Ladies and Gentlemen

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN - A SHORT IRANEAEN HISTORY OF MAN

I

'None of them really know', a short man said, 'some might get close but
they get so rushed off their feet doing other things and they forget
about it'.
There were two Gentlemen in conversation walking along a path on the
campus of a university in the South of England. Quite casually and
boldly they looked at the people around themselves, making eye contact
and looking people up and down. At best, the students looked a little
miffed or put out, but carried on regardless busying around. One boy
bumped his shoulder against the taller Gentleman. He carried on
regardless.
'I knew no-one would hear it', said taller Gentleman. 'It just seems a
bit odd, you know. Sort of like, how wouldn't they, the signs are all
there. You can smell it, you can hear it and you can feel it. A
rumbling, as clear as my voice probably is to you now'. The shorter man
nodded and smiled. His wide eyes searched vigorously around with
wonder.
'It might be time to get out of here now, actually', the first man
said after a moment. And they walked to their car, a modest ten years
or so old town car, and drove off.

Half an hour after the car had left the scene a fire started in the
library. This was a large building that served as the centre point of
the university campus. The fire was accidentally started by a librarian
smoking a cigarette in the quiet basement history archive. He hadn't
extinguished it correctly. The fire killed three people.

II

'Ladies and Gentlemen, we are privileged to present to you an
extra-special treat today. For those of you who have wondered about the
evolution period before Atonement, as I am sure you all are, we shall
be enlightened by the long awaited first annual lecture from the
seventeen hundred and fiftieth Caernheaven Highest, Mr Samuel Van
Buren!'
There was thunderous applause and a few cheers from the liveliest
Gentlemen at the back of the great white hall. A small man in a long
black overcoat walked up two steps to the stage and took his place
behind the lectern. He looked up at his audience and smiled. His eyes
were wide and sparkled. They had seen a great deal, but retained a
fresh vigour because they enjoyed and wondered at everything they
saw.
He spoke softly but clearly, and the meaning and context of every word
he said were understood perfectly by his audience.
'Thank-you kindly for that wonderful welcome. If I deserve half the
enthusiasm of that applause I would be terribly proud. I was intending
to come here today to draw a picture in your wonderfully vibrant and
youthful minds of a time before ours, when our people walked the world
blindfolded. Where battles and struggles with knowledge and instinct
were commonplace, and took up the time of most of our people. We can
see much of what life was like before Atonement from the examples
around us of the second generation. They, of course, do not know of our
existence, but we can walk amongst them and observe them without their
attention. But we have learned most of what we know from scripture, of
course. And my job is the safekeeping of that scripture. But I also
have the rare privilege as Caernheaven Highest to have first hand
access to those scriptures. And the scriptures have told me something
exciting that I have the unequalled pleasure of imparting to you. On my
first lecture, no less! And you are to be the first to know, my
friends. Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am', he chuckled a little, as if
he could not believe the announcement himself, 'honoured to announce
that The Second Generation will be arriving shortly! Those of you who
would like to watch, as I am sure you all will, please close your
eyes'. The hall went as silent as the deep of the sea.

III

Aidan rang home once a week normally. He didn't mind at all, but he
thought he ought to all the same. Honour thy mother and father and all
that. He talked to them about silly things, odd things he'd noticed
around. He was known to most as an incredibly insightful and clever
person, ever since he was a young child. His parents, of course, were
very proud. But they were always aware that although he was very
clever, and so insightful, he was often preoccupied with things that
seemed unimportant. Mere silly things that seemed obvious and needed no
serious thought, that normal people took for granted and just got on
with their lives.
Aidan's parents rang him on this day. They had heard about the fire in
the library at the University where Aidan was studying. It had made
national news. The names of the unfortunate victims had not yet been
released at this point, and the fires were still burning on all of the
four floors. Aidan was on campus, as were most of the population of the
university, watching the smoke and the flames from a safe distance.
They got through to him on his mobile phone.
'Thank God you're safe. I nearly had a heart attack'.
'I'm fine mum, I was nowhere near it'.
'Its terrible isn't it'? Aidan's mum went on for a while and he
listened to what she was saying while keeping an eye on what was going
on around him. None of it really needed a reply. Aidan watched the
flames intently.
Then he heard a sudden rumbling sound. It began quickly, and continued
powerfully. The sound was very deep. It made Aidan's heart race and he
felt a sharp cold sensation of panic come all over him. He felt sick
and his muscles tensed. He didn't really know what was going on, now.
Not quite sure what to do with himself.
'I'll have to ring you back', he said, and ended the call. He watched
the fire, fixed to the spot. Then the panic became unbearable. He felt
sick, without thought, his instinct was to get away. Why wasn't anyone
else trying to get away?. 'Run', he whispered. Then he said it again
louder. And then he shouted it and turned to run as fast as he could
away from the burning library. Those around him looked at him,
wondering what was going on. It took a few dripping seconds before some
decided to heed the warning. More of the crowd saw more of the people
around them run and eventually there was mass hysteria; screaming and
running from each direction away from the library.
From above, as one Gentleman noted to himself, it looked like a stone
had been dropped in a still pond and the ripples were slowly moving
outward. Then the stone exploded violently, halting the human ripple
and knocking it to the ground.

The blast knocked Aidan forward as he ran, and he tripped over. He had
been running alongside a wall that was waist height, and his head had
hit the corner of the top of the wall before he finally fell to the
floor. He passed out. His half-conscious words in the ambulance to the
paramedic were: 'Listen for the rumbling. Listen to the panic. When you
hear it get away'. He died shortly after arriving in the hospital,
there was nothing the Doctors could do.

