Generations of Divine Design (eBook)

Chapter 1

Danville

Suzy’s cell phone rang and without looking at the caller ID she knew who it was.

“Good morning.”

“Hey Suzy, have you seen the news this mornin’?”

“Um, no… hang on a second momma,” Suzy turned her head and her attention to her almost eighteen-year-old daughter, Crawford and Crawford’s boyfriend, as they were about to walk out the door.

“Where are y’all going?”

“Breakfast and then to the movies,” Crawford answered.

“Make sure you take a sweater.”

With the infamous teenage ‘eye roll’ Crawford protested, “It’s already like a bazillion degrees outside.”

“Yeah well, they always crank up the A/C in the theater and it will be cold.”

When Crawford saw her mother’s attention had become focused on the phone conversation with her grandmother, she scoffed, and left without taking the suggested garment.

Suzy regained her posture to again speak with her mother, “Sorry, momma, just wanted to find out where Crawford and her young man were off to.”

“Oh, that’s okay. Where are they going?”

“Movies.”

“What are they gonna see?”

“I think that new doomsday flick.”

“Did you tell her to take a sweater?”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“You know they always keep the theater so cold.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Suzy rolled her eyes, “What did you say about the news?”

“Did you see it this mornin’?”

“No. The kids were binge-watching something on NETFLIX.”

“Oh. Well, they were saying somethin’ about how you’ll be able to see the aurora borealis!”

“Wow! Here in Pennsylvania?”

“Here in Kentucky, and even much farther south. They said it would be similar to what was viewed in 1938. Ya know 1938 was a very good year,” she said with a giggle.

“Yeah? 1938? 1938? Nope, I can’t think of anything that happened that year”

“Ha. Ha. Very funny.”

“Just kidding, I know it was the year you were born Momma.”

“Anyway, according to the news, the aurora borealis in 1938 made a lot of people nervous. I didn’t really understand exactly what they were talking about. Something about the colors of the sky was a sign that God was angry. And of course, World War II happened right after that.”

“Did they mention Our Lady of Fatima?”

“Yeah, I believe they did but I didn’t know what they were talking about. How did you know? What were they talking about?”

“I learned about Fatima recently. Three Portuguese children claimed to see the Virgin Mary and the oldest, Lucia, spoke to Our Lady. Mother Mary told them she would visit on the thirteenth of the month for the next few months. On one of the last visits, there was a huge crowd there waiting to see Mary and many of the people gathered there reportedly saw what they described as the sun darting about.”

“The sun?”

“Yes, like a disc zigzagging back and forth.”

“Suuure they did.”

“Anyway, it’s kind of a long story but Lucia became a nun living in Spain when she saw the aurora borealis. It was also reported that the lights even appeared red and were accompanied by a ‘crackling’ sound, possibly due to the discharges of atmospheric energy. So, Sister Lucia wrote to the bishop telling him it was a warning given to her by Our Lady saying, ‘When you see a night illuminated by an unknown light, know that it is a great sign that God gives you. The light which the Lady told us about would come before the war. And of course, as you mentioned, World War II started soon after.”

“Did you learn about this from your Catholic friends?”

“Yeah Momma, my Catholic friends.”

Even though she tried not to show disappointment, Suzy’s mother didn’t understand why her daughter converted to Catholicism. Nor did she know much about the faith because almost everyone she knew was Protestant. “So, when did they say the aurora will be seen?”

--“MOM!” yelled Suzy’s fourteen-year-old daughter, Lucy, from the living room. “The Wi-Fi is out again!”

“Hey, Momma. Can I call you back?”

“Sure darlin’. Love you.”

“Love you too. Bye”

“What’s up Lucy, girl?”

“The Wi-Fi is out again!”

“Well, you’ll just have to watch regular TV or do somethin’ else.”

Lucy closed her eyes and pressed her fingers against her temple shaking her head, “Nooowah! I need it for the class I am taking.”

“Oh. Well, what are you working on? Maybe you could research it another way?”

“Ugh! No. You don’t understand.”

“Well, ‘splain it to me Luuucccy,” her mother said, trying to lighten the mood, by doing her best to sound like Ricky Ricardo.

Lucy’s glaring look over her glasses let Suzy know that her poor imitation of Ricky Ricardo sounded like fingernails sliding down a chalkboard.

“You see, in science class, there is a program that simulates a new planet that is exactly like Earth, but it has no life on it yet. So we have to try terraforming it by adding new species to seed the Earth. And the program does a time-lapse sequence to see if the species we choose can help produce the right amount of oxygen and everything to create a stable ecosystem.”

“Time-lapse thing?”

“Yeah, so, I select a bunch of plant, tree, bug, and fish species, and choose a time-lapse of say 100 years and see if the species are compatible and if they are I can set it up to 500 years and see if they are still thriving.”

“And if there is a problem can you reverse the time and remove whatever species was the problem?”

“No. The time lapse only goes forward. If there is a problem, I integrate a new species or try to eliminate the problem. Or I can program a natural disaster, like a drought or something that may rid the planet of the nuisance.”

“Oh, I see. What do you think your planet needs first?”

Lucy again glared at her mother over her glasses, raised her eyebrows and said, “Wi-Fi.”

As Crawford and her boyfriend were finding seats in the theater she whispered, “Oh my God! It’s FREEZING in here!”

Antarctica

“It’s FREEZING!” Ava exclaims as she stepped off the cargo plane onto the base.

Noah looked at Ava sideways with a half-grin and said, “Ava? Really? It’s Antarctica in July. What did you expect?”

“I just didn’t think there would be such a dramatic difference from when I was here last December.”

“You spent most of your time in the warmth of the greenhouses.” Noah paused and took a long look at his new bride, “God, I can still picture you popping out from behind the plants. You are by far the most beautiful farmer I have ever seen.”

Ava, an accomplished scientist who received her PhD. in botany, would usually tell people she was a farmer. Ava thought it sounded less pretentious, more down to Earth. An ironic phrase given that she was awarded a grant to study the most successful way to grow food in greenhouses for The Mars project.

Noah quickly escorted Ava into the facility and took her into his arms, kissed her cheek and told her, “It won’t be long for the crew to unload the plane, but I need to tell them where everything goes. I’m so happy you are here with me, Ava. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

As he turned to leave, she grabbed his arm, spun him around and tried to hug him as tightly as she could through their thick parkas and said, “I mean who else gets to say they had their honeymoon in Antarctica.”

“Yeah, I was kind of surprised the powers-that-be are allowing us to collaborate.”

Looking around trying to assess her situation Ava responded with a sheepish, “Yay me.”

Smiling as he wagged his finger he said, “Don’t touch anything.”

This would have been Noah’s third rotation on the base. However, he had only spent two weeks of the coldest months there. When Noah learned that he would be spending July, August and September on the continent he struck a deal with his employer to allow Ava to accompany him.

Ava saw what appeared to be a refrigerator and curiously pulled the heavy door open which triggered a beep sound. Noah rushed back in with a rather disappointed look on his face. Ava immediately shut the door, pushed her shoulders up toward her ears and said, “I thought it was the refrigerator.”

Noah explained, “It is a freezer, one of many, but not the one that holds...