Japheth wiped the sweat that dripped from his brow. The sun beat down upon him and the other ten thousand workers in the plain of Shinar, and upon the massive creation that spiraled up toward Heaven.

And that, after all, was the point, was it not? To build a tower all the way to Heaven. The tower around which all of humanity would unite. The Tower of Babel.

The Mesopotamiam architects were the only ones on earth, he felt certain, capable of such a monumental undertaking.

Japheth himself was from Dur-Sharfulkin, and was a direct descendant of Noah. He hailed a passing cart, descending the spiral path that wrapped around the massive tower, or ziggurat, as it sloped down to the ground. It was time for lunch.

There, in the market, he wandered among the stands of dried beef and goat's milk, of cheese and olives and flat bread. He'd just been paid, and so ordered an extra helping of cheese. He sat down at a table shaded by palm fronds and began to count out his wages.

A man sat down next to him. Japheth instinctively pulled his money-cloth toward him, but the man smiled at him. The man had eyes bluer than the sky, and Japheth felt immediately at ease. He was well dressed, and claimed to be a part of the consortium that was building the Tower. He said that he hailed from Mo-Mentalus, a village on the other side of Southern Mesopotamia.

"Tell me, friend," said he, "Why you would not choose to be paid in equity, rather than in mere sheckels? You'll earn five times as much, easily."

"How so?," asked Japheth.

The man from Mo-Mentalus beckoned him to follow, and led him through an archway and into a storeroom, lit by a sliver of sunlight and a lone candle. Inside, in a corner, a servant was mopping the floor. By the light of the candle he unfurled a piece of parchment. It looked like this:

Tower of Babel, Inc.
(in thousands of sheckels)

                        Current Year      Previous Year 
                         (3550 B.C)        (3551 B.C.)

Sales                       8,553,000      2,680,000  
Accounts Receivable         3,594,000        505,000  
Net Cash Flow               2,570,000)
Cash and cash equivalents   2,107,000

"Look!" said the man, leaning forward. "Our sales are up 219%!! And our Accounts Receivable are up over 600%!! That is how you will make your money, my friend. Come, invest with us! Become an owner -- not just a servant -- of the greatest project in the history of mankind."

Just then the servant boy looked up.

"You should not do this, Japheth. I'm but a poor servant boy, mopping up. But this, you should not do."

"Be quiet, Fool!" snapped the blue-eyed man, "Or I'll have you strung up by your thumbs!"

Japheth began to think. He could not make up his mind. His eyes wandered over the dizzying pattern of colored clay cone mosaics, laid out in geometric shapes, shimmering in the candlelight. He began to feel a sense of dreamy calm, and pushed his precious pile of money toward the stranger, even as he felt a tremor rumble through the Tower, and the first piece of clay fell from the ceiling onto the table beside him.

Quick, dear reader: If enough of you select the right answer, you can save Japheth from financial ruin of Biblical proportions!

Why would the Foolish boy be right in warning him away from this temptation?

1) The rate of growth of Accounts Receivable should not be much more than that of sales

2) Growth in Accounts Receivable should be at least ten times sales growth

3) Construction companies should not have that much in cash and cash equivalents

4) There would be no way of knowing that there was such a thing as 'BC'

The correct answer is #1.

It may also be true that there would have been no way of knowing that there was such a thing as 'BC' in 3500 BC, and this alone should have made Japheth suspicious. More importantly, though, accounts receivable is not something that you want to see grow, since it is money owed to the company by other companies. In other words, it isn't being collected. And if it isn't being collected, the money isn't available. This generates what is known as a 'cash-flow' problem, whether that cash exists as dollars or francs or sheckels or pinto beans.

Alas, dear reader, not enough of you gave the correct answer this time to save Japheth from his fate. He surrendered his hard-earned money to the man from Mo-Mentalus, and perished with thousands of others in the thunderous shaking and shuddering which ripped apart the tower and sent it crashing down from heaven to earth.

And the man from Mo-Mentalus? With uncanny and inexplicable luck he dashed between falling pillars and rocks, amid the screams of the victims and the ear-shattering thunder from the sky. He did not escape untouched, however: he was struck by a bolt of lightning from on high, which stripped him naked and left a vicious pattern of lightning-bolt burns emblazoned upon his chest. These heavenly bolts were not of nature or this world; his powers of charm and persuasion were boosted to superhuman levels.

Yes, he survived to live another day; to breed; to bequeath to his descendants the irresistible charms and powers of mental manipulation. But the Foolish servant boy survived as well.

And from that day to this, across oceans and eons and civilizations, the battle continues...

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