MILLENNIUM
A
short story by Chet Fagin
Call
me Jonah. After all, that's my
name. As most people I suppose, I never
gave much thought to its significance.
That is until I was 13. I was
working on one of those crossword puzzles on the back page of TV Guide when I
read a clue:
"Well, that's me."
was my first thought. I was born on
January 1, 1975 and will turn 25 on the very day we welcome the 21st
century. But I wasn't the puzzle's
answer… even though the clue was five letters… and the first letter was J
because I knew Pat SaJak was Vanna
White's partner… and the third letter was N because Sam of Cheers' last name
was MaloNe… and I realized the
answer was Jonah. How could that be? I asked my parents about this and they told me that because of my
birthday, I was named after a French movie called Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000. It wasn't until five years later, when I was 18 that I discovered
that the French movie in question didn't come out until 1976. Again, I asked my parents about this, and
they seemed confused, then insisted that it must have come out before
then. "After all", they said,
"How could we know?"
Since
then, something has tickled my fancy about the Year 2000. It could only exist in my head of course,
but since then, I believed that celebrating my 25th birthday on the
first day of the Year 2000 would mean something to me. It was nothing tangible, just intuition, gut
feeling, or whatever term you'd prefer to use.
Most of the time, I could put it out of my head. But it never went away completely.
The
Year 2000, or the Millennium as it's come to be called, was a strange time for
this planet. One could argue we've been
preparing for it since Prince (or now the Artist Formerly Known as Prince) came
out with his hit "1999" back in 1982. I can assure you that at one time or another, every person has
wondered where they'd be when this event known as the Millennium arrived. I remember hanging out with a group of
friends on my 21st birthday when someone mentioned how the Marriott
Marquis in Times Square was already taking reservations for December 31,
1999. One of my buddies instinctively
picked up the phone, called the Marriott Marquis, and flat out asked for a
reservation for that night. He was transferred
around a couple of times before he was finally given a special number to call
during business hours. Given we were
still broke college students at the time, we didn't bother following up. But the excitement was growing. At least a year and a half before this
global celebration occurred, the word Millennium began popping up everywhere,
becoming practically ubiquitous a year in advance.
My buddy, Tod Heber, and I had been planning
to spend the Millennium together for years.
At one time, we had this crazy idea that we should fly to New Zealand,
be one of the first on Earth to ring in the New Year, then hop on a plane and
fly across the International Date Line to Hawaii, arriving the day before and
ringing it in all over again. During
the initial research stage, we saw just how beyond our price range it was. By the time 1999 rolled around, Tod was
living out in San Diego with his new fiancee, Kellie. I opted to fly out to San Diego and at least spend it someplace
warm.
As
the months went by and the Millennium drew near, more and more people became
turned off by this New Years. Most of
the people I spoke with wanted to stay home or attend small gatherings. One friend wished to be up in the mountains,
away from all civilization, and not even know when midnight would hit. Some people were frightened by the Y2K
computer bug, which had to do with all computers' internal calendars being
registered with only two digits. When
the 98 or 99 instead of 1998 or 1999 would roll over to 00, the computers would
most likely think it was 1900. No one
could predict what chaos would ensue.
So, the government allocated billions of dollars to ensure any problems
were resolved before January 1st.
Some people were afraid of right wing terrorist groups planning an
attack of nuclear proportions to declare a religious apocalypse. Millions more were spent on tighter
security. I had made my plans for San
Diego months and months in advance out of fear of high prices and solid
bookings. But by the time December hit,
no one cared about the Millennium anymore.
They were sick and tired of it.
They were sick of the endless lists.
They were tired of the retrospectives of the last 1000 years, of the
predictions for the next 1000 years.
They didn't want to listen to the debate over how the Millennium didn't
officially begin until 2001. And they
had already acknowledged the complete insignificance of it all since the
Gregorian calendar didn't accurately mark the birth of Jesus anyway, not to
mention that half the world followed other calendars. Everyone was apathetic.
Except me.
It
was absolutely freezing, in the low 20's Fahrenheit, in New York City when the
cabbie picked me up at my apartment to drive me to the airport early on the
morning of December 25, 1999. The flight
was miraculously on time, the layover in St. Louis went quickly and smoothly,
and I found myself in San Diego 25 minutes early. When Tod met me inside the terminal, he was wearing shorts. He walked me outside to his and Kellie's
Camaro; it was sunny and in the upper 60's.
