by Jeremy Finn
"So, this is a planet," she began, "and my child is going to be an alien?"
"Alien is such a loaded word in our culture," Caroline answered. "We like to call them interstellar refugees."
"Yes, there was, and is a great war on our planet," the doctor explained. "nearly eighty percent of our adults have perished. There are so many children without parents that we will never be able to save them all. However, my organization launched an effort to save as many as we could - to send them so far away from their war-torn world that they would never again be touched by its ravishes and be free from learning the hates and bigotry of their forefathers. Earth is just one planet where we opened an office for adoptions."
"Huh," was all Margie could manage.
"Look, Margie, I know this is quite a bit to handle all at once,” Caroline said. “I remember how much it affected me at first. Why don't you take a few days to think about it? If you feel like it may be the right thing, you can get your husband to come see too. It might be too hard to convince him without bringing him here. I remember I had to trick my husband into coming here at first. What do you think?"
Margie nodded her head. She was not sure what she thought. She definitely would need some time to consider. She really meant what she said in response to the question about blood, but in her wildest dreams it never crossed her mind that she might consider adopting a baby from outer space. It sounded like some old 1950's black and white movie.
"Anytime you want to come back, just take the elevator up. We are open twenty-four hours a day. You know, we don't really sleep," Dr. Fabious said.
"Oh yeah, that's one thing you will have to get used to," Caroline chuckled.
Margie managed to thank the doctor and rode the elevator back down with Caroline. She bid her farewell outside the lobby, since Caroline was going to catch the subway and Margie had to head back to her car near the diner.
As she walked home slowly, Margie's mind raced. It was like a record that never progressed. Each worry and concern cycled through in full circles, always coming back to the same concern that generated her desire to work out the problem in her mind. As she passed the closed diner and neared her car, she shook her head and forced all the thoughts that crowded it out. She cast her eyes up to the sky and saw the stars. Was it out there - that planet she saw through the telescope? Then, she remembered the prayer she uttered at the beach. Coincidentally, there was a man standing on the street corner handing out tracts and telling people who passed about how God loved them.
"Excuse me," Margie said approaching him, "do you have a Bible on you?"
"Well, of course, ma'am," the young man replied, a bit surprised someone paid attention to him.
"Do you know where that verse is about the sand of the seashore, you know, when God was making a promise to Abraham?
"Um, I think so," the youth answered and fumbled through his ragged backpack for his Bible. "I believe it is in Genesis - somewhere in the middle probably...Ah, here it is, Genesis 22:17: I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore..."
He kept reading, but the first words struck Margie like a freight train. She wandered away from the perplexed man with her eyes on the sky. Is that it then, Lord? she prayed. Is my answer in the stars? Is she up there waiting for me? she asked, because somehow, she suddenly knew it would be a daughter.
Insight
My wife and I are in the process now of attempting an adoption from Korea. There are many obstacles and the best prediction is a three year wait. Fortunately, we have prayed about this and feel we are in God's will. We are at peace waiting for His timing or even for a change in plans. However, going through this process has revealed to us the difficulties and emotional anguish many hopeful parents to be face. Many of these difficulties are unnecessary, like the increasing trend of countries to reduce the number of adoptions allowed because it is an affront to their national pride to have to send their children away, especially abroad where they will lose their culture and grow up with others not of the same blood. This idea of the importance of blood has always infuriated me. Perhaps as an American it is all too easy for me to see clearly physical matter has nothing to do with true bonds between humans. It is what emerges from the spirit or heart of an individual that creates the true bonds between two. When the body passes away, what will bind us? What relationships will remain? Certainly not the blood...
EVER CLOSER
Davis entered the smoky, warm room and struggled to find a spot to sit at the bar as his eyes adjusted to the dim light. Everyone else here looked like him - tough, weathered, muscular and tired. He had been working this job for months now and was finally starting to get used to the seclusion and grating routine of life among the same people day in and day out.
"Seat taken?" he asked a younger man sitting near an empty bar stool by the wall. He was hunched over a mug and sat on top of his thick, furry coat.
"No, go ahead," he said raising his head so Davis could see his face.
"Hey, you're new here, aren't you?" Davis asked as he plopped onto the stool. It was missing a chunk of foam on one side.
"Yeah, came in just last week," the man confirmed. "Name's Noal."
Davis ordered his favorite drink and introduced himself. "What section are you working with?"
"I'm on the tower crew," Noal replied. "You know, the group actually erecting the structure for all those fancy gizmos to go on. What about you?"
"Well, I'm kind of an odd job man," Davis explained. "I didn't come with any specific skills, so I couldn't be picky about what I do. At least I get free drinks"
"And you certainly make good use of the privilege," the barkeeper cut in with a smile. "Still can't understand why you otherwise tolerate all this for a pittance."
"Aw Vic you know my story, whether or not you chose to believe it," Davis complained. "Quit harassing me."
"Do you mind if I ask your story," Noal pried cautiously.
"Goodness," Davis sighed and gave the barkeeper a piercing glare. "I suppose you will find out from the others sooner or later. I have to warn you, though, you probably won't believe me."
