|
||
|
|
||
| PAPERBACK BOOKS | ||
Meet
The Author Allie
Webster was born and educated in the She has written extensively including in-house publications of six books
for youth clubs and materials for church work and Creation Science for Bible
college. In addition to writing material for teaching reading literacy and
English as a Second Language, her writings include many short stories, a
cookbook for her children and one children’s book. Allie has traveled extensively throughout Europe, the Today Allie lives with her husband in the One
The
Project
Shema
sat staring at the viz screen, pale azure eyes narrowed to tiny slits reflecting
the frustration she was experiencing for about the hundredth time that
afternoon. Unreasonable irritation gripped her mood causing her to hit the key
with much greater force than necessary to complete the calculations in her
lengthy equation. Looking at the screen her brow wrinkled in complete and utter
exasperation, still not believing the answer the screen held. “No, no, no,
this can’t be!” she muttered under her breath. “This just isn’t
possible. Grrrrr!” Her vocalizations were growing, as frustration became her
constant companion. Her patience lost ground in direct proportion to the
magnitude of this problem and growing anxiety over its ramifications. “This just
can’t be right, can it? Oh please, no!” Shema’s voice was a raspy whisper
now as tears threatened her resolve. “Here I go again! How could I have made
the same dumb mistake again? Now, what on earth am I doing wrong? Maybe I
should bang my head against the wall or something!” she chided herself in
exasperation, still refusing to believe the answer presented on the screen as
correct. Mora looked up
and caught Benroth’s eye. She cut her gaze towards Shema, placed her hands on
the sides of her face, then mouthed in mock exaggeration, “Oh no, how can this
be? It’s the end of the world! We’re all going to die!” She giggled
wickedly. A smirk grew on
Benroth’s face until he laughed out loud, mouthing back, “Good! Maybe if
this flood her father-in-law keeps preaching about comes and takes them away the
rest of us can get some work done around here!” He laughed maliciously at the
jab. Haram cleared his
throat lightly then shot an icy glare that sent the two workers scurrying back,
heads down, to their own calculations. Perhaps he should intervene. Shema was
taking all this belief of her father-in-law entirely too seriously. Maybe he
should suggest she take a vacation or at least a break to get things back into
perspective. He contemplated
his problem as he watched various co-workers snicker and roll their eyes making
fun of Shema or articulating snide remarks. Without realizing it she was placing
him in a very difficult position and it was beginning to irritate him. How much
longer was he expected to mediate in silencing their malicious remarks? Anxiety and
irritation caused small worry lines to form on Shema’s forehead. Eyes
narrowing to slits, she peered at the screen, scrutinizing every detail it
displayed with growing annoyance. Shaking her head, fingers flying on the
keyboard, she worked the figures again hoping to find the mistake. Normally her pale
eyes dazzled, giving a uncanny air of grace and charm that highlighted her
delicate features. Now, however, they had taken on a cold calculating blue,
making her face look drawn and worn instead of exhibiting the quick smile and
charisma most found hard to resist. “I’m
absolutely positive I got it right this time. I know I did. The numbers I
entered were correct.” She paused and twirled a long strand of hair between
her fingers. “Why do I keep getting this? Hmmm.” From habit, she twirled the
long, silky, silver strands of hair again, pushed it behind her ear, then rested
her chin on interlocked fingers as she tried to think of another way to sort out
this problem. There had to be a different answer. “Maybe I
transposed something. I didn’t think so, but maybe …” She paused, breath
quickening. “Whatever I’ve been doing wrong obviously I keep doing wrong. It
has to be the same mistake over and over.” She sighed wearily; ever-increasing
frustration creased her brow in bewilderment and agitation. From across the
room Haram moved uneasily as he watched his colleague and friend, shaking his
head slowly as he listened to Shema’s incoherent mutterings over the
computations. He knew her
single-mindedness all too well, and shook his head in dismay. Secretly he
admired her faith and tenacity. It was hard not to approve of someone so
dedicated, honest and driven by perfectionism. Those were rare qualities in
people at any point in history. The only change he would make was an earnest
desire that she would loosen up just a little bit and act a little more normal.