IV

After the fire at the University, the paramedic that had attended to
Aidan became severely depressed. He drank frequently after work, even
when his shift finished in the morning, and after two years his health
had deteriorated severely. He started using amphetamines and left his
job after feeling that his job 'just didn't feel worth it any more'. On
his birthday, about four years after the fire first had a panic attack.
He began to suffer frequently from panic attacks and felt like he was
losing his mind. He would panic for no reason, even when lying safe in
bed. His sister Janet, who lived close to her brother, paid for him to
go into rehab and he cleaned his substance abuse habit quite quickly,
quicker than the staff had ever seen in fact, but the depression
remained. His Doctor was in no way reluctant to prescribe
anti-depressants after his quick rehab, he felt that the risk of
developing a dependency on the drugs was low. 'Luke', he had said, 'I
want you to use these and try and change your outlook on life. Find
something you enjoy'.
Luke's sister took him on holiday to the deserts of America. They saw
the Grand Canyon, grand cacti and the grandest of all natural statues
in Monument Valley. They drove around much of Northern Arizona and the
surrounding area. He hardly said a word during the holiday but never
closed his eyes for more than a minute while it was still light and he
could see the landscape around him. While travelling in the car he
would sit forward and look all about him.

Halfway though the holiday the tourists made a stop in Phoenix. Janet
decided that they would go on tour around the city in the car. Luke
seemed to enjoy that. They got out for a bite to eat downtown. Luke ate
a little and had a beer, but complained that he felt a little sick so
they went for a walk around the streets of downtown Phoenix. It was
Sunday and the streets were quiet. It was also very hot. They saw a few
tramps pushing shopping trolleys around, and they hustled the pair for
some change. Luke ignored them completely but Janet said sorry politely
and hurried him along. The tramps smelled of alcohol and many hot
months of dried sweat.
Luke asked Janet if he could walk alone for a while. Janet said yes as
she was always pleased whenever he asked to do anything independently.
She was also a little worried. She let him go all the same. 'I'll be in
the exhibition centre, its cooler in there', she said.
Luke walked on. A tramp stopped him and asked him for some change. She
was a haggard old woman, and she smelled of booze and dead sweat like
all the rest of the tramps in the city.
Luke whispered to the woman in a soft voice, and his words were
supported by an honesty in his voice. 'I hear it. I hear rumbling
sometimes. And then I panic. But I don't know where to run'.
'I know some crazies like you', said the woman, 'ain't got so funny
accent though'. And she walked on. Luke followed her for a few blocks
and they turned down an alley.
As soon as Luke entered that alley he felt calm come over him. He felt
more relaxed than he had been in a long time. They walked down further
down the alley and came to a church. The old lady pushed the doors open
with her trolley. There was a ramp up to the threshold, and there was
evidence on the big wooden doors that this manoeuvre had been done many
times before; the wood was chipped deeply away at trolley height.
A Priest strode towards him from the front of the church and welcomed
him. He clasped his hand and gave him a friendly handshake. Luke nearly
collapsed with relaxed relief.
'I know, son', said the priest. 'There are many like you, you know.
More and more people are beginning to hear and they are learning! Tell
me your story. I can help you find peace'.
Luke told the priest all he could remember of the last few years. He
was coaxed into giving more and more detail until he had exhausted his
memory. The priest explained to him what others had experienced. He
said that one special day soon, he would hear rumbling but the panic
would be gone and he would feel completely at peace and at one with a
divine spiritual force. At one ment, the priest called it. He would at
once know everything, and know everything at once, and he would know
that one day the whole population of the earth would be kind to each
other, and would do no bad things. And he told him that no one would
get hurt, because they would be able to tell when bad things would
happen. They would be able to tell by rumbling and panic sensations
like Luke could hear and feel. only people would have refined that
sense. The priest talked further about the creation of the world, and
Adam and Eve, and how they became vulnerable to Evil after a fall. Luke
was comforted, and felt peace. He told no-one else of this, he could
not find the words, but lived on in peace.
Luke finally left the church to find his sister, at the suggestion of
the priest, and the priest closed his eyes and said, 'I hope you all
saw that'.

Back in England after the holiday Luke went to live with his parents in
the quiet countryside of the Midlands. It was the landscape he spent
his childhood surrounded by. He was still very quiet, but seemed to be
happier. He no longer took the anti-depressants. His father got Luke a
job packing frozen chicken on nightshift where he himself had worked
many years ago. He spoke only when he was spoken to, and seemed always
deep in thought. A colleague on the factory line observed he 'always
looked like he was working something out in 'is head. Big thinker he
was, but never wanted to say anything'. Another said, 'I think he was
just plain mad. Wouldn't hurt a fly though mind'. But the factory
burned down in the summer of his fifth year at the factory and Luke was
killed. He had no real friends in the last years of his life, and he
lived in apparent loneliness, but was always gentle and
courteous.

V

'Ladies and Gentlemen', announced the Caernheaven Highest, 'let us
remind ourselves. It has been over six years since my first annual
lecture, and we have seen many exciting developments. I have been
working closely with the scriptures and with some of the children of
the Second Generation, mostly in the West. But now, after two thousand
and two years since the birth of the father of our own generation, we
are about to bear witness to the birth of the second father. Now,
Ladies and Gentlemen', he smiled, 'please close your eyes'.