"I don't know. I have a pretty good imagination and I have seen some crazy stuff in my days," Noal said. "So what is this about? Is it something that happened to you up here?"
"No," the barkeeper cut in again as he paused to draw an ale from the tap near the two men. "It's about what brought him here, and what keeps him here."
"All right, Vic. That's enough. I'll tell him the story. Now please just stay out of it or you'll make it seem more fantastic than it should be."
"Sure thing, Davis," he said and rushed to deliver the foaming glass in his hand to a customer.
"So, the story of how you came here, huh?" Noal said. "I'm sure half the people in this room have bizarre circumstances that landed them here. Go ahead, if you don't mind. I'm anxious to hear it now."
"Oh, very well," Davis sighed and turned to face his new acquaintance. "It started several years back when I got into this little tiff with a guy who happened to be a witch doctor or something, you know, voodoo. I'll spare you the details of the disagreement. Anyways, the key point is he put a curse on me. He rolled his eyes back in his head, changed his voice and started shaking. He told me that a beast would follow me until it found and ate me. He said it would be impossible to kill the monster and the creature would have a kind of internal homing mechanism that would constantly draw it toward me. So, are you still listening? This is the first drink I have had today, by the way."
"Oh, yes. I'm listening," Noal confirmed. It was obviously a fool's story, but he had nothing better to do on this long night, and it would be more entertaining than hearing some other bloke talk about radio frequencies or the last bit of current events they caught two weeks ago.
"Ok, then," Davis nodded. "Of course at first I didn't even think twice about his threat - completely dismissed it as the ranting of a psychotic idiot. It didn't tak
e long, though, before I had reason for second thoughts. I was living in South Carolina at the time. A few weeks after I returned from my vacation, where I had the disagreement with the witch doctor guy, something odd happened. My wife and I were sitting in the living room watching television when we heard a knock at the door. It wasn't a normal knock, though. You know, like a few rhythmic taps. No, it was more like a big bump followed at irregular intervals by lesser bumps. I figured it might be kids playing a prank or possibly even a tree branch in the wind or something, so I strolled over to the door with mild agitation and threw it open. There on our welcome mat was the biggest alligator I have ever seen in my life with its mouth wide open and bristling with teeth the size of small bananas."
"I let out a feminine yelp and fell back into the entryway just as it lunged for me. As I turned and scrambled to my feet, my wife came over to see what all the commotion was about. She was obviously shocked, so I grabbed her and rushed her down the hall toward our bedroom. The beast is fast, mind you, and probably would have had me right there if not for my poor dog. He came tearing into the hallway from the kitchen barking like crazy. The monster turned its head and snapped him in half. He was a pit bull, too, mind you."
"Anyways, we made it to the bedroom and locked the door. I kept a handgun in the nightstand, so I ran over and pulled it out while my wife jumped on the bed. She started frantically asking about our son's safety. He was sleeping in the room right next to ours. By that point, my mind started to make the connection with the curse I received a few weeks earlier. Granted, I didn't really believe this was the result of the curse, yet, but somehow I knew the beast was only after me and anything that got in its path as it sought me."
"A loud thump echoed from the bedroom door and I told my wife to stay on the bed. There was no time to explain everything. She is a good woman, though, and despite her panic and confusion she listened to me. Regardless of what happened, I said, once she had a clear path out of the room she was to run to our son, wake him and escape the house. We would meet at the car."
"The next instant, the abnormally large reptile burst through the thin wooden door and headed straight for me. I unloaded ten rounds directly into its head. You know, it did not faze the thing in the slightest. The rounds seemed to just absorb in the massive, angular head. So, I turned and jumped through the window into the backyard. As I suspected, the monster followed me and left my wife untouched. It took a minute for it to pull its massive body through the window frame, so I had enough time to run around the front of the house and meet my wife carrying our dazed son. We jumped in the car and pulled a hasty U-turn to head out of the neighborhood. That thing must have known we were getting away because it launched toward us in a burst of speed. I ran over its head and the truck bounced violently. In the rearview, though, I saw the thing unfazed and continuing to follow. I ran a few stop signs and lights, and we managed to get away. It could move in bursts of speed, but apparently could not keep up the pace for long."
"So, you are saying this thing just knew where you were, huh?" Noal asked genuinely, still interested in the story even if not at all believing it. "Then no matter where you went, it would eventually find you, right?"
"Exactly," Davis confirmed. "I was not able to convince my wife of this entirely, but I was able to get her to agree to stay in a hotel across town until the police and animal control people could look into it. She felt safer away from the house, and I believed being above ground level would keep us safe from the beast. After all, who ever heard of an alligator climbing stairs, right? Well, a few days later we learned our lesson the hard way."
