Sumerity

Saundra McDavid
 Sumerity

ISBN

Copyright by Saundra McDavid

All Rights Reserved

Big Sky Network, LLC

PO Box 1756
Eagle, ID 83616
sumerity@bigskynetwork.com

First Edition

Published 2009
 Chapter One

Twenty-Eight Months Earlier: PFC Gary Hughes

was on his third round of the evening. The warehouse

complex was located 10 miles from Mountain Home Air

Force Base in Idaho. Although he was on security detail,

Hughes’s mind was elsewhere on this particular evening.

Tomorrow was his last day of duty. He would be going

home to his family in Cheyenne, Wyoming. It was also the

day he would ask his girlfriend of two months, Nancy

Childs, to marry him. Their courtship had been a whirlwind

since the day he first met Nancy at Andrew’s Rib Shack,

near Boise, Idaho. She had been very patient while his

more than rowdy buddies had spent hours on the patio

enjoying the best ribs west of the Mississippi and more

than a few six packs of beer. He had spent every weekend

with her and had just that day purchased a ring at a local

jewelry store. He eagerly awaited the moment he was

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going to propose and was mulling over exactly how this

proposal was going to take place.

Warehouse security duty was a light shift for the

soldiers at Mountain Home. Only one soldier was

assigned to the security detail of a rather mundane set of

warehouses located in the middle of nowhere in the State

of Idaho. Boxes upon boxes of outdated personnel

records, flight records, maintenance records, along with

many old desks and typewriters filled the buildings. Many

huge crates of God only knows what were stored along a

wall in the back in one of the buildings. Although the

material stored in these warehouses was mundane,

Hughes had heard rumors of more interesting objects:

moon rocks brought back from the early Apollo missions,

strange materials found by American soldiers around the

world which were labeled as miscellaneous artifacts. Even

some of the infamous Roswell crash materials.

Perhaps he would propose at Andrew’s Rib Shack.

That would be fitting since they had met there. Or perhaps

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he would take her to the top of the sand dunes at Bruneau

Dunes State Park. That park was an amazing site, with

the tallest sand dune in North American towering 470 feet

above the Idaho landscape; appearing out of nowhere in

the middle of an Idaho river valley. But what if he dropped

the ring? Digging through a colossal sand dune didn’t

sound enticing.

As he made the fourth of the many 20 minute walks

he would take that night, he noticed one of the large crates

was missing. Or was it? He was sure there were nine

boxes along that wall when he started his shift. He usually

counted to relieve the boredom of walking round after

round. But had he counted tonight? After all he was

somewhat occupied on this particular evening. They were

always moving boxes around this facility, to make room for

the ever increasing boxes of paperwork. In a world of e-

documents it made no sense how the government could

be amassing more paperwork. Perhaps they had simply

re-organized the crates. He stopped and listened to the

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quite sounds of a peaceful night. Yes indeed, there were

tire marks in the dust, evidence that a forklift had moved

something. He followed the tracks to the door and saw the

forklift in its proper place next to the entrance. Nothing

out of the ordinary here.

Maybe he would propose at the Botanical Gardens

in Boise. Or maybe at the top of Bogus Basin, a ski resort

close by. Or maybe in the cockpit of one of the jets. He

had a friend in the maintenance department that could

make that happen for him. Decisions, decisions. PFC

Gary Hughes continued on his way.

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 Chapter Two

Dr. Brandon Hill walked leisurely across the

University of Virginia campus toward New Cabell Hall and

a fresh batch of undergrads ready for new classes in their

spring semester. The air was crisp and the landscape

somewhat depressing; the trees void of leaves. A recent

warm spell had melted the snow, revealing the ugly winter

yellow grass below. But in spite of the winter setting and

drab foliage, Brandon’s spirit was high. January was

always a new beginning for him; a time to reflect on the

year that passed, and to improve the year ahead. Like

many people, he was overly critical of himself, focusing on

what he did wrong, instead of relishing in what he did right.

But all in all, it had been a good year.

Brandon held in his hand a crisp, heavy and

expensively embossed letter from Camp David. Although

he had not opened it, he knew what it was and he was

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looking forward to his annual weekend together with his

college roommate, Garret Maxwell.