He unlatched the T-top roof and threw it in the trunk. My jacket and sweatshirt came off
immediately. The sunglasses came
out. I was suddenly in a very good
mood.
Tod
and Kellie have a cozy apartment in La Jolla right by the Mormon Church. I spent most of the afternoon lounging
around their place and going for a walk around the neighborhood with Tod and
their dog, Lotus. Lotus is an
intimidating looking bullmastiff but he has the most placid temperament of any
dog I've met. He's a pleasure to play
with. Mostly though, I just enjoyed the
mindset of being on vacation. Kellie
cooked us this amazing lasagna with sausage for dinner. I eat out almost exclusively and I cannot
tell you how delicious a home cooked meal tasted.
That
first night, Tod and I drove an hour out of town and up to the peak of Palomar
Mountain for an amazing view of the stars.
As soon as I looked up, I knew instantly that I hadn't seen stars that
bright in over two years. It's the most
tragic part about living in New York City, where there's arguably more light
pollution than anywhere in the country.
Even Tod admitted that he had no idea such an incredible view was so
close to his home. On the drive back to
the city, the two of us got into a deep philosophical talk about life, death,
and the future of mankind. The
conversation began with religion and the fact that Tod, a fellow Jew though
admittedly no more religious than me, is marrying out of faith.
"The Jews are the
second most oppressed group of humans in the history of the world." I
explained.
"The first being…"
"Women."
"Yeah… what about the
poor though? The masses?"
"I won't disagree with
you. But there were always women. There weren't always masses. For millions of years, we lived in tribes. Every member of the tribe had practically
just as much clout as the next person.
Even the elders or the chiefs based their decisions on what the tribe as
a whole wanted."
"Early forms of
democracy." he commented.
"Even democracy isn't
perfect. But it's the best we've come
up with so far. But it wasn't until a
few thousand years ago that all of these cultures starting popping up,
separation of the rich and poor.
Religion only began popping up until the masses started to feel
something was fundamentally wrong with their lives. From there, the concept of salvation was created. I think that's where religion came
from. That's why all religions seem the
same. They're all based on salvation
and that everything we do in this world, though seemingly insignificant, will
pay off in the afterlife. It gives this
meaningless world a sense of purpose, a feeling that's only come into play in
the latest blink of an eye to this ancient planet."
"Have you ever read the
Bible?" he asked me.
"I can't say I
have." I told him.
"What I find
interesting with any book I read is how it's a reflection of the time in which
it was written. The Bible, if you read
it as you would any other book, is a hell of a story. But it's clearly a reflection of how people lived thousands of
years ago. It simply does not apply to
today's society."
"Well, it's no secret
that the world has changed more in the last 100 years than it has in its entire
history. It used to take thousands of
years for the world's population to double.
In 100 years, we've not only doubled, we've quadrupled. On the opposite side of the coin, we've
progressed scientifically beyond our dreams.
We've not only gotten off the ground, but we've gotten off the planet,
AND onto another one. It all stems from
Einstein's publishing of his relativity theory, which I believe fundamentally
altered the way we think. From there,
science took off like never before. We
split the atom, we discovered an expanding universe."
"And everything in
between."
"And everything in
between. But amidst all of this scientific revolution, we've created so much
destruction. As people fill up the
Earth, the environment is dying. And so
are many other species of plants and animals."
"I think it all boils
down to one concept: that humans believe this world was made for him. It's written right in Genesis. 'And let man have dominion over the fish of
the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the
earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.' We could do whatever the hell we wanted with
this planet because it belonged to us."
"Wow. Nice reference, dude."
"Thanks, man." Tod
responded graciously.
"It's true though. It's one of the fundamental beliefs of
religion. That we're better than
everything else. I hate to admit this,
but I think we hold human life in too high a regard. Why the fuck are we so important? We're no better than horses or dogs or dolphins or goldfish, or
fungus or oak trees or bacteria for that matter."
"Lion King. Circle of Life."
"Exactly."
