring back a souvenir rock, but of course he can’t grab it. It goes right through his hand. He expands his exploration to the solar system. He counts all the planets and visits them one by one. If only he had paid attention in school to the astronomy lessons, he would have known some of the things he was seeing. He sees the Asteroid Belt, but has forgotten its name. He isn’t sure what all the names of the planets are. He does recognize the rings of Saturn. These were his favorite sight in the solar system. He goes back a few years to follow the Hale-Bopp comet with its two tails as it comes from far away to pass near the Sun. The solar system was his playground for a few hours. Then he journeys to explore the next nearest star besides our Sun. He visits a triple star system just over 4 light years away. Sam has no idea what its name is. (It’s Alpha Centauri.) Three stars rotating around each other --- now that was cool. Sam “points” to a galaxy in the sky and off he goes. It is the Andromeda Galaxy. He is over 2 million light years away from earth. It is big and beautiful. He searches for a planet orbiting one of the stars there. He wants to find one just like the earth. Sam finds a planet with lots of water and many plants, but no animals. He is the “only person in the world.” The thought scares him for a moment. He is lonely. It is frightening. He wants to go home and poof, he is back in Chicago in a flash. “That was more than enough for one day,” he thinks. He has taken up all 24 hours and did not get any sleep at all. He is hungry since he had not eaten anything. His wife is very concerned about him, since he has spent the whole day “sleeping” on the sofa and she failed to wake him. His wife asks him when he is going to get started painting the dining room. “I’ve been busy,” he replies. “What? You’ve been asleep all day,” she responds. “Tomorrow I’ll get to it. I have all week. What is the hurry? I’m on vacation.” He gets something to eat and then falls sound asleep. He is exhausted. His wife does not know what to think of all of it. Sam was too excited to think about it.

On day two Sam awakes from his much-needed sleep. He eats breakfast to get some food into him. In the afternoon he goes out for a walk around town daydreaming about what next to do with his gift. He walks into the Post Office and sees the posters of the most wanted criminals. God knew where they all were. “You can’t hide from God,” Sam thought. Sam goes home and gets out a few pieces of paper and writes a letter to the police telling them where to find all these people. (In a few days all these people were arrested, of course. The police said it was an “anonymous source” that helped them, but how did they know where all these people were? It was a mystery. The FBI had to come up with a new list of criminals to search for.) Then Sam thinks about November 22, 1963. He “travels” to Dallas in his mind and checks out that crime scene. He takes notes on everything. He studies the 6th floor of the building. He counts the bullets and where they come from. He plays the “tape,” as it were, forward and backward. One moment President Kennedy was smiling and waving to people and the next he was gone. It is a horrifying sight. Blood is everywhere. He has to “turn away” in his mind. He had never seen someone die that close before. It is way too much for him. He feels like he is sick to his stomach. Then he thinks, “I could write a book.” This would be “the true story.” He would be a millionaire. He thinks, “No more sweeping floors and no more cleaning toilets.” He is excited. Yes, the gift would be a gift of money and fame. (Would anyone believe him? Sam doesn’t even consider this question. God knowing the future, knows what would happen with the book, if he wrote it. It would flop! No one would believe him. Sam is not allowed to know this.) Also, there is (or was) this recent famous unsolved murder in Chicago about a year ago. Well, it’s not a mystery anymore. Sam writes another letter to the police for that also. Case closed. Sam researches the O. J. Simpson trial. “Oh, is that what happened,” Sam thinks to himself. He wants to stop everyone he meets on the street and tell them about it, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t want to give his secret away. Maybe he will write a book about that, too, one day. (God knew it would never be published in the future, because the first book would be laughed at. But if he published the Simpson book first, it would have minor success and then the Kennedy book would make him a huge success. The future is a very strange thing. There are so many possibilities.) Later Sam actually does get some painting done. He accomplishes something. He does not want anyone becoming suspicious. He tries his best not to let his mind wander, like to the paintings in the Sistine Chapel in Rome as he paints his own ceiling, but he can’t help it. And Sam does not sleep too soundly that night. He has nightmares about the killings he has “witnessed.” He cannot get the initial look on Mrs. Kennedy’s face out of his mind.