He passed the new and inspiring Mitchell Crain

library which had been donated last year; a marvel in both

architecture and in its collection of books. As Brandon

walked up the steps of the beautiful, yet imposing New

Cabell Hall, he reflected upon his career at the University

of Virginia. He was happy here. He was happy with his

choices that he had made. Throughout his life he had been

challenged to find the answer to the one great remaining

question of society: the meaning of life. He was a true

scholar of the subject and eagerly explored both science

and religion in his research. His studies had led him to the

beginning of life and he had searched many ancient texts

to find the earliest recollection of mankind’s emergence on

Earth. In so doing, he had become a scholar of many

religions and ancient languages. He had been dismayed

at the liberties taken in translation over the centuries. His

second book had pointed out these inconsistencies in

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translation and the outright manipulation of history and

religion by some religious leaders who felt threatened by

knowledge and banned historical accounts of events from

the texts of their followers. This second book had resulted

in a number of death threats, although Brandon did not

take them seriously. He respected the fact that religion is

a comfortable pillar in the lives of most people, and that

any challenges to their beliefs threatens to propel them

into an unstructured world of chaos.

His most recent book was a joint effort with a fellow

microbiologist at the University on an emerging theory of

nanotechnology involving intelligent DNA. This theory

combined creationism with evolution. Based on

environmental factors, DNA is capable of making changes

which are necessary for survival, and such changes can be

implemented in a few generations, instead of the hundreds

and thousands of years required by Darwin’s theory. His

theory sparked much debate from both scientists and

scholars of religion, as it implied that human evolution was

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not a result of chance, but rather a controlled reaction to

the environment.

Brandon passed the magnificent pillars of the

original Cabell Hall, an elegant building completed in 1898,

and began the trek up the grand staircase of the annex

called new Cabell Hall, through one of the three imposing

archways and to his classroom on the fifth floor of the six

story red brick building. The annex was built in the early

1950’s to accommodate administrative offices and

classrooms. He opened the door to his classroom and

began the process of opening another young set of minds.

“Welcome, class to Theology Concepts 101” he

started as he glanced out at 160 new faces. “This is an

elective class, so all of you are here, not because you want

to be, but because you either have an interest in this

subject, or you have mistakenly believed this is an easy A.”

Some of the class grinned at this. It was the ones that

didn’t that he focused on now. The classroom was setup

as a theater, with his desk and chalkboard on the ground

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level. One long table spanned each row of students. The

first row was filled with eager and ambitious learners and

he glanced up at the last row of students which were ten

rows above him. “What we will learn in this class will

open your minds. I guarantee you will leave this class with

more questions than when you arrived. I hope one of you

will someday find the answers to some of these.

“In this class we will not be learning religion, we will

be learning about religion. This is an important distinction.

Throughout history mankind has worshipped Gods. The

early Egyptians worshipped Ra, the God of the Sun, Osiris,

the god of the underworld, Anuket, Aton, Horus and many

more. The early Hindus worshiped Buddha, Shiva and

Garuda, among others. The Aztec worshiped Centeotl, the

sun god and Chalchiuntlicue, the goddess of lakes and

streams, and many others.

“One thing all of these early religions have in

common is that there is more than one God. Why is this?

Why so many Gods? Our ancient civilizations did not

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understand where rain came from. Why floods ruined their

crops. They didn’t understand why wind storms arose and

blew down their dwellings. Gods were the answer to all of

these. They created a God to explain the unknown, so

that everything had a reason for being. We have come a

long way with our intelligence. Some say too far, too fast.

But regardless, we now understand rain, floods, fire and

wind. As our understanding increased, our number of

Gods decreased. Today most of the major religions

worship only one God. So if God truly represents the

unknown, and if we only have one God, there must be one

final question that is left unanswered. What is the last

question that we have left?”

A student called out from one of the top rows: “Sex,

Money and Love.” The class giggled.

A student raised her hand. “Is it the meaning of

life?”

“Close. That’s definitely a part of it. Any other

guesses?”

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 “Who created us?” Another student called out.

“Why are we here? Are we alone?”

“Right” Brandon explained. “We teach evolution in

schools. We teach creation in Church. What is the

answer? When we find this out, perhaps we will also find

the answer to the meaning of life.” The class nodded. He

saw lights beginning to shine in some of the students.

“There are those who would like to discount religion

today. I think that is a major mistake. It is essential that

people of both religious and secular beliefs understand

religion because religion shapes world policy today just as

it has throughout history. As a matter of fact, freedom of

religion was one of the major reasons the pilgrims choose

to leave England and establish colonies that evolved into

the country we live in today. As we delve deeper into this

subject you will find that religion has always been behind

most of the World’s policies and politics. This holds true

whether we are speaking about ancient civilizations and

the Inquisition, the founding of our country in the sixteenth

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century, slavery in the eighteen and nineteenth centuries

or the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center and the

subsequent war on terror. Religion has been an essential

element of the public debate surrounding the event.

“If we are to understand the significance that

religion has on our society then it is important we

understand each of the major religions and how they have

affected world policy in the past as well as today.”

By now, he could pinpoint the skeptics. He chose

one as an example….

There’s more!

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