The 12-year-old girl came running into the room where her father was sitting on the sofa, watching TV. She had an open book in her hand and was out of breath.
“Dad look!” she plopped the book down on her father’s lap, causing him to spill his coffee.
“Lily, what is it?”
“Look!” She pointed to a photo in a Civil War history book. “Look, that guy looks exactly like you!”
Henry looked at the photo showing barely any interest. “I don’t know, he doesn’t look that much like me.”
“Bull feathers! This guy looks exactly like you. Do we have any ancestors that fought in the Civil War?”
“I think we likely did. There’s no name listed.” He put his finger on the photo and really looked at the photo now. There were several men lined up in front of a tent, all holding rifles. The caption said, “Some soldiers from the 10th Regiment, Georgia Calvary.”
Lily seemed unconvinced. She moped up the stairs to her bedroom. She threw the book on her bed and laid down. She thought that it was a bit odd to her that her father didn’t seem the least bit excited about a photo of a guy in 1862 that looked exactly like him. In fact, he kind of blew it off and said it really didn’t look much like him…when the soldier in the photo looked exactly like him. Lily jumped up with a start and grabbed the book, opening it back up to the photo. She looked carefully at it. She recognized the rifle her father’s doppelgänger was holding. She ran down the stairs with the book and into the living room. There, over the fireplace, was the rifle. It even had the hand carving of a coiled snake on it with the initials J.T. “Oh my God!” Now she knew her father was not telling the truth.
Her father was now in the kitchen making coffee. She stormed in and put the book down on the table with force, causing her father to start.
“Geez Lily…what the heck. Are you turning into a teenager already?”
“Dad, you are not telling me the truth.”
“What do you mean?”
“The soldier in the 1862 Civil War Photo is holding a rifle!”
“Yea, I saw that.”
“Well, that rifle, with its hand carving, is hanging over the fireplace in our living room!”
“Wow.”
“Wow? Is that all you want to say to me?”
“Ok, I guess you need an explanation.”
“Please…”
“That is my third great grandfather, your fourth. I didn’t acknowledge it before because I am ashamed he was on the Confederate side.”
Lily was studying the photo again and saw something that made her furrow her brow.
“Dad?”
“Yea?”
“The guy in the photo has the same scar you have on your face…”
“Whoops.”
“Whoops?”
“Ok, I guess you need to know. I was waiting until you got older to tell you my story. I’m sorry I’ve lied to you. I’m going to grab a cup of coffee, and if you think you’re ready to hear this, I’ll meet you in the living room. Grab yourself a cup of coffee if you want.”
“Yuck, no coffee. Darn right, I want to hear the story. Did mom know this story before she died?”
“Yes, I kept nothing from your mom. Let’s go.”
They went into the living room. Lily’s father, Paul, sat in a recliner that faced the sofa. Lily had a can of Pepsi and sat on the sofa across from him.
“First, let’s set some ground rules. I am going to tell you my history, and I need you not to interrupt me with questions. When I am through, you can ask all the questions you want…oh, and please use a coaster.”
“Ok, I agree to that.” She grabbed a coaster and put her Pepsi on it, and relaxed back into the back of the sofa.
Paul took a deep breath and began. “Lily, this is going to seem hard to believe, but here goes. I am very old. You were right, that is me in the photo. I am so old that 1862 does not seem that long ago to me. I have been around since just after the creator made Adam and Eve. After Adam and Eve were placed upon the Earth, other humans were created so they could procreate to populate the planet. Close DNA was not a problem then, but there still needed to be a continued and gradual DNA separation. Back then, brother and sister and first cousins married by necessity. The first humans also had to be designed with…I guess the best way to put it is with no ‘kill switch.’ Another words, without dying by growing old or dying by disease. There were thousands of us first humans, and I am one of them. I have been around for thousands of years and have been known by many names. Each early human stopped appearing to age at different ages. I stopped aging at 42. In your whole life, I have looked this same age. Lily, you have thousands of half-sisters, most long since dead and some still living. Well, that is one crazy thing to have to tell you. I’m sure you have some questions.”
“Wow! So, don’t I have half brothers as well?”
“No, for practical purposes, purposes of equal divisions of the genders, half the people like me could only have female offspring, and the other half male. That restriction was only set for males. The females would give birth to the male’s assigned gender offspring.”
“So, thousands of people like you are in the world?”
“No. There are only 11 of us left in the world.”
“But, I thought you couldn’t die.”
“Oh no. We can’t die because of old age or disease. Most eventually got killed off in wars, natural disasters, and accidents. The 11 of us that are left are the last that will ever be.”
Lily had a puzzled look on her face. “Am I going to stop aging too?”
Paul smiled, “No, Lily, you will live a normal length of life.” The thing you did inherit and are different from others is your ability to heal. You heal much faster than normal humans, including self-healing from cancer and other diseases.”
“Gosh, I remember Dr. Wong telling me she was surprised at how fast I healed when I broke my arm. I am disappointed I won’t have the same long life you have had…”
“Lili, it is both a blessing and a curse. Can you imagine how many people that I have loved, that I have lost? How many of my children I have outlived? About 1200 years ago, I decided it was too hard and did not take a wife or have children. I tried that for about 300 years. I did have friends, and of course, I outlived all of them as well. I decided it was better to have all the love in my life and accept the fact I will lose them all. I now embrace the gift of being able to experience all those loves.”
“I never thought of it that way.”
“I’m sure you will have more questions after you have thought about it. Do you have any more questions now?”
Lily stood up quickly. “This is frickin’ amazing. I can’t wait to tell my friends.”
“No! You can’t tell anyone, and one day you’ll understand why.”
Paul got a big smile on his face and burst out laughing to the point of guffawing. “Oh, my God, you should see the look on your face!”
Lily’s face turned dark red, and tears streamed down her face. “You made this up! You’re… you’re an asshole!”
“I’m going to let that swearing go this time because I probably deserve it. Now go up to your room and get your homework done.”
Lily abruptly turned and left. Paul could hear her stomp up the stairs like a little teenager.
Much later, Paul started cooking dinner, and he heard Lily zooming down the stairs.
She came into the kitchen at a run. Out of breath, she said, “I just did a Google Image search of your photo. I got hundreds of hits! I even found a statue found in Iraq from ancient Mesopotamia that looks exactly like you…Gilgamesh?
Paul looked up toward the ceiling and said under his breath, “Ah…Mesopotamia…good times…”
Scattered Thought 