The Best of All Possible Worlds

by Richard D. Parker

  Adam pulled into a spot but reached out and touched Galen’s hand, instantly his breathing began to ease a bit.

  “Wait a moment,” Adam said, watching the van closely. It slowly pulled down another lane and was circling around. It continued down that row of cars without finding a spot then turned away and moved down another row. Finally, near the back of the lot, it pulled into one of the last spots and stopped. Adam continued to wait for several moments but the occupants showed no signs of exiting their vehicle.

  “Alright,” Adam finally said and let the boy get out. Adam made a conscious attempt not to look at the van as he locked up the car, but as they moved toward the store he spotted its reflection in the wall of glass that made up the storefront. There was still no movement from the people in the van. Once inside, Adam paused just out of site and eyed the vehicle for another five minutes. No one emerged. Of course they could just be meeting someone in the parking lot, but Adam didn’t think so and became agitated again. Finally he pulled Galen deeper into the store and grabbed a cart.

  They shopped quickly, Adam pushing the cart rapidly down the aisles gathering up food for stir-fry, a loaf of bread and milk. Galen walked contentedly along at his side, showing no inclination to want to push the cart as many children did. In fact, now that Adam thought about it, Galen rarely displayed any childish tendencies…accept of course that he loved Oreo’s, but Adam could hardly find fault in that, since they were his favorite as well.

  They grabbed a pack from an end-cap before heading toward the express lane, but before they could enter the line Galen pulled at Adam’s sleeve.

  “Please…one more thing,” the boy said surprising Adam. Galen had never asked for anything for himself, apparently more than happy to eat whatever they bought and made for him. Adam smiled. It was nice that the boy was finally asking for something, the act made him seem almost normal in Adam’s eyes. Galen led the way back to the produce section where the boy shopped through the fruit, occasionally picking up and smelling an item before deciding on peaches. They’d had peaches before, but they were fairly bland. This crop however, looked especially juicy. Galen seemed excited and began to fill one of the clear plastic bags with them. Adam watched with amusement as Galen stuffed peach after peach in the bag and when it was full carefully placed it into the cart. Adam made to leave but Galen grabbed another bag and began putting more peaches into it.

  “Galen…we’ll never eat them all,” Adam said with a chuckle.

  “Please…they’ll be needed,” Galen answered. So with raised eyebrows Adam nodded and let the boy fill another bag and then a third. There must have been nearly twenty peaches in all.

  “Ok,” Galen said with a smile. “That should be enough,” he said.

  Adam shook his head and smiled wryly. The fruit was going to cost a small fortune.

  “I should think so,” he answered, thinking perhaps Christine could whip them up some homemade peach cobbler as he made his way back to the checkout lines.

  Adam glanced out the window as they waited for the people ahead of them. The van was still parked far out in the lot, though whether anyone was inside he couldn’t say from this distance.

  Galen helped carry the bags as they moved toward the exit, Adam keeping a close, but discreet eye on the minivan.

  “Let’s get home,” Adam said as he started the car.

  “They’re coming…” Galen said happily. “They’re coming…soon,” he added. “Don’t worry.”

  Adam frowned and backed out and headed toward the nearest exit. Galen had taken to voicing such assurances recently but he never would explain who was coming…other than that they were his guardian angels. The whole thing gave Adam the creeps. He pulled out of the parking lot and back onto Clayton Avenue, glancing back but the van had not moved. Adam breathed a little sigh of relief.

  “Who’s coming?” He asked again. Galen smiled up at him.

  “You know,” he chided. “She’s been waiting for you.”

  Adam’s heart began to pound and the first person to pop into his mind was Maggie…his late wife. If there truly were angels, he was sure Maggie would qualify.

  “Galen…” Adam began and felt a trickle of sweat run down from his armpit. He glanced over at the boy, but Galen was looking out the window happily, without a care in the world. “Galen…you’re not like the rest of us. You know that don’t you? Who are you? Do you remember?”

