The Right Questions

This was another story I wrote to enter into a competition. Alas, I did not win. But the prompt for the story was the picture below. And from it I created the following story. LLR

“Psst. Psst. Testing 1, 2, 3.

Okay. Good. It’s old but it’s working.

My name is Teva, but I don’t think that will actually matter in the long run. I’ve got some things I’ve got to say and I’m not sure how long I’ve got. I found this old dictatape recorder and I’m going to try and say what I know before they find me.

WAIT. Don’t shut me off. I know I sound insane and maybe I am, but it won’t hurt you to listen. In fact, it might actually save your life.

This all started a few days ago when I went on that blind date with the photographer.

No. Wait. It started before that with the Holographic Moon Prank.

Or, … did it happen even before I was born? Just give me a moment. I haven’t slept for a couple days and I just need to gather my thoughts.

Okay. Yup. [sigh]

If you’re like me, you have no memory at all of when man first walked on the moon. Neil Armstrong was his name. The first guy. I remember because I got that answer right on my Grade 9 history test.

But in my family, we also have a history attached to the Moon landing. In fact, it’s always been more of a family joke. Hmph. It suddenly doesn’t seem so funny right now.

Apparently, in the 1960s before I was even a hope in my mother’s heart, three men took a spaceship to the moon. Our moon. The one we see at night. It took years to accomplish, but when it finally happened it was broadcast on TVs all around the world.

My mother, her mother and her mother’s mother were all sitting around the TV, along with several other family members and neighbours who didn’t have TVs of their own. Now you’ve got to remember at this time, nobody knew anything about space or the moon. Every eye was glued to the TV screen. Mom said they weren’t even sure if there were a bunch of Aliens living on the moon. Who knew what these three men would find Out There?

They watched Armstrong take his first step onto the surface and say his famous line, “One small step for man. One giant leap for mankind". And when that day was over, the world, the earth that we had lived on, it was a very different place. We had decided to go to the moon. And so we went. No miracles. No supernatural. We just wanted it and we did it.

And just as the broadcast finished and Walter Cronkite wished all “good-night” and told us, “That’s the way it is"., my great-grandmother said her own lines, which became famous in  my family.

 “I don’t believe it".

Oh. How we laughed about that through the years. For the remainder of her life she was the butt of our jokes because she didn’t believe we had actually gone there. She had figured it was just some Hollywood people making a movie. She would sit quietly and be made the laughing stock of her family and then just gently say, “How do you know I’m not right?”

And now, I sit here with this little tape recorder and I think, my sweet Memere, you were sweeter and smarter than all of us put together. Please forgive me my arrogance.

All of you will remember the Holographic Moon Hoax from just a couple weeks ago. We looked into the sky at night and saw the word “Error” where the moon should be. Of course, it didn’t take long for it to be discovered  like any other hoax. With all the cameras in the world, it was easily proven by NASA that it was just a hacker who had gotten into the Net. If you think back, you will remember that nobody saw the “Error” message with their naked eyes.

 …[sigh]  But that’s not true. I did. And I’ve been running for my life ever since.

At the time, I was so busy and preoccupied that I didn’t even realize I had seen it myself. I assumed I had seen it like everyone else, on the Internet or on TV or a news broadcast somewhere. We get so busy that we don’t even notice the obvious that is right in front of us.

A few days after the Moon Hoax, I went on a date with a new guy that my roommate had fixed me up with. He was a photographer and after dinner we went to his place and I thought he would make some moves on me. However, the only thing he did was to bore me into a coma by showing me years worth of his photographs. Thankfully, I didn’t have to fake the migraine headache he had inflicted on me with his endless, “Look at this one. Look at this one.”

Now, I don’t believe in God because I believe in science and using my brain. And the idea of some big, old dad in the sky who loves us but would kill his own kid is so stupid. I’m not even going to talk about it. But, I have to admit there have been too many coincidences these past days for them to be mere coincidences. No bookie would ever make book against the existence of God if they had just lived through the days that I have.

