Author: Johnathan Embers

ANGELS AT WAR – CHAPTER 15

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 15

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

FOR HE (GOD) KNOWS THE SECRETS OF THE HEART (Psalm 44:21)

            “Human existence is so filled with ironies and contradictions,” Vermillion lamented, but with glee. Talk about contradiction. He then he quoted part of Romans 8:28 as a question. “Do you still believe all things work together for good?”

            The demonic realm knows scripture better than the brightest human being. That’s why the religious world is so fraught with error. Evil forces have expertly used false shepherds to twist scripture. I finished the part that he left off.  “To those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Yes, I do believe.”

            He cackled. “Oh yeah? Which of these urchins is called to His purpose? Jimmy, who has never been more distracted by relationships with the opposite sex? Jenny, who has convinced herself that she is carrying Larry’s grandchild, not realizing he is deceiving her by omission of the truth? Or LucyFr, who was permanently damaged by her rapists?”

            “God is drawing Lucy and she is slowly following. He will heal her when she learns to submit to Him,” I interjected.

            “If, not when. She’s as wrapped up in her mixed feelings about Jimmy as she is about her desire for personal revival. Just look at her face right now. It’s so filled with anguish not even a minute after a whole hour of being enraptured by the Bible seminar.”

            Right as the meeting closed, Jimmy told Lucy he needed to talk to Jenny. But Jenny had bolted, ignoring his petition to talk. He chased after her as she jogged to her car. Lucy gave him the silent treatment as he took her home.

            “See you tomorrow?” he tried as she climbed off the back of his motorcycle.

            She ignored him and walked toward her front door. “Lucy, let’s talk.”

            She continued to ignore him as she reached for the door knob. “Lucy, please.”

            She paused, then turned and walked back to him with fold her arms in front of her. “What’s there to talk about? I’m done being played by you. I’ll take myself to the meeting tomorrow.”

            “Who’s playing who? You know Jenny is, um, sort of my girlfriend. I don’t mean to be a jerk, but you kissing me when she pulled up to my driveway the other day got me into a whole world of trouble.”

            “You kissed me!”

            “You asked me to!”

            “So it’s my fault you complied when you sort of had a girl friend?”

            He frowned at her saying ‘had’ instead of ‘have.’ “I suppose that is a fair point.”

            “I don’t mean to sound full of myself, but you didn’t exactly seem repulsed when you were kissing me.”

            “I wasn’t. It was quite nice.”

            “Well then, if you find yourself without a sort of girlfriend, maybe we could try it again.”

            Lucy turned to go into her home. Jimmy grabbed her hand and pulled Lucy into his arms. “You said yourself I ‘had’ a girlfriend rather than ‘have.’”

            Jimmy was about to put his mouth on hers when he saw how startled her lovely large eyes were. Then he noticed the slight tremor. He gently pushed her away. “Lucy, I’m sorry… I better go.”

            Then she grabbed his hand. “No, don’t. I know you’re not like that. I feel safe with you. It’s just that sudden move grabbing my hand caused a bit of a flash back. Will you hold me?”

            “Of course,” Jimmy said. He grinned at how his chin rested perfectly on top of her head. Her dark curls were soft, silky, and smelled like peach shampoo. His grin vanished when a gray Monte Carlo stopped and he saw the aghast face of Jenny staring at them. Not again! She shook her head and drove away. Jimmy didn’t even try to stop her.

            Although disappointed with Jimmy, Jenny wasn’t all that upset. She had felt immature when she blew off Jimmy’s request to speak after the meeting. She simply decided to swing by his place and nip in the bud whatever romantic inclinations they had going. She hoped to amicably shift their relationship to strictly friends.

            She already felt their romantic possibilities were breached after she found Jimmy’s face connected to Lucy’s. Then she herself severed them completely by sleeping with Larry. She didn’t even understand why she developed a snit toward Jimmy when she had now given herself over to Larry. Maybe because she felt Jimmy started it.

            But did he? After all he tried to give her a car! How humiliated he must have felt when she basically told him to keep it because Larry had given her a better one. Then to add insult to injury, she said I can’t spend time with you because I promised to make dinner for the guy who gave me a more desirable automobile.

            She put her car in reverse. When she stopped in front of the couple, they stood side by side with unreadable expressions. Dumbfounded? Guilty? Apprehensive? Probably all three. She mustered as friendly a voice as she could manage. “Jimmy, can I talk to you for a minute?”

            “Sure,” he said uneasily.

            “I’ll see you later,” Lucy said and quickly stepped toward her front door. But then she covertly stepped aside to eavesdrop.

            Jimmy bent toward Jenny’s open window. “It’s not what you think.”

            She wanted this break up to be amicable. Was such a brief fling even a break up? True, they did participate in the most intimate act two human beings could do. Casual sex was so sleezy. What she had with Larry was much deeper, wasn’t it?

            Now because of that night of reckless debauchery, she could not be one hundred percent sure that Larry was the grandfather of the child growing in her womb. How could she even know the odds of whether it was Jimmy’s or not? What was the chance it was his anyway? One percent? Five percent? Maybe ten?

            She forced a smile. “Oh, what do I think?”

            “I know how it looks, but Lucy has been through a difficult ordeal,” Jimmy told her, but then became careful. He promised Lucy not to reveal to anyone what happened to her. “I was just comforting her.”

            “That’s understandable,” Jenny replied sarcastically. “I’m sure that’s the manner you would comfort one of your buddies if they were troubled.”

            Jimmy stood erect. Man was that ever a fair point! He didn’t know what to say and had no excuse. She let him off the hook. “Look, Jimmy, let’s just be friends. The reality is we just aren’t suited for each other.”

            “What do you mean we’re not suited for each other? We were jellying just fine until Larry entered the picture.”

            “So you figured me being reunited with an old friend gave you license to start kissing with that cute little Betty Boop?”

            “Reunited with an old friend you did stuff with,” Jimmy said, using air quotes for ‘did stuff with.’

            “And that’s why we should just be friends,” Jenny replied calmly. “Okay?

            “I can’t believe you turned out to be the most complicated woman I was ever involved with. In high school you were so simple and unpretentious. Now you’re pregnant and it could be mine, but probably not. I buy you a car, but the friend you did stuff with gave you a better one. I don’t know, this whole situation is just…”

            “I know. And I really do appreciate all you did for me. But I think it is in both of our best interests to go our separate ways.”

            “What about the baby?”

            “Jimmy, it’s only a slim chance it’s yours. If it turns out to be yours, I will be completely cooperative with you being involved in his or her life if you want to be.”

            “Fair enough.”

            “Friends?” She offered her hand with a smile.

            “Friends.” He forced a smile back as they shook.

            “Don’t you love chaos in personal lives, Querida?” Vermillion asked as we watched the seen unfold from the invisible spirit realm.

            He knew very well that I didn’t. So he asked, “Aren’t you gonna try to throw up a road block with the passion over here and the drama over there?”

            “Freewill, Vermillion. You know more often than not, things need to play out.”

            Vermillion was going to set up a devastating scenario for Jenny, but it would ultimately be for her own good. I was more worried for Jimmy and Lucy. Lucy was vulnerable and very drawn to Jimmy. Jimmy was, well, amorous and very attracted to Lucy. I also foresaw that they were gonna participate in mind numbing substances again.

            Although he and Lucy were being drawn by the Holy Spirit, they were both new to deep spirituality and living out Bible truth. They both had sinful issues and habits to break. But that is why I love the hymn ‘Just as I Am.’

            Come to Jesus just as you are, with all your faults. He died to save sinners! You have to begin somewhere, and the foot of the cross is the perfect place. Follow the Spirit of God and He will clean up your life, no matter what sins have you shackled. This is what the book of Revelation is admonishing when it calls for believers to become overcomers. Walking in grace day by day, and learning to behold Jesus to become a changed person.

            Lucy and Jimmy took a step forward at the Bible meeting that evening. But then took a  step back when Lucy produced a slim white cylinder from her purse. “I’m home alone. Do you want to come in and  help me dispose of this?”

            Jimmy thought better of smoking it with her. The Bible meetings were getting through to him about personal reform. But as Lucy looked at him with her big round brown eyes with gold flecks, he thought that she really did resemble Betty Boop and changed his mind.

            When most of it was gone, Lucy started laughing. “Did your girlfriend really call me Betty Boop?” she asked.

            “Former girlfriend,” he corrected. “Yes, she did.”

            She frowned, but giggled. “I don’t know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult.”

            “I’d say compliment. Betty Boop is probably the most attractive cartoon woman ever. But Daphne from Scooby Doo could give her a run for her money.”

            They both giggled some more, then Lucy bit her lip. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

            She went to her room and put on a short tight dress with high heels. Then she grabbed a comb and parted her black curls down the middle. She went back out to the living room. Jimmy’s face became serious. He stood in awe for several seconds before he stepped toward her.

            Over at Larry’s house, more indiscretion was taking place. He still wasn’t home from Des Moines. But Jenny had swung by her place and picked up some lingerie. She put it on and went to Larry’s bed and waited to surprise him. But the surprise was to be on her.

            Not even ten minutes after she dressed provocatively, she heard a key in the front door. She heard noises in the kitchen, then the microwave binged. She lost patience and went to surprise him in the kitchen. She saw a body stooped over rummaging in the refrigerator. “Hey big fella, I’ve been waiting for you.”

            The person jumped, startled, and turned toward Jenny. It was Devin! “What are you doing here?”

            “What am I doing here, what are you doing here?” Devin demanded. “And dressed like that!”

            “I… Um… Was waiting for your D… I was waiting for Larry.”

            “You were waiting for my dad dressed like that? Are you and my dad…”

            Jenny bit her lip as she blushed three shades of red.

            “Unbelievable! You and my dad!”

            Jenny became defiant. “He’s stepping up and being man. He’s gonna be a father to the baby you wanted me to abort.”

            “Is he now?” Devin seemed to mock. “That’s interesting. So did he tell you that I’m not the father of your baby?”

            Jenny frowned. “You do know I didn’t get an abortion.”

            “Whether you did or didn’t is irrelevant. I’m not the father.”

            “Devin, you don’t understand, there’s only a slim chance the baby is the other guy’s. You know, given the timing of my monthly cycle.”

            “I’m afraid you don’t understand. I had a vasectomy before you and I ever, how should I put it? Co-mingled.”

            “I don’t understand.”

            “After my dad set us up, I wanted to make sure I didn’t have kids. So he got me an appointment with a doctor friend of his since it is unacceptable for a childless guy to get snipped.”

            “So why did you offer to pay for an abortion even though it wasn’t yours?”

            He shrugged. “A payoff I guess, so you would keep my sexuality a secret.”

            “I’m getting out of here!” Jenny declared.

            “Don’t go on my account.”

            “Why are you here anyway?”

            “My condo got painted today, and Larry said I could spend the night.”

            Jenny went to the bedroom, scrambled out of her lingerie and got dressed. She opened the front door to flee but stopped in her tracks. Both she and Larry looked at each other with surprise on their faces. Devin walked up behind them chewing on a burrito he had heated in the microwave. Larry looked from Jenny to his son, and then back to Jenny. “I thought you had to work tonight.”

            Her eyes narrowed, and her jaw clenched and unclenched. “And I thought Devin was the father of my child.”

ANGELS AT WAR – CHAPTER 14

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 14

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

YOU WILL SEEK ME AND FIND ME, WHEN YOU SEARCH FOR ME WITH ALL YOUR HEART (Jeremiah 29:13)

            “Ho, ho, ho, wasn’t that interesting, Querida?” Vermillion said as we watched Jenny speed away from Jimmy.

            He petitioned her to stop, but it was in vain. A minute earlier she had driven up to Jimmy’s driveway and found him in a tight lip lock with Lucy. Since the night she had gone to bed with him a little more than a month earlier, he had now made time with two women besides herself.

            “The stresses of life are another useful tool, my former friend,” Vermillion declared.

            “Sure seems like a long way from Lucifer’s original argument that God’s government was unjust and restrictive,” I told him.

            “What do you mean?”

            “You know what I mean. There was perfect harmony in heaven until iniquity was found in Lucifer. Then the infection spread to you and a third of the angelic host. Instead of repenting, you all rebelled, forcing our Heavenly Father to remove you. Then you spread the infection to humanity. Now you go about with fiendish pleasure trying to destroy or at least disrupt human lives.”

            “God had no right to cast us out. He was afraid of Lucifer’s superior leadership.”

            “So this sinful world, with all its pain suffering, all of its wars and strife, all of the poverty, hunger, and violence is superior leadership?”

            “It would have been different if we had been allowed to stay.”

            “Different how? Your hate and rebellion was becoming unstoppable.”

            “Sinful human beings have no right to take our place in heaven. Once again, you call it hate, I call it justice.”

            “Disrupting these lives is justice? Possibly destroying them?”

            “That and it is just plain fun,” he replied laughing wickedly. Then he began to stir, like a witch at a cauldron. “Lust, passion, jealousy, insecurity, what a stew in the brew!”

            Vermillion was mainly referring to Jenny in that moment. I normally try to refrain from dialogue with the opposition, but I did not like the direction this was going. He knew as well as I did that Devin wasn’t the father of the child Jenny was carrying, Jimmy was, and he was successfully driving a wedge between them.

            We watched as Jenny drove the car Larry had given her toward his home. Her mind’s eye saw Jimmy and Lucy kissing. Then she recalled Larry and her accidently catching the corner of each other’s mouths as they exchanged a friendly goodbye kiss that night after dinner. Was it an accident? Was it a sign?

            She recalled their conversation over dinner. Larry expressed regret over pushing her off onto his son. But back then, as their relationship turned more and more romantic, he said he felt it was still too soon after his wife’s death. Not to mention their twenty plus year age difference. Jenny countered with it had been a year since Linda had passed away. By the end of the topic, she had concluded that Larry had sacrificed his own desires for Jenny so his son could have her.

            Yes, this is meant to be, Jenny thought. Although Jimmy was movie star handsome and twenty years younger than Larry, he was clearly a philanderer. She figured his new found religious interest was just a passing phase. Plus, Larry was likely the grandfather of her child, or so she thought. But what if he isn’t? Would Jimmy want to be involved in his child’s life?

            She told herself that she was counting chickens before they were hatched. She needed to see Larry since all signs pointed to him. He had regret over giving her to Devin. The corners of their mouths touching as they kissed goodbye, giving her a longing for the time when their kisses were more intimate. Then there was finding Jimmy kissing Lucy the way she had wanted to kiss Larry.

            Larry’s kind gray-blue eyes peered at Jenny over reading glasses. A Tom Clancy novel was in his left hand. His home was so cozy and comfortable compared to Jimmy’s bachelor pad trailer. What a wonderful, secure man Larry would be to share a life with and to raise her child with. “Jenny, what are you doing here? Is everything alright?”

