Gus

by Terry Smith

  The attention returned to Thad. “Dave, thanks. Does anyone have any questions from either group?” He looked around at each person and saw no response. “I guess not, so we will return to our community and will return tomorrow morning with our decision. We have bought more food for you and other necessities. We will see you tomorrow morning.”

  They left, even leaving behind the chairs they had been sitting on which was appreciated as they were tired of sitting on the ground. At first the group was silent. Then Larry was the first to speak “Gosh, Dave. You were pretty good. Too bad you are so crappy at croquet. Guess there is nothing we can do now except pray and hope. Do we want to discuss our options if we don’t get the answer we are all hoping for?”

  Jim was the one to speak, “We don’t have any other options. We have nothing to rebuild The Neighborhood with, and even if we could we would simply remain isolated here to waste away. We don’t even have a crummy croquet set or a chess set. So, Evin, let’s get going on the prayers.”

  Evin looked around and began, “Dear Lord. Never mind with our prayers, you know what we want. Amen” “Gus, did you hear us?” There was no response, but they all knew that he heard and was probably chuckling at the prayer.

  The next morning they all awoke early. They weren’t exactly looking forward to a big breakfast as food was the last thing on their minds. They looked in the direction from where Thad would be arriving, but instead of seeing Thad there was a line of people standing side by side making a path toward the Friend’s communities as far as they could see. Some were wearing their community croquet shirts and some even had their lucky croquet mallet. How they all assembled without making a sound was amazing, but what was better was that suddenly they all began to wave, and wave, and wave. Then they began to hold out their arms and a few of them began to approach The Neighbors. Leading them were Billy, Walter and Barbara. Wanda, Dianne and Jim were the first to move forward, running at them and hugging like there was no tomorrow, but now there is a tomorrow.”

  As they walked forward there was Gus in the crowd of people. As the group passed him he smiled and said “I’m so happy everything has turned out this way. For a while I was afraid.” His smile told the whole story.

  Thad announced that “the planet now has a new name, Home. It is now home to both groups as they combine. There is no longer a Neighborhood or a Garden, or Neighbors or Friends. We are now just the people of the Home. We are now all the same.”

  Thad stepped forward and said, “I had a great speech prepared welcoming you to our community, but I don’t think I need it anymore. Please join us by moving to our community. We have places for you to live, and I think a couple of them you probably already know about.

  I know you hate to leave these beautiful surroundings. We will be moving your cattle to our ranches soon, and you can keep your dogs. So, let’s get started.”

  As they walked through the throng of people heading to the communities, farms and ranches they were met with handshakes instead of waves, and hugs and cheers. Gradually they were each pulled out of the group to be taken to their new homes. Of course Wanda, Dianne and Jim were the first to go as they already had their new homes picked, and they walked off tightly holding hands with their now spouses.

  Larry and Billie Jo were taken to their new home, a beautiful home with 3 bedrooms allowing for a growing family, and a luscious garden. Woody went to a new home near one of the schools that would be his base for traveling from school to school. Ivan went to a house on the grounds of the main hospital. Dave went to a new home that was initially a typical bachelor pad, but everyone hoped that would be temporary. Evin’s new home was adjacent to the biggest church in the area. Everyone was excited about their new homes which were complete with everything needed, even food in the refrigerator and pantry and linens for their bed and bathroom. They even thought about croquet mallets in the corner as they entered their new homes.

  Chapter 13

  A Talk With Gus

  Evin was more determined than ever to have a talk with Gus about the extraordinary things he has done, and just as important the things he has not done. He just had to think about it, and Gus was there. No fanfare. Nothing extraordinary. He just showed himself and Evin knew that Gus was either ready to talk to him, or tell him that he would never talk to him about the topic Evin was interested in.

  Evin started with, “Gus, thanks for presenting yourself. Can we talk? As you know I am not in any position to tell anyone else outside of this community about anything we talk about, and I probably wouldn’t feel real comfortable myself about talking to anyone even within this community. I just want to know why you did the things you did, maybe how, and why you did not do some things that were possibly asked of you. Is that possible?”

  Gus was ready with his response. “Evin, I have never talked to anyone before about this. As you probably know, I am alone in my world even though I can move into your world when I want, which over the many thousands of years has not been very often until recently I started visiting with this planet and this universe. This place has become special for many reasons, and I feel comfortable being here as I don’t get asked to do things to get them out of any situation. That is not until after you and the group from Earth started to have your problem. It was resolved which I had no part in how it was resolved. The last request I had that I responded to was from Dianne for some honey bees, and yes, I left the stingers in. You can’t have everything.”