On day three his parents came to mind. His Dad died in a car accident over 40 years ago. He has never known his Dad. Is he ready to meet his Dad? His Mom is still alive and lives on the other side of town. He starts the painting for the day and then sneaks out the back door. “I’m not ready for any more surprises,” he tells himself. As he drives to see his Mom, he sees in his mind that she has talked to the doctor many times recently. He listens closely to the conversations. He sees the X-rays and medical charts. He can’t read most of the doctor’s handwriting and even if he could, he doesn’t know the medical terms involved. Something big is going on. Would his Mom tell him? Would she volunteer the information? When he arrives, he asks her, “Mom, is everything OK?” “Everything is fine. Why? What’s up?” she replies. He asks her, “Are you seeing the doctor?” “Who told you?” she sharply responds. Finally she just blurts it out, “I’ve got a problem and the doctors can’t figure it out. They’ve been running many tests and can’t explain it. They don’t know what it is.” Sam is not ready for this. He just grabs Mom and holds on for dear life. “No! Not Mom. Not my Mom. I don’t want to lose my Mom. This can’t be happening to me,” he thinks to himself. “Mom, is it serious?” he asks. “Well, to be honest with you it’s serious --- very serious. The doctors are very concerned and I’m scared. I’m praying they will figure it out. I trust in God. I have faith. I’m praying every day. He will help me through this,” she says. If only she knew that Sam has this gift --- Yes, God knew what is wrong with her. Would God tell Sam? Is that information there? Does Sam have access to this information? No. God knew, but it is not something you can see or hear. It is a thought - -- an idea --- a concept. The disease has a name, but it is not written down anywhere associated with his Mom. No access is allowed. “There must be a way. There must be some way to figure this out,” Sam thinks. Sam’s mind is spinning. He stays for a few hours continuing their conversation and then heads home. On the way home he just about crashes his car, as he thinks about his Dad’s car accident. This happens as he drives through the exact same intersection where it happened. Mom has not told Sam hardly anything about the accident. He didn’t even know this was the location. Does he want to know the details? Yes or no? No, he does not want to know. He reasons it would hurt too much. Then he wonders if he has a sibling for some reason. All this time he thought he was an only child. He has an older sister! Is she alive? Yes. Oh my. She was born before him. God knew where she lived. Sam could go visit her in his mind. He sees that she lives far away in San Diego. He scans her house and finds her name and address on an envelope. Her name is Tracey. He stops the car and notes it down. A sister? Amazing! She must have been given up for adoption before he was born. Would he ask Mom about her? Forget it! No way! His Mom has enough to worry about without him confronting her with this. As the days go on, Sam is getting better at accessing the information from the past. The only problem is all the surprises. Could his heart take any more shocks?

Day four is Sam’s 25th wedding anniversary. He has never had a problem remembering their anniversary (July 25) over the years, like some people do. First thing he does is run somewhere and buy 3 roses for his wife. Why 3 roses? Well, that is how they met one day a long time ago. As Sam drives off to the store, he recalls the day they first met. He does not need “the gift” to recall the details. It is still crystal- clear in his mind. They both worked at a restaurant. He washed the dishes and she served the dishes. The 3 roses just appeared out of nowhere when they were closing the restaurant one night. The roses were sitting on a table that was not to be used. The table was off balance and many people complained about it and they could never seem to fix the wobble, so the table was marked on the seating chart with a big red “X”. No one could be seated there and yet there were the flowers. Sam picked them up and “claimed” them. He turns around and came face to face with his future wife. She jokingly asks, “Are those for me?” and he replies, “Yes, they are,” and gives them to her without hesitation. How romantic! That’s how they met. Sam starts “researching” the flowers in his mind. What is their origin? He is very curious about how they got there. Who put them there? He has wondered about this for over 26 years. He sees an old man put the flowers on the table a few minutes before they first meet in the restaurant. Sam retraces the path where this man comes from, as he wanders up and down all kinds of streets with these flowers in hand. His head is down. He looks depressed. It leads back to a hospital and back to a hospital room. “Oh no. No, not a hospital,” Sam thinks. The hospital room is empty. Where is the patient? Sam sees the name of the female patient and makes a note of it. Does he really want to continue the search? The man goes running around the hospital and ends up near the surgery room talking to the nurses. “Where is my wife? Is she alright? What has happened to her?” the man frantically asks. Sam stops. He is not going into the surgery room. He does not want to see anymore. After more research he finds the newspaper for the next day. It is a funeral notice. This man’s wife died. The flowers were for her apparently, but she had died suddenly. Sam is sobbing uncontrollably with this complete stranger that has lost his wife many years ago. “Not again,” Sam says. “Not death again. Everywhere I turn there is death. Why is it part of life?” he yells to God. He rolls back the years and sees the many times that this couple came to the restaurant. They always sat at that table. It was “their” table. It was “reserved” for them. Whenever they came to the restaurant they requested table 6C and waited for it sometimes over an hour. (Sam wouldn’t know it, because they met before Sam was born, but this is the table that they were seated at on their first date many years ago.) Sam goes to the public library and prints the page out of the local newspaper off the microfilm. He holds the real piece of paper in his hand. It is hard to believe. He then wonders if that restaurant is still in business. A quick “search” reveals that it is. What is the phone number? Sam writes it down and calls to make a reservation for that evening. That night at dinner at “the table” (or a table very close to it) he shows the piece of paper to his wife. He tells her the story about the flowers. She is amazed beyond all words that he has discovered this. She can’t talk for at least 30 seconds. She is in shock. “This is the table?” she finally asks, as she snaps out of it and shakes her head. She looks at the table. She gives it a close look over and under and around. The waiter (who’s name was Art) stops over to ask, “Is something wrong? Can I help you find something?” “No problem,” Sam replies. She wants to say, “Yes, there is a problem,” but does not. Then she asks, “How did you figure that out? I want to know.” Sam can’t tell her how he did it. “I can’t tell you,” is all he would say. “How did he know that?” his wife wonders over and over in her mind, as she tries to sleep that night.