            “That remains to be seen,” she said, giving him a reassuring smile. “Our kiss goodnight wasn’t satisfying enough. I stopped by so we could do it right.”

            Before he knew what was happening, her arms looped around his neck and her mouth was on his.

            “Well, Jenny, that sure was a pleasant surprise. But I’m afraid I don’t understand. A half hour ago you were off to see your fella.”

            “Well, I found my fella kissing another woman.”

            “Ah, I see,” he said, deflating a little, even though his right hand still rested on her lower back. “So I’m a rebound then.”

            “Is recovering from a flat, fast relationship a rebound? I did have a huge crush on him in high school. And I was infatuated with him the last few weeks. But my feelings for you are much stronger and longer. I admit, I resented you for a long time for dumping me and setting me up with Devin. But now that I fully understand the reasons… Well.,,”

            “Well what?” he asked hopefully.

            She laughed then became serious. “When we were sort of involved, I made it pretty clear that I was ready to take things to another level. Instead you gave me to another man, albeit your son. Not only did I resent it, I felt a humiliated. Now we’ve repaired the breach, and my presence here should be a pretty clear signal.”

            Larry stared at her dumbfounded. His conscience and lust for her were doing battle. There is an element of truth to the old slogan, ‘The devil made me do it.’ But the demonic realm can only tempt, it cannot compel. The same is similar for my side. We can convict the conscience, but it is up to the individual as to whether they follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit.

            Larry knew something that Jenny didn’t. He knew who the father of her child was, and it wasn’t his son. He knew his son was unable to have children. He also knew that his son was gay, and he had hoped to change him by pairing him with sweet Jenny.

            After Devin decided he was interested in a relationship with Jenny, he insisted that his father arrange a vasectomy with a doctor friend of his. He absolutely did not want kids, ever. He also demanded his father not tell her he was ever gay. Now that he and his boyfriend had broken up, he was adamant that it was only a passing phase.

            Jenny put her hands on her hips and aimed a coy smile at Larry. “Let me put it this way. When I told you I was ready to take things to the next level and you turned me down, that was strike one. When you manipulated me into Devin’s arms, that was strike two. So right now, tonight, the game is in your hands Larry. Do you want to strike out, or hit a homerun?”

            Back at Jimmy’s trailer, after he had watched the taillights of Larry’s gift to Jenny disappear, Lucy said, referring to their kiss as Jenny drove away, “Sorry about that.”

            He looked at her. The mischievous smile she wore made him think her comment was disingenuous. He shrugged. “It is what it is.”

            “So what is it?”

            “Your guess is as good as mine,” he replied and then stepped toward the door to his home. “I need a beer.”

            “I thought you didn’t have any.”

            “I don’t, they do,” he said referring to his roommate and his poker buddies.

            “I want one.”

            “You’re not old enough.”

            “Just don’t tell anyone.”

            “Alright, but as long as you leave your moped here overnight.”

            “My trailer is only like two football fields away.”

            “That’s plenty of distance to do yourself damage after half a joint and beer or two.”

            “Two? Okay, deal, I’ll leave it here. But you have to walk me home.”

            “Whatever,” Jimmy waved a dismissive hand and disappeared into his trailer.

            Half a minute later, Lucy was zoned out, staring at Jimmy’s door. All of sudden, pounding footsteps, heaving breathing, and then a voice. “Hey.”

            Lucy let out a bloodcurdling scream. Jimmy burst out of the door and flew down the steps with a can in each hand. “Lucy, what’s wrong?”

            “Dude, it’s just me,” Jimmy’s brother declared, raising his hands in a stick em up position as Lucy clutched and grabbed at Jimmy. He put his arms around her and felt her shaking like a leaf. His first thought was that she was overreacting. But then he recalled the trauma she had endured in Florida. He kissed the top of her head as he held her tight.

            He noticed a couple of neighbors that came out of their doors. “Everything is fine. My brother snuck up on my girlfriend here and scared her.”

            “I didn’t do it on purpose,” Jake Stetson declared to all listening as a tall, lithe woman came running up wearing gym shorts and a sports bra.

            “What was that scream?” Jake’s girlfriend asked, breathing hard, hands on hips and long red hair pulled back into a tight ponytail.

            Jimmy said, “Jake ran up and terrified um, ah, Lu…”

            “His girlfriend,” Lucy interrupted as he felt her relax. She looked up at him and frowned. “That’s what you called me.”

            “It slipped,” Jimmy replied sheepishly. Then to his brother, he asked, “What are you guys doing here?”

            “We’re out for a run,” Jake replied as he scowled at his brother who was lighting a cigarette. “You know, we’re trying to be healthy, unlike you sitting around smoking and drinking. Anyway, we started looking at that book you gave us the other day. Ginger and I were wondering if those meetings you talked about are still going on?”

            “They are,” Jimmy answered. “There’s another one tomorrow. As a matter of fact they’re gonna talk about America in Bible prophecy.”

            “Can we go?” Jake asked.

            “Of course, it’s a public event.”

            “Do they charge?”

            “No, they only ask for donations. Low pressure though. And they were giving those books out for free, so I grabbed half a dozen to give out to you, Ginger, and Jill, and threw them a twenty.”

            “What’s with the title?” Ginger asked. “‘The Great Controversy?’ What controversy?”

            (Writer’s note: This book can be purchased on Amazing Facts website. Their paperback title goes by ‘The Rise and Fall of Jerusalem.’ There are also free Bible study guides you can do on line. Plus plenty of other inexpensive materials.)

            “From what I gather, it’s talking about good vs. evil. Christ vs. Satan. Did you read the chapter ‘The Origin of Evil’?”

            “We did,” Ginger said.

            “It doesn’t look like these Bible meetings are keeping you from your evil,” Jake scolded mildly, as he watched his brother take a sip of beer and then a drag on his cigarette.

            “To each his own, Stud Muffin,” Ginger told Jake.

            “Did you actually come here to lecture me, Stud Muffin?” Jimmy asked with a grin.

            “Thanks a lot, Pumkin,” Jake told Ginger, then he turned to Jimmy. “I’m just trying to figure out  how it was my feral brother, rather than our straight laced sister, got me interested in something Bible related all of a sudden.”

            “Life tiz a mystery, Jacob. How about we go sit on the deck and discuss the mysteries of the universe? And how one becomes a Stud Muffin.”

            “Oh, I think you already know that,” Ginger said a flirtatious grin, causing Jake to squint at her.

            Several hours later and four miles away, Jenny awoke when she felt Larry sit on the edge of the bed, with a cup of coffee in his hand. Sunrise was peeking through the cracks of the window. “Good morning, Angel.”

            Jenny blinked sleep from her eyes, then smiled dreamily up at him. “Good morning.”

            He kissed her forehead. “Listen, I’m golfing with some old friends in Des Moines. I’ll be gone all day. You’re welcome to whatever is in the fridge or cupboards. There’s coffee in the pot. Stay as long as you like. Actually I hope you’re still here when I get back, but I’ll understand if you’re not. So when you leave make sure you lock up.”

            “I will. I have to work this evening.”

            “Okay, I love you, Honey,” he told her, leaning down and kissing her mouth.

            “I love you too,” she replied and then immediately remembered that she and Jimmy had expressed those very words only days ago. Apparently they didn’t mean them. Did she and Larry?

            “Poor little Jenny is confused,” Vermillion said with a mocking tone. “Just wait until Larry’s dark secrets come to light. Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.”

            “I guess you’d know about deception,” I said. “You and your cohorts are experts.”

            “We are, indeed, Querida, and it’s been a joy instructing Larry. He masterfully captured Jenny into his web. I cannot wait until Jenny finds out the truths he has concealed. I can’t believe he thinks he will get away with it.”

            Jenny couldn’t get back to sleep, so she got up and poured a cup of coffee. She opened the curtains in the bedroom, then stepped back toward the bed. She stopped as she noticed a book on Larry’s desk. She recognized it from the Bible prophecy seminar those first couple nights. ‘The Great Controversy.’ She wanted something to read so she shrugged, picked it up, propped a pillow against the head of the bed and began to read.

            The merriment left Vermillion’s countenance. “Did you arrange for her to see it?”

            I did something similar to a shrug.

            ‘The Great Controversy’ was not only a book of religious history, but a book that taught prophecy. She read some of the later chapters first. After about an hour she wondered if she had been too hasty in following Larry’s advice to blow off the Bible prophecy seminar.

            She went to the beginning of the book. Jenny was an avid reader and began to quickly devour the religious history, starting with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. She read about the dark ages, and the papal persecutions which lead to the reformation. It was early afternoon and she had become so absorbed with the material that she hadn’t eaten or showered. After she did both, she read a little while longer.

            She took a nap, and when she awoke she realized that it was less than an hour before her shift at the restaurant. She wasn’t feeling up to it. She never called in sick, yet she had covered shifts not her own countless times due to others calling in. She decided she wanted another evening with Larry now that their relationship had taken a dramatic shift. He would be so surprised! So she picked up the phone to call the restaurant.

            At 6:30 Larry still wasn’t back from Des Moines. On a whim she decided to go to the Bible prophecy seminar. Then she would come back and surprise Larry. She went home, changed and made the auditorium a minute or two after they started the meeting.

            Jimmy sat with Lucy, his brother Jake, and Jake’s girlfriend Ginger. Jimmy noticed the ever so subtle noise of the auditorium door opening after the doors had been shut. Out of habit when he used to turn to find Lucy coming in, he looked behind him and toward the doors. He watched Jenny take a seat in the same area Lucy had a few times. What was she doing here? How strange!

            When he first came to the meetings he was sitting with Jenny, and Lucy was sneaking in late. Tonight he was sitting with Lucy and watching Jenny sneak in late, and probably occupying a chair Lucy had been in before. He felt like he was in an episode of ‘The Twilight Zone!’

ANGELS AT WAR – CHAPTER 13

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 13

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

THROUGH THE LORD’S MERCIES WE ARE NOT CONSUMED, BECAUSE HIS COMPASSIONS FAIL NOT. THEY ARE NEW EVERY MORNING. GREAT IS YOUR FAITHFULNESS. (Lamentations 3:22, 23)

            “Poor Jimmy,” Vermillion mocked. “So new to love and it happens with two women simultaneously. Yet one is likely pregnant by another guy, and the other just related an ugly story he will never forget. Not only the words of the horrific tale, but the tremble of her body with the snot and slobber coming from her pretty face slimming onto his shirt. Look at his body language and how much he’d like to push her away.”

            “But he isn’t pushing her away,” I responded. We watched as he hugged her tighter and kissed the top of her head. She pushed away and looked at him. He pulled his t-shirt up and wiped the tears from her eyes, the mucus from her nose, and saliva from her chin.

            “I’m sorry,” she lamented. “I’m so disgusting.”

            “No big deal, it’s just an old t-shirt” he said with a gentle laugh.    

            “I don’t just mean your shirt.”

            “What happened to you wasn’t your fault.”

            “How can you say that? I drank more than I should have. I flirted and teased inappropriately.”

            “And that gave those guys the right to violate you?”

            Lucy just looked at him with a bewildered expression. So he continued, “I’ve actually been hot and heavy with women before and they have said no. And I respected that no means no. So I’m not gonna excuse those guys even a little bit.”

            “You actually told Lexi no,” Lucy said. He nodded. So she asked, “Was that hard?”

            “It wasn’t easy,” he admitted. “But on the other hand, it was easier than being told no.”

            “Was that the only time you told a girl no?”

            He thought of Jenny and the night she seduced him. He had tried to tell her no for her own sake, but his desire for her overcame his will to behave. “Not exactly. But Lexi was the first time I followed through.”

            “For what it’s worth, it really, really impressed me.”

            He shrugged.

            “I don’t know if I was more pleased because I was jealous,” she continued. “Or because you seemed to have integrity.”

            “You were jealous?” he asked with both a frown and smile.

            “Yes,” she said utterly serious. “I’ve had a bit of a crush on you ever since you moved into this mobile home court last year. Then Lexi started talking about you and how much you were frustrating her. She had never had a guy play hard to get before.”

            “In all honesty, until a few days ago I didn’t know your name. But you and your moped do seem familiar. But now that I know you, I have a bit of crush on you as well.”

            Jimmy frowned. Should he be telling a girl that he had a crush on her when he had a girlfriend? Did he have a girlfriend? Should a girlfriend be making dinner for another man? The other man was likely the grandfather of the baby she was carrying. The other man was a guy she did “stuff with” before she became involved with his son. How was it his love life was never more complicated? He was trying to do right, but everything seemed all wrong.

            “Really? You have a crush on me even after what I told you?”

            “Like I said, it wasn’t your fault. But even if you felt that you played a role in what happened. If I’ve learned anything from these Bible meetings, it’s that God can forgive anything.”

            “Would you believe I’ve never even kissed a guy?”

            “You hang out with Lexi’s gang, and you haven’t dated or fooled around?”

            “The boy that lived next door to me before we moved into the mobile home court has been my boyfriend for almost two years. He’s a year older than me.”

            “You’ve had a boyfriend for two years and you’ve never kissed?”

            “He’s gay, in the closet, and I’m his mask. He’s been with his boyfriend even before we started pretending. It’s worked for me as well. No one pressures me to fool around with guys. They assume I’ve been having regular sex with my so called boyfriend.

            “I see.”

            Lucy’s eyes looked startled. “Opps! I just told you another secret!”

            “You never said his name.”

            “It wouldn’t be hard to find out. Lexi or Amy or any of them could tell you who he is.”

            “Who would I tell?”

            “Your girlfriend,” she replied, but Jimmy waved a dismissive hand. She gave him a little shove. “You need to tell me a secret.”

            “Oh, come on, what, are we in junior high school?”

            She took hold of his hands, and he was surprised at how natural it felt. “Please. Surely a guy like you has some secrets.”

            “A guy like me, what’s that supposed to mean?”

            “I happen to know through Lexi’s infatuation with you, that you were a player. That’s one of the reasons she felt frustrated by your rejection. It was like, what’s wrong with me that I’m not good enough for a womanizer like Jimmy Stetson?”

            “I resent that implication.”

            “You earned it. Now tell me a secret.”

            “Jenny’s pregnant.”

            She dropped her hands from his as a stunned expression came over her face. “Your girlfriend is pregnant?”

            He explained the scenario of him becoming reacquainted with Jenny and how she came to be with child.

            “Wow! So the baby likely isn’t even yours, but you’re gonna treat it as if it is?”

            “We’ll see,” he said with a shrug. That had been his original plan, but so much seemed up in the air now. His old lifestyle. The new direction he seemed to be heading with his newfound interest in the Bible. Larry nudging back into Jenny’s life. Jenny not seeming all that interested in what they were learning at the Bible meetings. And now this infatuation with Lucy. This desire to protect her, which felt similar to his desire to protect Jenny.

