Page 26 of The Mercy Chair

Oldwater laughed again. ‘I imagine if I asked you the same question, Matilda, I might get a similar answer?’

‘Genome studies have shown that modern humans cannot possibly have descended from a single pair of individuals. There is far too much genetic diversity.’

‘Like I said to Sergeant Poe, the Bible cannot be taken literally. It’s metanarrative, a blueprint to living a good life. But I take it this means you don’t believe in a higher power at all, Matilda?’

‘I believe we are all star dust, Nicholas,’ Bradshaw said.

Oldwater’s eyes widened, but not as much as Poe’s.

‘What a beautiful way of putting it,’ Oldwater said, recovering quickly.

‘You believe in God, Tilly?’ Poe said, astonished.

‘Genesis 2:7, Sergeant Poe,’ Oldwater smiled. ‘“Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” Matilda believes that God is all around us, and if you open your mind, you will find the meaning of true peace. That we are Him and He is us. At least I think that’s what Matilda’s trying to say.’

Bradshaw snorted. ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Nicholas,’ she said. ‘I was talking about astrophysics.’

‘You were?’ Oldwater replied, his eyes twinkling.

‘Of course,’ she sighed. ‘Let me explain.’

‘Oh great, you’ve put a coin in her,’ Poe groaned. ‘I hope you haven’t got any pressing business, Nicholas; this might take a while.’

‘The Big Bang took just a billionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second,’ Bradshaw said, ‘but it kick-started the whole universe . . .’

Chapter 22

‘Tilly thinks we’re made from space dust?’ Doctor Lang asked.

‘According to her, after the Big Bang there were only light elements like hydrogen and helium,’ Poe said. ‘Over billions of years, like cosmic lint, they clumped together into ever-denser masses. Some of these masses formed stars, and apparently converting light elements into heavy elements is what stars do.’

‘She explained all this to the bishop?’

‘And more. She said stars are essentially giant hydrogen furnaces and the intense heat causes atoms to collide, creating new elements like iron and gold and oxygen. After billions of years, tens of billions sometimes, most stars have used up all their hydrogen fuel and they collapse. The outer layers explode, and this fires the elements they forged into the universe. Earth started with hydrogen and helium but now has ninety-two elements, all of which have landed as cosmic dust. Tilly says forty-thousand tons of this space dust still falls to Earth every year.’

‘And these star-forged elements are the building blocks of life,’ Doctor Lang said. ‘I think I remember this stuff from university.’

‘Not only life,’ Poe said, ‘they’re the building blocks of everything. My phone, my cottage on Shap Fell, Tilly’s Harry Potter glasses,everything.’

They were an hour into their session and Poe had been talking for most of it. His throat was beginning to dry up and he looked longingly at the empty plastic cup. Another lukewarm tea would have been welcome.

‘How did he take the cornerstone of his religion being challenged?’

Poe put his dry throat aside and said, ‘He took it in his stride. He’s forward-thinking enough to publicly state that science and religion aren’t diametrically opposed positions. He believes they can and should coexist.’

‘Which makes me wonder why he bothered asking about your beliefs at all.’

‘I think he wanted help fixing the church roof.’

Doctor Lang peered over the file. ‘You do this a lot, don’t you?’

‘What?’

‘Use humour to deflect things you aren’t comfortable talking about.’

Poe shrugged. ‘I hadn’t realised.’

‘You make light of things you shouldn’t and you dismiss emotion as weakness.’

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