  Galen turned his head slowly and gazed at Adam, who stared back for almost a moment too long. He turned his attention back to the road and had to slam on the brakes to keep from plowing into the car in front of him which was stopped at a light. Somehow he managed to avoid colliding and tipped his head back in relief, closing his eyes momentarily. He sat very still, breathing rapidly for a moment.

  “I know I’m different in some ways,” Galen answered finally, almost whispering. “But I’m not really…I’m weak, small now, but growing. I will be strong soon…if I live. Sometimes,” Galen continued and Adam risked a glance over at the boy who appeared to be in some sort of trance, “I can almost remember. I can feel them very close, but then they’re gone.”

  Adam remained very still and repressed a shiver. Galen was different…almost alien. If it weren’t for the fact that the boy was so wholesome and utterly good Adam would be repulsed and just a little afraid of Galen. As it was, the boy was still a bit creepy.

  “Feel who Galen?” He finally got the courage to ask.

  Galen smiled. “The others I was of course and those who I am,” he answered. “I am and have been many, many others.”

  Adam frowned. “You mean like reincarnation.”

  Galen nodded with a smile. “A bit, but not exactly. They are me and they are not me. Do you understand?”

  Adam didn’t, but made no reply as he turned left back onto Skinker. “I can almost catch them,” the boy whispered ominously, “but then they’re gone…like they should be.”

  Traffic was a bit congested and instead of returning directly to the apartment complex Adam pulled into Forest Park on a whim. For some reason he wasn’t sure he wanted to be alone with Galen in Paula’s small apartment. He continued to drive, circling around on the tree lined streets of the park. He drove slowly but his mind was racing about completely unguided. He followed Government Drive around the south side of the Art Museum then finally pulled to a stop in front of the large fountain that sat on the bottom of the hill beneath the World’s Fair Pavilion.

  Adam remained quiet, just sitting as Galen sat looking out the passenger window at the fountain and beyond.

  “Galen…” Adam began then realized that the boy was shaking all over. He reached out and touched the boy on the shoulder. “Are you alright?”

  Galen continued to shake a moment, but when he looked over at Adam his face was alight with excitement and happiness. “May I roll down the window?” Galen asked and Adam nodded. It was warm today and promised to get warmer. He turned the key to the on position to allow the power windows to work. Galen immediately held the button and the window slid down neatly.

  “It’s thin here,” he said, very excitedly. “It’s very thin up there. They will come through there,” he added and pointed up the hill toward the pavilion.

  “Who Galen?” Adam asked but again the boy only smiled.

  “You will see,” he answered mysteriously.

  “Galen,” Adam began and hesitated. He knew his sister would have scoffed at such a question and probably be angry with him for asking. “Are you…were you…Jesus?”

  Galen frowned at the question and Adam thought he looked very much older with a frown on his face. In fact, he couldn’t remember if he’d ever seen Galen frown before. He never realized just how much the boy smiled; the expression was so much a part of him. It was like his dark hair and skin…it was just a part of who he was, but now that he was frowning, the contrast was obvious.

  “No…” Galen finally answered and seemed genuinely puzzled. “Reverend Heyworth believes so…and
I don’t know why. I am not…I am clearly not. I am Galen and Galen and Galen.”

  Adam jerked in surprised and suddenly a light dawned on the entire crazy situation. “Heyworth thinks you’re Jesus…reincarnated?” Adam asked, though he really wanted to say reengineered.

  Galen nodded. “Yes…he wants…” Galen began then stopped. “He told me not to tell,” he finished and closed his mouth.

  “It’s alright Galen,” Adam reassured, curious now. He’d always thought it odd and wrong somehow that the Divine Church of Christ would fund such a cutting edge genetic project, but now he understood the reason behind the contradiction. “Heyworth no longer has any power over you…you’re free to tell me.”

  Galen still said nothing. He turned away for a minute and looked back up at the pavilion before suddenly swinging his head around to face Adam once more.

