ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 5

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

FOR WHO KNOWS WHAT IS GOOD FOR A MAN IN LIFE, ALL THE DAYS OF HIS VAIN LIFE WHICH HE PASSES LIKE A SHADOW? WHO CAN TELL A MAN WHAT WILL HAPPEN AFTER HIM UNDER THE SUN? (Ecclesiastes 6:12)

            “That a boy,” Vermillion said with malicious delight as Jimmy Stetson eyed the pretty blonde. Only he was studying her back side, not her hair follicles.

            “Christians like to talk of being thankful,” Vermillion told me. “Well Querida, I’m thankful for the sexual instinct. It is so easy to get humans to stray from the intended purpose of love and procreation, and into the ecstasy of lust.”

            Jimmy had just departed a record store at the mall. Music stores were quite prevalent in 1990. Lexi Bennet and her bestie had exited the clothing store directly across just a couple seconds ahead of him. Jimmy knew Lexi because she had lived next door to his sister for the last eight years. Vermillion encouraged him to become hypnotized by her Calvin Klein Jeans as she walked. Several times my former friend encouraged with the quiet mantra, ‘Little Lexi is now sexy Lexi.’

            As they left the mall, Lexi held the door for Jimmy. They made eye contact and her face lit up. “Oh hey! You’re Jill Kennon’s brother.”

            “I am,” he replied with a charming smile.

            “Jake, right?”

            “Jake’s our brother, I’m,” he almost called himself Jim, but wanted to appear closer to her age. Not that his twenty-two to her eighteen was that big of a difference. Not now anyway. But when he was eighteen and she was fourteen? Out of the question. “I’m Jimmy.”

            “Cool.”

            “So I understand you graduated high school last month.”

            “I did,” she beamed.

            “So what are you gonna do with your life?” he asked as they walked onto the parking lot.

            She giggled. “Now you sound like my dad.”

            Oh no, he didn’t want to go that direction! “I’m not prying, just curious.”

            “I’m gonna go to Kirkwood part time for now, until I decide what I want to do,” she said, referring to the local community college. “Plus I work at Younkers,” she told him, referring to the department store at the other end of the mall.

            “Nice,” he said as he threw a leg over a maroon Yamaha Vmax.

            “Wow, is this yours?”

            “No, I’m stealing it,” he joked.

            She gave his upper arm a playful shove, then aimed a flirtatious smile at him. “Will you give me a ride sometime?”

            “Absolutely. When?”

            “How about now? Give me a ride home? I’m sure you know where I live.”

            “Sure,” he replied happily. Oh how he loved his motorcycle! It sometimes picked up girls for him.

            She looked at her dark haired dark eyed friend. “Do you mind?”

            “Go for it,” she replied with a coy smile. “I’ll call you later about the party tonight.”

            “Awesome,” Lexi replied as she climbed on behind Jimmy. She was a little clumsy, having never ridden on a motorcycle before.

            As Lexi hugged Jimmy’s back side, he grinned at what a wonderful tool a motorcycle was for making time with the ladies. But as he cruised down Lexi’s street, his smile faded when he spotted his sister in her flower bed in front of her house. What was she doing home from work? Was it possible she wouldn’t notice?

            “Did you arrange that with Jimmy’s sister, or was it just chance?” Vermillion asked me as we watched the mini drama play begin.

            I just responded with what humans would consider a shrug. It’s impossible to explain the invisible realm. As deep as the Bible is, The Good Book is only a glimpse of the depths of God. ‘Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the almighty? (Job 11:7). Even the sharpest people have a dim comprehension of spiritual things. ‘For they see through a mirror dimly.’ (1 Corinthians 13:12)

            “That was fun!” Lexi cooed into Jimmy’s ear. “Hey, do you want to go to a party tonight?”

            Perspectives could be hard to figure out. Twenty minutes ago Jimmy figured that Lexi’s and his age difference wasn’t much. But now, the thought of a party with a group of recent high school graduates would make him feel like a grandpa. “Thanks, but I don’t think so, Lexi.”

            She had climbed off his bike as he made his reply. She leaned in and placed a hand just above his knee. With a low sultry voice, she said, “Are you sure? I’ll make it worth your while.”

            Carnal desire stirred within him. Talk about a subtle, but not so subtle hint. She seemed to stick out her chest which was wrapped in a tight spaghetti strap top. His eyes wanted to feast on the lustful sight, but he glanced toward his sister in the neighboring yard instead.

            Vermillion caused her to focus on the weeds in her flower bed. I tried to have her ear catch her brother’s motorcycle as it pulled into Lexi’s driveway. Vermillion won. But a friend of Lexi’s passed in a car. Vermillion caused a glitch with her radio, trying to distract her from Lexi and her suitor. But right before her eyes diverted to the audio device, she caught sight of her gal pal with the studly fellow and honked.

            Jill Kennon glanced at the noise, and then back to her flower garden. Then her brain registered the familiar sight in her neighbor’s driveway, causing her to do a double take. She saw little Lexi Bennet leaning in close to her brother. Jimmy, wearing a sheepish smile, waved at his sibling.