            Lucy looked over his shoulder into the distance. She wore a vacant expression. Then her brown eyes with gold flecks took on a glassy, watery appearance. Jimmy waited and she eventually looked at him. “Can I tell you another secret?”

            “Sure,” he replied quietly.

            “Those guys in Florida,” she said and then paused.

            She seemed to be waiting for a response, so he replied, “A huh.”

            “They didn’t use protection.”

            His first thought was an STD. But when the tears spilled from her eyes, he knew what was about to come out of her mouth. “I got pregnant.”

            He uneasily stuffed his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. “I see… When is it due?”

            “There is no due date. I got an abortion.”

            She put her face into her hands and began to sob. He reached to pull her in for a hug but recalled her saying ‘don’t touch.’ But then she said ‘no, do hug me.’ He opted for words instead. “It’s okay.”

            “It’s okay? No, it’s not okay! How can you say getting pregnant by your rapists is okay? How can you say killing your baby is okay?”

            “Poor choice of words,” he replied. “I didn’t know what else to say.”

            “That’s because I’m vile, disgusting and dirty.”

            “No, you’re not!” he said more aggressively than he intended, But it was the right move. She stopped crying and looked at him with wonder. “You were the victim of a violent crime. Don’t give me you teased them and flashed them. Guys go to strippers all the time and don’t track them down and rape them. Remember what the pastor ended with tonight? God’s forgiveness cleanses us.”

            He was encouraged when she nodded slightly. She sat against his Chevy Chevette and began to rummage in her small purse. She pulled out a joint and lit it, inhaling deeply, then coughed.

            “Here we go, Querida,” Vermillion began to boast. “This is where the advantage shifts to me. Get them off track before they get on track.”

            “Maybe,” I admitted, and then paraphrased Philippians 1:6. “But He who began a good work in them will finish it.”

            “Well, my former friend, I’m gonna abort that plan just like Lucy aborted her baby.”

            “They’ve already tasted and seen that the Lord is good.” (Psalm 34:8)

            “Ah, but life is bitter. And complex. Look over there, Querida. Larry is kissing Jenny on the cheek as he leaves. Oops, he caught the corner of her mouth. Hee, hee, hee. With her blush and shy smile, he thinks she caught the corner of his mouth on purpose. Hee, hee, hee. Now he’s kissing her full on the lips. Oh what a good girl, gently pushing him away like that. But her bashful giggle and fluttering eyelids just told him, not now… But maybe.

            “Now let’s see how loosey goosey Lucy and Jimmy get with that little stick of rolled up weed, Querida. Now that Larry’s gone, Jenny wants to make sure everything is good between her Jimmy. Are you gonna stop Jenny? Are you gonna stop Lucy and Jimmy?”

            He knew that I couldn’t stop them. Distract, inspire, impress, yes things like that. He also knew in most ways he had the advantage. His side controlled the wide gate, that most go through. My side controlled the narrow gate which sadly fewer in number find. (See Matthew 7:13, 14)                       

            But when a person submits to God, they are an unstoppable force. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. But the key is submitting to God. (See James 4:7). Unfortunately, for the moment anyway, Lucy and Jimmy were in the process of shutting the door on the light.

            Jimmy had only occasionally smoked marijuana; the last time being more than a year ago. By Lucy’s coughing, he could tell she wasn’t overly experienced herself. He intuited she had only recently started smoking pot to escape the emotional pain from her spring break ordeal.

            She extended the wacky tobacky to Jimmy. He took it and sat next to her. As a cigarette smoker he did not cough after taking a drag. Inebriating substances are a big time deception. The early euphoria is often replaced with addiction. As one Guns-n-Roses song proclaimed, ‘I used to do a little but a little wouldn’t do it so a little got more and more. I just kept trying to get a little better, said a little better than before.’

            “Where did you get this?” Jimmy asked. “You are a feisty little gal, but this does surprise me big time.”

            “It’s a secret. I can’t betray my dealer,” she replied and then giggled. Then he giggled, then they laughed so hard they were rocking two and fro and back and forth. After a few minutes of this, they settled into a mellow zone out for several more minutes.

            Then Lucy hoped up suddenly and declared, “I better go.”

            Jimmy arose as well. “Going to the meeting tomorrow?”

            “A huh.”

            “Why don’t you swing by, and we can ride there together on your moped.”

            This idea gave them another round of laughing. Then she said completely serious, “Maybe you could pick me up.”

            “I better not, I have a girlfriend.”

            “Do you?”

            “I don’t know.” This comment caused yet more chortling.

            “Since you don’t know, would you mind kissing me?”

            “I certainly wouldn’t mind, but I probably shouldn’t.”

            She nodded and he noticed a look of sadness spread into her countenance. He knew what she was thinking. I’m vile, I’m dirty, I’m disgusting. So he said, “One friendly kiss wouldn’t hurt though.”

            He was six foot one compared to her five foot four. So he leaned down and put his lips to hers. He intended it to only be a second long peck. But her arm draped over his neck as he began to pull away. So he kissed her again, and her right arm joined her left. Then his hands went around her waist, and they stayed connected for a minute or two before Jimmy was only vaguely aware of a car approaching.

            The gray Monte Carlo stopped at his driveway, drawing his full attention. He broke the lip lock with Lucy and looked into the surprised face of Jenny, her mouth agape with astonishment.

ANGELS AT WAR – CHAPTER 12

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 12

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

WE KNOW THAT ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THOSE WHO LOVE GOD, TO THOSE WHO ARE CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE (Romans 8:28)

            Vermillion looked pensive as we watched the young couple leave the seminar. Lucy was on her Yamahopper moped and Jimmy on his muscle bike, a Yamaha Vmax. The contrast made me smile, but what brought me even more joy was the spiritual journey the young pair had undertaken.

            “The Lord can often turn even the worst situations into good,” I told Vermillion. “Beauty out of ashes.” (Isaiah 61:3)

            “We’ll see,” Vermillion replied. “I still believe in old faithful, the god of lust. Do you really think Jimmy is gonna be able to keep his pants on until he marries someone? It might even happen tonight. He’s pretty intrigued by Lucy’s short shorts.”

            “I beg to differ,” I countered. “After what your side did to her in Florida, she is too broken to give in to even a handsome charmer like Jimmy. Besides, Jimmy seems to be turning his charm over to truth.”

            “Well, my former friend, you should know how volatile and fickle the human condition is. Lucy may have been a virgin before those boys violated her, but she was already conceding her plan to remain pure until marriage. She had decided as long as she was in love, it would be okay. Even before love, she figured it would be okay to do ‘things’ for a guy she was getting close to.”

            “That may be true, but now her newfound interest in the Bible is overturning her worldly mindset.”

            “Sure it is,” he cackled. “Like I said, the human condition is fickle. As awful as the worst day of her life was, and although it resulted in a gallon of tears, time heals most wounds. Now that the brunt of the trauma has worn off, she will now figure that there is now no purity to hang on to. And who better to experience that with than a guy she has had a crush on for some time.”

            “On the contrary, she will realize that she is a new creation in Christ. Behold all things are new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

            Vermillion laughed maliciously. “They aren’t there yet, my former friend. Do you know what is in her purse, Querida?”

            “I do,” I admitted.

            “And you’re not gonna try to divert where they are headed?”

            “They need to get to know each other, Vermillion. And they have free will. You can’t have love without it. But with it comes risk.”

            “What about Jenny?” Vermillion asked with a smirk. I didn’t reply and he added, “Gotta love a love triangle, Querida. Even better, a quadrangle.”

            We watched as Jimmy followed Lucy on their two very different two wheelers. It was two and a half miles from the high school auditorium to Jimmy’s mobile home park. Jimmy frowned with puzzlement, as Lucy guided her moped into the left turn lane to enter the park. He pulled alongside of her. “Where are you going?”

            “Home, where do you think?”

            “I live here.”

            “I know. Or did you forget the incident with you and Lexi?”

            “Of course not. How could I forget getting a call from Lucifer?”

            She scowled. “I’ve decided I don’t like being called that.”

            “Fair enough.”

            “I live in here, too. How do you think we called you so fast after we spied through your window?”

            “Lexi said you guys probably went to the gas station.”

            She rolled her eyes. “Lexi’s such a phony. She’s embarrassed to admit to a guy that she has a friend that lives in a trailer park, while at the same time trying to get it on with a guy who lives in a trailer park.”

            The signal turned to a green arrow and Lucy throttled her moped. Jimmy shot past her in a second, then hit his brakes. “Since you live in here too, why don’t you be neighborly and stop by for a beverage?”

            They pulled into his two stall driveway, parking behind his pickup truck and new old car.

            “Don’t you have a girlfriend?”

            “I’m inviting you over for conversation. I might have a girlfriend, but I can still have a friend that is a girl, can’t I?”

            “That’s between you and her,” she shrugged. “So you’re not gonna try to seduce me like you did Lexi?”

            “She seduced me.”

            “What if I seduce you?” she asked with a teasing smile.

            “I guess I’ll have to resist.”

            “What if you find me irresistible?”

            Jimmy frowned but smiled. “Well, maybe this isn’t a good idea after all. It seems you’re the one that finds me irresistible.”

            “Don’t worry, I’m joking. I find you resistible.”

            They went inside. Lucy took off her sneakers, sat in a Lazy Boy recliner and stretched out her legs. Jimmy opened his fridge and looked inside. “There’s 7up, orange juice, milk, or water. What’ll you have?”

            “No beer?”

            “You’re not old enough.”

            “That hasn’t stopped me before.”

            “Sorry, I don’t have any,” Jimmy replied. The previous weekend was the first time as an adult that he hadn’t had an adult beverage. Now, the last few days were the first time he had no beer in his refrigerator since he had lived on his own.

            “I’ll just have water,” Lucy said. “I didn’t really want a beer; I was just testing you.”

            “I don’t need any tests from you; life already gives me enough.”

            They talked about the seminars, both of them excited about the Bible truths they were learning. Then they delved into their religious histories.

            “I have none,” Jimmy said. “We didn’t even do the twice a year Christmas and Easter thing like some of my friends did. My parents ran a concrete construction company, and I had an uncle who owned a bar. His tavern was their sanctuary come the end of the work week. So I never really thought about God as a kid.”

            “So you were like an atheist by default?” Lucy asked.

            “I guess,” he shrugged. “I believed in the super natural, but to me, it was all a big mystery. I thought all religion was a joke. From money grubbing televangelists to people bowing to the Pope and kissing his ring, to the fire and brimstone theology my sister embraced a few years ago. I guess it was her conversion that first got me considering the God question. Only I didn’t like the answers until I started going to these meetings at the high school. Especially the one debunking eternal torment.”

            “Yeah, that was huge for me, too,” Lucy said. “I grew up with religion. I even went to a Christian school through the ninth grade. I was always torn over hell. I couldn’t reconcile what I read about Jesus in the gospels with your ‘gonna burn forever if you don’t believe.’”

            Jimmy studied Lucy for a long second. “How did you end up in a clique of snooty snobs?”

            Lucy almost spit up a swallow of water as she laughed. “Tell me what you really think of my friends.”

            “I just did.”

            She shrugged. “I guess that makes me a snob, too.”

            “No, not really, you don’t seem to fit with them.”

            “Funny you should notice that. I never did feel like I fit with them.”

            “So how then?”

            “A few reasons. Amy and I have been friends since the first grade. She and I went to that same Christian school.”

            “Yet she doesn’t seem to be a believer,” Jimmy interjected. “That one and only meeting she came to didn’t seem to resonate with her.”

            Lucy shrugged. “To each her own.”

            “What else?”

            “I’m the wild one of our group. Like it was my idea to spy on you and Lex. I behaved outrageously to feel like I fit in. I guess you could say I was a show off, and it worked. I’ve even been known to, ya know, flash guys.”

            “Flash?” Jimmy frowned. “What do you mean?”

            “Gimme a break. Jimmy Stetson doesn’t know what a flash is?” She mimicked lifting her shirt. She felt a wave of anxiety over the memory of last time she did that four months ago in Florida.

            “Okay, I get it,” Jimmy said. “It’s just that you don’t seem the type.”

            “Why is that?” she asked with a coy smile. “Because my chest doesn’t try to burst out of my tops like Lexi’s?”

            “No, I suppose because I’ve only seen you at Bible meetings. Plus you’re not as flashy as the others. No pun intended with what you just told me.”

            “You mean I’m the ugly duckling of the bunch?” she asked with wide eyes. Lucy knew full well she was cute.

            “On the contrary, I think you’re the most beautiful.”

            “Careful, you have a girlfriend,” Lucy said with a sultry smile.

            “Do I?” Jimmy asked as a genuine question.

            “Ho, ho, ho,” Vermillion chortled. “You see, my former friend, in this world lust rules. It is an unstoppable force.”

            “Not when love can conquer all when embraced,” I countered as Vermillion’s countenance fell. Not because of my words, but what was arriving in front of Jimmy’s trailer that was about to shift the mood between the couple. He was hoping their banter would lead to the bedroom. But he would settle for four rowdy guys unsettling her.

            It was Friday. When Jimmy’s roommate’s  work week ended at five that afternoon, he and three coworkers headed to the bar. After a half a dozen rounds, they were feeling no pain. Nor were they feeling much restraint. Their voices were loud and their laughter boisterous as they burst through the door of the trailer for an evening of poker.

            Jimmy considered the rowdy young men harmless. As a matter of fact, only a couple weeks ago, he likely would have joined their party. So he was a little surprised to see the frightened look on Lucy’s face. Especially after she had admitted to being the wild one of her clique.

            “Sorry, man,” Jimmy’s roommate said. “I didn’t know you had a hot date tonight.”

            “No big deal,” Jimmy replied.

            “Hot’s an understatement,” one of his roommate’s friends declared with an alcohol fueled declaration. “You can join our little party, honey.”

            “Is that her moped?” another one asked. “You gonna give her a lesson she can’t learn at school, Stetson?”

            Now Jimmy noticed Lucy begin to tremble. He felt the urge to start throwing punches but went with the instinct to get Lucy away immediately. He took hold of her hand. She had a flash back of an aggressive hand taking hold of hers in Florida with her fingers feeling like they were breaking. She jerked her hand from Jimmy’s and almost shrieked, ‘Let go of me.’

            But before the words came out, she looked into Jimmy’s eyes. She saw concern and compassion. Although she was breathing hard, his presence made her feel safe. Thank God she didn’t cry out! But she did whisper, “I need to go.”

            “I’ll walk out with you,” he said.

            As he began to follow Lucy out of the door, his roommate put a hand on his shoulder. “Sorry, man. Not only for interrupting, but the guys and their big mouths. You know how they are when they have been drinking.”

            “Yeah,” Jimmy replied mildly. Then he humbly regretted his own potential to be disrespectful while in his cups.

