[Billy, this is your bedtime story tonight.] Once upon a time, in a vacuum far far away, a little planet was born out of the random rubble just hanging around. [Billy, this is the story of our Earth.] As an infant, like all infants, Earth threw lots of tantrums. This baby orb boiled and bubbled and caused all kinds of ruckus. This went on for a long, long time. When the little planet Earth finally tired from creating its own misery, it took a deep breath and rested awhile. After this time-out, which lasted a kazzilion years, Earth felt its temperature had become cooler.Earth had just begun its journey from infancy to its toddler stage.
And a kazillion years later, in its early childhood stage, Earth began to sense the arrival of something truly strange. It was slippery and moved all by itself in Earth’s nooks and crannies. [We call this slippery stuff water, Billy].
Somewhat later, yet another kazzilion years, the teenage Earth felt a tickling in its waistline that was disturbing. There were tiny things greeting each other in tiny little ways. These twitters and squibbles erupted everywhere there was slippery stuff. [those twitters and squibbles were molecules]
Earth saw them swarming, forming, and reforming in the warm slippery stuff. Tiny globs of squibbles gathered together and changed itself into little life buckets. [Our scientists, Billy, now call this marvel of cellular creation an immaculate conception.] Overwhelmed with its discovery, Earth rejoiced and said to itself “I am a mother! Out of my warm, rocky, slippery stuff I created life buckets.” [This is why we refer to her now as Mother Earth.] Earth, now grown into youthful adulthood, became obsessed with her motherhood and watched over each and every bucket as they grew. Satisfied that she cared for them as maternally as she could, Earth put her feet up and rested.
Now well into her adulthood, Earth yawned and woke to find her buckets did quite well for themselves while Earth dozed. And Earth was so enormously proud of her buckets. Her buckets, all on their own, merged with other buckets which in some way agreed to becoming much more than they were. These couplings grew and grew to become tall green things that did not move; and other couplings become feathery things that defied gravity; and others became teensy, barely visible crawling things; and there were huge things that roared, chomped, and clawed and were fearful. [This was Earth’s age of dinosaurs, just like in your book,] And Earth said “now I am a grandmother. And it is good.” And Earth rested once more for a kazillion years
Earth woke after her nap and noticed another surprising addition scurrying all around. Puny annoying creatures with arms, legs and heads were springing up everywhere [that would be us humans, Billy]. These new things attacked Earth with great destruction; cracking and breaking and slicing with angry intensity at everything that was dear to Earth. Earth’s effort to scratch herself and be rid of them failed. Earth finally renounced any maternal responsibility for the humans that were trampling everything that was good. She cut them off from her hereditary line and committed them to their own desires.
Earth watched with anger the despoiling inflicted on her by the unwise and wicked creatures that had run amok over her. Not only that, but they also brutalized their own kind. A great sadness overcame Earth as she witnessed the self-slaughter that took place. Of all of living things, Earth wondered why this kind preferred death to life.
The frequency and intensity in which they cannibalized themselves became increasingly painful for Earth to endure. And then when they began to annihilate each other with boiling fire, Earth could not stand it anymore. Earth’s anger and sadness filled her most innermost parts and fueled such tormented pressure that Earth blew up. And everything, everywhere was destroyed: the trees, the insects, the birds, the animals, the fish, and humans were incinerated. All that was left was the random rubble in space waiting to be reborn.
[that’s your bedtime story Billy, sweet dreams.]