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“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.” - Seneca (Roman philosopher, mid-1st century AD)

**

David bar Elias finished counting the change and handed it to the customer.

“Enjoy your Shakespeare books”

“Thank you”

It was past his normal dinnertime and David was feeling absolutely famished. Standing about at various shelves and tables in the store were about 10 people—6 of them what David would call regulars.

For a Tuesday it was a pretty damn good day.

Pulling out a can of food from beneath the counter, he emptied it out into a dish. Rosie—showing surprising agility for a cat that was at least 16 years old—pounced on the food and was happily munching down on it a moment later.

David walked to the storefront door and opened it, letting in some air. It was a beautiful summer evening—the sun was still a few hours from setting, the wind was blowing and it was just at that perfect level of humidity that didn’t bother his arthritis—although, there seemed to be some distant thunder that indicated that might change soon…

David nodded his head, waving at the pretty lady who worked at the florist across the street.

He had just put his hand down when the world suddenly exploded.

**

Tuesday Aug 19, 2008 – Dr. Caesius’ apartment – Piscataway, New Jersey

Charles hurriedly ran out of the shower, the towel barely covering him. He was attempting to dry himself off, brush his hair and shave his face all at the same time.

Needless to say—he wasn’t having much success. He was—apparently—brushing his shoulders, drying his face and shaving his head instead.

Charles stopped and—with an effort—took a deep breath.

He quickly dialled Janice’s cell phone.

“Hello”

“Janice—look—slight change of plan—I’m running a bit late so I’ll meet you at Vito’s instead, ok?”

“But isn’t the reservation under your name?”

“Yeah—but Eric is working tonight—he knows you so you won’t have a problem.”

“Ok. By the way –have I mentioned to you that I lo—“

The line suddenly erupted with a cacophony of static and pops and squeals. Charles pulled the phone away from ear, screaming in pain. He was vaguely aware of the sound of thunder outside.

“Janice?” said Charles into the phone, just as the world exploded.

**

David finished writing an entry in his journal and closed the book with a loud snap and leaned back, stuffing the book into his pocket.

Despite the fact that it was very late by his internal clock, David couldn’t sleep. He was far too excited.

The passenger next to him—a large man in a rumpled business suit—was snoring. Loudly.

If that idiot snores any louder the plane will shake apart thought David.

He glanced up as a loud beeping sound came over the intercom.

“Ladies and Gentlemen—this is your Captain speaking. We hope you are enjoying your trip and, once again, we apologize for the slight detour we had to make earlier to avoid that storm. Rest assured that we are on schedule for our expected arrival. If you look to our right, you will notice a mountain. That mountain is Mount Tai—considered to be one of the most sacred mountains in the Taoism religion. It is associated with sunrise, birth, and renewal and on its slopes you will find 22 temples and over 1000 stone inscriptions dedicated to Taoism.”

Those few passengers still awake—David among them—craned their heads to look at the mountain.

David glanced up with a look of annoyance on his face as he heard the sound of distant thunder.

Oh - not another storm thought David—just as the world exploded.

**

“Now junior—remember what I told you”

Sion nodded his head.

“Right—slowly squeeze the trigger—don’t pull or yank on it.”

“That’s right.” said his dad, adjusting the headphones Sion wore on his head. They kept slipping off every time he moved suddenly.

At least the safety goggles stayed put. thought Sion.

Taking aim at the paper target, Sion squeezed and—

Sion grinned, slightly embarrassed from the loud yelp he had made. He still wasn’t used to the sound and feel from the rifle when it fired and it scared him every time even with the headphones on.

Daddy looked up at the paper target.

“Hmmm—bulls-eye at 25 yards. Doing excellent progress there, Junior!”

“Thanks Dad”.

Sion looked at his watch.

“Isn’t it getting kind of late, Dad? We should be going back.”

“Oh—I’m sure we’ve got a few more minutes, junior”

From the house, Sion heard his mom yelling.

“Where have you two run off? Don’t you two want dinner?”

Daddy called back “Just five more minutes, Hon!”

“Uh—Dad—Mom sounds like she’s really mad. Maybe we should go back now?”

“Relax junior—remember how you know your mom is upset?”

Sion thought for a few seconds “Ah—she puts her hands on her hips, does that head tilting thing and starts using our middle name.”