            Jill stood, faced the couple, and began to march toward them. But instead of using one of her hands to return the greeting, she placed them on her hips. Lexi grinned happily and waved vigorously. “Hi, Mrs. Kennon. I ran into Jimmy at the mall and he was nice enough to give me a ride.”

            “So I see,” she replied with a fake smile. “He is so incredibly nice and thoughtful… Say brother dear, would you mind coming over and help me start my lawnmower? It pulls hard.”

            “I’ll be seeing you, Lex.”

            “I hope so,” she said with a coy smile.

            Did he hear his sister say, ‘No, you won’t.’

            Jimmy started his motorcycle and drove it one hundred feet and into his sister’s driveway. As he walked toward her garage, he said, “It doesn’t look like your lawn needs mowed.”

            “It doesn’t. Can you do me a favor and keep your hands off my young neighbor?”

            “My hands weren’t on her.”

            “Hers were on you?”

            “What can I say?” he grinned.

            “You can say you’ll stay away from my young neighbor. There are plenty of fish in the sea, so please keep away from little Lexi.”

            “Little Lexi is now sexy Lexi,” he joked, wiggling his eyebrows.

            Jill glared at her brother with hands on hips once again. How is it you could love somebody, but often dislike them, she wondered?

            “Come on, maybe I’m looking for love,” he grinned.

            “Looking for love in all the wrong places,” his sister sang the once popular country song. She had a good voice. The grin left his face. Why did he suddenly think of Jenny as she sang?

            “You just made him think of Jenny,” Vermillion declared, then shrugged. “I’m okay if he fornicates with her some more. Lead her even further away from the God she once knew.  But watch this. Guys are so easy to switch from feelings of love to lust.”

            Through his sisters garage window, Jimmy caught movement in Lexi’s back yard. His sister’s eighteen year old neighbor, in the fresh flush of womanhood, walked into her back yard wearing only a tiny red bikini. How did she change so fast? She kicked off her flip flops and lay on a fold out lawn chair. She almost seemed to aim her body at the garage window.

            Jill noticed her brother’s trance and said, “Let’s go in and have some lemonade.”

            “I’m good.”

            “I said lets go inside and have some lemonade!”

            “Yes, master,” Jimmy mocked.

            Jill cleared some newspapers off her kitchen table. I thought about telling Vermillion to ‘watch this’ but didn’t. My job was to minister to souls, not exchange banter with my opponent in the task. A colorful paper fell to the floor, catching Jimmy’s eye.

            He frowned after he picked it up. Prominently displayed was a strange looking creature from Revelation chapter thirteen. It had seven heads and ten horns. Above and below this beast stated ‘Who is the antichrist? Is hellfire a place or an event? Are we living in the end times? Can the Bible be trusted? Do you want to understand Bible prophecy? Please join us for a ten part series at Kennedy High School auditorium.’ Then it listed dates, the first beginning that very evening at 7pm.

            Vermillion looked concerned at first. But then he nodded happily when Jimmy showed his sister the paper. “No don’t,” I petitioned. “Do,” Vermillion countered.

            “What’s this?” Jimmy asked Jill.

            She shrugged. “I don’t know, I found it in my door the day before yesterday. Just something from some religious fanatics I suppose. I meant to throw it away.”

            Jimmy tossed it back onto the table. If his sister thought it was bogus, it probably was. She was a much better person. Although he never knew her to study a Bible, she did religiously put an hour a week in at church with her family. She grabbed the brochure her brother discarded, crumpled it, and tossed it into the garbage.

            “That’s it,” Vermillion beamed. “Good job, Jill.”

            I shrugged. At least a seed might have been planted. The best hope for germination was with Jenny. But it was a precarious situation, what with her pregnancy and all. Not to mention her back slidden state of mind. It was a long shot to be sure.

            That same afternoon, Jenny laid down for a nap. She hadn’t been sleeping good ever since her pregnancy diagnosis. One of the things that kept her up at night was thoughts of Jimmy. She had such remorse about her behavior that drunken night. The way she seduced him. The way he was so hesitant when she threw herself at him in her apartment. She vowed to herself never to drink again.

            She wondered if she wasn’t pretty enough for him, and that’s why he was so hesitant. She had seen some of his girlfriends. They were gorgeous, like they stepped out of a men’s magazine. But that night after Trixie dressed her in some of her clothes, she looked at least close to the girls Jimmy dated, maybe even on par. After all, plenty of other guys noticed. Liquored up men don’t seem to hide their leering.

            So why was he so reluctant when she practically threw herself at him? Actually, no practically about it, she out right threw herself at Jimmy. Then he frowned, groaned, rubbed his face and said her name like a regret. Regardless, he slowly undressed and he became one of two possibilities as the father of her child. She wondered if he slept with her out of some perverse form of pity.

            She rolled onto her side and Vermillion began to give her a nightmare, although it was daytime. I caused a car to backfire and she awoke, lifted her head for a moment, then rolled onto her other side, and muttered ‘Lord help me.’ I blocked a second attempt by Vermillion with a dream of my own.