            Lucy made a beeline toward her moped. Jimmy stepped quickly after her. “Lucy, I’m really sorry about that.”

            She felt embarrassed by her terrified reaction to the crude guys. She forced a smile. “No, I’m sorry. I’ve heard guys be even worse than that before, it’s no big deal. It’s just…”

            She didn’t finish so he asked, “It’s just what?”

            “Never mind,” she replied with a forced laugh, but began to tremble again.

            Jimmy took hold of her hand and she let him. She felt so drawn to him, but at the same time felt like she might have a panic attack. “Talk to me, Lucy.”

            She shook her head, then looked into his eyes. “Have you ever been forceful with a girl?”

            “No, never,” he said immediately.

            “Have you ever talked crude like they just did?”

            “Maybe when I was drunk, but it was a mutual banter between me and the woman. I don’t recall anyone ever getting upset.”

            She took a few deep breaths and began to calm. She hugged herself, and Jimmy instinctively tried to pull her in for a friendly hug. She recoiled saying, “Don’t touch me.”

            “Sorry,” he said mildly, putting up his hands.

            “No, please do,” she said and walked into him.

            He wrapped his arms around her and could still feel slight tremors emanating from her body. She started to cry but clung to him tighter. He just quietly held her.

            After a couple minutes, she eased away from him. “I feel I need to tell you something. But only if you can promise not to tell another soul.”

            “Okay.”

            She suddenly turned a little playful, even though her eyes were red rimmed. “Cross your heart and hope to die?” she said as she made an X over her chest.

            He did likewise with an X and said with a small smile, “Stick a needle in my eye.”

            “Four months ago Amy and I went to Florida for spring break with her older sister,” she began, and then stepped into an embrace with him again. “I can’t look at you when I say this… My mom and Amy’s parents thought we went on a camping trip…”

            She paused a long time, so he said, “I did spring break in Florida once.”

            She began to whimper. Then Jimmy went rigid after she said, “The night before we came home, four guys raped me.”

ANGELS AT WAR – CHAPTER 11

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 11

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

BEHOLD, YOU DESIRE TRUTH IN THE INWARD PARTS, AND IN THE HIDDEN PART YOU WILL MAKE ME TO KNOW WISDOM (Psalm 51:6)

            “Yes!” Vermillion bellowed. “Look at his face, Querida!”

            It had been three days since Jimmy had seen Jenny, although they did have a few phone conversations. She had also been absent from the prophecy seminars ever since Larry had suggested they stop attending. Although she seemed to have a legitimate excuse, as her job as a waitress often had her working evenings, it had been in the back of Jimmy’s mind that Larry had influenced her.

            But she had this night off and Jimmy had a big surprise for her. She said she had a big surprise as well. But Jimmy wanted to go first. Was he gonna propose marriage? Her brain scrambled with how she should reply. He led her from her apartment down to the parking lot. He spread his hands at a 1979 Chevy Chevette.

            “What do think?” he asked, waving a hand at the compact car. “It’s all yours. A little old lady owned it. It is eleven years old, but it’s cherry. And I don’t just mean the color. It only has a little over fifty thousand miles. It’s in mint condition.”

            Jenny stared at it with wide eyes and a gaped mouth. Jimmy thought she was overwhelmed with surprise. He began to sing the Prince song ‘Little Red Corvette.’ But he changed Corvette to Chevette.

            “You bought a car for me?” she asked. He frowned at her stricken expression. He thought the stunned look she first exhibited would turn to joy. “Jimmy, you shouldn’t have.”

            “No worries,” he said. “It didn’t even cost me a third of my savings.”

            “Can you return it?”

            “Why would you want me to return it?”

            “This is so awkward,” she said, breathing hard, like she was about to have a panic attack. She put her face in her hands.

            “What is it?”

            She pointed to a gray 1985 Monte Carlo. It looked like it had just rolled off the assembly line. “Larry gave me Linda’s car just a couple hours ago. Signed the title over to me and everything.”

            “I see. I was gonna sign the title over to you as well,” Jimmy said. She noticed that he had said WAS.

            “He hadn’t sold it out of memory for her,” Jenny explained. “It’s mostly been in the garage the last few years. Since she and I had been pretty close, he said giving it to me was the perfect solution to free up space in his garage, as well as help me with my vehicle dilemma. It only has sixteen thousand miles.”

            “Left, right, left, right,” Vermillion cackled. “Now watch, Querida, the knockout punch is being thrown by the old the green eyed monster.”

            “Okay then. I guess you won’t be needing the Chevette.”

            “Oh Jimmy, it was so sweet of you though!” She hugged him tight and kissed his mouth. “I’m sure you could sell it for what you paid for it.”

            He shrugged. “I’ll keep it. It will get much better gas milage than my truck… So instead of leaving it here, why don’t you drive the Chevette to my place and I’ll follow you in my truck. Then we can head to the seminar.”

            “About that,” she said and winced. “I won’t be able to go with you tonight.”

            “How come? I thought you had the night off.”

            Her wince increased to a cringe. “I do, but I’m cooking dinner for Larry.”

            And that is when Vermillion told me to look at Jimmy’s face.

            “You’re kidding,” Jimmy said quietly, but with a bit of a growl.

            I cringed and Vermillion cackled some more.

            “Jimmy, please understand. When I said how can I ever thank you to Larry, he said ‘just cook me dinner.’ He specifically wanted this chicken bake I used to make for him.”

            “Well, our being couple didn’t last that long, did it?”

            “Jimmy, don’t be like that! I told you Larry is more like a father figure to me. Very much like an uncle.”

            “That’s twisted, Jenny. If he’s a father figure, or like an uncle, then how is it your relationship became… how did you put it? Affectionate. And you two did stuff. Well Jen, you don’t do the stuff you suggested with a father or uncle.”

            She pressed a hand to her forehead. “I admitted our relationship was complex. But the reality is, he is not my father or uncle.”

            “Exactly, he’s more like an ex. Now you’re cooking dinner for him, instead of going out with me.”

            “Jimmy, he bought me a car.”

            “So did I!”

            “I’m sorry… I guess he got to me first.”

            “Yes he did… I need to get going, Jenny.”

            “Jimmy, please. After tonight I will do my best to avoid Larry.”

            There is no neutral ground in the universe. Every square inch, every split second is claimed by God and counter claimed by Satan. As Jimmy was being demonically assaulted with jealousy, I ran an attitude of patience through his mind. A mindset of selflessness into his conscience. As new as he was to Bible based faith, he was learning to follow the Holy Spirit.

            Jimmy smiled, nodded, and said mildly, “We’ll talk tomorrow.”

            Vermillion frowned at the abrupt change in attitude. We watched as Jimmy and Jenny returned his two vehicles to his home. Jimmy swung a leg over his Vmax. “Do you mind if I take you back to your place on my motorcycle?”

            “Not at all,” Jenny grinned.

            Vermillion didn’t watch as the young couple exchanged a quick kiss goodbye. He had focused his attention on Lucy Freya before Jimmy and Jenny had climbed onto his motorcycle. It was a hot day, and he inspired Lucy to put on tight gym shorts and a small halter top. Right about the time Jimmy started his bike with Jenny on the back, Lucy kick started her Yamahopper moped and headed to the seminar.

            This fifth night of the seminar was entitled ‘A Colossal City In Space.’ Until this evening, Jimmy had always arrived before Lucy. But as he pulled into the parking lot, he saw her walking into the auditorium. As he entered the building himself, he watched her take her usual seat in the back.

            “That’s it, Lucy, Jimmy’s not in his usual seat,” Vermillion began a play by play. “He must not be here. You won’t be able to keep an eye on him. Why do you find him so appealing anyway? Especially with what happened to you. But you do. So much so, you want to go sit in his usual seat. Row eleven and seat A, right on the end. Keep an eye on this, Querida, lust is a beautiful, helpful thing.”

            Jimmy watched as Lucy got up and went to the chair he had occupied for the previous four events. He followed her down to the middle of the auditorium. She had only been seated a couple seconds when he squatted next to her and grinned. “You’re in my seat.”

            She looked startled at first but smiled back. “I didn’t see a reserved sign.”

            “I don’t want to cause a scene, so you just better move right now,” he said menacingly.

            Although he was clearly joking, the smile left her face. Teasing and flirting had gotten her into big trouble four months ago. It was an ordeal that would leave a permanent scar.

            “Hey,” Jimmy said easily. “I was joking.”

            “I know,” she responded, forcing a smile. “I just had a weird thought is all.”

            She hoped he wouldn’t ask about the weird thought, which was actually a nightmarish recollection. But he simply said, “I guess I’ll just have to sit in seat B.”

            He scooted past her and sat. She crossed one leg over the other and Jimmy watched intently. You could say beings like Vermillion and I give food for thought to people, as well as protection on my side and destruction on his.

            So Vermillion used distraction with Jimmy’s thoughts. Is it possible Lucy has even nicer legs than Lexi? Apples and oranges. What about Jenny’s legs? Apples, oranges, and bananas. Jenny was so feminine, Lexi was so athletic, and Lucy was in between. Compare their chests, that halter top isn’t very modest.

            Look at her eyes, Jimmy, I coaxed. Turn your head, Lucy. For the first time, Jimmy gazed directly into Lucy’s light brown eyes. He squinted. “You have amazing eyes. I hadn’t noticed those little gold flecks.”

            “Not surprising,” she said with a coy smile. “When you seem to be looking elsewhere.”

            “Just want to make sure you’re not crowding me and that big hammer of a foot doesn’t come down on mine.”

            “Hammer foot!” Lucy replied incredulously, but with a little smile as she bobbed her left foot, covered by a white Reebok running shoe. “I wear a size seven, that’s hardly a hammer foot.”

            What was she doing flirting with a guy? She hadn’t directly flirted with a guy since that awful night four months ago during spring break in Florida. Her playful banter with Jimmy quickly morphed into frustration. She stomped on his foot. The sudden surprise of her impulsive action, coupled with pain, almost made him cry out. But aware of his surroundings, he merely grunted.

            He looked at her incredulously, but she looked as surprised as he did. Her eyes were wide and her hand covered her mouth. Just above a whisper she said, “I’m so sorry, Jimmy, I didn’t mean to do that so hard.”

            “Well you did,” he replied and began to rise from his seat. “I can take a hint; I’ll sit somewhere else.”

            “Please don’t go,” she said, spontaneously grabbing his hand, surprising herself. What puzzled her even further was that she held it tightly even after he sat back down. He looked at their joined hands, and then into her large, soulful eyes with confusion. Her gaze seemed to be pleading some type of need from him. But for what he didn’t have a clue. They hardly knew each other, yet it somehow seemed they had known each other for a long time.

            Who was this strange, yet intriguing girl who was known as LucyFr? Part of him wanted to flee, while part of him wanted to protect her. Sort of like Jenny. But protect from what? What was happening to him? He had never really felt the urge to play protector with females before. Just the opposite. He was a heartbreaker. Love em, but when they started to get to close, leave em.  

            But now he felt the need to play protector with a second woman in less than a month. What did this mean? What was he to do? What was his relationship with Jenny? What was this dynamic he felt with Lucy? Could he or should he be friends with a girl he found so appealing?

            He had noticed Lucy talking with the pastor’s wife for a second time after the meeting the previous night. Only this time she seemed to be wiping her eyes as if crying. Now tonight she was clutching Jimmy’s hand almost like he was pulling her from a raging river. Only the river was life, and they were both making their way to the living waters. (Revelation chapter 22 and John 4:10)

            The meeting started. As the pair began to learn about the new heaven and the new earth in Revelation chapter twenty-one, Lucy’s hand slipped from Jimmy’s as she began to take notes. Next they studied about the city of God, the New Jerusalem. As with the previous nights, they left the auditorium with a sense of wonder at the Bible truths they had learned.

            I couldn’t get a read on what my counterpart’s plan was. I detected concern over Jimmy and Lucy’s interest in Bible truth. I knew he was using jealousy in the case of Jimmy’s feelings for Jenny. I was countering with her delicate femininity and gentle nature, coupled with her pregnancy dilemma. But the more Jenny let Larry become involved in her life, the more my efforts were slipping away.

            When it came to Lucy, Vermillion was falling back on old faithful when it came to Jimmy. That was simply animal lust. As familiar with a variety of ladies as Jimmy was, he had never met anyone quite like Lucy. What a combination of both cute and sexy. Add in the spices of feisty, fun loving, as well as mysterious, and it brewed quite a stew of agitated hormones in the young man.

            But I made Jimmy aware of Lucy’s vulnerability. I caused him to detect her hidden pain, that faraway look in her eyes which would hopefully cause him to respectfully keep his distance. I was also trying to establish a bond between them with a newfound love of the Bible.

            “I don’t get what you’re up to,” Vermillion said, not knowing whether I was pushing Jimmy toward Lucy or Jenny. I only knew that, with favorable conditions, either woman he chose would be instrumental in becoming a one woman man.

            “Fair enough, I don’t get what you’re up to,” I replied. Not knowing if Larry would continue to be in Jenny’s ear about the seminars. Or if Jimmy’s jealousy would get out of control. Or if Lucy’s scars would limit or eliminate her growth.

            “You know it’s a no win situation,” Vermillion added. I made no reply, so he continued. “There’s gonna be pain and rejection of what you call truth no matter where this all goes.”

            We watched as Lucy and Jimmy left the auditorium. She stopped at her QT 50 Yamahopper moped. His Yamaha Vmax, one of the most powerful production motorcycles of its time, was parked ten feet away. Lucy teased, “Wanna race?”

            “As long as you give me a head start,” Jimmy joked.

            “So where’s your girlfriend been?” Lucy blurted.

            “She works most nights,” he replied. The subject of Jenny between them felt strange.

            “So she is your girlfriend then?”

            He shrugged. “Yeah.”

            “So you were cheating on her with Lexi?” Lucy asked, and all teasing was gone. Her demeanor was one of disapproval.

            “No,” he replied and then tried to explain his relationship with Jenny, and what happened following his situation with Lexi.

            “Wow, so she’s pregnant, and you might be the father, but most likely you’re not? And this Larry guy, who gave her a car, who she’s cooking dinner for tonight is the grandfather? And they had been sort of lovers in the past, but not really?”

            “That pretty much sums it up.”

            “That should be written into a soap opera.”

            “Tell me about it.”

            “I just did,” she said with a giggle, and then frowned. “You two seem like an odd fit.”

            “Who is a good fit for me? Lexi?” he asked with a bit of sarcasm.

            “No,” she said as she kick started her Yamahopper. She would have roared off, but it was a moped, so she began to put, put away. Over her shoulder, she said, “Me.”

ANGELS AT WAR – CHAPTER 10

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 10

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

MY PEOPLE ARE DESTROYED FOR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE (Hosea 4:6)

            “That’s quite a stew that’s gonna brew, Querida,” Vermillion said gleefully.