“Exactly” said daddy, “-and she has not—“

Sion got a glimpse of his mom stepping out the door. She placed her hands firmly on her hips, leaned her head to one side and bellowed “Sion Michael David Davies—“

Sion and Daddy exchanged a glance.

“Oh-oh” they said, at the same time.

Mommy was still talking –

“—Get your sorry butts in here right this instant!”

Simultaneously both Sion and Daddy came to attention and yelled out at the same time “Yes Ma’am!”

Daddy turned to Sion and, smiling, handed him the box of ammo. “Here—hold this junior—let me get the rest of the—“

Both Sion and daddy looked up as they heard a distant sound of thunder.

Thunder? In a clear blue sky? thought Sion, looking all around.

Sion was vaguely aware of his daddy, still looking up at the sky in confusion, take a few steps towards the house.

And then the world exploded.

**

Philippe leaned back in his seat and grinned.

Self-consciously he patted his knapsack, where an envelope with 100 dollars rested—along with a pack of condoms and his dope.

“Prochaine Station—Laurier” announced the intercom.

Ah—life is good thought Philippe.

A moment later the world exploded.

**

James was trying to simultaneously eat a slice of Triple Meat Lovers pizza, drink his beer and type the last few pages of his story.

Surprisingly—he was having a great deal of success.

Leaning back, James lit up his cigarette and took a long drag on it.

James leaned over to hit the ‘save’ button when—

The lights flickered. And then—after a second or two—they went out completely.

So did his computer.

“Motherfucker!” screamed James, leaping up off the chair and causing it to topple backwards onto the floor. He started punching the computer.

“Son of a Bitch! You Goddamn piece of shit!” he bellowed, his fists slamming down again and again on the monitor.

James proceeded to spend the next two minutes using every combination and permutation of the phrases ‘Motherfucker’, ‘Son of a bitch’ and ‘Piece of shit’ possible.

He was right in the middle of a truly impressive curse (“You motherfucking son of a motherfucking piece of motherfucking shit and motherfucking bitch, you motherfucking motherfucker! “) when he noticed the sound of distant thunder.

Glancing around in confusion, James walked towards the balcony and opened the door and stepped out.

And then the world exploded.

**

Tuesday Aug 19, 2008 - Lago Piratuba Nature Reserve – near Macapá, Brazil

“Ok people—we’ll take a ten minute break here” shouted the guide.

Victor, Shantala and the other 6 people in the hiking group let out a ragged cheer and sat down on the ground, a loud sigh of relief coming from several of the more out of shape individuals.

In all honesty, Victor was starting to feel really exhausted and was looking forward to getting to the hotel and taking a long hot shower.

Of course, thought Victor, glancing over at Shantala, we would be remiss if we didn’t do our utmost to conserve water by, for example, sharing a shower together. Truly it would be a horrible sacrifice but sacrifices for the greater good must sometimes be made after all…

Shantala grinned back—almost as if she was reading his thoughts.

“Look—for the last fucking time—would you two knock it off?!” shouted the Aussie hiker again. “Get a room already! God!” he yelled, standing up and moving away from Victor and Shantala and sitting down at a spot about 30 feet away from them. The Aussie muttered quietly to himself and began to start chucking small pebbles into a nearby creek.

Shantala sidled over to Victor, still grinning.

“So---any ideas what to do tonight?”

“Well—after cleaning up” –Victor leered knowingly at her—“I was thinking about checking out that ‘SunRise’ restaurant we saw in the market yesterday.”

“Oh darn” pouted Shantala.

“What did you have in mind, hon?”

“Well—I was thinking about doing the ‘Teacher and Bad Student’ game again tonight but if your heart is so set on going to a restaurant….” she said, trailing off and staring out into space, still pouting.

A moment later she broke into a grin and turned to face Victor—who was still sitting down, unblinking and silent.

A trickle of drool was trailing down Victor’s chin.

Still smiling, Shantala stood up and started walking away.

“I’m just going to go pick some flowers over here while you recover, dear…” she said, trying unsuccessfully to keep from giggling.

Victor shook his head and lay onto his back and stared up at the sky, grinning.

It came as a rather unpleasant shock to him when the world exploded a moment later.

**

Lucien was lying face down in his bed trying very hard to sleep.

The sound of thunder woke him up and he groggily raised his head and glared in the general direction of the sky.

“God-damn fucking thunder…” he murmured before falling asleep again a few seconds later.

As of a result, he completely missed the world exploding.

~~

On to Chapter 3

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