Day five he explores the world of his daughter Angela. He calls her “Angel.” She is a teenager that attends a school near where they live. When she gets home at night and he asks her how school went she usually says, “Nothing happened.” So Sam takes a closer look at “nothing.” He sees her life “live” and in living color. “Forget the painting today. I have more important things to do,” he reasons. She is walking around school holding her left hand over nose. “What? Why is she doing that?” he wonders. Sam backs up the “tape” a little to review the situation. It turns out that before school she discovers a pimple on her nose in the mirror. She yells something that Sam does not understand (it’s some teen made up word), but he gets the idea. Yikes! It is a major crisis in her life and to Sam it is no big deal. “It’s just a zit,” he thinks to himself. Sam sees Angel talking to her best friend in the whole wide world Amy. Angel and Amy are inseparable and Sam wasn’t even aware that Amy existed. As Sam watches the day unfold he realizes that he does not even know his own child. She is like a stranger to him. He can’t believe it. “Where have all the years gone?” he remarks to himself. She was not a child anymore. She is growing up very fast. Amy comes up with a solution for the zit and life continues. Angel can relax and breathe again. Later in gym class Angel and Amy are side by side doing pushups, sit-ups and running laps. “Angel the weightlifter,” thinks Sam as he catches himself laughing. Should he laugh? It is funny. Can you laugh at your own kid? Amy drops the weight accidentally on Angel’s foot. Ouch! (Once again some term in teenager language.) Angel is crying and hopping around, but she will live. “Good! Thank God she didn’t die in real-time as I watched,” thinks Sam. In American history class she gets back her test from yesterday. She only missed one question. “95%, that’s my Angel!” He was very proud of her. The question she missed was, “How long did the American Revolution last?” Her answer was “1775-1781.” What is the right answer? Sam goes to the public library later that day. He verifies that Angel’s answer might possibly be the correct answer or maybe the teacher was expecting “1775-1783.” The peace treaty was signed in 1783 in Paris, but the fighting ceased in 1781 at the battle of Yorktown. With some further explanation either answer might be considered correct. His daughter had answered all the questions correctly, as Sam saw it. What should he do? Call up the teacher and complain? He decides to wait at least a day and talk to Angel that evening about it. On the way home from school. The two girls stop at the store to buy some things. Amy wants to shoplift some earrings and Angel talks her out of it. Sam hears all this. He is really proud of his kid now. That is great! It made him very happy. She is a good kid. Later when Angel gets home from school Sam asks why she is limping and she won’t tell him what happened. “Nothing happened,” she explains, “I have to go do my homework. I have to get it done.” Sam persists and asks, “How did your day go? I want to hear about it.” “Sorry, Dad,” and off she goes. “What? Why push it?” Sam thinks to himself. He knows all that happened anyway. But then again, if he did not have the gift, there are so many things he would have never known. He is missing out on much of his daughter’s life. There are so many things to share and she didn’t share anything. Sam is upset and frustrated with the situation. He does some research on previous conversations and it’s all his fault. Angel did talk about Amy on many an occasion, but he did not listen. He was watching TV or had to do some work around the house. He did not pay attention over and over. So that evening he sat down with Angel. He gave her his full attention and had the best conversion they have had in many years. Many times Angel would say, “How did you know that?” or “When did you study the American Revolution?” or “How did you know our secret word(s)?” and he responded, “A little angel told me.” Angel saw a magical twinkle in his eyes that she had never seen before. “What’s happened to Dad? Is this my Dad? What is going on?” she thought to herself. The next day, of course, the teacher acknowledged that Angel did have the correct answer, if she explained her reasoning. She received the well-deserved 100% perfect test score. Dad (a.k.a. Sam) printed out many resources with the correct dates and highlighted the years of the events. Sam had become an expert on the American Revolution overnight. He was living his own revolution. Sam truly had changed that day. He won the battle. Victory was his.

