A Perfect World

The sight of animals gathered around the watering hole made me want to run to it as fast as my legs could carry me. "Come on, I'll race you!" I shouted at my furry new friend, and he roared back his excitement. My legs pumped up and down, both of us trying to outrun the other to see who would get there first. I could feel the gazes of the other animals, sizing me up. A few let out some encouraging noises, like a four-legged, black and white striped one. As we drew closer and closer to our destination, I noticed there was a man standing amongst the animals. My pace slowed, and so did my companion's. He spotted us and smiled.

"Looks like you've made a friend there." The man called out to me and made his way over to us. "That's pretty impressive -- usually the lions just stick to themselves and don't want to have anything to do with people like us." He paused, stooping down to offer his hand to the lion. "Have you named him yet?"

"No. Should I have?" I watched as my friend sniffed his hand and snorted.

"It's customary for overseers to make friends with the animals, and also for us to name them. It's up to you, really."

"Well then. What about... Marron?" He nuzzled my leg affectionately, and I took it as his way of saying 'sounds good!'. "All right then. So, who are you again?" I asked the mysterious man.

He smiled at us. "My name is Enoch. I was appointed to oversee this portion of the new earth. I take it you are my helper?"

I smiled and nodded. "My name is Creethala. It's nice to meet you, Enoch."

Enoch smiled back at me, lighting up his eyes that matched the skies -- blue and ethereal. "Well then, I'll just show you around." He took Marron and I to a place that was mostly composed of large rocks that overlooked the watering hole. He pointed in different directions and told me all about the places. "To the west is more watering holes and forest. To the south, huge rocks jut out of the earth -- they're called mountains and, if they're flat on top, they're called plateaus. To the north is just more grasslands, followed by a large forest that stretches all across the land, then more grasslands, and finally a large expanse of sand until you reach the large river that runs throughout all of the earth and deposits into the super 'watering hole'."

My mouth dropped at this bit of information. A super watering hole? "What's it like?"

"Well, it's just water that stretches on forever. The only land on this new earth is right here."

"So just our grasslands and forest and sands and that's it? We're the only two people here?!"

"No, no. This is just one piece of the new earth. There are other places where other helpers and overseers are. And then there's... well, maybe I shouldn't say it."

Now he really had my attention. "What? What's out there?"

He grinned. "Well, past the grasslands and the forest and the sand to the north, it's said that there is going to be a Garden, called Eden."

"That's it? That's the big news?!" I exclaimed, indignant.

"No, no, let me finish!" I shut my mouth and he continued. "In the Garden, there are going to be two people. "

"Okay.... so when does this story get exciting?" He glared at me and I closed my mouth once more.

"Well, they're people, aren't they? Which means they'll be a part of God's creation -- created on the new earth."

I gasped. "You don't mean --"

He looked grim. "Yes. They won't be like us, the helpers who were created up there, in heaven." He pointed to the skies. "But this is all just something I heard from the nomad, no big deal."

"Wait, who's 'the nomad'?"

"Oh c'mon, you don't know who the nomad is?" I shook my head and he sighed. "Were you not informed of anything?"

"Hey! God was in a hurry when he made me, okay! So he didn't have enough time to tell me everything, so what?"

"He... he was in a hurry?" Enoch whispered. "He didn't tell you anything about this place?"

"No! He just told me to find you! Well, he told me that I was going to be a helper and that I had to find the appointed one I was supposed to help.... but that's it." I gave Enoch an incredulous look. "What's the big deal? So God was in a hurry -- so what? He probably had a meeting he had to get to or something."

"God... he always takes time to tell every single appointed one the old stories. I've never heard of a helper not being told." He was mumbling to himself.

I threw up my hands. "This is stupid. You're not making any sense, you know that?" I jumped off the rock and started walking off. "I'm going to look after the animals. Are you coming or not?"

"Wait, Creethala! I'm sorry, I'm just kind of stunned right now!" He jumped off the rock and ran to catch up with me, matching my pace. "Listen, it's not a bad thing I guess, but it's just unheard of --"

"Can we please stop talking about this?" Water was close to coming out of my eyes, and it kind of stung. I didn't like the way Enoch was talking. It made me feel weird -- like I was an outsider or something.

"Hey, c'mon, don't cry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." He soothed. we stopped wallking and I attempted to hide my face, ashamed for my tears and my actions. "Listen. If you don't want to talk about it any more, then I won't mention it again unless you bring it up. Okay? Is that all right with you, Cree?" He reached a hand out to wipe away some of the water that had escaped onto my cheeks.

I nodded and attempted a smile at my new name, which he returned. "So listen, Enoch --"

"Yeah?"

"You never said anything about what's East of here."

He stiffened. "Listen, Cree, don't ever go east of here. Promise me that, okay?"

"Why? What's so scary in the East?" He didn't reply, but resumed walking. "Hey! I'm asking you a question!" I chased after him.

He stopped short, almost causing me to run into him. "It's the land of Nomads."

I continued to badger him all day, but he would tell me no more.