"Well, at least, we're
making progress. After all, for the
first half of this Millennium, most people believed the Earth was the center of
the universe. Only in the last one
hundred have we learned that our place in the universe is anything but the
center. We're nothing. Our entire
existence is completely insignificant in the grand scheme of things."
"Funny you say
that."
"Why's that?"
"I've always believed
that. I mean, if religion is dead, then
what purpose do we have? Eventually,
the human race will die out, and what then?
No one will ever know we were ever here, UNLESS… unless we make contact
with beings from another planet. Only
then will our knowledge and our existence expand beyond this isolated
outpost."
"Yeah… makes you wonder
why more money isn't poured into SETI."
"Politics. We're still too
concerned with our problems."
The
next morning, I called my dear cousin Tara to let her know I had made it into
town safely. Tara is one of those
distant cousins I never knew I had until about three years ago. I met her at a Bar Mitzvah and was simply
floored as to what an amazing human being she was. Here was a gorgeous Californian blonde, a brilliant and
hardworking careerwoman, and a hilarious storyteller rolled into one. She was venerable, witty, and non-stop
entertainment. We clicked so well that I made an extra special effort to keep
in touch with her afterwards. Since
then, we've had the most unbelievable friendship and still manage to see each
other once or twice a year. I sometimes
wished we weren't related if you know what I mean but I wouldn't dare do
anything to disturb our friendship.
Cousin Tara was thrilled to hear from me and we immediately made plans
to meet up for dinner. She also
explained that a guest would be tagging along, this guy, Ron, she met back in
New York, who was visiting her for a few days.
I
spent most of the afternoon like I had the day prior, lounging around the
apartment, watching TV, and playing with Lotus. Around 4:00, Tod drove me downtown to pick up my rental car. I had chosen to rent a car so I could take a
roadtrip for a few days. It's not often
that I'm on the west coast so I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity
and see some of the country. I
purposely had not decided where I'd be going, but by the time I'd gotten into
town, I was leaning heavily towards Arizona and the Southwest.
Tod,
Kellie, and I met cousin Tara and Ron for dinner at this fabulous Mexican
place. The two of them arrived a few
minutes late but it didn't matter. Once
Tara sat down, she and I practically ignored everyone else for a while. As it usually happens with us, we entered
our own little world that most people can't understand. It may have been rude but anytime we spent
together was priceless and I wasn't doing anything to jeopardize that.
"So,
when's Emily coming down?" she asked me.
"She'll
be down on the 30th." I said.
"You
think you'll be back in time?"
"Yeah,
I have to be."
"What's
going on between you two anyway?"
"I still don't know. Like I said, as soon as we found out there
was something between us, she moved out to San Francisco. I haven't seen her since."
"But
if you convinced her to fly down for the Millennium, that's gotta be a good
sign."
"Yeah,
but she doesn't care much about New Year's."
"She
will if she's with us."
"That's
what I told her. And I was telling her
my birthday is on the 1st, and she said 'Oh, I hated my 25th
birthday.' And I said, 'Well, if you
come down to San Diego, I won't hate mine.'"
"Holy
shit! This is 25 for you!"
"Yeah,
I told you. 25 in the Year 2000."
"And
isn't your name Jonah?" Ron asked.
"Yup. Just like the movie."
"That's
quite a coincidence." Ron mentioned.
"Well,
we're still trying to figure that out."
"What
do you mean?"
"Well,
my parents insist that I was named after the movie. But the movie didn't come out 'til '76."
"Is
it possible that they heard it was coming out or something?" he asked.
"I
don't think so. It's gotta be something
else."
"You
know, I was thinking about this once." cousin Tara said. "I had déjà vu not too long ago. I was sitting there knowing I had
experienced it before but couldn't figure out where or in what capacity. And then it hit me. I had experienced it in a dream months
before. I firmly believe there are
certain parts of your brain that can see into the future."
"I
had that same thing happen to me." Kellie threw in. "I mean, how many times have I been
thinking of someone when they call me on the phone? I think it's all tied in together somehow. They say we only use 10% of our brain."
"Less."
Tod threw in.
"Yes,
thank you, dear. My point is there is a
lot of unexplained phenomenon. Granted,
the vast majority of psychics are obvious frauds but there a few here and there
that have said some things, specific things that are pretty freaky."
"Yeah, I just don't think my parents are one of them." I laughed.