Fiction - Week 4 - A Fiasco in a Restaurant.

This is a continuation from Week 3.

All characters in this story are fictitious and bear no resemblance to any person, living or dead.

I wrote the original 34 years ago, and this version is modified and updated. However, the original 1992 version ended with the line, "I fell into a troubled, haunting sleep." From there, the rest of the story, that is, from Chapter 4 onwards, is original, that is, presently thought up and written here.

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I was alone in the empty home of the Padula family, watching their TV left on when the family suddenly vanished, leaving their clothing behind. The house was filled with smoke from the iron left on its wooden ironing board when I entered through the front door. Seeing that the iron was still powered and had smouldered into its chipboard base, blackening it, I disconnected its power source and opened the windows to waft the smoke out.

On the floor, next to the utility, was a pile of female clothing, and on the sofa, a pile of male clothing. Hence, it was easy to imagine a married couple before their disappearance. He was relaxing on the sofa, watching television, while she was engaged in ironing a shirt. Meanwhile, their son, Roger, was dining with the three of us at a Windsor restaurant when both he and Steve vanished, as if their bodies had atomised, leaving their clothing undisturbed.

On the television, whatever programme was on air was interrupted by the BBC Emergency News, with reporter Mike Taylor giving the rundown on how this global catastrophe affected the population, and who was involved.

As I sat, Taylor's report concluded, and the picture switched to the main newsroom.

The global disaster has badly affected transport. There have been at least two airline crashes and a collision between two trains. On the roads, there are huge snarl-ups caused by abandoned cars, especially on trunk roads leading into cities and large towns.

Here is a report from Guy Jenkins, from outside the National Department of Transport Office.

Again, the picture changed to another smartly-dressed reporter standing in front of a traffic pile-up in what is otherwise a busy district of London.

Yes, two passenger aeroplanes smashed back to earth as a result of what we believe to be the sudden disappearance of both the captain and the co-pilot. The first was of Flight 0787, New York to Los Angeles, which fell out of the sky over Arizona, just south of the Grand Canyon National Park. There are no survivors. The second airline disaster was Flight 5467, Seoul to Hong Kong, which dived into the Yellow Sea off the west coast of Korea. Survivors of this disaster are now being rescued from the plane, still afloat, by order of the Korean government.

Although those rescued are injured or merely dazed, all testify to the vanishing of the crew and a large proportion of passengers. If already suspected that those who vanished were all Christians, then this could be the consequence of the world's largest church, which is in Seoul.

Then, other airlines report the sudden vanishing of either the captain or the co-pilot, and the plane was brought under control by the remaining cabin crew member. Up to thirty airlines around the world had a cabin crew member disappear whilst mid-flight. The 32 reported incidents may seem many, but consider that around the globe, there are up to 14,000 flights at any time. The catastrophe, so far, has only affected 0.23% of all flights at that instant.

Back at home, two trains collided on a notorious line between Charing Cross, Cannon Street and London Bridge stations when one of the trains passed through a red signal. A few were injured, but the good news is that there were no fatalities.

The roads everywhere are in sheer confusion. Roads are blocked by driverless cars, and there were a large number of accidents, many fatal. Most of these accidents are on motorways, dual carriageways, and trunk roads. Many other roads up and down the country are virtually impassible, especially in built-up areas. We strongly recommend not driving tonight or tomorrow, but remain at home.

This is Guy Jenkins outside the Transport Office in London.

I felt tears rolling down my cheeks as the television blurted out more and more horrors. I felt particularly for the Arizona air disaster, and for the first time since I left junior school, my lips formed a plea: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name...

After I finished praying, the TV then announced, We now turn to Professor Hicks of Oxford University for his verdict on tonight's catastrophe. The TV continued with its non-stop broadcast.

Professor, what do you make of all this?

The newsroom switched to the Oxford studio where a bearded man took to the air.

This, of course, is a mystery. Scientists around the world have already been contacted by us for their opinions. Since the disappearance of many seems to have a supernatural element, theories which all academics would have pushed aside as comic-book nonsense have been reconsidered. One suggested a time-warp, although that doesn't explain why only some, and not all, have disappeared. A few academics think it's some kind of cosmic energy. Another thinks it's caused by a virus or bug, and even another suggests the theories of Erich von Daniken, that is, an alien space invasion. 

This idea of a space invasion has terrified others even more than the original catastrophe. The thought of being transported to another planet as slaves has already brought further fear among the remaining population. Who would be next? For instance, could these hostile aliens have captured the Pioneer 10 plaque, which was launched in 1972 and, by 2026, will have gone beyond the Solar System? Could such an alien starship capture our spaceship and the plaque deciphered? Or, more likely, Pioneer 11, launched a year later in 1973, recently overtook Pioneer 10 and is reaching into outer space faster than the original.

The Pioneer 10 leaves the Solar System.

Both Pioneer spaceships carry identical plaques featuring our Earth, our position in our solar system, and who we are. It would take a civilisation so advanced that interstellar space travel is to them a short walk to a corner shop. For them to seize one of our Pioneers, decipher the code, then snatch us as slaves, may be the cause of this sudden vanishing of many, especially of babies and young children.