  “He believes I am the man he worships…and that he helped me to rise again…” Galen paused and for a moment Adam thought he would stop talking completely but then the boy blurted. “He wants me to destroy everything….everyone. End the world.”

  Adam recoiled in surprise. “The Rapture!” He said and then barked out a laugh, which mingled the sounds of amusement and fear. Now he understood.

  Galen nodded. “Yes…that was his word.”

  The two of them remained silent, sitting in the Honda and staring at each other. Adam would have thought the idea ludicrous but for the strange manner of the boy and the reaction he caused in others.

  ‘Was it possible? Could he be the one?’

  “Galen…could you…could you do such a thing?” Adam asked very quietly.

  Galen smiled and shook his head.

  “No,” Galen answered, and giggled as if Adam asked if he could fly, “even if I could, I would never want to. I’m a creation that wants only to create.”

  Adam frowned at such a cryptic answer, but Galen reached out and touched Adam’s hand.

  “We…we humans are creative beings,” the boy continued solemnly and Adam could tell that to Galen, this point was very important, “it’s why we’re here. It’s at the core of our nature. All of this,” he said waving at the park and the car and the city in general, “is wonderful beyond all imagining. Creation, no matter how small, is the reflection of who we are and why we’re here. To destroy wantonly goes against our nature.”

  “Who are you Galen?”

  The boy smiled and ignored the question. “Humanity’s essence is easy to understand. For us, for all mankind, creation is good. It feels good to create…it feels good to create a painting, a book, a building…an idea…another life. It feels good for a reason. We were made to create, not destroy. We…we are all creators, every one of us. That which destroys, that which kills, is the antithesis of creation and it feels hurtful for a reason, only the corrupt take pleasure in such things. Creators create,” he continued and with another sweep of the arm encompassed the entire world beyond. “Even if I could, I would never end such beauty, such goodness.”

  Adam sat silent for a long time. He was not a thinker and such grand ideas were nearly always lost on him, but Galen’s simple statement about the very nature of Man struck a chord in him. Once said it seemed obvious, truth to the very core.

  “They’re coming,” Galen added finally and smiled. “Up there…on the hill. They’re coming…very soon…maybe tonight.”

  †

  “He’s in the back watching Seinfeld,” Adam told them as he finished setting the table. The stir-fry was nearly finished and the apartment smelled especially mouth watering.

  “Seinfeld!” Paula yelped aghast and Christine looked only slightly less so. “You can’t let him watch that!” Paula added, her face going slightly red.

  Adam shrugged. “He seems to be enjoying it. I’ve even heard him laugh a little.”

  “Oh my god,” Paula said in a whispered shriek. “What if the masturbation contest comes on?”

  “Relax,” Adam answered with a wry grin. “It was on earlier this afternoon…he didn’t laugh much at that one.”

  “Adam!” Christine said sternly.

  “Take off your coats and sit down,” he told them calmly. “Dinners almost ready…and I’m pretty sure the apartment is being watched.”

  The two women stood utterly motionless, stunned by his last comment, then in unison both looked out the large sliding glass window and to the park beyond. Both were very concerned as they turned back to Adam, who nodded.

  “It’s been an interesting day,” he said. “I noticed a dark gray van outside this morning. It followed us to the grocery store and it’s been parked down the road a piece ever since.”

  “Colonel Bradford?” Christine asked and leaned heavily against the kitchen counter.

  Adam nodded once again. “More than likely,” he answered and walked around his sister and massaged her shoulders a moment until she shrugged him off.

  “We knew this would happen someday, he whispered.

  “What are we going to do?” Paula asked, and though Adam felt a bit guilty about bringing this all on her, he was gratified that she so easily included herself in the problem.

  “Sit down,” he told the two women again and they both sank into their chairs slowly.