            “Not surprising,” I replied. “I’ll take it though. Any time people are exposed to Bible truth, it’s a good thing. It’s expected that your side will work over time to distract. After all, you don’t need to focus very much on dens of iniquity because they’re already in your web.”

            “You do espouse truth, my former friend.”

            “And you deceit.”

            “You call it deceit; I call it poetic justice.”

            We were watching people file into the second night of the Bible prophecy seminar, hosted by Pastor Kirk Samson, AKA Captain Kirk. Jenny and Jimmy took seats in about the middle of the high school auditorium, by an aisle. Jenny stiffened when she saw Larry enter the building. Half a minute later, her toes curled when their eyes locked and he smiled. Then he walked toward them.

            “Jenny, hi, good to see you again,” Larry grinned. His close cropped hair was gray with plenty of white sprinkles. Jimmy guessed him to be around fifty. He was of medium build, and neither fat nor thin. He reminded Jimmy of his dad’s accountant.

            “Hello, Larry,” Jenny answered tightly. She didn’t know how to introduce Jimmy. Despite expressing love for each other, it somehow seemed presumptuous to call him her boyfriend. Thankfully Jimmy handled the awkward situation for her.

            Extending a hand to Larry, Jimmy said, “I’m Jimmy Stetson, Jenny’s boyfriend.”

            “Well, nice to meet you, Jimmy,” Larry responded with a pleasant, albeit skeptical smile.

            “I used to babysit for Larry and his wife,” Jenny said.

            “Yeah, you told me yesterday,” Jimmy replied. Then he said to Larry, “I saw you two talking.”

            Larry nodded and Jimmy invited, “Let me scoot down a seat and you can join us.”

            Jenny pursed her lips and ever so slightly shook her head. But Jimmy got up to make room, so she did as well. After he stood, he froze for a couple seconds. Coming at him from the opposite way of Larry was Lexi Bennet’s friend, Amy, followed by a second dark haired young lady. Amy wore a playful smile. “Well hello, Jimmy. Fancy meeting you here.”

            “Hey, Amy,” he replied unenthusiastically. “What are you doing here? You don’t strike me as the Bible type.”

            “Oh, and you do?”

            “Fair point, I guess.”

            “Actually, to be honest, we wanted to see what was going on here that caused a guy like YOU to reject a GIRL like Lexi.”

            “What do you mean?”

            “I mean after you dropped Lex off, she was acting all glowy, like you two had an amazing time. But then by the time I took her home as the designated driver, she was pretty drunk and started to spew venom about you getting all religious on her and refusing to get it on. So, like I said, we were curious and wanted to check it out.

            Amy was wearing a short tan skirt, light blue leg warmers with matching pumps. Her oversized t-shirt hung provocatively off of her shoulders. She wore a light blue headband and had about a dozen bracelets on each arm. With her short dark hair and full mouth, she looked a lot like Pat Benatar.

            Lucy, Amy’s friend, seemed a bit of an outlier with the clique of rich, just so girls. Her silky black hair hung just past her shoulders, without mouse or hairspray. She wore no makeup and her only jewelry was a pair of hoop ear rings about the size of quarters. Her old, faded jeans were not name brand. Ironically, she was wearing a Pat Benatar concert t-shirt.

            “Oh, by the way, this is my friend, Lucy Freya,” Amy said and then giggled. “I think you know her as Lucifer.”

            “Boo,” Lucy said and then smiled teasingly at him.

            “I didn’t realize the devil was so cute,” Jimmy shmoozed, as he thought Lucy looked an awful lot like Winona Ryder. She playfully batted her large brown eyes at him and he grinned.

            Then he turned to look at Jenny. He shouldn’t be flirting now that he had a girlfriend.

            But her head was close to Larry’s, and they chatted intently about something in whispers. There was a dynamic between the two that he couldn’t put his finger on. At first she had seemed somewhat repulsed by his presence, yet now they spoke with each other like close, dear friends. Larry patted her knee! Then she took his hand briefly and gave it a squeeze! Jimmy felt a little pinch from the green eyed monster.

            The meeting started and Amy took a seat next to Jimmy. Larry stayed put next to Jenny. As we watched unseen, Vermillion chortled and did something like rubbing his hands together with anticipation. “Do you suppose it will be hard for everyone to concentrate? Do you suppose Larry getting a foot back into Jenny’s life will cause trouble?”

            “We’ll see.”

            My adversary was correct that drama lay ahead. It was gonna get ugly, but there were also gonna be surprises. There would be setbacks mixed with the spiritual progress. Pastor Samson got the seminar started with a question. “Does God really keep the devil on payroll as superintendent of hell measuring out the punishment of the lost?”

            The preacher went on to explain, using numerous scriptures, that the doctrine of eternal torment is diabolical, unbiblical and misunderstood by most. He concluded with Ezekiel 33:11. ‘As I live says the Lord God I have no pleasure in the DEATH of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you DIE?’ In summary, the wicked die and they are not alive eternally in a place of fiery misery.

(For a much more in-depth study of this subject and many more, please go to Amazing Facts. org. They have excellent study guides you can do right online absolutely FREE!)

            Vermillion and I were watching close as the five left the auditorium. Larry was shaking his head and putting doubts into Jenny’s mind. He had been an elder in the church she began attending as a preteen. As Amy and Lucy were walking toward their car, Amy was in Lucy’s ear, saying the hour long seminar was boring and God was dead anyway.

            Jimmy was walking in light. He didn’t grown up in a religious household. But he observed others, especially his sister’s conversion a few years previous. His observations had led him to believe God was a monster, solely due to the doctrine of eternal torment. He was excited to realize his assumptions were wrong! The longing for something deeper in life he began experiencing a few months ago just took a giant leap forward.

            My opponent’s attention was primarily focused on Jimmy. I knew he was devising ways to side track him. I knew he was going to use the person who had become dear to his heart, Jenny. With demonic satisfaction, he began to pound a wedge in their budding romance the very next night.

            The third night of the seminar was entitled ‘The Lost Day of History.’ The subject was the Biblical Sabbath. Much to Jimmy’s chagrin, Larry joined them once again. This time he was  invited to sit by Jenny. The seat next to Jimmy was vacant as Amy was a no show. However, right before the meeting began, Jimmy noticed Lucy enter the auditorium and sit in the back.

            Pastor Kirk Samson, affectionately known as Captain Kirk by those close to him, did a masterful job enlightening the crowd of what the Bible taught about the Sabbath. He had shown from history how the main religion from the fourth century did the most damage when they attempted to change the Sabbath from Friday sundown until Saturday sundown to Sunday.

            As the trio of Jimmy, Jenny, and Larry left the seminar, Jimmy caught sight of Lucy Freya talking to an older woman that Captain Kirk had introduced as his wife at the first meeting. He thought to give her a wave, but the two women were so engrossed in discussion, Lucy didn’t even look his way.

            “I think we need to stop coming to these meetings,” Larry declared.

            Jimmy felt a surge of irritation, helped along with a dose of jealousy. He didn’t understand why. Larry was an average looking, middle aged man. But there was some dynamic between he and Jenny that Jimmy couldn’t put his finger on. “Suit yourself Larry, but Jenny and I will be back here at seven tomorrow. Lord willing that is.”

            “How about that Vermillion?” I said, not as a taunt. I wanted him to give me his perspective and reveal as much of his plan as possible. He loved to talk, loved to gloat. “That was the first time in Jimmy’s life that he said, ‘Lord willing.’”

            “Well, if you’re keeping score, Querida, of the five last night, two are out already with Amy and now Larry. Jenny is waffling but leaning towards Larry’s reasoning. Then you got Lucy and Jimmy. Right now they seem to be excited about truth and following your side. But ours is often a waiting game as you know. They both have issues and they’re human nature will ultimately be their downfall. Then the score will be five for us to a big fat zero for you.”

            Jenny didn’t say anything, but Jimmy perceived that she was uncomfortable. Larry continued, “Look, I’ve been around the block a few times. Clearly these folks are religious fanatics. Every normal Christian knows that Sunday is the Sabbath. What he was referring to is the Jewish Sabbath.”

            “Did you even listen to the man?” Jimmy asked. “The Sabbath was instituted at Creation before there were even any Jewish people. Plus he gave examples of other languages that Sabbath is a derivative of Saturday. Like in Spanish, Saturday is Sabado.”

            “The Sabbath was changed to Sunday in honor of the resurrection,” Larry tried.

            “I see you still have the notepad they handed out with the free Bibles,” Jimmy said. Then he asked, “How much did you write down?”

            “I didn’t need to write anything down,” Larry said before testily adding. “I’ve heard this type of rhetoric before.”

            “Well, I took two pages of notes just tonight. The fourth point Pastor Samson made was baptism is the ritual that honors the resurrection, not Sunday. The sixth point was Emperor Constantine making Christianity a legal religion in the fourth century. With it a lot paganism entered the church, including an attempt to change the Sabbath to Sunday. The history of Sunday as the Sabbath originated from sun worship, not honoring the resurrection. The Bible says the Lord does not change (Malachi 3:6).”

            Jimmy looked at his notes. “Constantine got started what Daniel prophesied of in Daniel 7:25.”

            “Look, this is apples and oranges. You can and should worship God every day of the week,” Larry proclaimed.

            “But there’s only one day of the seven that God blessed and sanctified,” Jimmy said, then looked at his notes. “The Sabbath is also right in the middle of the Ten Commandments.”

            “There ya go,” Larry said. “Don’t you see that that Pastor was putting you under the law. We are saved by grace. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

            Jimmy was still grappling to understand all this information. He looked at his notes again. “Yes, but why did Jesus say if you LOVE Me keep my commandments?”

            “Because following Him is important. But the law is a guide, not a rule. We are under the new covenant, and that so called pastor is trying to put people under the old covenant.”

            “Is that right? So under the old covenant they were apparently called the ten commandments, but under the new the ten suggestions. Is that what you’re saying?”

            Larry stopped at his Volvo. His jaw clenched before he sighed and said, “Look, you are new to Christianity. I was an elder in my church for more than a decade. You need what is known when referring to scripture as milk, you aren’t ready for meat. You are attending a very dangerous seminar where they are starting you out on tough, chewy, overdone meat that is outdated. I suggest you keep away. Go to Jenny’s church where the love of God is proclaimed. Not a lot of fanciful doctrines and conspiracies.

            “No offense, Mr. Vargus, I may be new to Christianity, but when it comes to the fourth commandment, God said to remember. I could care less if you say we can forget.”

            “Okay,” Larry laughed sarcastically. “You go ahead and keep the Sabbath. You can sit around and smoke those cigarettes in your pocket while you’re waiting for the sun to set. Maybe have a few cocktails while you’re at it.”

            Jimmy glanced down at the pack of Winstons in his shirt pocket. He was suddenly speechless, feeling a bit ashamed. Larry actually felt bad for the snarky comment. He extended a hand. “Look, for now let’s just agree to disagree.”

            Reluctantly, Jimmy took his hand and they shook.

            “That was an interesting dialogue, Querida, don’t you think?” Vermillion declared.

            “I thought Jimmy handled himself extremely well for how new he is,” I replied.  But I was concerned about Jenny. In particular, her new relationship with Jimmy. New often spells fragile, and fragile is what this clearly was. Vermillion knew it too.

            “Watch this, my former friend,” he said. “Three words from Larry and only one from Jenny is about to throw a very wicked blow from the green eyed monster.”

            Fallen beings cannot read minds. But they are expert at body language and manipulating circumstances. Larry turned to Jenny, “Call me later.”

            “Okay,” she replied meekly.

            Although Jimmy’s pickup truck was still on loan to Jenny, he drove them back to his place. He felt like slamming the door when they got in but controlled himself. He reached for his pack of cigarettes, but Larry’s comment mingled with pride caused him to withdraw his hand in frustration.

            “Poor Jimmy could really use a cancer stick right now, Querida,” Vermillion taunted. “Withholding at this particular time is only gonna make him more aggravated with Jenny.”

            I remained silent as I braced myself for an awkward drive home. Jimmy wasn’t even backed out of his parking spot when he said, “So, you’re gonna call Larry later, huh?”

            “Maybe,” Jenny replied quietly. “But probably not.”

            “Why don’t you tell me more about Larry? First I get the vibe that you wanted to avoid him. Then you end up acting all chummy, whispering to each other and what not. Then tonight you wave at him and invite him to sit with us again.”

            “You invited him first, last night.”

            “Just trying to be polite. So help me understand. Why were you reluctant to speak with him twenty five hours ago, but now you’re gonna call him tonight?”

            “I said I wasn’t decided about calling him.”

            “You told him ‘okay’ when he gave you the order.”

            “What was I supposed to say, ‘no Larry, I won’t?’ He and I had a relationship.” Jenny said and immediately regretted the word relationship and sought to correct it. “You know, I mean, we were close friends at one time.”

            But the damage was done. “What kind of relationship?”

            Jenny took a deep breath and sighed. “Jimmy, I never had a father, my mother was a single parent. I started babysitting for the Vargus’s when I was fourteen. They quickly became like a second family. Linda was like an older sister, and Larry was a father figure. Then Linda got sick and died a month before I turned eighteen. Larry and I were both devastated. Long story short, we were a consolation for each other and spent quite a bit of time together over the next couple years.”

            “So he was a father figure, not a romantic figure.”

            “Not really.”

            Jimmy snorted. “What’s not really supposed to mean?”

            Jenny winced. “He was never like a real boyfriend or anything, but our relationship did evolve into something, you know, affectionate in nature.”

            “You mean sexual.”

            Jenny winced some more. “Sort of.”

            “Sort of? Either you did or you didn’t. You led me to believe that Devin guy was your only partner.”

            “Technically he was. Like I said, my relationship with Larry was complicated. Like I said, it evolved slowly. Hugs started to coincide with kisses on the cheek. Kisses on the cheek became kisses on the mouth. Kisses on the mouth became kissing sessions, and you know, for lack of a better word, exploring. But then when we were on the verge of, you know, doing what makes babies, he ended things.”

            “He ended things!” Jimmy responded incredulously.

            Jenny became defiant. “Yes, he ended things. I was in love with him. Linda had been gone almost two years by the time it got to the point of making love.”

            “Making love,” Jimmy said with a disgusted look on his face. “With that dumpy middle-aged man.”

            “Yes, he’s middle-aged. But he’s not dumpy, just because he’s not the stud you are. And you know, you’re quite the hypocrite.”

            Jimmy’s jealousy and anger retreated substantially with Jenny’s feistiness. He had never seen this side of her. With a neutral tone he replied, “Am I?”