Anyone else in the office would be swearing by this time or at least pounding on
their desk if they were so frustrated, but he smiled and thought, everyone but
Shema. Sometimes her
intensity seemed to rub off on the rest of the staff causing everyone to get a
little overly zealous. All in all though, he had to admit there was no one
amongst the staff he would trust more than her. If a job was vitally important
it could find no better hands to be in than Shema’s. As he watched,
his lips curled into a full smile. Her action was so typical of her. How often
had he watched his colleague so engrossed in a problem she simply refused to let
go of it, long after everyone else had given up on the whole idea? Of course,
that was the trait that he admired most. He only wished more of the staff were
as focused and competent in their work or as driven for excellence as Shema. Her intense focus
often gave those elegant features a taut, tired look, like today. Her eyes gave
away what she was concentrating on. How often had he seen that look in them? The
emotion reflected in them was a dead giveaway for anyone who really knew this
lady. He decided it was
time to intervene and perhaps give a little pep talk. Maybe he could convince
her finally to let go of this stupid problem she had been devoting so much time
to for nearly two moon’s orbits. Her whole end-of-the-world premise was just
too much to get his head around. He knew he’d have to take some drastic
measures and hated to be a tyrant but enough was enough. Unaware of
Haram’s observation Shema continued, intensely focused. Glaring at the screen
only deepened her frustration. She had started verbalizing each of the multitude
of steps of the complex calculations as well as expressing some of her
bottled-up anxiety as Haram approached her impeccable workstation. “This is really
beginning to annoy me. I may die of sheer exasperation! There just can’t be
any other explanation. This is ridiculous. It’s simply not possible! That’s
all.” She crossed long slender arms across her chest and breathed a huge sigh.
“I know it has to be wrong.” Her cool calm
voice had an edge of muted fear. She had put an enormous amount of work into
this problem over the past sixty days. Today she was feeling the weeks of
frustration weighing on her shoulders alone. Each and every
step of the problem had been scrutinized to the nth degree. Yet, when tabulated,
the results had given her the same “wrong” answer. How on earth could this
be happening? She almost never made a mistake in calculations. What minute step
was she missing? There just had to be something! Engrossed in
analyzing the calculations she hardly noticed Haram walking towards her. He was
shaking his head and mumbling to himself, “Come on, Shema, not again. My dear
woman, when are you going to give up on this stupid project of yours? You’re
going to drive everyone in the office insane.” The next thought
in Shema’s mind was a flash of pure insight. Was it possible the screen held
the right answer, just not the one she wanted? Being wrong was one thing but the
implication of these calculations being right was both enormous and unimaginably
disastrous! She tried but couldn’t dismiss the possibility from her mind. “Maybe, as
impossible as it seems, my calculations are right. What if they are correct
after all?” She let go of a deep breath, unaware she had been holding it. Shema looked up
to see Haram clicking his tongue and shaking his head at her. She ignored his
clicking, pretending she hadn’t heard his annoying little comment. “Haram, could
you be a dear and please do me one little favor?” She watched, waiting for his
nod of approval. He gave her a slow resolute nod, to her relief. She was glad
that he rarely refused her requests. “Would you
please read these numbers back to me so I can get them in correctly. I seem to
keep repeating the same mistake over and over. It has to be something minute,
probably something that seems insignificant, or I would have caught it, but
I’d sure appreciate your help to figure it out.” She held out the sheet with
her number facts printed on them. “Just this one last time, please?” she
pleaded. Haram looked at
the list with a sympathetic frown. “I’ll help you, Shema, but is this the
same problem you’ve been working on for over two moon’s orbits? It is,
isn’t it?” He gazed down at her with his perfected unbelieving skeptic look. This was a look
he seemed to reserve especially for the many times she had asked for help with
this particular problem. His black eyes danced with sarcasm as he looked
critically at the figures in his hand. He raked fingers through perfectly placed
curls of salt-and-pepper colored, immaculately groomed hair. “Why do you
want these figures to change? I don’t understand what it is with you and this
problem, Shema. Come on, you know this is absolutely theoretical. As a matter of
fact it is so theoretical that it has no bearing on life as we know it,” he
winked condescendingly. “I can hardly think of anything that matters less in
the scheme of things.” Skepticism dripped like melting ice in his voice.