"I was home a bit early from work and collapsed on the couch to watch the news. My wife was out with my son at his taekwondo lesson, and a good thing too. If they had been in the house, I likely would have died that day or the monster may have taken one of them in its rampage to get at me. This is when I realized the thing has brains as well as brawn. Now, most animals have their instincts and such, which can be pretty impressive. This thing, though, is endowed with some further kind of intelligence. I don't know how or why. Anyways, I jumped when I heard a bag full of groceries smash on the floor at the doorway. I turned to see my wife's form frozen in the open door and the body of the beast between her and I. You see, it had used the elevator. I know you find it hard to believe, but the police found signs of scratches and water all over the floor. Worse still, it somehow opened the door. Maybe I didn't lock it, but still, can you believe it? Then, it was stealthily sneaking up on me and just about to finish me off in one pounce when my wife's actions alerted me to its presence."
"I jumped back reflexively as the creature bit into the couch and half of it disappeared in its jaws. The room was narrow and there was no escape besides the main door, so I jumped over its head and ran across its back. I scooped up my wife and son and we ran down the stairs as fast as we could. My son was sobbing the whole way and I practically had to carry him the distance. When we reached the parking lot, we felt a bit safer until we heard someone up above us scream and our eyes were drawn to a large dark object slipping over the edge of a railing far above. That thing just jumped right off. Fifteen stories up! We remained frozen as we watched it fall and smash into a car parked by the edge of the building. The vehicle was practically flattened, but the beast emerged from the wreckage unscathed. As soon as we could pull our wits together, we jumped in my truck and fled again."
"Hey, I see the skepticism on your face," Davis said as he pulled away from his story for a moment. Back when he first started telling people about his experience, he was reserved and hesitant. Now, once someone agreed to listen he felt compelled to finish. Perhaps it was because so few actually gave him credence. He had become somewhat desperate for somebody to share his burden without laughing him out of the bar. Noal had listened longer than most already and he was loath to give up on him now.
"Well, you do have to admit it is a pretty fantastic tale," Noal replied cautiously. He was not sure about the man's sanity. Too long working here could do things to your head.
"Look, I'll buy you another drink," Davis bribed him. "Could you at least just hear me out?"
"Yeah, ok," Noal agreed against his better judgment.
"Right. Well then, as you might imagine my mind became focused on how I could avoid this beast. At that point, I finally did believe something paranormal was happening. My wife was not convinced yet, but she had experienced enough to go along with my plan. We moved up north to Maine. I figured if I could get out of the animal's natural habitat, it would give up the chase. For a few months, it seemed like my plan had worked. There was no sign of the monster anywhere around our town and I started to actually let down my guard a bit. I finally found a job and we were nearly out of debt. As the winter began to wind down, the menace returned, though."
"One night my wife was cooking dinner with the TV on in the kitchen. I was in the other room playing with my son when I heard her scream. I rushed out with my heart pounding expecting to find her inside the jaws of the beast, but she just stood there staring at the television."
"'What is it?' I asked, trying not to step on the fragments of glass that littered the kitchen floor where she dropped her bowl."
"'It's that thing!' She said in a voice tinged with fear and rage. I looked at the television. The news was reporting on the odd occurrence of a giant alligator sighted crossing a road in New Hampshire. There was a short clip of amateur video from a bystander's cell phone. The police were postulating it could be an escaped circus animal or even a hoax, but I knew as soon as I saw the shoddy film. My wife knew too, and that is what broke the camel's back. She marched right in, grabbed my son, packed bags for both of them, told me she was sorry but it just had to be this way and left me without a word about where she was going. I guess I can't blame her. Who wants to live with a hunted man? Her maternal instincts wouldn't allow it. You know, I haven't seen her since. I did not go looking for her either. I was tempted to, but I do still love her despite the rejecti
on and I know my presence would be a threat to her and my son."
"Sounds like a tough break," Noal commented. He was almost to the bottom of his glass and was looking for a way out of the conversation. Before he could think of a way to change the subject, though, Davis continued with fire in his eyes.
"So now I had lost everything. I was desperate to stop the creature, probably now more out of vengeance than self-preservation. I hated it. I tried everything, don't you see? I lured it into a zoo and locked it in a cage surrounded by steel bars. It bit right through them. I led it to a construction site at night and dropped a huge pallet of bricks on it. The blasted thing just dug its way out from under them. You can guess my desperation started to land me in some trouble with the law and the creditors. So, I took one more drastic measure to attempt escape. I found work on a ship bound for Japan. I was penniless and illegal but I was far, far from my nemesis and for once could sleep well at night not wondering if the monster would catch up to me that very day. You know, of course, Japan is an island and there is quite a bit of sea separating it from the United States mainland. No animal could manage such a crossing. At least, that's what I thought. Don't ask me how it managed to do it. Maybe it was smart enough to stow away on a boat or maybe it just swam the whole blazing ocean on its own. Either way, it showed up on my doorstep once again."
"I had taken refuge in a monastery in the hills. Again, if not for the accidental collision of another in the path between the monster and I, it would have been the end for me. One of the poor monks was in the way and died quite violently. It gave me plenty of warning to flee, but at that point my mind reached desperation. I seriously contemplated taking my life. That's when I came up with the idea to come to this place. I saw a picture on a billboard as I was driving to one of the bridges crossing the inland sea where I planned to drive off the edge to my death. It gave me the idea to come here. So, I took the job despite the fact I earn a pittance for the unskilled labor."