Once Upon a Parallel Universe...

by Micromegas



Tim ran across the meadow toward his house. Suddenly he turned his ankle and went down. But hardly had he had time to say, 'Ouch!' before a warmth soothed the pain away. Looking behind, he saw--The Creator. He was was bent down and held Tim's hurt ankle between His immense thumb and forefinger until it did not hurt anymore.
'Wow! It's you!' cried Tim in amazement and delight, for the the creator and ruler of this universe was a very busy spirit. Often He was invisible, but today He chose to make himself visible enough so Tim saw a semitransparent 100-foot giant robed in what appeared to be linen.
The Creator's face beamed down on him from fifty feet up. 'Hello, Tim.' Though Tim 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 Creator went down on His knees, then lay at full length to peer down at the boy--like Tim himself whenever he saw something interesting in the grass. 'I like to see all living things happy, not sad and in pain.'
Tim couldn't believe it--today he had the immense Creator of the Universe all to himself! For a little while at least. And there was a question he had always wanted to ask. 'Why did you make humans instead of just angels?' Tim asked the 100-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 of me. I was so lonely I could not stand it! My desperate need drove me to figure out how to make other spirits like me. But spirit bodies have to be individually handmade and handcrafted, and I just could not create angels fast enough to suit me. I HAD to have more people to love and take care of, so I finally invented humans like you, who can have families, then their families have families, and Behold! Billions of tiny little people for me to love and care for within a mere few thousand years! But like any mass-produced article, a human body breaks easily. That is why I take such good care of you little folks until I raise you to 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.' The Creator wrapped his great ten-foot-long hand around Tim. He felt so little and helpless and secure and loved in the Creator's mighty hand, he giggled aloud. 'I love all my little people.' Tim's heart swelled with love 'till he thought it would 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 have to do is make spirit bodies for you while you are born and trained and educated by others here on earth. That way I don't waste spirit bodies on those who don't deserve 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 I thought was amusing. He liked to play tricks and make us laugh. Oh, he was such a little rascal!' Then the Creator's brow grew stern. 'But when I made Adon and Tonia human bodies, he played a trick on Tonia and hurt her. I told him that he could not play the same tricks on Adon and Tonia now that they were human--because they could be hurt. And I could not believe it! Later he played another trick that ended up hurting both of them! I searched through his heart and discovered he enjoyed seeing them hurt! Oh, it was very hard to destroy such a glorious work of art as his spirit body was, which I had handcrafted with such care! But I took away his glorious spirit body and power, and put his soul into a human body, and caused him to be born as a helpless human infant to teach him humility, and also so he could feel pain for himself.
'As Adon and Tonia's children multiplied, some other of my sons turned out as he had. They were tired of feeling weak and powerless around me, and they wanted to pick on people smaller and weaker than they were, and so I took away their spirit bodies and gave them human ones to teach them to be kind to the weak and helpless. 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 all living things deserve to be happy. I could not believe any angel would dare to think they were better than humans just because their bodies are shiny and colorful and the bodies of humans are not. So I took away their colorful, shiny bodies and gave them human ones to show them they are not 'better' than humans after all. I can make anyone spirit or human as I please and will, and give any body any physical appearance I wish, so there is no reason for anyone to think they 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 stars just like they did.
The Creator wrinkled his semi-transparent nose at him. 'I may call several thousand years 'soon,' but you may not,' said the Creator. 'There's quite a long line ahead of you waiting for their spirit bodies. But your turn will come, I promise you.'
Tim was learning about the Creator in school. Creating two brand-new people for the important job of being the First Parents of the human race would have been like drawing two names from a hat, so the Creator carefully selected a pair of his angels from a group of eager volunteers, removed their spirit bodies and put their souls into the first human bodies the Creator had made. The rest was history. Adon and Tonia, those first parents, loved child care to distraction and had raised about 506 children between them. In fact, now 5000 years old and still going strong, the Greatest Grandma of the human race was expecting yet another child next year. Since the invention of the printing press down to the invention of computers, Adon and Tonia never tired of telling stories about their former life in heaven to their descendants.
'Nearly everyone looks forward to being able to fly, and not having to eat and drink anymore,' said the Creator. 'I know having to eat can be an eternal treadmill. But eating can be fun, too, so enjoy your time on earth while it lasts.' With a little wave of his immense hand, the Creator rose to his magnificent 100-foot height and faded into invisibility.

And so Tim went through school, and learned to be an artist who worked with metal. 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 and Miranda traveled the world and enjoyed life and their Creator to the full for thousands of years. They also tried their hands at many, many trades and arts and crafts. Though Tim only saw Him again on public occasions--with billions of people to take care of the Creator had plenty to keep Him busy after all--Tim cherished the fond memory of that special one-on-one meeting with Him. In public raptures, Tim and Miranda watched many friends who had had spirit bodies installed raised out of their fleshly bodies to soar away to the stars. 'Like watching butterflies hatch out of their chrysalis,' murmured Miranda to Tim.
Finally, their turn came and the Creator installed spirit bodies inside of theirs. And after they had had time to adjust to the idea that heavenly freedom would soon be theirs, and give away their earthly possessions as gifts to friends and relatives, the Creator came for them. Before a happy audience of friends and relatives, Tim and Miranda looked up at the Creator, who smiled down on 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 their earthly audience whistled and applauded. Tim looked down. His new body was dressed in linen. His arms and feet were like burnished copper, and his body was like chrysolite. When Miranda smiled back at him, her glorious face was like the appearance of lightning, and her eyes like fiery torches, but the kind and gentle soul within was still his beloved Miranda. 'Congratulations on your new spiritual upgrade, my children. Now it's time to come with me to heaven,' He said as Tim and Miranda waved at their old bodies, and the people below who would someday follow them in glorious spirit bodies of their own. And away they flew to loving eternal companionship with their mighty giant, the Creator.