Random musings - Friday's freewrite

My son's still home - well, coming back again tomorrow - and I don't know how I'm ever going to get round to properly catching up on gather. But Susan's Friday freewrite prompt caught my eye, so here's me, freewriting...

Back when we were kids, he the practical one and me with my nose glued to a book, my big brother used to ask me how I still believed in God if I read science fiction. “After all,” he said, “if there’s other life out there, other intelligences, wouldn’t God have to have saved them too?” I thought maybe God would save them through us; how young and naïve I was. Then I wondered what I was doing to save my dog. After all, he wasn’t just sweet; he was intelligent too. Much much later I read “Will my rabbit go to heaven?” to my kids. We decided our neighbor’s rabbit might not because it was vicious and it scratched me, but most rabbits, most cats, most dogs… And if we’re made in God’s image, creators in his likeness, I wondered if it’s us that give them souls. I guess I don’t know, won’t know, hopefully for quite some time. But meanwhile I’d better make sure I remember my neighbors at least are His children, else I might end up joining Luke’s rabbit in the other place.

...I think it must be something she said about "other intelligences" out there. My other brother's the one that became a priest.