Day six arrives and Sam finishes up painting. It is done. Yes! And he gets lots of other things fixed that need fixing and cleans up things that need cleaning. Now he can relax and take it easy or so he thinks… In early afternoon two FBI agents knock on the door. He opens the door and asks what they need. They have figured him out. They traced the letters he has been writing right back to him. His address and name were imprinted on a paper or two he was using from a previous letter he had written. They take him away to their office downtown. They have lots of questions for him. He decides to not say anything. Zip --- he will not open his mouth. He will not talk. Anything he says will “incriminate” him. He knows way too much about all that is going on. He can “hear” the conversations inside and outside the room where they are interrogating him. They are trying to discover the truth about him. Who is he? Is he a super spy? How did he know about all these criminal locations? How did he resolve that mystery murder? They have been watching him for one day. They saw all that he did yesterday. “Think fast, what did I do or say yesterday?” Sam asks himself. “How could I have missed them watching me?” he wonders hopelessly trapped. They were tailing him all over town. Sam does not say a thing to them. He can make one phone call. He tells his wife that the FBI is questioning him for some strange reason. He can’t say much, because he knows they are listening to his every word in the next room. “I love you. I’ll be home soon. It’s all a misunderstanding,” he reassures her. How will he get out of this situation? How can he use his gift to get out of this? What can he see or hear that will save him? What is he guilty of? What has he done to break the law? Why are they holding him? They start to run tests on him, but he will not cooperate. They show him a picture of a secret military base in Russia. Where is this they ask? He is amazed because he knows the answer, but won’t tell them. He “heard” an agent in the next room say the name of the place. Now he’s in trouble. He pretends not to know, but they know that he knows. They have special sensors monitoring him. He can “hear” them monitoring the sensors. “They will lock me up in prison for years thinking I’m a spy,” he moans in his mind. Great. He is doomed. He debates if he should tell them the truth. He will have the gift for only one more day. He will just hold out for a day and the nightmare will be over. In the end he negotiates with them. He will help them solve their toughest crime, if he get his freedom for one day. They give him the crime from the “impossible” file. There is no way in a million years to figure it out and Sam tells them in a few seconds. Easy. Piece of cake. He wins his freedom for a day, but they will be watching every move he makes. In a sense “the truth” about his gift set him free. He returns home to a very concerned and frightened family. They see the agents outside the house. Should he tell them? No. The fewer people that know the better it is. “It is all a big misunderstanding,” he tells his family. She does not believe him.