The theory behind von Daniken's books, especially "Chariot of the Gods?" does seem to make sense in the way only selected people vanished and not everyone, as if directed by some unknown cosmic intelligence. Although the academic world, for many decades, has said that they have no time to discuss what they believe to be nonsense, some of our orthodox scientists now look at these theories as a distinct possibility.

I have heard enough. Dr Hicks is an eminent physicist who has lectured at our college, and with whom I sat whenever he appeared. A UFO invasion? Is that what he's suggesting? If even he couldn't come up with anything more rational, who else could? Yet his point is that "Selection under cosmic intelligences" did make some sort of sense. The verses I read in the Bible upstairs certainly confirmed that it was the Lord himself who had called his people home.

The Pioneer 10 plaque carries clues to its origin.

I rose, turned off the TV, and left Roger Padula's house after closing all the windows and closing the door behind me. I drove carefully to my college apartment. Then I fell into a haunting, troubled sleep.

                                                                        4

I felt bleary when I woke up the following morning. I made myself a cup of tea, yet I felt the air throb with some expectation. The world outside seemed to have calmed, but I sensed a universal fear. Supposing Dr Hicks was right. A cosmic force snatching away people to relocate them to another place, even another dimension.

But I couldn't help reading Padula's Bible last night. Damn it! I could have taken it with me. The family would never return to claim it. It is as good as mine. But those verses, the snatching away. But not by aliens. And not for slavery. Rather, they were snatched to Heaven to be with the Lord forever, according to those verses. I once talked with Steve. He once told me what his friend Roger said to him. The Rapture! That is what it was. I had Steve's car parked outside. I still had the keys to Padula's house. It shouldn't be difficult to drive the short journey to pick up that Bible and bring it back here for studying. I took a shower, had breakfast, and turned on the TV. News of last night's catastrophe was ongoing, with one reporter after another telling us how bad things are, and when a second snatch will happen, and who else will be taken for slavery on a faraway planet.

I turned off the TV. If these reporters can't come up with the truth - that the Rapture had occurred - then I'm wasting time and electricity listening. It seemed that all who were left behind were being sucked into a strong delusion. A lie that is festering terror. There is not a scrap of comfort in those TV reports.

I left my apartment, taking Padula's front door keys, and made for the car. I had to drive past several abandoned cars as I approached the house, although there were signs of a clear-up already beginning.

Inside Padula's house, I ran upstairs and picked up the Bible from the bedside cabinet. Back downstairs, I collected the unused groceries from the fridge and the larder before any of it went off. I had a hunch that food would get progressively more difficult to get as the weeks ahead rolled.

Sometime after arriving back at my college apartment, there was a knock on the door. Fearing who it could be, I approached cautiously and answered. Outside stood Phil Banks. He looked contrite, and he apologised for being so antagonistic the night before. Like me, he swapped his shirt and tie for a crew-neck T-shirt.

Please come in. I said.

As Phil walked in and sat on the sofa, I offered him a hot drink, which he gladly accepted.

Tell me, Phil, why are you so hostile towards religion or anything spiritual? I asked.

I was brought up as a Roman Catholic. Phil answered. My mother's older brother was very strict with my upbringing. He ruled over our family with an iron fist. With me as a boy, it was church every Sunday. Often, on a Saturday, I had to confess to a priest. One week, I forgot to confess, and when my uncle found out that I took Communion one Sunday without first confessing, he smacked me hard across the face. The slap was loud and painful. 

Also, when I was little, I had an older sister. She was so kind and helpful. She was compassionate and always looked out for me, her little brother. Often, we played together. Whenever she laughed, I felt assured. Those were the times I felt happy.

Then, during her late teenage years, she developed brain cancer. I was by her bedside, along with our parents. When she passed away, I cried and cried all day.

I then asked, Didn't you get any comfort from your parents, or from the church?

Mum and Dad did their best, as they grieved for their daughter. Phil answered. But Mum's brother was as hard-hearted as a rock. Worse than a Pharisee. He insisted that her soul went to Purgatory. When I asked was was that, he explained that Purgatory was a temporary Hell where she would be purged of her sins before entering Heaven.

Phil continued, I then asked him if she would suffer pain there. He confirmed that the pain would be so intense that she would scream. Then he said that it would only be temporary, maybe a few hours, but more likely several years, maybe decades.

That was when Dad lost his cool and threatened his brother-in-law. He ordered him out of our house and told him not to attend her funeral. We never saw him again, but by that time, my heart hardened against all religion, especially Christianity. Mt grief for my sister, Elaine, continues to this day, along with the rage I feel for my uncle. I could never forgive him, nor the Church either.

Could we have the TV on and listen to any news updates? Phil then asked. I wasn't sure about hearing more of what I had heard already, but I turned on the TV in case this would distract Phil from his memories.

The news update. Gaius Caligula was thrust onto the podium at the Vatican City in Rome. Cameras and microphones were everywhere, and it seemed that the whole world was looking to him for leadership, assurance, and guidance.

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To be continued.