Green Dreams

by Gary W Ritter

  “Sure, there have been a number of situations over the years where I could have lost everything.”

  “Where do you think God is in all that?”

  “I don’t know. Nancy says He loves us more than anything, but I’m not sure how that translates into everyday life.”

  “While you were talking with her the other day, one of the things she said bothered me.” Lizzy concentrated and continued. “She said, ‘Each one of us has to choose between following God through His Son Jesus Christ, or following the way of the world.’ How does that work? We live in the world. I don’t understand what this choice is.”

  “I remember her saying that. She also made it clear that people who decide not to respond to the love of Christ will be judged by God.”

  “And when we live for the world, God allows us to do so because we’re not robots,” Lizzy concluded. “Which has eternal consequences.”

  “Separation from God for eternity.”

  “Yes! But why would He make the penalty for not trusting in Jesus so severe?”

  “I guess we get this life to make that decision. That should be enough. It’s like…” Jason pondered a moment. “Like…this life is preparation for the next. God gives us plenty of chances to turn to Him.”

  Lizzy snuggled closer to Jason and whispered, “Neither one of us has done that. What if we had died today? Where would we be in death?”

  Jason remained silent. Finally, reluctantly, he said, “In hell.”

  Chapter 76

  The remainder of the week slipped by with no new means to stop whatever the enemy had planned for Universal Children’s Day. Jason and Lizzy remained in D.C., the political center of the event. Their other choice was New York City with its connection to the United Nations. With Mary Sue directing Toomey, and Moriarty in charge of much of the affair, they figured their best bet was to stay in the nation’s capital.

  The day of the big event arrived with too many unanswered questions. None of them knew what might happen today. Nor had Jason and Lizzy resolved the issue of their eternal souls.

  Neither had slept well, and intimacy hadn’t seemed right with that question suspended over them like a double-edged sword. It was as though God was inserting Himself into their relationship, making them question the rightness of—not their being together—but having intimate relations. It puzzled them both, but with the impending disaster of UCD, they had to set aside getting to the root of the problem.

  The events of Universal Children’s Day were well publicized in advance. It was a worldwide spectacle. Corporations and governments—tentative allies to say the least—came together. The ecological movement hated capitalistic enterprises. It demonized them in many ways, including their penchant for making money to distribute to shareholders and rewarding their top management for success. The Greens had long declared that no one was above others in their compensation; that CEOs, company presidents, and others in that stratosphere of running the corporations had no more rights to being paid handsomely than the most common laborer. All should be paid equally according to the mantra "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs."

  Although the environmentalists loved government bureaucracies for the administrative red tape they placed around the necks of businesses, and wanted federal oversight to control every aspect of how companies operated, many in the movement also realized that government was inherently untrustworthy. They viewed it with healthy suspicion despite their love affair with it.

  Thus, the alliance for UCD had its underlying challenges.

  The United Nations in its Global Religions Initiative had joined with national governments, plus all subsidiary state, city, county, and regional authorities around the world. This coalition of governments and the corporate world had joined hands to fête the next generation, to show appreciation for youth, and to raise religious consciousness. The alliance was unprecedented. It was also a means of bringing all parties together.

  Young people had been elevated in recent years to almost genius status for their environmental concerns. They were hailed as the coming saviors of mankind. The generations before them had squandered the earth’s resources. Children were the ones suffering. Youth were the ones who brought sanity and redemption to a world overcome by consumerism. Corporations, cowed by their influence, bowed to their demands. It was the young people around the world who would join hands in the peace that a single spiritual awakening would bring. To show them and everyone on the planet how important they were to the future, UCD had been selected as the vehicle and venue for this immense and majestic event.

  In public squares around the world, corporate and government leaders gathered as children flowed into the massive open areas. In Beijing, China, Tiananmen Square hosted the event filled to overflowing. In Mecca, Saudi Arabia, riotous participants in the joyful affair flooded the huge square, where worshipers typically congregated at the Kaaba to celebrate the Islamic hajj. Rizal Park in Manilla, Philippines; Macroplaza in Monterray, Mexico; Alexanderplatz in Berlin, Germany; on and on around the world, these huge gathering places filled with people and children arm-in-arm. As they did, the various leaders assembled at the podiums and broadcast their high-minded speeches about the wonders of the coming generations, and how the New World Order would benefit mankind.

  The National Mall in Washington, D.C. was the focus of the event in the nation’s capital. More crowded than any presidential inauguration, the beautiful setting contained greater numbers of adults and children than the park had ever seen.

  In order to accommodate the anticipated crowds, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, almost a third of a mile long and more than half a football field wide, had even been drained so the area could accommodate greater numbers. Newscasters predicted that over one million people would shoehorn themselves into the Mall to experience the festivities. The Washington Monument rose elegantly at one end of the mall. The Lincoln Memorial stood regally in the middle, while the Capitol Building resided at the other end. Given the multitudes, few could see more than the upper part of the monument when they raised their eyes.

  Senator Franklin Toomey III was among the prestigious speakers scheduled to laud the up and coming leaders in America. This was only one of many sites throughout the country. The replication of this event in city after city around the planet was amazing. How the event coordinators pulled it all off was a mystery for the ages.

