Godzilla
Page 24
If you’re like most of my friends, you’re probably saying, Nick’s going back to being a worm guy? Could there be anything duller than that? First of all, I don’t think it’s dull at all. I believe in the work. It may not be the latest hot topic in science, but even Darwin’s work on evolution was considered tedious and uninteresting at one time. And do you know how he spent the last thirty years of his life? Studying worms. It was earthworms he was referring to—not Gojira—when he wrote the following: “It may be doubted whether there are many other animals in the world which have played so important a part in the history of the world.” And I know of one other person who no longer considers worms and the guys who study them to be boring: Audrey Timmonds. She’s actually the one who found that quote. She’s been reading Darwin’s 1881 The Formation of Vegetable Mold. And guess what? She likes it! So these days, being a worm guy ain’t half bad. Knowing she’ll be here when I get back should make those cold Ukrainian nights easier to bear.
THE END
P.S. I’ve been doing some more thinking about that book Dr. Craven is writing, the one about Gojira stopping off in the Caribbean to lay a few eggs before continuing his trek north. On the one hand, the whole idea strikes me as downright silly. I realize it’s only science fiction, but who would believe that could really happen? It’s preposterous.
And yet, during the long hours of sitting here writing this memoir, I’ve been having a recurring vision. I suppose you could even call it a waking nightmare. One moment I’m sitting here at my desk typing out the manuscript, and the next I’m floating through some dark place. I’m moving fast, flying down a narrow, underground passageway. It could be a twisting, turning tunnel. At the far end of it I see a shaft of light. And in the light sits a large brown oval shape. Zooming closer, I realize what it must be: one of Gojira’s eggs, one that was laid away from the nest in a place no one would have thought to look, I am speeding closer, out of control, with no way of stopping my momentum, and just as I’m about to slam head first into the parasite-encrusted shell, it gurgles loudly and begins to crack open.