“And yet you continue to insist that somehow this is vitally important. Why
can’t you for once in your life just let go of this obsession?” His voice
held a note of pleading. Shema threw her
head back and laughed easily. “Well, Haram, my dear friend, if I could give up
so easily you wouldn’t be telling me it was an obsession, now, would you?
Besides, if I gave it up, who would you chide over obsessions?” Her laughter
rippled like music in his ears and came with the ease of time spent working as
close colleagues. Haram smiled,
resigned to helping one last time. “Okay, Shema. You’ve got me. Again,” He
heaved a sigh. “Let’s have a look at your problem, but please, try to make
it the last time already.” She smiled and
turned back to the screen, listening to Haram, fidgeting slightly, as he began
preparations for his next round of reasoning with her. “You know,
don’t you, that we’re all going to be around if and when the orbitors
fall from the sky? And if and when they
fall we’ll just send up more like we always do. And another thing – this
flood-drowning-the-whole-world idea you keep talking about is sheer
fabrication.” She stared at him
as though he were an errant child who couldn’t possibly understand the
magnitude of trouble he had created. He lowered his black eyes to the thin piece
of flexible klux with rows of figures he held in his hand, while she looked at
him with genuine pity. “We will send
them back up one at a time until we replace them all. You know the likelihood of
losing them all because of a flood, of all things, and in such a short span of
time is pretty bizarre. It’s about a million to one chance, Shema. No, make
that a billion to one. Please, stop talking this nonsense about the world
ending, will you?” he implored earnestly. “You’re sounding like some kind
of loony fanatic.” Shema didn’t
move or give any indication that she had heard him. “Stop for me, please,”
he pleaded, “before someone higher up wants an account of the massive time
we’ve spent on this theoretical and insane idea of yours.” Shema sighed at
his ranting, but didn’t say a word. Better to let him get it out of his
system. “Imagine all
the orbitors falling out of the sky at the same time because the vapor canopy
collapses for some unknown reason! Not one scientist I’ve talked to believes
it could happen. There’s more chance of a rock from space destroying us than
losing all the orbitors at once.” He rolled his
eyes and gave a strained smile before continuing, “It’s honestly not the big
deal you want to insist on making it. You know that,
don’t you?” Not moving a
muscle, Shema remained totally still and calm. Her calmness was in direct
contrast to the agitation Haram exhibited and it irritated him no end. “You’re
sweating over something that very simply can’t and isn’t going to happen, my
friend! Shema, are you listening to me? It can’t happen, it’s not going to
happen, so please can you drop this project nonsense?” Shema listened,
remaining completely silent. She knew her colleague well. She would let him
continue his tirade for a bit longer and when it was out of his system she would
try to reason with him yet again. “Shema, please,
don’t just sit there like a stone,” he said, raising his voice in
exasperation. “I’m sure that just thinking about this in a couple of hundred
years is going to make you feel really foolish. By then you will be able to see
for yourself that no earthly disaster or flood or whatever you’re calling this
thing has happened. It’s just going to be the same old rock, century after
century.” Dazzling,
kaleidoscope azure eyes that seemed to penetrate his very soul stared back at
him. He could sense a torrent of emotion behind those eyes. He wished he knew
why she believed this doomsday story. Her father-in-law had convinced her, but
how? She continued to
stare at him until he grew uncomfortable with the silence and had to speak
again. “And we will grow old together as friends – you, Japheth, Jazel and
me.” Shema quietly
faced her friend and colleague with the distinct sparkle of tears brimming in
the corners of her eyes threatening to break forth at any instant. “Tell me you
understand, Shema.” Haram’s pitch-black eyes gleamed with deep emotion
begged for understanding. “Please think how incredibly embarrassed you and
your family are going to be. Come on, use your head, girl! You of all people
should know you’re going to be caught right in the middle of this mess. Shema,
my dear, dear friend, listen to me, will you?” The smile he gave
her expressed heartfelt concern. “You’re driving yourself mad. If you keep
at this pace much longer you may drive your favorite colleagues crazy too!” he
joked, trying to lighten the tension building between them like an invisible
wall of silence. A faint glimmer
of hope came into her troubled eyes and her lips curled into a faint smile. Now
she had his full attention. Perhaps this time he would give her a real hearing,
but for the moment she sat in silence. “Shema, please
tell me you don’t honestly and truly believe all this ridiculous
belief and teaching of Noah. Just once tell me you don’t really believe
him. You really, truly don’t, do you?” His question tried to mask the
skepticism and disdain he held for the man. “Yes, Haram,”
she answered, anger tingeing her voice slightly. “I really truly do believe
him and you would too, if you gave yourself half a chance to hear the truth.
