Sample: A Letter to Earth, My Mother






In this beautifully illustrated book, a child called Hope writes Earth, her 4.5-billion-year old mother, wanting to know her story through the ages and worrying about her fate. This is a must-read for Earth lovers—an unusual story telling by a US award-winning author. A cliffhanging adventure into the universe—from the sublime to the ridiculous and from the surreal to the mysterious. 


My Dearest Mother Earth, 

 How did you sleep last night? I have tipped you, Mom, and I’m so sorry, I’m making you crack your ribs—your 4.5 billion-year-old rib. The laughter of an old woman. Who is your age-mate in the universe? You are probably young in comparison to others. 

My question is common among us, your children. I wonder what the questioner wants to know when they ask the question. For what do mortals do when they sleep? 

But it is a different matter to you because you are an immortal. For what else can pass for immortality than living for 4.5 billion years! Wouldn’t it then be wonderful for us, your mortal children, to ask you the same question that we ask of ourselves and know what you really do when you sleep? 

It seems though that I need not have asked the question. Because your laughter has provoked your bowels and untoward things are happening.

I am sitting under a mango tree this morning and the tree and others around me are rocking on account of your laughter. The birds that have woken up and feasting on fruits have fled for safety. I’m wondering if the houses are not shaking and if the waves aren’t tossing the boats and ships at sea. All because of my innocent question. Stop laughing! 

If your laughter could cause such a commotion, I wonder what would happen if your biggest sister, Jupiter, who is 300 times larger than you, cracks up. The solar system would rumble!  

However, your laughter is good after all. For mango fruits have been shaken down and I’m rising to help myself with the ripe fruits. You’re good!

But stop, more fruits are falling and hitting my head, and it’s hurting, Mom! 
I know, Mom, that you don’t actually sleep. I only asked the question to provoke you. Now, see what I got! It’s only we mortals that sleep and wake. And the birds and wild animals, too.  

We are the only ones that laugh all the time. And rarely does our laughter scare the birds, not to talk of shaking the trees. But it’s okay. 

So I know that you have remained sleepless all your life. You rotate on your axis once every 24 hours and revolve around the sun once in 365 days. Two giant moves every day of your life and every year that you have ever lived! How do you maintain such constancy and how is it that you are never tired? We tire out and sleep all the time. 

You see, it has been said by some of your children who monitor and observe your movement that you slow down sometimes. They say that you are late by seconds at times. I do not know if it is a hint of tiredness. Are you getting fatigued like us? 

Don’t get weak, Mom, because it’s your dual movement that keeps us alive. If you don’t rotate and revolve, we won’t have the seasons. Life won’t exist here. And that’s why your sisters are jealous of you—especially Mercury nearest the searing sun! 

Your children are getting wiser now. It was once said that you were motionless, standing still. Can you imagine! What would have been our fate? 

One day one of your children discovered that you actually move. Some used to think that it was the sun that moved. And for saying that he was branded a dangerous man and sent to jail. It was only after he reversed himself that he was let out. 

Then another smart child of yours said that you were at the center of the universe. We didn’t know the universe was such a big place. We thought then of only our small world. 

Another child of yours reversed it and said that the sun was the center of the universe and that all of you were moving in spheres around it. You can’t imagine all the things that have been said about you and the universe! 

Yet this one will shock you, but don’t break into another laughter again. The story went that you were supported by four huge elephants standing on a giant turtle! Some say eight elephants. 

You can’t imagine how ignorant we were! Nobody even asked intelligent questions such as: Where did the elephants come from? How were they feeding? How were they sleeping? The same questions would apply to the turtle. In addition, on what was it standing? Your children once lived in darkness! 

So although we have become wiser now, we know nothing compared to you who has lived for billions of years. You have seen things, heard things, and experienced things. It is you alone that can clear most of our wrong beliefs.
Let me then ask you one of the most argued questions: Who was your father? 

 Maybe, I shouldn’t have asked that in the past tense. Who is your father? He must be very old if he is still alive. 

If you have a father, you should also have a mother. So who was your mother? Or who is your mother? 

Just in case they are both dead, there should be some kind of history. Written history tucked somewhere in the distant universe or in the Milky Way galaxy, our home. Or were there no written records in those days? 

If so, there should have been an oral history passed on to you by your Dad and Mom through their parents if you didn’t personally know them. If you were orphaned, your eldest sister, Jupiter, who is 4.53 billion years old would have told you something. Thank Heavens, she is still alive and kicking. Just 365 million miles apart at the closest. Only a whisper away. A distance that the spacecraft made by your poor children takes 6 long years to reach. 

Now why is it important that you clear the air on your origin? There are rumors flying around that you are possibly a child of an adulterous relationship. But I fail to believe that. Mother Earth can’t be an adulterous child. So who are they saying are your fathers, you may wonder. 

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(From A Letter to Earth, My Mother by Arthur Zulu, all rights reserved. For release August 1, 2020 in electronic, paperback and audio formats at the major retailers.) 

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