  Adam placed a large bowl of Chow Mein on the table next to the dozen or so fried egg rolls. The two women sat silently, trying to take in the fact that they were now being watched by the United States Government. Rice, and a fair imitation of the orange chicken served down the street at the Happy Wok, followed the Chow Mein to the table.

  “We have to move soon…carefully,” Adam said as he placed the last of the food on the table. “But tonight we need to go out to the pavilion in the park…Galen insists his guardian angels are coming.”

  Paula gasped, but to her credit Christine did not make even the slightest sound.

  “Galen! Come and eat,” Adam called loudly and both women jumped, Paula giggling a bit afterwards.

  Christine glared at her brother, wanting to ask a million or so questions, but then they heard the TV snap off in the far room and the sounds of feet hurrying toward the living room.

  Galen appeared around the corner and burst into his patented smile. “Christine! Paula!” he greeted them happily as if he’d not seen them in at least a month. He gave them each a cursory hug, though they were unusually quick, orange chicken was his favorite and he was very, very hungry.

  “I need to learn to cook,” Galen announced simply…then glanced at Adam. “No soup for you!” He added with a laugh.

  “Oh Jesus,” Paula mumbled and then turned to Adam and whispered. “Not the soup Nazi!”

  Adam shrugged.

  They ate in relative silence until Galen turned to Adam. “I like Seinfeld much better than Judge Judy,” he commented and both women turned the stink eye on Adam, who couldn’t help but laugh.

  “You can’t let him watch daytime television…it’s nothing but trash,” Paula insisted, utterly mortified. It just wasn’t right and it made her feel slightly dirty. She then turned to Galen.

  “I’m sorry…what you must think of us,” she added as her face took on a slightly pinkish hue.

  Adam laughed. “You’d be surprised,” he said and took a large bite of noodles sucking in the longest with what he thought was a bit of panache.

  “What do you mean?” Christine asked, not nearly as mortified as her friend, to her Galen was just simply the first engineered human being, nothing more. He was a normal boy, a bit special maybe, but only because of certain unusual abilities brought about by untested gene manipulation. The idea that he was a super natural human being never crossed her mind, at least not until Paula continuously put forth the notion as a distinct possibility.

  “Perhaps I believe, as Leibniz contends, that this is the best of all possible worlds.” Galen stated with a smile and held up his empty plate. Galen giggled. “Gottfried was right, it must be the very best…this world has orange chicken in it.”

  Adam laughed even
though he had little idea what the boy was talking about. Nevertheless, he ignored Christine’s frown and quickly refilled Galen’s plate.

  “Paula…I’d like to borrow your car. It’s parked in the garage right?” Adam asked.

  “It should be,” she answered though she wasn’t positive since she used valet most of the time.

  “Good. I figure if you drive and we all hunch down in the back, the agents watching won’t follow. They’ll likely stay and continue to keep an eye on the apartment building,” he explained and handed a heaping plate of noodles back to the boy. Galen took it as if he was starving. “At least if you’re willing,” he added. “I don’t want to include you in anything nefarious if you’re against it.”

  Paula smiled, struck once more by the man’s roguish good looks. ‘Shoot, I’d take on the whole CIA for a few nights with him,’ she thought and sighed. “I’d be happy to help,” she replied, keeping her wild thoughts to herself.

  “Did you two have lunch?” Christine asked, trying to ignore the fact that…before turning three, Galen had just referred to a relatively obscure 17th century philosopher. He was developing intellectually at an exponential rate. She was relatively sure not one person in a hundred knew who the hell Gottfried Leibniz was. Hell, she didn’t even know the man’s first name until a few seconds ago.

  “Of course we ate, but that was nearly five hours ago and he’s a growing boy,” Adam remarked and Christine glanced over at Galen. It was true. Galen was now nearly as tall as she was and could easily pass for a fifteen, maybe sixteen year old boy when not too long ago he looked more like eleven. The aging process continued to accelerate and he was growing old fast. Christine knew that Galen would not last very long if she didn’t solve the mystery of the dormant R89 gene.