  It was into this madhouse that Jason Ruger and Lizzy Morris ventured that bright, sunny day near its noontime start. Nancy Evans had promised to venture into Millennium Park in Chicago to encounter that city’s similar bedlam.

  The small team felt overwhelmed. They feared what might occur in these various places with the children somehow being offered up as sacrificial lambs. Jason worried about his daughter, Marcy, and her two children. What might be their fate in this sordid affair? Unable to make any headway against the forces pushing this event forward, Jason felt completely helpless. He despaired of his weakness and impotence. The futility of their efforts made him feel like Cervantes’ Don Quixote tilting at windmills.

  A great podium had been built to encircle the Washington Monument halfway up. People at the Lincoln and at the Capitol ends could all see, and ultimately hear, the speakers. The podium revolved around the monument, enabling everyone to experience the event more personally. Additionally, huge TV monitors had been erected in strategic positions around the perimeter. They projected close-ups of the speakers. National and world leaders stood on the podium, plus a gaggle of hand-picked youth that the speakers could highlight in their speeches.

  Jason had never seen anything like it and wished it would all go away. He and Lizzy clutched each other’s hands and did their best to circulate in the throngs. As tightly packed as it was, he wondered why they even bothered. Would they somehow catch a glimpse of Moriarty? So what if they did? Would Mary Sue be with Toomey on the elevated rotating platform? If she was, would that make any difference?

  The
sun beat down as noontime neared. With extreme diligence Jason and Lizzy moved toward the monument where Toomey and the other high-profile politicians and corporate sponsors were taking their places. Despite being outdoors, the heat brought out the stench of massed-together humanity. Sweat ran down Jason’s face. It soaked his shirt front and back. When he placed his hand on Lizzy’s shoulder, he felt her silk blouse cling to her skin. Any place but here would have been a joy.

  A siren sounded to get people’s attention. After a few moments, their eyes focused on the Washington Monument and the beginning of the event. A squadron of Air Force fighter jets roared overhead, eliciting oohs and aahs. From the monument’s top, a huge flock of doves were released and flew upward. Once they’d scattered, special fireworks erupted. They illuminated the sky as brightly as at night. Their riotous streaks, circles, whirligigs, and every other pyrotechnics design kept the eyes of all glued toward the tower.

  Finally, the lame-duck President of the United States and the Secretary-General of the United Nations stood arm-in-arm. They each spoke briefly with the continual highlighting of the young people whom they claimed were the greatest generation. The crowds ate it up.

  A series of lesser politicians had their say, then several youths hailed this day as one that would go down in history. A well-known Swedish girl, a darling of the media who’d been named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year, excoriated those who destroyed the world through their environmental negligence. When Senator Franklin Toomey III eventually came to the microphone, the hordes in attendance roared their approval. He was the champion of this special event. Without Toomey, Universal Children’s Day would not have been the gala it was turning out to be. He was the hero of the hour for his advocacy of children and elevating them to near-sainthood, while raising generational consciousness of the environmental cause.

  The cameras zoomed in on Toomey, and Jason saw on the giant, high definition screens the man most responsible for this gathering. Makeup artists had done a marvelous job on him. He looked fresh; no hint of the underlying tiredness Jason had recently observed. His eyes focused like laser beams on the crowd. It had the effect of drawing people to him—they had the appearance of having great care and concern for every single individual. As he spoke, Jason heard various utterances of acclaim from those surrounding him. It was as though they’d fallen under a spell. Jason himself actually felt a hypnotic pull and had to shake it off. Beside him Lizzy was blinking hard, seemingly fighting the same undertow.

  They’d seen nothing suspicious that enabled them to alert anyone, if there’d been anyone to warn. Everyone was in the bag at this event. There seemed to be no dissenting opinions. It was a love-fest designed to draw even more people toward the purposes espoused by the environmental movement, with children as its redeemers and universal ecumenical religion as its core.

  One particular movement in the children’s section of the podium caught Jason’s eye on the big screen. The camera remained stationary for an instant, and Jason recognized Marcy. Beside her were his grandkids. He squeezed Lizzy’s hand and pointed. She saw the images and nodded. Ignoring the impossibility of reaching them, he and Lizzy pushed hard through the sea of humanity.

  If there was any way that Jason could get to his daughter, even in this madhouse, he was determined to do so.

  Chapter 77

  They hadn’t gone more than ten feet when a great buzzing sounded overhead. Every eye looked skyward to see a dark cloud of insects hovering overhead from one end of the mall to the other. A moment later the cell phone in Jason's pocket vibrated. He almost ignored it in his rush to reach Marcy, but thought better of it. Pulling it out with difficulty because of the mass of flesh encompassing him, he saw the text was from Nancy Evans.

  Massive blanket of mosquitos covering entire park. People bitten by the thousands.