It’s God’s own truth, and yet you stand idly by claiming you have an open
mind. No matter what I say, you are so entrenched in your unbelief your mind is
welded shut even to the possibility of God’s existence.” Haram looked
stricken. He prided himself on being open-minded and here she was accusing him
of having a closed mind! The insult stung. “I am open-minded! I’m
going over your stupid figures, aren’t I?” “Oh Haram, you
are about the most closed-minded man I know! Trust me, you have made it
abundantly clear time and time again that you don’t believe. Your lack of
faith or belief does not for one cen-tic alter reality. You can’t change what is
going to happen. You can sincerely believe with all your heart that you can fly
and that gravity can’t hurt you, but I guarantee that if you take a plunge off
a mountain or the top of a tower it won’t change the laws of physics for one
cen-tic, will it?” Shema watched
Haram shake his head in disbelief. This conversation had taken place many times
before and neither friend would budge a hair’s breadth from what they
believed. Shema couldn’t not believe what she knew was a fact, while he would not open
his mind enough to allow the possibility of being wrong. She returned a
look of genuine sympathy towards him. It was the kind of look reserved for an
injured animal she knew had no hope of survival. The silence thickened into an
uncomfortable blanket wrapping both colleagues in silence. As stillness lingered
for what seemed an eternity she finally broke the silence to talk to him again. When she fixed
her eyes on him, he bristled under her scrutiny. He didn’t want her sympathy
and worse yet, he didn’t want her pity! That was the look he saw in her eyes
now – pity. The very thought irked him no end. She was so wrong! Why
couldn’t she see it? What was wrong with her? “I understand.
You obviously don’t see a logical reason for my pursuing the answer for the
length of time orbitors will stay in orbit should the vapor canopy come down. I
really can see it from your point of view, but Haram, this answer is extremely
important to me because my family,” she emphasized the words, “will
need the orbitors even after you are all long gone and forgotten. So humor me
just one last time, my friend, read the numbers back to me, please.” She cut him off
before he could protest. “I promise, I won’t ask you to read them again. Not
ever. Will that do?” Her words came to him sweetly, as always. He smiled,
remembering why he found it so difficult, if not impossible, to say no to this
beautiful and charming lady. “And Haram,”
she added, her voice melodious, “just as this is the last time for you to read
the numbers to me…” she paused to allow her comment to sink in, “… you
know if I’m really right, and I am, there will also come a last time for you
to have the opportunity to believe God’s judgment is coming and repent. You do
understand that, don’t you?” He ignored her
last comment to jump on her earlier statement. “Long forgotten, eh? Does that
mean you don’t want to remember me? I’m hurt, Shema, really hurt. You could
so easily forget me.” A sad, tired
frown crossed her face and a combination of grief and anger reflected in her
eyes. Realizing the
mistake of acknowledging the possibility she could be right he added glibly,
“That’s saying it could remotely be possible and all that.” He glanced up
and his gaze was met by eyes dazzling like fire. Hope brimmed up in them
momentarily before he looked away, crushing any illusion she held out that he
might listen to her. He shook his head pensively, making a sound halfway between a snort and grunt to reiterate his grudging acceptance. Sure he had made his point he carefully started the process of calling out the numbers while Shema re-entered them manually into the computator, ignoring his comment. She watched every figure with the careful scrutiny of an eagle’s eyes, to make doubly sure she had entered every numeral correctly this time. Click on the cart below to purchase this book:
|
||||||||||||
| All
Prices in Australian Dollars CURRENCY
CONVERTER
(c)2006 Zeus Publications All rights reserved. |
