Free Noah by Mark Morris Page B

he was standing over it, he bent down, cupped his hands and thrust them into the bubbling water.
    It was remarkably clear, remarkably cold. He raised his cupped hands to his mouth. But even before the water touched his lips he knew how it would taste.
    Sure enough, it was the freshest, sweetest, purest thing he had ever tasted. He felt it flowing through him, restoring him, curing him of any ailments, his aches and pains. He turned and grinned at his family, water dripping from his chin. Naameh smiled uncertainly in response, but Ila and the boys grinned back at him, enraptured by the spectacle.
    All at once the earth began to rumble. Noah felt a tremor beneath his feet. He wondered what was happening. Was it an earthquake? Was the earth around the fountain about to erupt upward and outward with the force of the water behind it? Was this the beginning of the flood?
    Was it too late to build the Ark, after all?
    He began to back away, wondering whether he had been deceived, or had perhaps misinterpreted the message from the Creator. At any moment he expected a vast column of water to shoot upward, and then to crash down, sweeping them all away.
    Should they head for the mountain, seek refuge in Methuselah’s cave? Would they have time? Would the boys be able to manage the climb? What about Ila, still recovering from her injury?
    He saw that the Watchers were backing away, too, looking to Samyaza as if hoping he would provide them with answers, instruct them what to do. Og, of allthe Watchers, was the only one who
didn’t
back away. Instead he rushed forward, ignoring the trembling of the earth, which was getting worse, causing Noah to stagger as he tried to remain on his feet.
    Og rushed over to Naameh and the children and swept them up in his six arms, holding them protectively to his chest. Despite the situation, Noah was touched by his concern. He staggered again, almost falling this time, as the rumbling beneath his feet grew louder and the ground began to buck and jerk.
    And then, on both sides of the many rivulets now slicing their way through cracks in the parched earth, he was astonished to see green shoots start to push their way up through the soil. Grass, he thought. But then the grass began to grow, to become lush, to evolve into plants, flowers. And some of the shoots grew taller yet, became trees, which raced up into the sky, branches sprouting from their trunks, leaves bursting from the branches.
    The impossibly rapid growth continued. Before the astonished eyes of Noah, his family, and the Watchers, more shoots appeared, more plants, more flowers, more trees. It was a riot of vegetation, a joyous celebration of the Creator’s bounty. Within minutes they were standing, not on an arid plain, but in the depths of a healthy, burgeoning forest, acres and acres of trees stretching in all directions, as far as the eye could see.
    Eventually the rumbling subsided. The shoots ceased pushing up through the now thickly forested floor. The transformation of the landscape was complete.
    For a minute or more no one said anything. They were all too stunned, humans and Watchersalike, their eyes wide with disbelief, their mouths hanging open.
    And then, in barely more than a whisper, Ham spoke, still perched in the crook of Og’s arm.
    “What is this?”
    Noah turned to him, breathing in the rich, verdant scents of the forest, his vision no longer filled with gray soil and black rock, but with the glowing green of the leaves and the vibrant colors of the flowers.
    All at once he understood. “This? This is our Ark,” he said.
    They stood in a forest clearing, surrounded by tall trees, the ground beneath their feet thick with plant life, the still-bubbling fountain at its center. On the far side of the clearing, its base shrouded by tangles of undergrowth, rose Methuselah’s mountain. The tents of their camp now resembled a number of huge brown eggs in nests of thick green grass.
    Og lowered Naameh and the children gently