by Wm. Barnard
“My dear brothers and sisters, it is so good that we could all gather here tonight. Many of you know of our great plan for Mother Earth and her children. It’s my desire that as you are hearing it again, your hearts will be renewed and encouraged at the hope that is at hand. The critical state of your planet will cause us to bring our plan to fulfillment sooner than we had designed. The men who have dominated the world with their powers and weaponry must come to realize it is time to lay down their tools of destruction and pick up the tools for life. Those in charge of the financial institutions who control the distribution of wealth must heed the greatest good for their fellow man and ensure that everyone has enough to satisfy their basic needs. Individuals who try to force others into their religious beliefs will need to be enlightened that we are all children of the universe. We desire to see our brother earthlings evolve into the race you were designed to be. Before Mother Earth is destroyed, we will help instill a new system, one that will create the harmony and peace you have all longed for. Meditate on the beauty of the simplicity: One world will become one family.” Shanda paused.
“We will merge all government, financial, and spiritual institutions into one world structure. This in turn will finally create a world of unity where there is true equality for all.” Shanda’s emphasis on the last word caused all of us to break into applause.
Throughout my life, I’d heard a handful of people who truly possessed an oracle gift, but those other speakers now paled in comparison. Shanda’s charisma, along with the sincerity in which he spoke, caused us to hang onto every word. The utterly captivating message not only stimulated our intellects, but touched our hearts. I finally saw hope for the troubles and tribulations that plagued humankind and the hope of ages stood right in front of me.
Shanda continued, “Naturally, there are those who will question our intentions and resist our ideas. Many of these people have held onto archaic principles and thoughts perpetrated by ‘so-called’ teachers and prophets of long ago. And while we have a deep compassion for those who maintain that humans cannot coexist, we will temporarily have to remove them before we can put our full plan into action. After they are transplanted to another planet and re-educated in the ways of The Ancestors, the ways of peace, they will later be reunited with the rest of humankind. We want to prepare the world now because this day is fast approaching. Share with your fellow men and women to have faith because world peace will soon be a reality. When you see The Exodus take place; rejoice! Rejoice because the new era is at hand. Take heart; we are always with you.” Shanda finished by slightly bowing his head.
We were all silent for a moment before Shanda and his companions strolled back toward the steel barn. Just before reaching the large opened barn door, they stopped to turn around and face us. Gloria stepped forward to take several pictures of The Ancestors with the spaceship hovering in the background while another gentleman who had been videotaping the whole event also moved in to get some close-ups. Seconds after The Ancestors entered into the barn, the ship turned off the lights, leaving only the flames of the campfire to help us see. Without making a noise or stirring the air, the ship suddenly whisked straight up and vanished into the dark sky.
Unlike anything I had ever experienced, it left an incredible sense of serenity that pervaded our entire group. As many people turned and exchanged hugs, several of the women bowed quietly, weeping with joy. I now felt foolish that my fear had nearly caused me to miss the opportunity to witness the most amazing event of my life.
While always possessing a deep passion for the art of storytelling, I couldn’t remember ever feeling so compelled to write. Charged with a new sense of purpose and meaning, I looked forward to the privilege of sharing this ground-breaking news story with the world.
As Bill walked my way, I eagerly jogged over to greet him. Not even knowing where to begin, I blurted out, “This is incredible, Bill. Thank you.”
“It’s my honor, Zach. I knew you would be happy to have been here.”
“I’m so ecstatic right now, I don’t know if I’ll even be able to sleep tonight or maybe ever again. I can’t wait to start writing about all of this,” I shot off rapidly.
“I’m sure you are. You see how Shanda simply communicated with us through our minds?” Bill said enthusiastically.
“Yeah, that was amazing.”
“Well, Zach, you can learn this art with some practice. You’ll find you have access to your “guardian ancestor” basically whenever you want. When Shanda said, ‘We are always with you,’ he meant that literally.”
“Wow! I would love to ask them more questions.”
“Trust me, you’ll think of even more than you have now. I have learned that they’ll answer the right questions at just the right time. Before you head back to San Diego, I’ll show you some techniques of how to contact them. It’ll all come down to, ‘If you simply ask, you will receive.’”
I stood there nodding, wanting to absorb everything Bill relayed to me.
“Now I know you’ll be eager to write this story, but you must keep all of our identities and this location confidential.”
“Sure, that’s no problem.”
“I didn’t think it would be, but I needed to reiterate that. Look, why don’t you walk around and take the opportunity to talk to some of the others you haven’t met and get some of their stories while I catch up to Mr. Wolff before he flies to New York this evening. Let’s meet up at the house later.”
“Sounds good.”
When I finally met up with Bill and Gloria later that evening, we ended up talking until well after midnight. Gloria shared the photos from her digital camera and we watched in awe at the replay of the day’s events. In my room I felt exhausted, but too wired to sleep, so I picked up a pen and pad to record my thoughts. Writing for what seemed like only an hour, I was shocked to realize it was already four-thirty in the morning. I tossed the pad onto the floor and rolled over to crash out so I could start up again later that day.
