Australia’s east coast had turned its back on the Sun. The day was spent.
The Moon was half-way towards the horizon. The east coast spun away from it, leaving the sky as dark as it could get.
From all over the Universe, billions upon billions of blazing stars tried to light Lucia's bedroom. Star light was blocked by a jacaranda tree, by a few wispy clouds, by fallout from distant bush fires, by orbiting ice-balls, by interstellar dust, but mostly, by unfathomable distance.
The Southern Cross constellation was in position. Far beneath it, on the roof directly above Lucia's bedroom, a mother possum drowsed. Inside its pouch its baby kicked, wriggling into a better position to suckle.
A million light years from Sydney, directly behind the Southern Cross's orange star, an Earth-sized planet revolved around its star. The Earth-sized planet revolved and spun as it had for a billion years. Now, right now, swirling gases organized themselves into a life-sustaining atmosphere over the lands and the waters.
Directly over a tropical lagoon, lightning flashed through gases bumping into each other. The gases fused into molecules containing carbon, oxygen and nitrogen. The molecules drifted towards the water, multiplying.
The life force had visited the Earth-sized planet. Life was beginning.
Throughout the Universe was much rejoicing. Many blessings and prayers of hope for new life were diverted to the Earth-sized planet.
One hour later, a Moon-sized asteroid filled the skies of the planet's tropical zones. The asteroid grazed an atoll. Splashed into an ocean. Smashed through the ocean bed. Cracked the rock crust. Jammed into molten metal. All water vaporized in the intense heat and was flung out of orbit, out into space with dust and bits of the heart of the planet.
The collision lurched the Earth-sized planet from its comfortable rotation. Ancient curses and blood-red lava spurted from its core as the dying Earth-sized planet toppled towards its star.
Its star had been spinning for billions of years, burning its fuel. The fuel was consumed and the star started to balloon into a supernova. Exactly then.
Exactly when the exposed part of the Moon-sized asteroid cracked into boulders. Which were tossed like sea spray amongst the dust and vapors around the Earth-sized planet.
Prayers and curses rolled off the dying planet.
The prayers slid into the heart of the Universe, mixing with songs of lovers, cries of babies, laughs of children and mingling with swirling gases forming new planets.
A curse escaped and slipped smoothly, easily, through unfathomable distance into Lucia's eyelash, sliding all the way through her body into a skin cell on the sole of her right foot. Inside the skin cell the curse tapped the life force.
The galaxy went right on spinning, right on hurtling through space. Moving as fast as it could towards a black hole that had been waiting for it since time began.
All throughout the Universe was a sense of grief for life that had never quite managed to happen. All throughout the Universe was a sense of hope because life had happened.
The widespread rejoicing at the instant of the creation of life was remembered forever. Forever. Because something eternal had been created by the life force and no amount of darkness could destroy it, not ever. Not ever.
Inside the Vet’s family house, Heaven's collusions were completely ignored. The members of the Vet’s family inside and the animals around, under and on top of the house slept deeply. Lucia's older sister Vet smiled as she dreamed of finding a comet and a tall husband who loved opera.
The white cat Tutankhamen woke. It stretched away from Lucia's head, pushing her book of Ovid's poems onto the floor. It jumped over Nefertiti, its twin marmalade cat sprawled asleep over Lucia's eleven-year-old legs. Tutankhamen leaped onto the windowsill and disappeared through the open window to chase the possum across the roof into the night.
More hours passed.
All through the night, before, during and after the crash, the Earth rotated on its axis, moving unprotesting always to the east. Smoothly and surely, exactly on schedule, Australia’s east coast slipped out of the shadows.
Streaks of yellow appeared over the eucalyptus trees behind the houses way up on the ridge. Birds sang their morning songs and Lucia awoke.