            “Yes, you are. You’ve bedded dozens of women. I’ve given you zero harassment over the fact. I’ve been intimate with two guys before you. I’m sorry that one of them being twenty-two years older than me grosses you out. And although he is not a tan muscular stud, he is distinguished, thoughtful and caring. He also, in my opinion, is handsome.”

            “I’m sorry,” Jimmy conceded.

            “Okay,” Jenny said meekly. Then added, “Thank you.”

            They were quiet for a minute before Jimmy inquired, “If you don’t mind, tell me about the transition from Larry to Devin.”

            Jenny cringed inwardly at how she came to know the man who was likely the father of the child growing in her womb. But she felt she needed to get the explanation over with. Especially since it seemed Larry was subtly trying to get a foot back into her life. Was she letting him?

            “This is gonna sound weird,” Jenny warned him. “Really weird as a matter of fact.”

            “Go for it, I’m braced,” Jimmy replied, then wondered if that was a lie.

            “So Larry sort of set me up with Devin. He introduced us anyway, and suggested we, you know, should go out.”

            “That is weird,” Jimmy agreed.

            “That’s not the weirdest part.”

            “Yeah?”

            “Yeah. You see, Devin is Larry’s son from his first marriage.”

ANGELS AT WAR – CHAPTER 9

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 9

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

KEEP YOUR HEART WITH ALL DILIGENCE, FOR OUT OF IT SPRING THE ISSUES OF LIFE (Proverbs 4:23)

            Vermillion watched with satisfaction as Jimmy and Lexi’s clothes came off. But as the couple climbed onto Jimmy’s bed, Jimmy’s phone on the nightstand rang. He reached for it, but Lexi stopped him by saying, “Don’t answer it.”

            She was right. Filled with lust and carnal passion, he had subconsciously extended his arm toward the device as it rang. But at eleven o’clock at night it was probably a drunk buddy looking for a ride. Or a friend telling him about some hot chick that was asking for him at the bar. But he already had a hottie, and she was in his room wearing only her birthday suit.

            After several rings, the answering machine answered the call. A female giggled and then said, “Hey there, it’s Lucifer. We see you.”

            Jimmy’s head whipped toward the phone so fast he could have gotten whiplash.

            “We like the picture on the wall of dogs playing cards,” the voice added and then giggled again.

            Jimmy’s eyes turned to the painting on the opposite wall of the window of canines playing poker. Then his mind returned to the Bible prophecy seminar a few hours earlier. One of the main focuses had been the rebellion in heaven instigated by Lucifer, an anointed cherub, who was then cast to the earth and became Satan. He also thought of Jenny, the young lady who had accompanied him to the meeting. He suddenly felt an overwhelming feeling that he was betraying her. Why?

            Lexi got up to shut the bedroom curtains. She shamelessly stood for a few seconds in front of the window before giving them privacy. “Sorry, my friends were just pranking me. They probably only spied on us for a minute and then went to the gas station down the block to call. We’ve done this to each other before. Now where were we… Hey, why are you getting dressed?”

            “This just ain’t right,” he replied.

            “It’s no big deal. Trust me, you have nothing to be ashamed of at all. Besides they probably saw us before, you know.”

            “It’s not that. This was sign. It had to be.”

            Vermillion nodded. “Slick move, Querida. How did I not see that coming?”

            “Because you were so focused on focusing them on carnal passion.”

            “It ain’t over till it’s over,” my opponent declared as he contemplated possible moves.

            “What do you mean it’s a sign?” Lexi demanded. “My friends were just playing peeping Toms and then called to gloat about it.”

            “I mean getting a call from someone calling themself Lucifer,” he said and then explained about the seminar he had attended earlier in the evening.

            “Oh please,” she whined. “That was just my friend Lucy Freya. Ya know, LucyFr. It’s just a nickname. Trust me, she’s not a fallen angel.”

            Then Lexi’s eyeballs looked at the ceiling. She giggled and said, “Well, maybe.”

            Lexi went to him and tried to wrap her arms around his neck. He gently yet firmly removed them. “I’m sorry, Lexi, I truly am.”

            “Like, come on, it was just a prank.”

            “It’s not just that. This may sound weird, but I’ve been reading some books about getting close to God the last couple months. Then this seminar I went to tonight. Something is happening. For the first time since I’ve been an adult, I didn’t have a drink on a Saturday night and now I, I…”

            “You what?”

            “I don’t feel like having sex.”

            “So, like why? Do you think I’m fat?”

            “No, no, no! Not at all. You’re stunning. Like I said, I’ve been getting to know about God.”

            “You’re right, you are weird. I thought you were so cool, like a modern James Dean,” she said as she began to get dressed. “A little advice. It ruins the mood to bring up God when you’re about to get it on.”

            “Yeah? Why is that?”

            “Because God and sex don’t mix.”

            “They do when you’re married,” he heard himself say and then frowned.

            Vermillion looked at me and I saw concern on his countenance. “I never thought I would hear Jimmy Stetson say a thing like that.”

            “The Holy Spirit is working, and he’s following.”

            “Well, I’ll just have to do something about that, Querida. For some reason he is drawn to that less than spectacular wench, Jenny Oakley. So I’ll tap into something prevalent in most males, like the tendency toward jealousy. I’ll divert the draw he feels with the fact that she is going to have another man’s baby. I’ll also have Larry brought up. Between the two, he will realize the little angel he knew in high school was actually a façade.”

            I silently thanked him for revealing his plan. However, you can’t trust a fallen being. We both watched as Jimmy took Lexi back to the pool party on his motorcycle. They weren’t nearly as enthralled with each other as with the first motorcycle ride. Lexi noticed her friends take notice as the pair pulled up on Jimmy’s motorcycle.

            As annoyed as Lexi was by Jimmy’s rejection, her friends would have no clue. As a matter of fact, due to their playing peeping Toms, they assumed the couple had paired in the most intimate fashion. Being aware of this, Lexi put on her sweetest smile, contradicting how she actually felt. “I hope we’re still friends.”

            “Of course,” Jimmy replied with his own smile, relieved in the change from her demeanor of hostility.

            “Great,” she said and then kissed him on the lips. She ran a hand through his wind tossed hair, squelching the desire to yank it. “Prove it by kissing me now.”

            He leaned in and complied. The she wiggled her fingers goodbye at him and sauntered off. He helped sell the little show for her friends as he lingered, watching her tan legs walk away from him. Between her soft lips and the sight of her movements, he felt a wave of arousal. Had he really kicked her out of his bed? What was happening to him?

            He started his motorcycle and drove away. Vermillion and I fought a battle in his head as he rode. I wanted him to go home and process his thoughts, analyses what he learned, and recall his conversation with Jenny. Then call her in the morning. Vermillion caused him to feel restless and discontented. So he ended up going to his favorite bar.

            Although he lit a cigarette before he entered, I made him feel a distaste for the haze of smoke that filled the room. The noise also grated his nerves compared to the peace he felt on the quiet deck at his home talking with Jenny.

            He noticed Marsha Beloit eye him seductively. He had bedded her a few times and knew he could tonight. She wasn’t as smoking hot as Lexi, but the name Lucifer wouldn’t pop up like it did with the girl he had just dropped off. But yet it just did! For I had put the realization there.

            Vermillion countered with arousal and fickleness. Marsha did look good in that little black cocktail dress. After all he could use sexual release after his time spent with Lexi. What was he thinking turning her down anyway? A man had needs. He was just being superstitious.

            No, I contradicted. A man has desires. Lexi looked hot in her bikini, Marsha looks sexy in the tight, tiny dress, but Jenny looked beautiful. The long, conservative dress, her hair back in a clip, and the small glimpse of a shapely leg as crossed it over the other. The tennis shoes with the little ruffle on her ankle socks compared with the three inch heels Marsha was wearing.

            “What can I get you, Jim?” Dale, one of the bartenders asked.

            “Oh, nothing Dale… I’m not feeling so good.”

            “Oh well, on to plan C,” Vermillion said with something humans would consider a shrug.

            He gave Jimmy the urge to drive by Jenny’s apartment. He felt so restless and discombobulated, he ignored my push to just go home. He noticed Jenny’s bedroom light was on. In 1990, cities were littered with pay phones, and there just so happened to be one across from Jenny’s apartment. He called.

            Jenny stared at her wall, trance like. Although she was as still as a mannequin, her mind was going a hundred miles an hour. But the jangle of the phone gave her a little shot of adrenaline. It was only a couple minutes before midnight; her phone rarely rang this late. “Hello?”

            “Hey, Jenny, it’s Jimmy. I was driving by and saw your light on.”

            Her brain processed this information. Jimmy? Her dream guy. A guy who just might be the father of the tiny baby in her womb. But he was also a serial womanizer, with her now being one of the notches on his belt. He was probably calling her postcoital after bedding that floozy who interrupted their amazing conversation.

            “Jenny, you there? Sorry to call so late, but like I said, I saw your light was on.”

            He knows my light is on! She looked out her window and toward the phone booth. Under the glow of the street light, she saw him. He waved.

            “Oh, Jimmy, hi.” Then keeping her emotions in check, she said evenly, “I thought you were with that girl that showed up at your place.”

            “No, I took her home.”

            After you had sex with her? She wanted to ask. “I see.”

            “I know it’s late, but can I come up? I’d really like to tell you something.”

            “Yeah, it’s no problem,” she replied, then hung up, and raced to the bathroom.

            Jenny quickly brushed her teeth and corralled her hair into a loose ponytail. There were a couple raps on the door. She ran on tippy toes, reached for the door handle and realized she forgot her robe. She raced back to her bedroom door where it hung. It wasn’t there!

            More raps on the door. Oh well, he saw her with much less than her old nighty with Garfield on the front. The Garfield nighty! How could she invite Jimmy in dressed her Garfield nighty? But she had no choice but to open the door. She had told him to come up, and he already had to knock twice. She watched his eyes lower and his lips spread into a grin. “Nice jammies.”

            She put her hands on her hips, smiled and playfully scolded, “You did show up unannounced.”

            “Hey, I called first.”

            “Yeah, right outside my apartment. Hang on a minute while I go change.”

            He grabbed her hand. “No, don’t. You look adorable.”

            She felt silly, but she did like his compliment. Before she knew what was happening, Jimmy gently yet firmly tugged until his other arm went around her waist and his lips were on hers. She tasted like minty tooth paste and he like spearmint Trident with a hint of cigarette smoke behind it. She relished their connection for several seconds before pushing away. “Jimmy, you didn’t come over for, what do they call it? A booty call?”

            “No, no, of course not,” he defended.

            Is that because you already had sex with that girl Lexi who showed up at your place? She wondered. But instead she asked, “So what did you need to talk to me about that couldn’t wait until tomorrow?”

            “Actually, it is tomorrow now,” Jimmy replied with a grin as a clock chimed midnight. Then his face grew serious. “Something’s happening to me, Jen. It’s like I’m running from myself, but it’s also kind of a good thing. To be honest, Lexi did want to sleep with me. Then after I dropped her off, I went to the bar to get a beer. But I didn’t feel like one. I have not gone without having an adult beverage on a Saturday night since I was in high school.”

            Jenny didn’t know what to tell him. Her life was in upheaval as well. At least his was mostly positive, although he did seem troubled and perplexed. As for Jenny, this was definitely the most trying month of her life. First, a second break up with Devin. A one night stand with Jimmy. Pregnant and not knowing who is the father. Ostracized by her church. Disappointing her mother. Then she gets her first bright spot with Jimmy tonight, and that blonde bombshell showed up, seemingly steeling him away.

            She hated feeling jealous as she drove away. Ironically it was in Jimmy’s pickup truck. The reality was that Jimmy was not a one woman man, and she knew it. Then when she got  home, there was a message from Larry on her answering machine. She wavered as to whether to call him back or not.

            Vermillion cackled. “It’s playing out rather nicely, don’t you think?”

            “We’ll see.”

            “Nice job though, getting Jimmy to run from his two biggest idols tonight.”

            I ignored him, which I often did.

            “Yeah, he’s running from himself alright, and right in to the arms of the green eyed monster,” Vermillion continued maliciously. “You just wait. Jimmy’s used to being in lust, not love. He’s used to leaving women, not wanting to possess them.”

            Jimmy was just about to do something he had never done before. That was to tell a woman that he loved her. I had it right on the tip of his tongue when Vermillion gave Jimmy a recollection from the seminar. “Hey, I forgot to ask you. When you were coming back from the restroom right before the meeting started, you stopped and talked to a guy for a minute. Who was that?”

            Jenny flinched inwardly. “His name is Larry Vargus. I used baby sit his kids.”

            Jenny hoped he would leave it at that. The last thing she wanted to do right now was explain her complex relationship with Larry. What was Larry doing at that seminar anyway?

            “Oh I good. I thought he might have been some old perv trying to hit on you.”

            Jenny hoped she wasn’t blushing, because he wasn’t far from the truth. She sought to change the subject. “You said there was something you wanted to tell me.”

            Jimmy looked a little stricken as he gazed at her. He had kind of goofy expression on his face. She giggled. “What’s that look for?”

            “I love you, Jenny,” he blurted. She looked as stunned as if he had slapped her. Not knowing what else to do with the foreign emotions swirling in his own head, he knelt and softly kissed her belly through the thin material of her nightgown. When he arose, he continued, “I’m gonna take care of you and the baby, so don’t worry your pretty little head.”

            “I love you too, Jimmy,” she responded and then threw her arms around him, sobbing into his neck.

            “Hey, hey,” he soothed as he embraced her. “This is a time of rejoicing.”

            “They’re partly happy tears,” she said with a laugh and a sniff.

            “Why only partly?”

            “You know why. There’s a good chance this baby isn’t yours.”

            “But it’s yours, and that will make it mine since the other guy isn’t interested.”

            A million thoughts flashed through Jenny’s mind. What if this was just a whim of his? Can a leopard change his spots? Can a philanderer change his ways? What exactly did he mean by take care of her and the baby? Financially? Marriage? Simply involved in his or her life? What if Devin becomes interested? But then best of all, he said he loves her! But how could that be? This guy who could have practically any girl he wants.

            “Jenny, I never had a chance to ask tonight. Will you go back to the meeting with me tomorrow? I want to find out about hellfire.”

            Jenny morphed into the moment. She felt light hearted, feeling both loved and loving. She felt hopeful. If Jimmy found God, his words about taking care of her would likely be sincere. She herself needed to return to God. She often wondered if she ever had him in the first place. She joked, “According to my church, it’s a pretty hot place.”

            “According to the speaker, he insinuated it’s more like an event rather than a place. I want to find out what he meant.”

            “Of course I’ll go,” she said happily.

            He hugged her again and she relished the feeling. Was she becoming Jimmy Stetson’s girlfriend? Might she even become his fiancée and then his wife? She metaphorically pinched herself to see if she might be dreaming. This woke her up and she bit her lower lip with a concern.