            Jenny had been absorbed with the negative that happened with Jimmy. In her night vision, although it was day, I had her recall a few of his words when they were reacquainted and then had them echo in her head. “I liked the old Jenny better.”

            The dream gave Jenny the resolve she needed to face Jimmy. Instead of a mini dress that rode high up her thigh and low on her chest, she put on a knee length tan and white gingham dress. Tennis shoes and ankle socks replaced the black stockings and pumps. Instead of poofy hair like an 80’s hair band, she pulled it back and secured it with a hair clip. Instead of makeup plastered on like cake frosting, just a little lip gloss.

            Twenty minutes later, with her heart thumping a little faster than usual, she stood on the steps of the mobile home Jimmy shared with a buddy. Jimmy was laying on his back on his bed, hands behind his head when he heard the knocking. His roommate wasn’t home to answer, but he didn’t feel like getting up. Probably just some type of soliciting.

            His mind was tormented. He kept hearing sexy Lexi say, ‘I’ll make it worth your while.’ Then he would think of his encounter with Jenny Oakley the previous weekend. Every time it made him a little sick. How could he have taken advantage of her like that? He knew she was drunk. She sure had changed, a complete one eighty. She wasn’t who he thought she was.

            Jenny had been the most beautiful girl he had ever known. At a casual glance, she was a plain Jane. But in reality, she had a wholesome beauty. And it was the things that were the opposite of the norm that made her so appealing. Her milky white skin, so feminine and lush, yet always modestly covered, only providing a mysterious glimpse of a calf, ankle, forearm or occasionally a shoulder. Her silky hair was too sandy to call her a brunette, but too dark to be blonde. Her round grey eyes, always so serious, making her cute rather than striking.

            But it was her personality that had made her so compelling, coupled with her loveliness. She was so sweet and unassuming. She had such a quiet dignity and inner strength. He knew she had been teased about the conservative way she dressed. They called her things like Laura Ingalls, or Amish girl. Yet it seemed to roll off of her like a duck shedding water. But apparently it hadn’t.

            How did she change so drastically? That sensible girl, who looked like she walked off the set of the Walton’s or Little House On the Prairie. He thought for sure that she was the type to hold out sex for marriage. Instead, she’s now a party girl who dresses like a stripper and apparently has no problem with one night stands. What a shame, what a waste! But what was he?

            More knocking. He mumbled, “Just go away.”

            He thought of a clothing incident when he shared a lab table with her in science class the last trimester of their senior year. It came with only days left in the school year. A split in her long denim skirt had shifted, and as she sat with her leg crossed over the other, it exposed most of her leg and more than half of her thigh.

            It was much less skin revealed than a cheerleader exposed, yet to him it was more alluring. Why? He supposed because it had been a mystery hidden for almost a dozen weeks. She also looked more lovely than lustful as she concentrated on finals, her soft lips gently nibbling on her pencil.

            He had never known a more beautiful woman than eighteen year old Jenny Oakley. Even more so than eighteen year old sexy Lexi. Yet if the two were walking down opposite sides of a street, probably ten out of ten guys were checking out Lexi.

            Now the twenty-two year old Jenny Oakley was another story. It would probably be fifty, fifty. It all depended on whether a guy preferred a toned Sports Illustrated swim suit model with Lexi. Or if a guy preferred a curvy, sexy stripper type with Jenny. Oh Jenny, why? How could you change so drastically?

            More knocking. When would they go away?

            Something occurred to him. “Hey, maybe it’s Lexi!”

            He sprang from his bed. She could make it worth his while now! Then he wouldn’t have to endure a party with a bunch of teenagers. He peeked out of the window to see just who the knocker was. He reeled back a couple steps when he saw it was Jenny! And she was dressed like the old Jenny rather than the sexpot from last week.

            What was she doing here? He figured she would be more ashamed than he, at least at facing each other again. He had never felt anxiety about facing a former fling until Jenny. He was torn about how he felt. He didn’t understand what he felt. Why did he both want to go back to his bedroom and wait her out, and open the door to see what she had to say? He wondered if she was here for another romp in the sack, or to scold him for taking advantage of her inebriated state? Since she was dressed similar to their high school days, rather than a hooker, probably the latter.

            He went to a closer window to get a better look. Ever so gently he peeled open the curtain about an inch. When he peered out, a wave of anxiety soared through him as her two wide round gray-blue eyes were looking right at his lone eyeball!

            Vermillion laughed as we watched Jimmy. The cackle was as if my opponent was saying checkmate. He felt confident their dialogue would lead to one of two possibilities. If Jimmy encouraged abortion, then maybe that would lead to Jenny ending her own life as well.

            If adoption, Vermillion would brew a stew of emotional support with a main ingredient of lust. This would get them fornicating some more. Then he would somehow get sexy Lexi in Jimmy’s path and cause a terrible triangle. With Jenny feeling so vulnerable, either direction could put her over the edge of despair. It looked like a win, win for my diabolical opponent.

            ‘The devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.’ (1 Peter 5:8)

            But we angels never give up. In other words, it ain’t over till it’s over. Besides, I had some intel that my former friend wasn’t aware of.