Prologue
One good man on earth is
better than two angels in heaven
-Chinese Proverb-
Both glancing from side to side, the two men, one tall and thin, the other of average height, quickly approached the house. Wariness and fury smoldered in their narrowed eyes. They wore backpacks and carried cans of gasoline. In several minutes, these two thugs would set fire to the house where my parents, the people dearest to me, were sleeping.
Totally unprepared, they would begin to rush about, trying to find a path to safety. While not far away but unable to help, I would become a witness to their death.
And I would die again.
The first thug jimmied the garage door. Choking from weakness, I watched as he poured gasoline on the cars, then clicked his lighter. The flames erupted.
He ran out, undoing his backpack on the way. Stones in his hands. The sounds of glass shattering. Lit torches were hurdled into the house. One after other. People! Wake up!
A flame inside the house. Heavenly Father, save them! A deafening explosion! The roof lifts high into the sky. Neighbors rushed into the street. Don't just stand there, help them! It's useless. They stood there, open-mouthed, rooted to the ground. I prayed feverishly.
God heard me. Thunder. A flash of lighting turned the night into day. There was stark fear in the eyes of the criminals.
The next flash was even brighter. The gasoline cans exploded. Their clothes burst into flame. Retribution.
The street emptied. Rain lashed the ground in a deluge, but for me it was the rain of salvation; it cooled my burning soul.
Smoke eased from the crater where the house once stood.
Unsteady on her feet, my mother emerged, followed by my father. Their clothing was scorched and faces black, but the main thing is they were alive.
A siren. The police arrived. The street filled with people. The burnt skeleton of the house leaned and collapsed, revealing the corpses of the two thugs. They were planning to do evil, but instead they themselves perished from that evil.
My father raised his head, his eyes fixed on the North. It connects him with the past, when half the world was illuminated with radiance day and night. Emerging above Siberia, it set its course toward Europe, puzzling humanity. "