            What if Larry is at the Bible meeting again and it opens up a can of worms? Why did she have to call Larry back, confide her woes, and then get sentimental? Why couldn’t she leave sleeping dogs lay?

ANGELS AT WAR – CHAPTER 8

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 8

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

DEPART FROM EVIL AND DO GOOD. SEEK PEACE AND PURSUE IT (Psalm 34:14)

            I could tell Vermillion felt sense of defeat. But fallen angels don’t hang the proverbial head. No, they go about like a roaring lion seeking who they may devour. (1 Peter 5:8) Defeat only makes the roar louder and their hatred of truth seekers more intense.

            The good news is that God and his legions of angels are more powerful than the Satanic realm. The bad news is humanity’s fallen nature. People need to, in a very real sense, rebel against their sinful natures. ‘Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.’ (James 4:7, 8)  Seek the Lord, for He is not far from anyone. (Acts 17:27) He stands at the door and knocks. (Revelation 3:20) A person just needs to open the door and let him in.

            Jimmy Stetson was beginning to seek truth, and he was bringing Jenny Oakley along with him. But Vermillion knew guys. He knew Jimmy. He started working on him as a child, making him extra intrigued with the differences between boys and girls. As a preadolescent, he had helped him discover his father’s hidden stash of erotic magazines.

            So Vermillion figured his best weapon was Lexi Bennet. She was an eighteen year-old beauty who would not look out of place as one of the centerfolds in those dirty magazines Jimmy perused. His weapon with Lexi was her pride in vanity.

            Until Jimmy she had never been rejected by a guy. She had been homecoming queen, prom queen, and head cheerleader. She had had two different quarterbacks for boyfriends. Danny Mattel when she was a junior, and Brent McGraw as a senior. She had a fling with a prominent college basketball player in between her quarterbacks. So who was Jimmy Steson to reject her!

            But my opponent caused this rejection to cause her to desire Jimmy all the more. It was a challenge to her ego that she couldn’t resist. She also could not understand why. She knew what guys wanted, and she knew Jimmy’s type. So it just could not be possible that he would refuse her. She saw herself as not only above average, but WAY above average.

            At the pool party, one hour went by, then two, then three, and Jimmy was a no show. As Jenny sulked at the possibility of being stood up, one wine cooler went down, then two, then three, then four. As the third hour marched toward a fourth, she asked Amy for a ride to Jimmy’s place. They stopped a ways back from his mobile home and analyzed the scene.

            By a dim porch light, she made out Jimmy sitting on his deck in a lawn chair with feet propped up on the railing. Jimmy lazily smoked a cigarette as he watched Jenny. She was leaning against the railing, facing him and her hands moved animatedly as she spoke. Lexi was disgusted! Was she actually being stood up for a woman that looked Amish compared to herself?

            Both Jenny and Jimmy had been intrigued by the meeting they went to together. So it triggered a discussion of life, liberty, and the pursuit of Godliness afterward. The evening’s topic at the seminar had been entitled, ‘Why Were Sin and Suffering Permitted?’

            With his long salt and pepper beard, Pastor Kirk Samson reminded Jenny of Moses. Jimmy, who enjoyed watching Star Trek reruns as a youth, was intrigued that he went by the nickname Captain Kirk. This was due to his being a former Army Chaplain who held the rank of Captain. They both liked that he seemed to be the polar opposite of the money soliciting televangelists.

            Jenny’s mother had become a Christian when she was twelve. By default of her mother’s convictions, she had become one as well, and the mother and daughter were baptized together. Although Jenny went along with it, and studied her Bible fairly regularly, some things troubled her. One of the two things that troubled her the most, Captain Kirk had cleared up that first night.

            He taught mostly from Isaiah chapter fourteen, Ezekiel chapter twenty-eight, and Revelation chapter twelve. These all dealt with Lucifer’s fall and the rebellion in heaven he instigated. This culminated with him being cast out with a third of the angels. (Revelation 12:4)

            I mostly kept an eye on Jimmy and Jenny, intently watching their reaction to things. Vermillion didn’t like any truth seeking. But the rebellion in heaven was an especially sore spot. Particularly when Captain Kirk’s last half of the presentation dealt with the Son of God becoming a man to redeem fallen humanity. So he mostly kept an eye and a hand on the pool party.

            Jenny was even more excited about the second night’s subject, hellfire. She had always struggled with the subject. Her church was very much into preaching fire and brimstone. But she could never get paired in her head a loving God with eternal torment. It seemed a more unlikely mixture than oil and water. For Jimmy, the subject of hell was why he kept his distance from religion in the first place. He wanted no part of a God that would torture a person just for not believing in Him.

            Upon conclusion, the Pastor offered a teaser about the subject for the next night. It was called, ‘Hellfire, a Twisted Truth Untangled.’ He said, “If only the saved in Christ have eternal life, how can the wicked be alive eternally in a place called hell? Romans 6:23 states that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. So how can a wicked person be alive in eternal flames if they’re dead?”

            The Holy Spirit was working on Jenny and Jimmy as they left the seminar. Jimmy asked Jenny more questions about her own faith and religious background. Jimmy in turn explained that he did not grow up going to church, but that his sister had turned religious not long after she graduated high school.

            Since Jenny was going to borrow Jimmy’s pickup truck, they had to drive to his place after the meeting. Jenny had asked to use his bathroom. As they considered saying goodnight, other words kept spilling out of each of their mouths, coving a wide range of topics. Time seemed fly by. Before they knew it, they had conversed for a couple hours.

            Vermillion and I were not the only ones interested in the couple. My counterpart was instigating an intrusion.

            “Go park next to Jimmy’s truck,” Lexi ordered her friend. “If you see me go into his trailer, go ahead and take off.”

            Lexi’s buzz removed any awkwardness or nervousness she might have otherwise felt by crashing the little party of two. She eyed Jenny cooly and rolled her eyes at Jenny’s bland tan and white gingham dress but quickly aimed a seductive smile at Jimmy. “Hey.”

            “Hey, Lexi,” Jimmy replied as he lowered his feet to the deck floor, took a last drag of his cancer stick and flicked it over the edge of the deck.

            “We were making a beer run,” she lied. “And I thought I would swing by and make sure you’re okay.”

            “I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be?”

            “You tell me,” she said, a little of the hostility she felt slipping through. “You said you’d be less than an hour, now it’s going on four.”

            “Something came up. Sorry, I didn’t know it was that big of a deal.”

            “I thought we had a date.”

            “A date? I figured you just swung by to see if I wanted to go to a party. I ended up not feeling like a swim.”

            “Swim?” Lexi giggled. She licked her lips and eyed him like some type of prey. “The pool is just an excuse to not wear very much, have a few drinks, and have some fun.”

            “Um, I better go Jimmy,” Jenny interjected. “Thanks again for helping me and the use of your truck. Sorry I messed up all of your plans.”

            Lexi ignored her, but Jimmy said, “No problem.”

            As Vermillion and I looked on, I tried to get Jimmy to thank Jenny for going to the seminar with him. My opponent inspired his eyes to keep taking in Lexi’s chest, covered with what seemed like only an ounce of material. He also took in the tight gym shorts. I suppose it was an attempt at modesty as she used them to cover her bikini bottoms.

            Trying to minister to fallen humanity is often like a person trying to roller skate up a big hill. Freewill coupled with a sinful nature was a challenge. But without freewill, you can’t have love. Love can’t be forced. Hence Jesus declared that if you love Him, keep His commandments. (John 14:15) In other words, obedience should be motivated by love to God. But sin is a philosophy of force. Rape, robbery, murder, abuse, for example, are all forces of evil.

            Jimmy was considering calling after Jenny and thanking her for going to the seminar, but Lexi interrupted his thought. “Can I use your bathroom?”

            “Sure,” he said, leading her inside and pointing directions.

            “Thanks,” Lexi smiled sweetly after she returned from the restroom. “So, do you want to come with us back to the party?”

            “Thanks Lexi, but I just feel like staying home tonight.”

            A couple things occurred to Jimmy while he awaited Lexi. This was the first Saturday night since he was in high school that he hadn’t consumed adult beverages. Another was the way both women went about using his restroom.

            Jenny had removed her tennis shoes upon entering his home and seemed to glide down the hallway. Lexi didn’t even wipe her sneakered feet and sauntered with swaying hips on her way to the commode. Sometimes the small things matter and give insight.

            Lexi stepped right up into his space, stuck out her bikini clad chest, smiled, bit her lower lip and ran a finger across his jaw. “Is there anything I can do to persuade you?”

            “Come on, Jimmy,” Vermillion urged with a malicious grin. “Can you get a clearer sign, a greener light, a prettier face, a hotter body?”

            I recalled to Jimmy’s mind when Jenny had returned from the restroom. He was out on the deck, and she exited his house with her two sneakers hooked on her fingers. She sat in a lawn chair and elegantly crossed a leg over the other as she returned a shoe to her foot. Her skin was as pale and smooth as a baby’s. From her head, with her sandy hair pulled back with a hair clip and loose strands crookedly framing her face, down to her feet, covered in lace ankle socks, she was a vision of feminine loveliness.

            It was so different from the brazen, albeit hot, women he was used to. Just like the one seducing him now with her windblown blonde hair and hard, tanned body. “Lexi, there’s something I should tell you.”

            Lexi felt a flare of frustration mixed with jealousy. She knew it was going to be something about Jenny, but she forced her smile to stay on her face as she said, “Okay.”

            “A few weeks ago I had a one night stand with Jenny,” he confessed. “Today she informed me that she’s pregnant.”

            “Oh,” Lexi frowned, truly surprised. Jenny, who looked like she walked off the TV show ‘The Waltons’ had a one night stand! But Lexi was undeterred. Jimmy was a conquest, maybe even a summer fling. Then they would part ways for good when she left for college. “You don’t need to worry. I’m on the pill.”

            Jimmy’s heart raced. Vermillion and I did a back and forth in Jimmy’s mind. I lust her… I lust her not… I lust her… I lust her not… Look at her cleavage… She’s your sister’s neighbor… Look at those long tan legs… She often completes sentences by saying, ‘like ya know.’

            “Listen, Lexi, you’re a beautiful woman. A stunningly beautiful woman. But I think I’m in love with Jenny. After all she’s carrying my child. So I just can’t… You know.”

            “In love with her? From one, one night stand?” Lexi laughed sarcastically.

            “No, we knew each other before that, in high school. And like I said, she’s gonna have my baby.”

            Vermillion poked him with jealousy. “Carrying your child is she? Having your baby? She admitted that it was most likely the other guy’s, remember?”

            I reasoned with him. “When is the last time you had an hours long deep conversation with a woman? Try never. The closest you ever came was actually with this same young lady when you were in high school. Consider how much her pleasant personality adds to her low key attractiveness. The combination makes her the most beautiful you have ever known.”

            “Oh well, your loss,” Lexi said with a casual shrug. She opened his door as if to leave. Then she stopped and aimed wide, phonily innocent eyes at him and said, “Oh no, my ride left! What am I gonna do now?”

ANGELS AT WAR – CHAPTER 7

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 7

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

FOR I KNOW THE THOUGHTS THAT I THINK TOWARD YOU, SAYS THE LORD, THOUGHTS OF PEACE AND NOT EVIL, TO GIVE YOU A FUTURE AND A HOPE. (Jeremiah 29:11)

            “I don’t know what you’ve got cooking, Querida, but it’s weird,” Vermillion said.

            It’s not often I agree with a fallen angel, but I concurred. “It is.”

            It also isn’t often when I cause a serious problem for someone. The evil angels do plenty of that without us chipping in. But I needed to do something desperate to keep Jimmy from fornicating with Lexi. I needed to do something to bring Jimmy and Jenny together again as soon as possible. So my adversary and I were in agreement as we watched Jimmy, Jenny, and Lexi riding together in the backseat of a Chevy Impala. Awkward was an understatement.

            How did that happen you might ask? I’ll back up twenty or thirty minutes.

            Lexi had shown up at Jimmy’s place dressed rather immodestly. She had invited him to a pool party. He had accepted not realizing Lexi’s two friends were waiting in a car owned by one of her friend’s parents. He knew he would feel out of place riding with three eighteen years old girls to a party. But as his eyes watched Lexi’s jean shorts and the tanned legs that came out of them, he thought ‘oh well, sometimes you have to sacrifice to get what you want.’

            A half hour before Lexi showed up, Jenny had been at Jimmy’s place informing him of her pregnancy. It hadn’t gone very smoothly. After she left, she went to a close friend’s house to cry on her shoulder. After she left there, that’s where I felt it necessary to cause her to have a serious problem with a material object that is rather important to human beings.

            On the other hand, it was actually Jenny’s own neglect that caused her problem. I just manipulated the timing of when her car broke down. But her unfortunate circumstances would give Jimmy an opportunity for generosity. This was my gamble. Would Jimmy’s lust for Lexi prevail? Or would the inkling of compassion that lurked in his soul come forth?

            Jimmy recognized the rusty yellow Ford Pinto just ahead of them on the side of the road. It was clearly a mechanical issue since there was no more likely reason to be pulled over there. Jimmy instructed the driver, who answered to the name of Amy, “Pull over in front of this car.”

            “What for?” Amy replied, as she ignored the request.

            “I said pull over, Amy!”

            With the more authoritative command, Amy hit the brakes hard and the three passengers lurched forward as she came to a stop parallel with Jenny’s automobile. Jimmy saw her sitting trance like and gripping the steering wheel. Her head turned to look at the stopped car and Jimmy saw the tears streaking down her face.

            “Pull in front,” Jimmy ordered.

            “What for?” Amy whined.

            “Just do it.”

            “Do you know her?” Lexi frowned.

            “Yeah, she was a classmate of mine.”

            Jimmy noticed Jenny quickly wiping at her eyes as the two met in front of her car. She forced a smile as though nothing were wrong.

            “Looks like you have a little problem, Jen.”

            “Yeah,” she said, trying to appear matter of fact. But Jimmy had already seen the tears and the white knuckles on the steering wheel. “It just made an awful noise and died.”

            Jimmy lifted the hood and pulled the dipstick. “There’s no oil.”

            “So it just needs some oil?” she asked hopefully.

            He didn’t have the heart to tell her that her engine was probably blown. The three female eighteen year olds flanked Jimmy, eyeing Jenny scornfully. Vermillion was impressing Lexi to say something contemptuous. For now I convinced her to keep her lips pursed.

            “Take me back home,” Jimmy ordered. “I need to get my truck and pick up my brother’s trailer.”

            “You mean you’re blowing off the party?” Lexi asked with part disdain and part disappointment.

            “No, it won’t even take me an hour. Then I’ll come join you.”

            “Whatever,” Lexi replied, keeping the same negative tone.