It just so happened that one of Mr. Boring’s photographs stuck to the bottom of my shoe and I found it when I got home. I recognized it. It was a lovely picture of Mist Island, which is about 70 miles away from the shore near where I grew up. It’s called Mist Island because you can rarely see it from the mainland. So for him to have such a clear photograph of it was quite amazing. But that wasn’t the only amazing thing about the photo. According to science, the earth is a sphere. And you can easily tell that anytime you see a ship depart. Because as it sails farther away, it appears to drop beneath the horizon. I stared at that photo off and on for a day before I realized what was bothering me about it. From that distance, I should not have been able to see the entire bottom of Mist Island. But I could see the entire thing. He had used a zoom lens and that allowed the camera to see what the naked eye cannot. 

Since then, I’ve done that test myself at different locations and according to the mathematical equation governing distance vs curvature. I shouldn’t be able to see what I can see if the earth is in fact, a sphere. I can barely believe I’m saying these things. I feel like I’m in a nightmare that I can’t wake up from. 

Anyway. Where was I? Oh yeah. Then I went to the NASA government website and found photo after photo that has been altered. And obviously so. Not just things that they use as an excuse like, “Oh. It’s a composite”, but I also discovered that we shouldn’t be able to see the Great Wall of China from space either. So how many pictures are there that apparently NASA took from a high orbit of The Wall? They are not even following their own scientific equations and theories. And now I’m sure they’re trying to kill me. Whoever “they” are.

WAIT! WAIT! Please. Don’t shut this off just yet. If there really are people trying to kill me, these may be the last words I ever speak. So I’m asking you to give me one more minute before you click the OFF button. I am telling you, the earth is not a sphere and NASA has been lying to us. We never went to the moon at all. And we don’t have a bunch of cameras in space taking pictures of the earth, because …

  ...    the earth is flat. D*** *** S***!

 I never thought I would ever say that. Not in a million years. I’m a rational woman. I have a brain. I know science. I’m not sucked in by old religious superstitions. 

[sigh] I’m so tired. I haven’t slept for so long. I don’t dare shut my eyes.

You think you can walk away from this? It will beat at your brain too. And your soul until you MUST find the truth. MUST. MUST. must.

I told all this to a Christian friend of mine and thought she would be thrilled to discover that NASA and all the Scientists had been lying all these years. And that the original Christians were better off because they still believed the old ways of a Flat Earth.

She looked at me and said gently and calmly, almost motherly, “It doesn’t matter".

“OUR EARTH IS NOT ROUND AND EVERYONE IN THE GOVERNMENT AND AUTHORITY IS LYING TO US! HOW CAN THAT NOT MATTER?!!!” I screamed at her.

She answered me with such a look of compassion. 

“The governments have lied to the people since they were first set up. Science changes what it calls the “truth” almost every day. The poor are always with us and each human being will die and have to face God someday. The reason this doesn’t matter is because I know Jesus personally. Jesus. The incarnate God in human flesh sent to us. He made the world and He definitely knows what shape it is. Nothing is a surprise to Him. And my God will meet all my needs and your needs too, through Christ Jesus. Jesus, who is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Whatever the shape the earth is, or whoever lies to me, we will all face Jesus. And when He comes again it won’t be to die, it will be to rule and reign. And EVERYTHING will be made right and perfect. All sin forgiven. Death conquered. Eternal life offered. These things will remain unchanged even if the world looks like a Tootsie Roll. The only Truth you need to know is Jesus and whether or not He is who He says He is. God. And if you don’t know that, no answer will satisfy you or make you happy. Because it’s only in God’s presence there is fullness of joy".

Gee. I can’t believe I remembered all that she said. I usually tune her out while she’s still talking.

But that’s what she told me. Ya know? It made me feel better, although I don’t know why. I suppose that all great answers begin with a great question. Maybe by telling you my story into this little recording machine I’m passing on the Search. I don’t know what will happen to me. I know I’m being followed. Three times someone has tried to run me over. I don’t know the answer to “Who is Jesus?” but for the first time I think I want to know.  But I suppose where you end up is just ...++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

by Laura-Lee Rahn

Alberta, Canada

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