  As he finished reading the brief message, their own nightmare arrived. The impossible swarm descended as a single organism and covered Jason, Lizzy, and everyone within sight. Arms rose swatting at the predators. Because of the crush of people, the entire crowd began jostling each other. With so little space to move, tempers flared as bite after bite took its toll while people tried to evade the flying menace. Nearby one person lashed out with his fists at the woman next to him who’d swatted at a bug and grazed the man’s ear. Suddenly the entire crowd began whacking at mosquitoes and punching their neighbors.

  A handful of knuckles crashed into Jason’s head, stunning him and knocking him backward. He reeled from the blow. Lizzy grabbed his hand to help him recover. If he had fallen in the surrounding mass, he would have been trampled.

  He shouted at Lizzy, “The podium!”

  Because he couldn’t hear his own voice, he knew she couldn’t hear either, but as he tugged at her, she understood the urgency.

  More and more mosquitoes continued plaguing the crowd. It had turned into an immense uproar with confusion and violence overtaking the previously peaceful and enthusiastic acolytes. The insect invasion had converted these environmental devotees into an angry and ruthless mob.

  It moved and swayed like the living organism it was. No one could escape. Before Jason's eyes men and women slipped and fell from the mad scrum. His feet encountered bodies causing him to stumble, just like others did as they met solid flesh on the ground. By necessity, he stepped over and on whatever lay in his path.

  All the while the insect attack continued unabated. The bugs encompassed the entire mall from monument to monument and side-to-side. The huge television monitors confirmed this. It left Jason incredulous and unable to think. Never had he—or likely anyone else—ever experienced something like this. And the fleeting thought came: It’s also happening in Chicago.

  Chapter 78

  Pushing, shoving, and uncaring for those similarly afflicted, Jason and Lizzy finally reached the base of the elevated podium. Looking up, he saw few people remaining of those whom, moments before, had ginned up crowd reaction, while extolling the marvels of environmental concern with future generations at stake. Marcy was gone.

  He swatted another batch of mosquitoes that landed on his face. His hand came away with one wedged between his fingers. As he went to swipe it off, he noticed something strange about the bug. It had a smear of his blood from having bitten him, but in the sun, the tiniest flash of light reflected off its body.

  Behind him, movement in the crowd surged forward and knocked both Jason and Lizzy. Improbably, it pushed them into a spot that was briefly vacated so that they stood alone. He took that opportunity to glance again at the insect. He rolled it between his fingers. It had an odd solidity to it. The crowd swelled around them once more, and he quickly stuffed the tiny body into his shirt pocket.

  The momentum of massed bodies threw them against the base of the monument far beneath the elevated speakers’ podium. Around them hundreds of adults and children pushed and shoved with many trampled underfoot. Desperately he searched for his daughter and her kids. In the pandemonium with mosquitoes still incessantly dive-bombing their prey, no one could seemingly think straight and act rationally. The insanity of the numbers present and congested in such tight quarters loosed the worst in people’s behavior.

  Neither Jason nor Lizzy were immune to the madness. The ebb and flow knocked them again against the hard, white stone of the obelisk. A heavyset man crushed Lizzy against it as he was shoved. She lashed back trying to free herself, beating on the man’s chest who had come face-to-face with her. Jason made the only move possible, which was to crash against her and shove her the opposite way from his position.

  As he extricated her, she yelled, “Jason. We have to get out of here!” Then she whacked at another batch of mosquitoes hovering around her head.

  He couldn’t have agreed more, but what to do? Where to go?

  They threaded their way around the tower and found a doorway where several people were exiting. It made no sense to Jason why they came outside to this anarchy, but he took advantage. Pressing against those leavi
ng, he pulled Lizzy with him inside.

  In the crowded ground floor lobby, he noticed the statue of George Washington and a steady stream of people coming down the steps. The elevator sat unused—perhaps not working? No bugs had gone in with them.

  Although it was noisy inside, Lizzy said so that he could hear, “They must have been up on the podium.”

  They huddled with their heads together to communicate in a corner away from the flow heading outside. Lizzy had welts all over her face and arms. “Do I have bites all over me?” Jason asked.

  “You’re like a giant pimple.”

  “Terrific. What was that? How did all those mosquitoes congregate and attack so quickly?”

  “It’s awful,” Lizzy said.

  As they had a moment of respite, and he had no plan for how to find Marcy, he remembered the bug in his pocket. Carefully, he took it out and held it in his palm. “Look at this!” he exclaimed.

  “Oh, my goodness.” Lizzy stared wide-eyed at the creature. “It’s…not real.”

  “What…? How…?” Jason was at a loss.

  “Could they all have been like this?”

  He slipped out his phone and quickly texted Nancy Evans.

  Swarm of mosquitoes…manmade? Robots?

  The reply came momentarily.

  Awful here. Complete pandemonium. Yes, seem like miniature drone technology?

  Jason asked:

  Are you all right?

  Evans replied:

  Seem to be, except for all the bites.

  With a tight voice, he said to Lizzy, “This was a coordinated attack. It happened in Chicago. Is it possible for this to have happened at all the UCD venues?”

  “To what purpose?”

  A wave of nausea passed over Jason. He shook his head to clear it. His stomach began to lurch uncontrollably. He reached out a hand to steady himself against the wall.