CHAPTER 4
GODSWANDERLAND
Mater and her growing flock moved east but trended southward since each river crossing moved them in the southerly direction. They would reach the southeast tip of the land and rested on what they assumed was a long peninsula. The next morning, they saw some mountains to the south that they hadn’t seen the previous evening, so they decided to travel further south and climb to the top of these mysterious mountains so they could obtain a view of the ocean. But, from the vantage point of the highest mountain all they saw was more land. Even worse, when they looked back in the direction from which they had traveled, they could no longer see their old continent. Pangea was gone. Mater, a spiritual sow, thought “God has placed us in a wandering land.” She decided to call this potential new home, Godswanderland. Now, she was concerned about Pater’s location. Was he waiting for her on the eastern shores of Laurasland? Was that to the north across the new ocean expanse or was he on the east shore of Godswanderland? In her heart she felt she needed to head back to the northeast, perhaps there would be a land bridge back to Pangea. She called a meeting.
The family had grown and was getting used to the rich bounty of Godswanderland. There were mysterious new creatures and a variety of new foods. They even found some long-lost relatives who had been successful in surviving on land and in the river waters. They were much larger than Mater. Even Sus, the largest of Mater’s family was smaller than the smallest of these enormous amphibious relatives. It was obvious to Sus that the competition for food would not be to her family’s advantage. She advised her mother that it would probably be best to move on to the northeast. Mater agreed. Oenopides pulled out his adjusted star charts once more and they set out to find Pater. Epler was now the assistant navigator and started making even more adjustments to his father’s charts. He had determined that the earth was not going around the sun in a circle all the time. He had decided that sometimes it changed to an ellipse. When he adjusted his father’s charts, over time the stars confirmed his analysis. Oenopides was very proud of his son’s work and took no offense to the corrections to his own life’s work. He was Babi’s mate after all. They both believed that observations would eventually correct anyone’s hypothesis in a fair manner, assuming, of course that the hypothesis needed correction. They traveled northeast for a long time.
Finally, they reached the northeast corner of Godswanderland and there it was, Laurasland. It was just across a small river. Had Laurasland drifted south or had Godswanderland drifted north? It didn’t matter. They set off towards the west coast of Laurasland, and having gained the shore, they headed east. Surely now they would find Pater in short order. He had said he would build a homestead for them.