Day seven arrives. Sam does not want to get up at all. It was Sunday. He needed his rest after all that he had been through. He is not well at all. His wife wants to call 911 or take him to the emergency room, but he insists his “illness” will be over soon. “I’m worried sick about Mom and her tests and about those FBI agents outside,” he tells her. Then all of a sudden he thinks about going to church. It is inspiration from God. What? He has been with God all week. Why go to church? From Sam’s point of view they are “good buddies” and “the best of friends.” “God did give me the gift, didn’t he? I must be special to him,” he explains to himself. Sam does not feel close though. Here he is linked to the mind of God and they are not close. Impossible! He does not believe it. They are not close. What is wrong? So he gets up and gets ready and tells his wife to get ready also. She was surprised. “What about the FBI agents? Were you faking being sick?” she asks. He wouldn’t answer either question. “Just get ready. We have to be there. Get the kids up too,” he insists. Both of them have not been to church in over 20 years. Sam did not know what church they would to go to. God “points” them to the place. It was as if God drove them there. The agents were following him closely almost on his bumper. It turns out that it is the pastor that had married them long ago. Sam is not surprised. Nothing surprises him anymore. The sermon is about God’s creation. “You can see all the planets and stars that God has made. You can see the goodness of God and the beauty of God,” the pastor says. And Sam thinks, “Yes, they are cool. I saw them. Been there --- done that.” He was laughing to himself. His wife gave him a look and whispered to him to be quiet. He is embarrassing her. Later when Sam is listening to the sermon his mind starts to wander. Watch out! He looks at the pastor and sees his past life. He was on drugs for awhile when he was younger and had an affair once and a few other very embarrassing things. This guy was a hypocrite! He says one thing but does another. Sam got up and began to shout. His wife and kids are shocked. What has gotten into Dad? Sam! He is going crazy or losing his mind. He told the whole church all about what the pastor had done. How did Sam know all those things? Then the whole church is in shock. All the people are in disbelief and some were shouting, “Is this true?” The pastor falls to his knees and prays. The pastor has nothing to say. He does not defend himself. What has Sam done? He has destroyed the pastor’s life. Sam’s wife is shaking him asking, “What’s got into you?” Sam is really sick to his stomach. He falls in the aisle. The agents are on their cellular phones calling for help. He wants to die and calls out, “God help me.” Then a miracle happens. Here is this impossible situation and God flips it upside down. The pastor makes his way over to Sam and says, “All you said was true. I did do all those things. That is my past and I can’t deny it. Yes, it’s true, but I just asked Jesus to forgive me. My sins are gone. That was the ‘old me’ you were talking about, but not anymore. I have instant new life. The ‘old me’ is dead. I now have new life in Jesus Christ. The Bible says that: ‘The Lord takes your sins and throws them into the sea of forgetfulness.’ He remembers them no more.” And Sam stopped shaking and got up. As much as he tried in his mind to access the evil events of the pastor’s past they were gone. The good events were still there, but not the bad. The past had just been erased. Is that possible? Sam could remember, the people there could remember, but God did not remember. It is not in the mind of God. “Is that what forgiveness is?” Sam asks. The pastor explains, “Sam (the pastor had remembered his name), you can be forgiven, too. You can be healed. You need Christ in your life.” That was it. Now he understood. He had “seen” it all, but missed the point. He needs to know Jesus in his heart. Is it that simple? The agents didn’t know what to do or think. The people in the church didn’t know what to think, either. It would take a very long time to explain and Sam provided no explanation. The agents surround Sam and lead him out of the church and drive him home. He is still “free” technically for the rest of the day. He requests to spend his last day of freedom with his family.

It’s Day 8. The gift is gone. Sam is “free.” Life continues. He decides to go to work as normal. “I want my normal life back,” he tells the agents. He negotiates with them and solves another impossible crime for them from something he has written down --- just in case he needed it. He shows up in the Sears Tower at his regular time of 6:00 AM (Why 6 AM? What number should I use?). He has a “guardian angel” following him around. The FBI is still watching him close. Will he ever resolve this and win his freedom? As the day gets going he realizes that something strange is going on. What’s new? He knows the name of every single person he meets. He says, “Hi, Christine” (an accountant on 22nd floor) or “Good morning, Charles” (the president of a company on 11th floor). On and on he knows their names, as he sweeps the sidewalk in front of the building. It is a “side effect” of the gift. He has a perfect memory. He can remember everything that happened during the week right down to the last detail. He must have listened in to all the conversations in the building one day or several days without noticing it. He instantly became a celebrity. People would bring him strangers from blocks away and he knew their names. As you can imagine, he didn’t get much sweeping done. His boss did not care, if he was a celebrity or not. “Get to work!” he yelled at him and moved him to another location in the building. With this new “development” the FBI decides to offer him a job for 10 times what he makes as a janitor. He turns them down. “I’m not going to work for you,” he declares. “Whatever happened to my nice quiet life?” he murmurs. Now when the tourists arrived here was the true test way up on top of the building. Could he do it? Did he know their names? Of course! So now he becomes a one-person welcoming committee for all these foreign visitors. How is this possible to know the names of everyone in the world? Sam would clean the restrooms and then talk to the tourists, as he made time for them. He was a very humble person. He did tell people this time that he did have a gift from God. It was not “the gift”, but a different gift. It was a gift. He told them that God gave him the gift. He was not afraid anymore. He was a witness to the awesome power of God. He told the truth.

(Need to write more Day 8 here, Will he return to being a janitor? Or go back to school to study astronomy? Or become involved with teenagers to help with communications with parents? Or become a preacher? I’m not sure how to end this story. I’m still working on this part.)

(ending) (Note: One thought that I have for endings is to invite people to write endings and submit them to this web site and I would post them. Everybody can write his or her own ending. Or maybe I will just spend the rest of my life writing different endings to this story. Here is ending for 2000, the ending for 2001, 2002, etc. Depending on how I feel that year, I would write this or that. It would be a “never-ending” story. Interesting. The possibilities are endless.)