Preparing the Soil

"And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book....."

There once was a man who, in the late 1930's, had a vision of Biblically prophesied apocolyptic destruction of mankind, the Earth, and even the solar system. Early one morning in September of 1938, while laying in bed, a luminous hand appeared hovering over the foot of his bed. That is how the story goes. On a blackboard this hand wrote three dates, the final being 1945.

While publicly humiliated and editorially abused this man, he was butressed by his family and the strong international relationships that he cultivated over nearly his entire life which would last ninety six years.

Bolstering his perceived revelations were those experienced by his wife. One of the many dreams she had showed a darkened planet set in space. Two men walked the surface of this planet, and together they held a lantern. While she slept, Charles' wife heard a voice tell her that these two men were "the only light for this dark planet." She recognized one of these men as her husband...the other she would eventually discover to be her son, Richard.

Charles understanding of world events and conditions enabled him to foresee oncoming demise. His version of this end time scenario involved a divinely inspired thermonuclear holocaust for the planet's sinners, while he and his flock of those chosen by God were miraculously transformed from physical to spiritual beings without having to taste death.

Charles would annoint his son Richard on a Sunday in 1951 to carry on the work of preparing the world for the return of Jesus Christ, and from at least late October of 1977 until the summer of 1997 it was the forced center of my life. While over ten years have passed since I have had any involvement with my family's church, I am still influenced by the personage of my forebears Charles, his son Richard, and his son Robert, who's first born son I am.

While the Biblical reference earlier plays an integral role in the belief structure set up by my great grandfather and carried on through his son, I do not stand as a prophet, or as a messenger of any divine force. While I do hold what can be deemed a spiritual connection to the greater world around me, this personal belief does not have any direct relationship to what I am going to be composing here and in attachments to this specific thread, aside from keeping a watchful and questioning mind.

Charles and Richard believed that, based on the the idea that key events over the past fourteen hundred or so years triggered a divine countdown towards the return of the Christ.

While finding myself, through a reality-based fictional depiction of a man-made global transformation of some type, following in his stead, I, instead, look towards the physical world of human society around me to gain my insights.

To the story itself:

Concepts to keep in mind involve topihecs like the ongoing process of globalization, with a focus on American-Mexican, West-Third World, American consumer-corporate producer, American government-American population, and American Nativist-immigrant/minority population relations.

To this with be transposed global climate change, specifically utlizing the theory that increased global warming can, through the depletion of large amounts of glacial icepack, can lead to a period of global cooling to mild ice-age conditions. While I am not referencing the minds who theorized this idea I want relate that this is not an original thought of my own. This aspect of climate change is not based on all the political controversy, but rather based on the fact that we are entering a new solar cycle, meaning the sun is going to be warming up...

Actual human response through science and industry to the threat of climate change or some other type of man made or natural disaster will also be used, like the Noah's Ark seed bank that was completed a few short years ago in the Netherlands.

Another theme will be the shift of American economic infrastructure from production and exportation to importation, consumption, and logistical middleman in greater international trade issues.

Terrorism......will be a major theme....

The settings will be diverse.......

This story is by means no finished, finely polished product....simply a work in progress...

And so it begins:

The Los Angeles Port of Call sets just across a channel from the great moving docks of San Pedro Bay and from the largest container terminal in whe world: Pier 400. Resting above boat berthings across the shipping lane from the Maersk-Sealand leased extraction from Catalina Island are a variety of restaurants and little shops selling shirts, purses, and jewelry. Nestled amongst these businesses alongside the water's edge, the Bay Cruise Chartered Tour company was readying its 35 foot yaht for departure.

The students from Westwood had just arrived. The group was from an Urban Planning class studying the Los Angeles logistical infrastructure, beginning with the man-made wonder of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. For two hours they were scheduled to motor just inside of the breakwaters separating the open ocean from the harbor.

Prior to their boat tour they had a meeting with the Vice-President of Rail Operations on Pier 400,who also had been a graduate of UCLA.

Sitting in high-backed leather chairs within the executive conference room the students in the audience glanced from one to the other, some nervously, and many with disinterest.

On the far right side of the room, two rows deep, a hand rose. Suredly while still completely solitary, the student asked, "With your background at UCLA, and your former work in the trucking industry, what do you think about the current situation at the ports with the truck drivers, the drayage drivers, who take your "local" trailers to the large distribution centers in LA country and elsewhere?"

"The major issue here is cost, replied the executive, "I mean, drivers today make about $30 an hour and.."

The student interjected, "But you surely know that they don't work on an hourly schedule, and by keeping them as owner-operators they also have to pay for the full upkeep of their trucks?"

"Look, our issue here is clear," the young v.p. tried to refocus his energy, "drivers from Mexico can do the same job for $20 an hour, which would trim several million dollars, at least, from our overhead. For all the arguments that the local labor groups like to use, just look at their side of the parking lot. What kind of cars do you see?"

After a short lunch the students were reassembled to begin the final part of their tour.

"All aboard for this afternoon's harbor cruise! Please line up single-file alongside the ramp and we'll have you stowed away smoothly, and we'll be underway shortly!"