Prologue

Every great tale has a beginning. This one is no exception, though, I do not feel it appropriate to disclose in any great detail the events leading up to this prose. By God, where would I begin? It is the great wonder of our lives that our actions, both great and small, send ripples reverberating through time. Those ripples cascade across all boundaries and blockades regardless of our desire to resist them. I suppose we can pinpoint several events that have spread further than all others, much like the effect of dropping a large stone in a pond as compared to a pebble. It is of great interest to me that even the waves born of the pebble will reach the shore, albeit with less attention than those associated with the stone. Every day, I drop pebbles in the pond, but sometimes, indeed very few occasions, I have the great opportunity and fortune to heave a tremendous stone into the pond. I, myself, cannot resist the urge and calling which compels me on such occasions. It is this tendency alone that has led me to share the tale before me. If you would like to join me for the telling of this adventure, be warned; nothing is as it seems. God uses the simple things of our world to confound the great.