The rooster’s crow at sunrise didn’t annoy me like it had the past mornings and even with only a few hours of sleep, I still felt completely rejuvenated and looked forward to the day ahead. Everyone else staying at the ranch was already awake and eating breakfast when I walked in the kitchen. Many of the eclectic crowd greeted me, some in their own language, but everyone looked my way and shot me a smile. I had come here not knowing any of these people, but now in a short period of time this monumental event had developed a connection between us that felt almost like family.
While sitting down to eat my breakfast, I enjoyed listening to everyone recall their favorite memories from yesterday and how Shanda’s promises would impact us.
“Once we are free of the drug cartels that dominate my country, I am certain that Mexico will finally reach her potential,” Pablo remarked.
“Yes. I know what you mean,” Geb followed. “The warlords that control my local area in Kenya make it virtually impossible for us to get ahead. They even dictate who gets the water in my village. I’m greatly encouraged to know that they will soon be out of power.”
Sitting next to Miriam was Ishmael, the Palestinian man. When he started to speak, everybody leaned forward to listen.
“While I had always hoped for it, I never imagined in my lifetime that there could ever be a lasting peace in our region. None of our leaders have been able to create a peace accord that anyone was willing to truly follow. That’s because it was always about merely enduring each other. What the Ancestors want to do is different. They want to unify us. I now believe that our people will start see to each other as Miriam and I see each other – as brothers and sisters.”
Many of them were leaving today so I gave each of them my contact information before saying my goodbyes and heading back to my room with a fresh cup of coffee.
It dawned on me that morning that I had started to burn out on my previous job because most of my writing over the years had increasingly revolved around the evils in this world. And
after watching those vicious cycles of human tragedy continue to repeat themselves, I had been given no real reason to believe it would ever end. For the most part, I had been constantly bombarding myself and my readers with only the problems, without seeing any viable long-term solutions. Inspired by the events that transpired over the last few days, my writing was now fueled with more passion than I had ever experienced. Desiring this piece to be the most prolific work of my career, I immersed myself in the challenge to truly capture the totality of what I had just been shown, and what it meant for the human race.
After typing non-stop for almost two hours, I heard a gentle tapping on my bedroom door. Ute, a college student from Germany who I had only talked briefly with the day before, stuck her head through the crack in the door, asking if we could talk. Saving my work, I turned off the computer and we walked outside to the patio.
Pouring two glasses of refreshing well water from a crystal pitcher on the table, Ute handed one to me and held onto the other, saying she wanted to share a story that might help others around the world gain some insight about last night’s event.
“About five years ago, I saw a U.F.O. as I rode my bike home from the university. I was very afraid and started pedaling as fast as I could. Unlike everyone else who I spoke with this week, I never wanted to see any spaceships or meet any aliens,” Ute explained as she tucked strands of red hair behind her ears. “For weeks I went through periods of paranoia where I would be looking over my shoulder in town and staring out my window in the middle of the night. I started having strange dreams where I felt like aliens were inside my room observing me. In the mornings I would wake up feeling sick to my stomach.”
“That’s understandable,” I said, remembering my recent emotional roller coaster.
“About a month later, I went camping in the mountains with some friends from school. I thought it would be good idea to get away, you know. During the middle of the day, they went for a walk while I stayed back to read a book.” Her eyes became focused as she appeared to replay the events in her mind. “I was lying down inside my tent when I noticed an orange light above me, glowing outside the tent. I intuitively knew it was a U.F.O. and became so petrified, I didn’t dare to look outside. I couldn’t scream or call for my friends because I didn’t want these aliens to know I was hiding in my tent. I’m sure that sounds silly that I thought I could hide under a nylon cover from extraterrestrials,” she laughed.
I smiled back at her before she continued. “So then the light got more intense and seemed to be hovering directly over my tent when it suddenly stopped. After a few minutes, I heard footsteps outside the tent and was relieved because I thought my friends had returned. When I unzipped the tent, Shanda stood right in front of me and I almost fainted.”
“How did you know it was Shanda?”
“He introduced himself to me. Told me not to worry, that they didn’t want to scare me or harm me in any way.”
“Why did he say he was there?”
“Well, he didn’t say exactly, it’s more like he showed me. This is the part of my story that gets kind of hard to explain because it’s, well, kind of spiritual. It was the most incredible experience I’ve ever had.”
“More than yesterday?” I said, surprised.
“Yes, because it showed me who I was. Let me try to explain. When I spoke with Shanda, we become enveloped in this globe of pure light. As I was in this light, I was able to see all that I was and all I would become. It showed me I am eternal. It is so hard to explain with words, but it helped me understand what my soul is and what my destiny and purpose are.”
“And what is that, if you can explain it,” I said, lightly rubbing my chin.
“Well, just to live a good life. You know, keep evolving. It was pretty simple, yet very profound and enlightening,” she said, putting her hands together. “That’s really not the part I wanted you to share with others, though. I want people to understand that it is reasonable to be apprehensive about things we don’t understand. But when we finally open our consciousness and let our guards down, we can truly begin to learn. Well, you are the journalist, and so I know you can probably think of a better way to put that. I was just hoping my story might somehow help others.”
