Origins Read Online Free Page A

immediately turned and left the room.  Tara took a brief moment to exchange an odd look with Hastelloy on her way out.  It came and went in a flash.  Was she smitten with the man, or did she perhaps know him already?  The list of questions to ask this mysterious person was growing quite long already.
    “Please have a seat so we can get to know one another.”  Jeffrey began to gesture toward the couch when he noticed Hastelloy already taking a seat in one of the chairs.  Dr. Holmes took his seat in the other chair and turned it to face Hastelloy who looked right at home.
    “Before we get started I need to ask, is Hastelloy your first or last name?”
    “It i s simply my name,” the patient responded.  “I figure all the truly unique individuals only need one name:  Madonna, Cher, and Stalin to name a few.  Everyone else has two names so clearly I can’t stand for two names and the only people known by three names are infamous killers the likes of Lee Harvey Oswald, or John Wilkes Booth.  Once you get up to four names people start to look at you funny so I have to conclude that one name suits me best.”
    Dr. Holmes could not contain a smile of amusement.  “Well met Mr. Hastelloy.”
    “My father is Mr. Hastelloy, please just Hastelloy.”
    “Fair enough, Hastelloy it is,” Jeffrey conceded.  “So tell me, what has brought you to Henderson Home?  Please start from the beginning.”
    “Well, my father, whom I previously mentioned, met my mother and the love between them one day grew so strong that it resulted in a beautiful baby boy,” Hastelloy began with a straight face.
    “Okay, the time for fun and games is over,” Jeffrey admonished with a stern, level tone.  “I need you to be serious and honest with me otherwise you’re just wasting my time.”
    A silent stare down took place between them until Hastelloy cracked a cheeky grin, “Perhaps I did go a little too far back.  You have my word that anything I say from here on out will be the god’s honest truth with no games of any kind.”
    Hastelloy sat up straight in his chair as he continued.  “Allow me to begin with a question.  Don’t you find it odd, that the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Chinese civilizations began almost at the exact same time in history?  Up until then, Homo sapiens were hunters and gatherers roaming the countryside for whatever game presented itself.  These civilizations were thousands of miles apart with absolutely no ability to share knowledge or communicate with each other in any way, and yet the three cradles of civilization sprang to life within 50 years of each other.  Don’t you think that’s proof there must have been help from somewhere?”
    Dr. Holmes couldn’t hide his surprise.  There are many questions one might expect to hear at an introductory meeting:  are you married, how long have you been practicing psychiatry, or even something off the wall like where a nice vacation spot might be?  A question about the origins of human civilization?  Jeffrey paused for a few seconds to regroup his thoughts and seriously ponder the question. 
    “Well I’m not a historian by any means, but I believe that particular phenomenon is explained through the development of agriculture,” Dr. Holmes finally answered.  “It allowed people to take up a permanent residence since they could now grow the food they needed rather than following the roaming herds.  Since the entire community was no longer needed to produce food, this led to specialization of labor. 
    “Tool making, writing, art and so on were just a natural byproduct of this development.  When you think about it, there’s not a whole lot to the concept of agriculture.  It’s simply observed in nature - every spring seeds take root in the soil.  I don’t find it particularly mysterious how three separate civilizations could have developed the process at nearly the same time.”
    “Now it’s my turn to concede a well reasoned response,”