  “So Evin, I guess you have a lot of questions, and there are some I can and will answer and some I don’t even know about and some I don’t think I should answer. So the first is, why and how did I create the things I did? I really don’t know where I came from, but I knew I was here for a reason. And that reason was to create, which included the many universes and in some cases to put life on planets within the universes. I had no restrictions, and nothing to guide me. As you know, I am not human like the rest of you, but I do have limitations.”

  “Earth wasn’t my first try, but that disaster isn’t even worth talking about. My next try was Earth, and its universe, which included its sun, moon, stars, other planets, and everything supporting that system. Earth is only one part of the system, but to you it is the main part. After the universe was developed I started with Earth, and began very basic, or so I thought, and what you have now has developed over many thousands of years. You know a great deal about the beginning from The Bible and from many findings by your scientists dealing with astronomy and evolution. Some of their discoveries are correct, and some are just a little close to reality, but the concept is pretty good considering all that is involved with the process.”

  “The process was exciting to me, as was some of the development which I needed to wait to see how it would turn out. For example, humans evolved over many thousands of years with their ability to adapt and change to meet the Earth’s conditions. I had the most fun with animals, like dogs. I couldn’t just design a dog, it had to function. It had to see, to hear, to be able to eat and digest food and water to survive, to reproduce, to breathe, and my greatest achievement was that dogs love. They love the people who care for them, they love each other, and they love life. They all start out loving, but humans have sometimes decided to change that by not providing the love and caring in return. That has made me sad, but after I created something, anything, I would let change come about by others that have been created. As you know, I did not interfere when situations arose between the people here on this planet and your group from Earth. Things evolved, and thankfully evolved in a positive way.”

  Evin’s question was “Why did you create more than one breed of dog? Couldn’t there just be something like a Collie and stop there?”

  Gus smiled. “There are many breeds of dogs, just like we have evolved into many races of humans. They are all basically my creations, and to me they are all the same. With dogs people have preferences that include all breeds of dogs. Some peop
le don’t even like dogs and would rather have a cat. With people, all of a sudden they have decided that some races are better than others. There have even been periods on Earth where some groups have used a race as slaves, and where some groups have decided that they were superior to another race. They even believe that the looks of some people make them better than others. You will notice that on this planet we have many races, but there is no feeling that any race is better than any other. In fact, they don’t call these differences races, just a difference in appearance. Here they feel that one’s looks or even chosen profession doesn’t make them better, or worse, than anyone else.”

  Evin smiled as he had reached that same conclusion. The next question was a little tougher for Gus. “There have developed many religions and many beliefs about their deity. To most of us in our group you are God. Are you The God and how do you explain all of the differences?”

  Gus said “Yes, there are several deities, and that doesn’t make any religion right or wrong. People believe, and they worship their deity. Some don’t believe in any deity, but they may lead the type of life that would be accepted by any religion. The most important aspect is how they treat each other and how they treat all that they have regarding their own health and even their planet. Some people claim to be religious, but damage the environment and treat others with disrespect and bully them. Being religious is not based on how people pray and study their religion, it is how they live and their love and respect for all.”

  “The head of some religions is sometimes not a deity, it is a person. That is still ok. When the universes, planets, suns, moons, stars, people and other living things were created their existence was then turned over to people. It became their responsibility to serve what was given to them in a manner that respected and cared for these things. That became a human obligation. As an analogy when an automobile is manufactured and then turned over to drivers in a traditional manner, the creation of the automobile is different from driving the automobile to get from one place to another and driving in a safe and courteous manner. This is the difference between what I have done and what is turned over to humans and supported by their religions.”

  Evin said “This is great. I wish I could write all of this down and send it to the people on Earth, but I’m not sure it would do any good. And speaking of Earth, how can you watch what is happening on Earth and not do anything about it? How can you watch the planet being destroyed? How can you watch people treat each other the way they do? How can you see wars and persecution of groups? Don’t you want to yell at them to stop it?”

  Gus hung his head and didn’t speak for quite some time. Then his comment shocked Evin when he said “Evin, I know you have never seen me cry, but I do. I cry more and more because of the things I see and that it seems to get worse and not better, even though everyone seems to know what is happening is wrong. I don’t know why the people on Earth are not crying. I don’t know why they don’t get into a big group and talk, but instead they have protests and violence, with injuries and damages.”

  “I have mentioned that I do not intervene. I created their universe, their planet and all living things and turned it over to them to improve and to help make a wonderful life. Sometimes I do want to go to them and tell them to stop what they are doing, but I don’t really feel that it would do any good. They say they are religious and worship a deity, but their actions show something different. So I sit alone and cry.”

  Evin questioned “But why did you contact us when we were blasting through space and tell us now to worry if you weren’t intending to help us?”

