"Only people without papers work on farms?"

"...I think not only them, there would be some Americans with papers who work on farms, but I think it might be one of the only jobs that doesn't try to check if people have papers or not? ...Though I think there's a way to get papers temporarily and come here from another country in the right season and work on farms, so there are probably also a bunch of not-Americans who are here with papers to work on farms. I still think it's not that many people, compared to the number of people who live in America and work in other jobs, but I bet the Internet would know more about the numbers, if you're curious I can go look it up?" 

"Most people are not farmers is an important thing about America I think, but I do not know if it matter if it is one of ten or one of twenty. Farmers are not educated? Believe in souls and Heaven and God? Only farmers think those things?"

Um. What. ...Ohh. EMILY??!! 

"....Okay. Did, uh– I'm guessing Emily told you something like, educated people are less likely to be religious and believe in God? I think she maybe said a thing that confused you. I'm pretty sure that more than half of people in America are religious and go to church and believe in God. Maybe not very religious, I - wasn't managing to go to church very often before you came to live with me, but I do believe in God and Heaven and I think that's - normal, actually, more normal than Emily not believing in God. And nearly everyone knows how to read. I guess people who went to college, the kind of school Jeremy is doing now, are less likely to go to church – I think Emily meant 'educated people' as in people who go to college and study science or math or engineering, not as in people who know how to read. In America nearly everyone knows how to read, and so - 'educated people' means people who are more educated than just having graduated high school." 

She chews on this one for a bit. "...half of people believe God is a strange way for things to be," she says eventually.

"...I guess it is a bit strange." Shrug. "I do think it's more than just half, I just don't remember exactly enough to give you a number. And I think people don't usually talk about it that much, it's - we think it's sort of rude to argue with people about their religion. I don't actually know which of my neighbors believe in God." 

"Is it rude to argue about if there is a sun in the sky?"

???????????? 

(This feels like it's getting close to an important confusion, and Evelyn recently decided not to dig at things even if they feel like important confusions, but it's probably not "digging" if she's just answering Iomedae's questions?) 

"I guess people in America think about God differently from that. It's not like you can see God directly with your eyes, or Heaven, or souls, the way you can see the sun? And there are people who live here and believe in different gods, or just believe that God wants different things, and...I guess we decided as a country that getting into big fights - wars, sometimes - over that sort of thing is something we'd rather avoid." 

"I think I see maybe. Thank you, ma'am. I can go to the library."

It makes sense, actually, that you'd have wars over what the churches actually wanted and what the gods actually said, if there was no way to check and no one had empowered priests. And it - only half makes sense, but does half make sense - that the end result would be everyone being wary of making any claims about what the gods want, which can never be credible.

Evelyn tries to smile brightly at her, even though she's still kind of confused and not actually sure if she answered Iomedae's question or just gave her an entirely different misunderstanding. 

"You can ask me more questions later if you think of them, I'm always happy to answer your questions. Let's go to the library." 

They'll drive. It's bike-able for Iomedae, and she'll maybe try to show her the Google Maps route later today, but it's definitely too far for Alfirin to bike safely, and they have a car right here and Iomedae could probably use the break anyway. 

It is, in objective Earth terms, not a very large or well-stocked library. It's all on one floor, a single big high-ceiling'd room subdivided by shelves. The adult nonfiction section is smaller and sadder than the adult genre fiction section (romance, thriller, mystery, some amount of fantasy and sci-fi), which takes up an entire corner, and the litfic section takes up half of another corner.

There's a fairly generous kids' section, which is where Evelyn heads first. It has beanbags and chairs and some sad-looking plastic toys in the open middle section of the corner, and shelves organized by appropriate reading age. The Animorphs and Babysitter Club series take up entire shelves; the picture books for kids are on the opposite side. The children's non-fiction section is on the other side of the shelves, not directly facing the play area. 

There are still more than 50,000 books in this one single room. 

The librarian on today knows Evelyn and is pleased to see her again! Evelyn points Iomedae and Alfirin in the right direction to find picture books, and then is pretty quickly waylaid by catching-up small talk. 

That is so many books. And they're...free? For anyone? And full of trees, even though it's indoors, and - she would probably be amazed by the architecture if she weren't busy being amazed by everything else.

She doesn't want the 'fiction' right now because it's full of lies. She wants to learn what Americans think is true first. Children's 'nonfiction'? (What makes a nonfiction a children's nonfiction, anyways?)