“Absolutely. I think it’ll prove very helpful for those who will naturally have the same fears you did. I had my own apprehensions about all this and honestly wanted to leave before yesterday.”
“You did?”
“Yeah, but don’t tell anyone. I have my machismo to protect,” I laughed.
“Okay. It will be our little secret.” She stood up, extended her hand and said, “Well, I have to catch a ride to the airport, but it was nice meeting you.”
Shaking her hand, I replied, “Likewise. You take care. And thanks so much for sharing your story.”
As I walked back to my room, the gears began turning on how I could weave her account into my article.
CHAPTER 9
Writing and editing for several days left me mentally drained so I decided to take a day off before writing the final draft. Joining Gloria and Bill in the living room after breakfast, I watched television with them for the first time since I had come to the ranch. It had been good to get away from all the noise of the world, but today’s news brought us an update about a major earthquake that had just rocked San Francisco. Fortunately, the seven point two quake took place in the middle of the night and so far only a few casualties had been reported. I was startled to learn that this was the third significant earthquake to rock the Western Hemisphere in the last twenty days, the earlier two devastating Lima, Peru and Panama City, Panama.
After an hour of viewing the footage of damaged buildings and freeways, Bill suggested we go for a ride. For a moment I thought he meant in a car until he dialed one of the ranch hands and told him to saddle up a couple of horses.
As we walked over to the barn, the tall black stallion waited attentively for Bill while a brown mare with white spots on her nose looked at me with less interest.
Holding the mare’s saddle horn to help me get on safely, Bill said, “Zach, you don’t have to worry about old Abby. She’s the most mature, even-tempered horse I’ve ever owned.”
“Are you sure you don’t have a pony instead?” I replied, looking up at the huge animal.
“We’ll be going pretty slow.”
Chuckling to let Bill know I had only been kidding, I put my foot in the stirrup and hoisted myself up.
Bill patted the neck of his stallion before heaving himself up on its back. Turning to look at me, he said, “You’re about to find out what makes this place sacred ground.”
Shaking the reins while nudging his horse with his boots, Bill said, “Giddyup, Raven.”
Abby followed obediently behind Raven down a narrow trail strewn with moss covered rocks. Riding through a nearby canyon, this path lead in the opposite direction of where I had previously tried to make an escape. Bill didn’t say another word for a couple of miles so I simply enjoyed the beauty of the pristine landscape surrounding me.
The chirping of birds echoed through the trees and a light breeze blowing up the side of the ridge filled the air with a fresh wintergreen fragrance. Eventually a break in the woods revealed a dark blue lake in the valley below, bordered by a field of purple Owl’s clover and yellow California Poppies. Springtime had also caused patches of Aspens to bloom brightly along the opposite slope.
We finally stopped after entering a grove of towering Sequoias, some of them appearing at least eight feet wide. Bill looked up and around, admiring the trees before speaking.
“Some of these Sequoias have been around way before Jesus Christ ever walked the earth.”
“These are magnificent,” I said, craning my neck back in attempts to see the tops of the trees.
“But this isn’t why I brought you out here. We got about a half-mile more to go,” he said before starting back down the trail.
As we rounded a sharp bend, the path opened up, revealing a
boulder face about the size of a giant billboard. We dismounted from our horses and tied the reins to a nearby tree branch before walking up to the base of the rock.
Bill pointed to the petroglyphs engraved on the rock. “These carvings have been here for over two thousand years. Now look closely and tell me what you see.”
Puzzled at first as to what I was supposed to see, the drawings looked self-explanatory. The crude lines revealed several Native Americans gathered around a campfire with two giant elk standing at the edges of the picture. Dead center above the campfire, a giant circle with lines extending out signified the sun. Or at least I thought it did.
“Look closer,” Bill said after I remained quiet.
Moving nearer to the wall, what I had at first perceived as simply a rough sketch of the sun, I could now see a perfect triangle inside the circle.
“The ancestors have visited this place in their ships before.”
“That’s right, Zach. You are one of the few outsiders to have ever seen our massive history book.” Bill said with his hands resting on his large belt buckle.
I moved closer so I could rub the cold granite with my hand, gazing deeply at the artwork.
“This is absolutely amazing. Can I get a picture of it?” I asked.
“That’d be fine. Gloria already has some back at the house you can use.”
“Great. It’ll really add a unique dimension to the story.”
“Let’s go back to the house because now it’s time to really show you something.”
Bill obviously enjoyed keeping me in suspense so I didn’t even bother questioning him as we walked back over to our horses.
AFTER ENTERING THE PARLOR ROOM on the east wing of the house, Bill closed the door behind us, telling me to have a seat on the Navajo rug that seemed to spread out forever on the polished wooden floor. As I sat down facing the stone chimney hearth, my eyes were drawn to a large oil painting above the rock mantel, revealing a gigantic man sporting a deerskin wardrobe and with a striking resemblance to Bill.
