Once Upon a ParallelUniverse...
by MicromegasTim ran across the meadow toward his house. Suddenly he turned his ankle andwent down. But hardly had he had time to say, 'Ouch!' before a warmth soothedthe pain away. Looking behind, he saw--The Creator. He was was bent down andheld Tim's hurt ankle between His immense thumb and forefinger until it did nothurt anymore.
'Wow! It's you!' cried Tim in amazement and delight, for the the creator andruler of this universe was a very busy spirit. Often He was invisible, but todayHe chose to make himself visible enough so Tim saw a semitransparent 100-footgiant robed in what appeared to be linen.
The Creator's face beamed down on him from fifty feet up. 'Hello, Tim.' ThoughTim could hear the voice plainly, the Creator's lips never moved.
'Hello!' cried Tim.
'I happened to be passing by when I saw you fall and hurt yourself.' The Creatorwent down on His knees, then lay at full length to peer down at the boy--likeTim himself whenever he saw something interesting in the grass. 'I like to seeall living things happy, not sad and in pain.'Tim couldn't believe it--today he had the immense Creator of the Universe all tohimself! For a little while at least. And there was a question he had alwayswanted to ask. 'Why did you make humans instead of just angels?' Tim asked the100-foot spirit who lay on the meadow before him.
'That was selfish of me,' said the Creator with infinite tenderness. 'You see,for an eternity I was completely alone, cursing the fate that made only one ofme. I was so lonely I could not stand it! My desperate need drove me to figureout how to make other spirits like me. But spirit bodies have to be individuallyhandmade and handcrafted, and I just could not create angels fast enough to suitme. I HAD to have more people to love and take care of, so I finally inventedhumans like you, who can have families, then their families have families, andBehold! Billions of tiny little people for me to love and care for within a merefew thousand years! But like any mass-produced article, a human body breakseasily. That is why I take such good care of you little folks until I raise youto heavenly life.''Why DID you make us so little?' asked Tim of the Creator.
A whimsical smile curled the lips of the Creator. 'That was selfish of me, also.
I love miniatures, so I made you as tiny and wee as could possibly be.' TheCreator wrapped his great ten-foot-long hand around Tim. He felt so little andhelpless and secure and loved in the Creator's mighty hand, he giggled aloud. 'Ilove all my little people.' Tim's heart swelled with love 'till he thought itwould burst. The Creator just had that power to influence people's feelings.
'And I love you, too!' cried Tim aloud.
'And inventing you folks really sped up my production of angels, too. All I haveto do is make spirit bodies for you while you are born and trained and educatedby others here on earth. That way I don't waste spirit bodies on those who don'tdeserve them--as it turned out when some of my original angels turned wicked.''How did some of your angels turn wicked?' asked Tim.
The Creator turned wistful. 'Before I made humans, there was an angel who Ithought was amusing. He liked to play tricks and make us laugh. Oh, he was sucha little rascal!' Then the Creator's brow grew stern. 'But when I made Adon andTonia human bodies, he played a trick on Tonia and hurt her. I told him that hecould not play the same tricks on Adon and Tonia now that they werehuman--because they could be hurt. And I could not believe it! Later he playedanother trick that ended up hurting both of them! I searched through his heartand discovered he enjoyed seeing them hurt! Oh, it was very hard to destroy sucha glorious work of art as his spirit body was, which I had handcrafted with suchcare! But I took away his glorious spirit body and power, and put his soul intoa human body, and caused him to be born as a helpless human infant to teach himhumility, and also so he could feel pain for himself.
'As Adon and Tonia's children multiplied, some other of my sons turned out as hehad. They were tired of feeling weak and powerless around me, and they wanted topick on people smaller and weaker than they were, and so I took away theirspirit bodies and gave them human ones to teach them to be kind to the weak andhelpless. I won't put up with such cruelty. Humans are different from angels,your body is not so colorful and doesn't glow in the dark as theirs do, but allliving things deserve to be happy. I could not believe any angel would dare tothink they were better than humans just because their bodies are shiny andcolorful and the bodies of humans are not. So I took away their colorful, shinybodies and gave them human ones to show them they are not 'better' than humansafter all. I can make anyone spirit or human as I please and will, and give anybody any physical appearance I wish, so there is no reason for anyone to thinkthey are 'better' than anyone else.''Did they learn their lesson?' asked Tim.
The Creator smiled down on him. 'Some of them did. But they will have a long,long wait before they can return to heaven and be spirits again.''Can I be an angel, soon?' asked Tim, for he dreamed of flying among the starsjust like they did.
The Creator wrinkled his semi-transparent nose at him. 'I may call severalthousand years 'soon,' but you may not,' said the Creator. 'There's quite a longline ahead of you waiting for their spirit bodies. But your turn will come, Ipromise you.'Tim was learning about the Creator in school. Creating two brand-new people forthe important job of being the First Parents of the human race would have beenlike drawing two names from a hat, so the Creator carefully selected a pair ofhis angels from a group of eager volunteers, removed their spirit bodies and puttheir souls into the first human bodies the Creator had made. The rest washistory. Adon and Tonia, those first parents, loved child care to distractionand had raised about 506 children between them. In fact, now 5000 years old andstill going strong, the Greatest Grandma of the human race was expecting yetanother child next year. Since the invention of the printing press down to theinvention of computers, Adon and Tonia never tired of telling stories abouttheir former life in heaven to their descendants.
'Nearly everyone looks forward to being able to fly, and not having to eat anddrink anymore,' said the Creator. 'I know having to eat can be an eternaltreadmill. But eating can be fun, too, so enjoy your time on earth while itlasts.' With a little wave of his immense hand, the Creator rose to hismagnificent 100-foot height and faded into invisibility.
And so Tim went through school, and learned to be an artist who worked withmetal. He met the love of his eternal life, his lovable plump Miranda, married,settled down and raised two children. When their children were grown, Tim andMiranda traveled the world and enjoyed life and their Creator to the full forthousands of years. They also tried their hands at many, many trades and artsand crafts. Though Tim only saw Him again on public occasions--with billions ofpeople to take care of the Creator had plenty to keep Him busy after all--Timcherished the fond memory of that special one-on-one meeting with Him. In publicraptures, Tim and Miranda watched many friends who had had spirit bodiesinstalled raised out of their fleshly bodies to soar away to the stars. 'Likewatching butterflies hatch out of their chrysalis,' murmured Miranda to Tim.
Finally, their turn came and the Creator installed spirit bodies inside oftheirs. And after they had had time to adjust to the idea that heavenly freedomwould soon be theirs, and give away their earthly possessions as gifts tofriends and relatives, the Creator came for them. Before a happy audience offriends and relatives, Tim and Miranda looked up at the Creator, who smiled downon them from His immense magnificence. Then He reached down a great hand,scooped it under their fleshly bodies, lifted...
The Creator smiled down on the glorious new-fledged spirits in his hand as theirearthly audience whistled and applauded. Tim looked down. His new body wasdressed in linen. His arms and feet were like burnished copper, and his body waslike chrysolite. When Miranda smiled back at him, her glorious face was like theappearance of lightning, and her eyes like fiery torches, but the kind andgentle soul within was still his beloved Miranda. 'Congratulations on your newspiritual upgrade, my children. Now it's time to come with me to heaven,' Hesaid as Tim and Miranda waved at their old bodies, and the people below whowould someday follow them in glorious spirit bodies of their own. And away theyflew to loving eternal companionship with their mighty giant, the Creator.