  Gus looked like he had been caught. “It is because of your prayer. The prayer said you were on the space mission to help the U.S. and the World, not yourselves. I was so happy when I heard that I felt I should insure that you did not die, or at least until you landed safely on the most magnificent planet that exists. After that I felt that you would be fine and things would turn out ok. I must admit I did get a little worried there for a while, but everything did turn out.”

  Evin said “But Gus, didn’t you create the people on Earth and the people here the same? I don’t see any of this here, and I have wondered why many times. Why did things turn out so different? And why do the people here feel that if the people from Earth would come here that their ways would prevail and the people here and their ways would be overtaken and destroyed? I know that there are more of them, but would that really matter?”

  Gus looked at Evin and asked “If you went back to Earth, would you be the same as you are here, or would you become like the people on Earth? Could you change your loved ones, your wife, your children? I would like to think the answer would be yes, but in the long run you would be overwhelmed and not able to change anyone and you would be forced to change in order to survive. I don’t like it, and I sincerely wish it would be the other way, but I don’t think so. I wish I knew what I did wrong when I created the different peoples, and am afraid that if I ever created another group of people I would make the same mistake I did with the people of Earth. I remember telling your group as you were diverted from your original mission and finally ended up here not to be afraid. I would have protected you, but I cannot protect myself. I have decided that I can no longer create another group of people to inhabit another universe or planet. That is why I love the people here so much and why I enjoy coming here. Plus, the food is good. Sorry about making this a little trivial by making that statement, but I too need some relief from everything that is happening on Earth.”

  “I have thought recently about going to Earth and changing the environment back to the way it was. This would give the people there a second chance. But I would not change them, so I am concerned that they would do the same things again. At least they would have the opportunity to make things right again.”

  “I think you should give Earth a second chance. The people here gave us a second chance. You had a second chance when your created Earth in that you said your first try was a miserable failure. Maybe things would turn out the same for Earth if they started from where they are now, but there are some things that could be done that would give the people on Earth a start to making things right. People are given a second change all the time, so why not a planet and the people that are there?”

  Gus was quiet. He was thinking through everything Evin just said. He told Evin, “It’s not that easy. There is so much wrong on Earth. And what if I miss something and Earth continues to deteriorate and the people stay the same?”

  Evin smiled, “But Gus, this time you are not alone. I am here to help you. I know I am not you, and I can’t change or create anything, but I care – just like you do. Please, can we do it together? ”

  It was Gus’s turn to smile, “Evin, I have never had anyone offer to help. Ok, let’s do it. We will give ourselves six days, and on the seventh day we will come back here for Burgers and Fries, plus Hot Dogs.”

  “Gus, I am happy. I assume this will be our secret. I am looking forward to this venture. By the way, I have wondered, where did you get the name Gus? It seems like you just blurted out the first name that came to you when we asked you your name.”

  “Well, it does have a meaning to me. It was the only name I could think of at the time that has the word “us” in it, and that is who I am. I am actually a combination of all of the people that have been created. And if you would ask those who really know me they would say that I also am part of the animals, but hopefully leaving out skunks, porcupines and rodents.”

  Evin looked at Gus in amazement and commented “Gus, your appearance has changed and you look like me.”

  The response from Gus was “No Evin, we look like each other as we are the same.”

  Evin thought for quite a while about that, and smiled as he finally realized the relationship of Gus with his creations.

  Then Evin said, “Thanks Gus. This helps me understand. And by the way, you are a terrible referee.”


  Gus had a comeback, “And Jim isn’t that great a cook after all. I am going over to Dianne and Walter’s tonight for supper. She makes great fried chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans.”

  “I am a little out of practice on creating and making changes so I will need to plan on the things I will need to do for Earth, and of course I will need to discuss these changes with you. I will check in with you in a couple of days and we will get started.”

  Chapter 14

  A Mulligan for Earth

  Gus and Evin met to talk about helping Earth recover from their perilous situation. They both agree that the need is crucial as they have made no progress is fixing their environmental problems and the relationship between the countries continues to deteriorate. All countries realize that the problem is acute but they all blame the other countries and think that the solution needs to come from every country but theirs.

  Gus begins his talk with Evin “I have given this situation a great deal of thought. I feel that the help to planet Earth and its inhabitants should center around correcting those things that cannot be fixed within time to save Earth and that the people of Earth would then have some responsibility to take their planet and move forward in making it livable and for the people of the planet to work together to create a place to live in peace and harmony. Before any changes are made the leaders of the countries need to understand what is being done for them and what their responsibility will be for their countries to continue with the needed changes. Does that sound right with you?”

  Evin responds “Gus, you continue to amaze me. The World has a United Nations that is made up of many countries that are considered leaders. This might be the best venue to present this plan, but don’t you think every country should be included?”