Creation Page #4

and leave a glistening pathway

through the night.

Puzzling.

So much beauty for so little purpose.

So little purpose? They were helping

to light the ship's way.

Well said. Exactly.

John, are you familiar

with the works of Thomas Malthus?

- He married his first cousin.

- So did I.

- Yes, but I wasn't suggesting that...

- Of course you weren't.

Anyway,

Thomas Malthus calculated that if,

well, if every trout, say,

had a hundred or so offspring

and so on and so forth

throughout the generations,

we'd be knee-deep in trout

in just a few decades.

How would you respond to that?

I'd respond by saying that

most of the eggs are destroyed or eaten

so that the numbers remain stable.

That's the beauty of God's plan.

It doesn't strike you

as a wasteful plan,

these myriad lives created

only to be immediately extinguished?

- They provide food for others.

- Cheese and cucumber?

Thousands die

so that only a few may live.

Is not the sum total of happiness

in some sort of massive deficit?

Charles, it is really not my duty

to speculate on the mind of God,

but it does seem to me

that nature is at peace.

There is another view.

That all of nature is a battlefield.

Remind me where I read that.

- This is very good.

- Good. Shall I continue?

Hmm, please do.

"In a short time, he returned,

and dismissed his attendants,

excepting one,

and intimating to Waverley that

he must imitate his cautious way..."

"'Now,' thought Christian,

'What shall I do?"'

"And ever and anon the flame and smoke

would come out in such abundance

with sparks and hideous noises that

Christian was forced to put up his sword

and betake himself to another weapon

called All Prayer."

Let us stop there.

Is Papa not coming

to kiss us goodnight?

He is a little unwell

from working. Maybe tomorrow.

You said that last night.

I think when Annie died,

he stopped loving us.

No, Etty.

He's just a little bit tired

and a little bit busy.

Goodnight, darling.

- What are you doing, Annie?

- I'm making you beautiful.

But I need to think.

What are you so scared of?

- It's only a theory.

- No, they're right.

It changes everything.

Suppose the whole world

stopped believing

that God had any sort of plan for us.

That nothing mattered.

Not love, not trust.

Not faith, not honour.

Only brute survival.

Apart from anything else,

it would break your mother's heart.

Hearts can't break, silly.

You told me that.

Breathe in, Papa. Breathe out.

- Tell me a story.

- Alright. What about?

About Jenny.

- It's late. I have no time.

- Please?

- Why Jenny? It's so sad.

- I like sad stories.

Once upon a time,

there was a family of orang-utans

living in the deepest jungles

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