This place is so cool though she'd get wildly more out of it if she could ...read in English, which she absolutely cannot, she only remembers a few of the letters. 

Probably what makes these books for children is that they are beautifully illustrated, some of them so meticulously you'd think you were there. 

Yep! The books in the children's nonfiction section are mostly picture books. Some of them - probably the ones meant for younger children - have thin spines and simplified pictures with bright colors and thick lines, and large print with only a few words per page. Some have very detailed images and diagrams, of things like the insides of planets and the insides of trees and the insides of human bodies, and lots and lots of words labeling the images and diagrams. 

(Do the girls seem okay? Evelyn is headed right over, any minute, and will make an effort to disengage from this conversation sooner if it looks like they need some guidance, but she's actually really enjoying the chance to catch up. Usually she has kids who scream a lot, right, and the library isn't a fan of that, and so she has to do a whole lot of careful management of the situation so there can be a library trip with no screaming, and that means being limited to facial expressions across the room and no actual catching-up. She really wants to hear more about the librarian's daughter-in-law, though she'll definitely be right there if Iomedae or Alfirin glance over at her or seem to be in any distress.)

Iomedae is not clear what they're supposed to be doing, but she's happy to flip through the beautiful illustrations all day, if not otherwise instructed.

If Evelyn does come over she will ask where she can find the illustrated Scripture.

The girls seem okay, except that even though she remembers all the letters it's taking Alfirin a long time to read any given book title and also most of them have words she doesn't know.

Evelyn hasn't forgotten they exist or anything, and comes over a couple of minutes later. 

"- You mean the Bible? I'm - yeah, there's got to be a children's illustrated Bible here somewhere..." 

...She will maybe have to go ask the librarian. 

Yep they've got some children's illustrated Bibles! Here's the newest one - and best one, according to the librarian, if she says so herself. The Children's Bible, by Anne de Graaf, gorgeous brand new hardcover edition. 

(If the librarian has any feelings about this being the particular book that Evelyn's newest foster kid wants, she hides them.) 

God Makes Everything

Genesis 1:1-19

A long time ago there was nothing but darkness. It is hard to picture just nothing, but that is all there was... except for God.

So God made light. That way there could be day and night, instead of only darkness.

Then God made the earth and divided parts of it into oceans and seas and other parts into big pieces of land. God made all the plants and trees and made them grow on the land.

In the sky God made the stars and planets. He made the sun and moon so there would always be a day after every night.

...Evelyn can read it out loud. 

That is good because otherwise Iomedae would have no idea what the words said. The picture is not very helpful.

"I did not know that there was light before there was stars," she says. The rest all sounds right but she had for some reason envisioned that the stars were created as a light source, though the books she's read don't say specifically.

....Evelyn is pretty sure that "God made light" is meant to be interpreted metaphorically, but...she's not actually sure what it's a metaphor for, not enough that she could have a debate with Iomedae of all people about it, and in any case she would rather just keep having a nice library experience that does not involve any debates.

She doesn't say anything. She'll keep reading. 

It Looks Good

Genesis 1:20-25; 2:3-6

When God looked at all the water covering the world He made big fish and little fish. Some were too small to see.

For the sky He made large birds and small, in many colors. They were bright blue, dark green, brown, purple, red, black and white.

When He looked toward the land God saw grass blowing in the breezes and ripe fruit hanging from the trees. He knew it was a good place for animals. He made tiny bees and giant elephants, crocodiles, sheep and lions, all different sorts of animals. But they did not have names yet. There were just the right animals living in just the right places and not too many. And there was plenty of food and water for them all.

The First Man and Woman

Genesis 1:26-31; 2:1-7, 18-23

At that time there were no people on the earth. God wanted to make someone who was like Him. God put His hand in the dirt. He picked up a handful of dust, blew on it, then created a life that was the first man.

God brought all the different kinds of animals to Adam. “Call them whatever you want,” God said. So Adam called one a hippopotamus, and another a butterfly. Once Adam had finished, God saw that not one of the animals was right for being Adam’s special helper.

So while Adam slept, God took a part of Adam and around that part He made someone who was like Adam, but different. She was the first woman. When Adam woke up he was very happy. “Here is someone who can be my friend,” he said. But she had no name.

 

When God finished making Adam and the woman, He was pleased. He decided He would rest for one day. He blessed all that He had made.