            And so, Jimmy found himself in the middle of the back seat of Amy’s parent’s sedan. Lexi to his left and Jenny on his right. Lexi’s two friends were in the front; Vermillion and I were watching in the invisible realm.

            It was clear all three were uncomfortable, but not due to the close, cramped conditions. Jenny suffered the most as Vermillion kept the mantra replaying in her head of ‘I’m such a loser.’

            Then there was Jimmy as he thought about the woman on his right being pregnant with the possibility of it being his. And the girl on his left, who was destined to be bed partners with him before the sun came up.

            Lexi was just plain jealous and she didn’t understand why. Jenny wasn’t stunning like herself. No, she was nerdy and plain. Yet there was something about the way Jimmy looked at her and behaved around her. There was a respect and gentlemanliness with how he acted around Jenny. But with Lexi there was an animalistic lustfulness he didn’t try to hide.

            But Lexi didn’t understand these thoughts and feelings which only added to her confusion. She kicked off her flip flops and hooked the calf of a bronzed leg over Jimmy’s shin as if to claim him. Jenny on the other hand self-consciously tugged the hem of her gingham dress back down toward her knees after it had hiked uncomfortably high from sitting.

            When the sedan pulled into Jimmy’s driveway, Jenny breathed a sigh of relief as she flung the door open. Yet even in her haste, she managed a thank you that seemingly fell on deaf ears. But her ears were open as she heard Lexi tell Jimmy with a sultry tone, “Don’t be long.”

            Five minutes later, as Jenny and Jimmy headed away from his mobile home in his fifteen year old Ford pickup he said, “It’s old but reliable.”

            “Unlike my car,” Jenny tried joking.

            Jimmy thought, ‘your car might have been more reliable if you checked your oil regularly.’

            A quick diagnosis by Jimmy’s brother predicted devastating news. “Your engine’s shot.”

            As the couple drove away, Jenny fought back tears. She had cried so much lately she wondered if she might get dehydrated. She mumbled a concern to herself, but Jimmy overheard. “I guess I’ll have to take the bus to work.”

            “Would you be okay driving this next week?”

            “What do you mean?”

            “The forecast is supposed to be good all next week so I can ride my motorcycle to work.”

            “Are you sure?” Although Jenny appreciated his generosity, she loathed the thought of owing somebody.

            Vermillion wanted Jimmy to get her home ASAP so he could resume his evening with Lexi, so he lamented as they were about to pass the road Jenny lived on. “Turn Jimmy, turn.”

            “Make sure you’re not imposing, Jenny,” I insisted, keeping her distracted.

            “I hate to impose.”

            “It’s no imposition.”

            “Are you sure?”

            “Sure, I’m sure,” Jimmy laughed. “Relax Jen, I want to help you… And don’t worry, we’ll get you another car.”

            “I can’t afford a different car right now.”

            “I can.”

            “I can’t let you buy me a car.”

            “Jenny, you might be having my baby. I might be a lot of things, but I’m not a dead beat. If he or she turns out to be mine, I promise I will support you and our child.”

            Although Jenny was touched by his kindness, her heart also sank. The part of his statement that echoed in her head was ‘turns out to be mine.’ For she knew the tiny child growing in her womb was likely fathered by Devin.

            How ironic! Of the two potential fathers, she would have predicted Devin being more supportive than Jimmy. Although she knew Jimmy from high school, they had hooked up at a bar and had a one night stand. That was something she never, ever, thought she could do, let alone would do. She had met Devin at church, and they had dated numerous times before becoming intimate.

            Yet when confronted with fatherhood, Devin attempted to not only pay her off but encouraged her to have the embryo terminated. Jimmy, on the other hand, had just offered to get her a car. It would surely be nothing brand new, and probably on the order of the one that seemed to have died. But nonetheless, he proved he was willing to do what he could to support her.

            “Keep going, Jimmy,” Vermillion now urged. They were getting close to something I wanted him to see, and my counterpart knew it.

            “Jenny, tell him he missed the turn,” I countered. “Now!”

            “Oh, Jimmy,” Jenny said. “You were supposed to turn a couple blocks ago. Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.”

            “No problem, I’ll turn around.”

            “Sorry, I thought you knew where I lived.”

            “I was only there once, Jenny,” he said and then flashed a mischievous smile at her. “And we were rather preoccupied on the taxi ride from the bar to your apartment.”

            Jenny felt herself blush. She recalled her and Jimmy’s faces connected as well as his roaming hands in the back seat of the cab. Inebriation making them unashamed and seemingly unaware of the show the driver watched from his review mirror. Funny, the memory made her ashamed rather than in the moment.

            “Turn right,” Vermillion coaxed Jimmy.

            “Turn left,” I countered.

            “Now why would you make left turns when you could make rights?” Vermillion asked, exasperated after Jimmy turned left.

            I couldn’t help my reply. “Two wrongs don’t make a right, but three do. When it comes to turns, that is.”

            When they were getting turned around, during the second left, Kennedy High school auditorium loomed on the right. I tried to get Jimmy to recall the brochure he had seen in his sister’s home. The one with the beast of Revelation and the image from King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream from the book of Daniel. But as I did this, Vermillion’s counter won out.

            There was plenty of room in the cab of Jimmy’s pickup truck, especially with the big bench seat. Jenny leaned a little toward him and crossed one leg over the other. As she did do so, Jimmy took in her shapely leg that was pale and ended with a tennis shoe with a girly ankle sock. Why did he find this even more appealing than Lexi’s tan leg that ended with cherry red painted toenails?

            Jimmy marveled. Although he had been preoccupied with Lexi ever since seeing his sister’s neighbor at the mall, something more profound stirred within him looking at Jenny. He knew that  if Jenny and Lexi were walking down opposite sides of the street, nine out of ten guys were gonna watch Lexi. Yet it occurred to him that he would have been with the one out of ten that watched Jenny.

            What was it about her? Lexi looked like she walked out of the pages of a men’s magazine, while Jenny was in a cooking magazine. But Jimmy knew women. Lexi tried to be sexy, and although it did in fact work, Jenny didn’t try with the affect being even more powerful. Plus, there was a side of him that had had his fill of high maintenance, vanity filled females.

            “Jimmy, what will you do if my child isn’t yours?” Jenny asked suddenly, surprising herself.

            He frowned. “What do you expect me to do?”

            “Well… Nothing.”

            “Well, there you go,” he replied, but then regretted how cold he sounded. “But I intend to help you out with your vehicle situation regardless, as a friend. But surely you don’t expect child support or whatever if I’m not the father?”

            “No, of course not.”

            They were back on the main drag when Jimmy wanted his curiosity satisfied. “Jenny, can I ask you what may seem to be, I don’t know, a rude question, or a tacky question?”

            “Sure,” she said, trying to sound skeptical. “I’m an open book.”

            “I don’t mean this to sound judgmental because I’m certainly no saint. But you seemed so religious in high school. How is it a few years later you end up pregnant, but unmarried and not knowing who the father is?”

            “I’m afraid I don’t know myself. I guess the simple answer is I’m not as devout as I thought I was, or as I seemed.”

            “I don’t believe that.”

            “Why, the proof is in the pudding. At twenty I lost my virginity with a guy I had only known a few weeks and proceeded to have regular premarital sex with him over the next two years. To be fair, I did think he was the one. He was charming and thoughtful.

            “But then once we became intimate, instead of falling deeply in love, he became gradually more and more aloof and distant. Then he left me for someone else, not once, but twice. Not long after that I got drunk and had my first one night stand.”

            “First or last?”

            “Last,” she said with a bashful smile.

            “Shoot, going to your apartment was giving me ideas.”

            Thanks to human nature, Vermillion was getting the upper hand. He was taking advantage of Jenny’s desperation, loneliness, and desire. He was putting a harness on Jimmy’s attraction and a bit in his mouth guiding his lust. Jimmy almost whinnied when Jenny bit her lip looking wide eyed.

            But then I got the bit to drop from Jimmy’s mouth when Jenny said, “What about that girl you’re supposed see after you dropped me off?”

            He put his truck into park after he stopped in front of Jenny’s apartment. He ran a hand through his blonde locks and sighed. First Lexi took his mind off Jenny. Now Jenny had taken his mind off of Lexi. Lust, love, love, lust. What was life all about?

            “Oh no, don’t go there, Jimmy,” Vermillion looked concerned.

            “Come on Jimmy,” I pleaded. “Do you want to spend your life like a dog chasing the tail of lust?”

            “Do you want to be trapped, become yoked up with a woman carrying another man’s child?” Vermillion interjected.

            “Doesn’t it feel good to protect a woman instead of love em and leave em?” I urged. “And I do use love loosely in that context.”

            Jimmy’s thoughts, that Vermillion and I were doing our best to affect, continued, making  it a spiritual tug of war.

            Remember, Lexi will make it worth your while after the party. You helped Jenny, now enjoy a reward with a pretty female who is eager to see you. She will be wearing that bikini you saw displayed in her back yard. Instead of sitting on a lawn chair, she will sit on your lap.

            You did get Jenny home safely. On the way you passed Kennedy’s auditorium. Oh that’s right, the seminar starts tonight at 7pm. Remember the brochure at your sister’s house? It offered to answer spiritual questions you’ve always had. Why does God allow suffering? Is the Bible reliable? Is the devil in charge of hell? Does the Bible talk of an end time? Is Jesus coming soon?

            “Jenny, what are you doing tonight?”

            She thought, ‘cry myself to sleep.’ But she said with a shrug, “I don’t have any plans.”

            He told her about the brochure and the seminar. He looked at his watch. It was 6:45. Kennedy High school wasn’t even ten minutes away. “Will you go with me?”

            “What about your pool party?”

            “I’d rather go to this seminar with you,” he said with a gentle smile.

            For the first time in weeks Jenny saw a glimmer of light in the dark tunnel she had been navigating. For the first time in weeks, a smile wasn’t forced. “Okay, sure.”

ANGELS AT WAR – CHAPTER 6

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 6

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

THE EYES OF THE LORD ARE IN EVERY PLACE, KEEPING WATCH ON THE EVIL AND THE GOOD (PROVERBS 15:3)

            Vermillion and I watched Jimmy Stetson intently as Jenny Oakley knocked on his door. It had been a few weeks since they ran into each other in a bar. Previously it had been a few years since their last encounter.

            They both had had multiple adult beverages that night they mingled in the smokey tavern. With inhibitions lowered and libidos risen, they had engaged in an activity that should be reserved for the marriage bed.

            Jimmy peeked through a gap he made in the curtain. Jenny saw his eyeball staring at her. This made the decision for him and he opened the door. I tried to make him feel self-conscious with his shirt off. But Vermillion inspired Jenny to take in his midriff. He liked it when she shyly bit her lip.

            “Hey Jenny, what’s up?”

            “Um, can we talk for a minute?”

            “Of course, come in.”

            I touched his mind with guilt. I reminded him that he took advantage of a sweet vulnerable young lady. “Let me get a shirt.”

            Vermillion went to work throwing a few temptations into Jenny’s mind. First was the unspoken petition of ‘please leave your shirt off.’ Then, ‘did I really make love with that tanned muscular man that looks like MacGyver’s younger brother?’ ‘ No, you made lust,’ I reminded her. ‘You had a one night stand that left you feeling dirty and cheap.’

            ‘Let desire give you relief from the anguish of your predicament,’ Vermillion encouraged. ‘You already had sex with him.’ Then to me he said with a malicious grin, “Sin is always easier a second time. Even easier as you continue to indulge.”

            Oh how the mighty have fallen! If you’ve noticed how depraved a human being can become when ensconced in sin and rebellion, it is multiple times worse with a fallen angel. I marveled at Vermillion’s desire to destroy someone like Jenny, whose sexual sin stemmed more from insecurity than rebellion.

            I kept guilt and shame forefront on Jimmy’s mind as he went to his dresser and pulled a t-shirt over his head. He exited his bedroom and said, “Look, Jenny, I’m, ah…”

            “I’m pregnant,” she blurted, interrupting him, but wanting to get the news over with.

            Jimmy froze, mouth agape. Jenny turned toward the door and began to make a hasty exit. As she reached for the doorknob, she said, “I just thought you should know of the possibility.”

            Jimmy’s hand covered hers on the doorknob. “Jenny wait… What do you mean I should know of the possibility? You’re not sure you’re pregnant?”

            “Oh no, I’m sure I’m pregnant,” she replied, then cringed. “I just don’t know if you’re the father or not.”

            “Well, that’s dandy,” he responded, running a hand through his hair in disgust. He was always as carful as a philanderer could be. He almost always carried a condom in his wallet. But a key word here was ALMOST always.

            He had failed to replace it after his encounter with a woman the night before his dalliance with Jenny. When Jenny asked him to take her home, he thought about buying one from a machine in the restroom. But then told himself no, he wasn’t going to take advantage of Jenny Oakley in her inebriated state. His motive was to make sure she made it home safe, and without some other guy. At least that’s what his buzzed brain told himself.

            But then, back at her place, she started to do a clumsy dance, imitating the stripper she was dressed like. He found it oddly alluring, this girl who had been so modest, behaving so immodestly. Then when she blatantly…

            “Jenny,” he had drawled. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings by turning her down. So he told her he didn’t have protection.

            “I’m on the pill,” she had breathed huskily into his ear.

            STD’s were another motive of his with the twofold reason for using protection. But Jenny had revealed her sexual history when they were at the bar. She had only been with one guy, her long term relationship. Well, a two year relationship was long to Jimmy.

            “You said you were on the pill,” Jimmy said as they stood in his living room.

            “I was,” she said and then groaned. “But when I had relationship troubles with Devin, I became depressed and lackadaisical. I started to forget to take them from time to time.”

            “Wonderful!” Jimmy said sarcastically. Vermillion was starting off successfully by having Jimmy focus on himself and how this affected him rather than Jenny, who obviously was carrying the tiny child. I needed to counter somehow.

            “Sorry,” she said, hanging her head meekly.

            “Come on, Jimmy, one of the things that always drew you to Jenny was your noble, manly desire to protect those that are weak,” I said.

            “But his sexual instinct is even stronger than nobility,” Vermillion said. I didn’t realize I was verbalizing the thought I put into Jimmy’s head. Vermillion grinned maliciously. “Jimmy likes his freedom, doesn’t he? His freedom to party and pursue. Pursue skirts that is.”

            I ignored my counterpart. One of things I knew that Vermillion didn’t know was that Jimmy  recently began to feel dissatisfied with his philandering lifestyle. He was starting to feel like a dog chasing its tale. It was exciting during the conquest, but empty in the aftermath.

            This dissatisfied feeling of sleeping around began with Jenny a couple weeks ago. As wrong as a night of inebriation and fornication is, he experienced something with Jenny he had never felt before. Love. But because this knowledge was foreign to him. And because these feelings confused and even scared him. And because he felt like he took advantage of her. His response was to run and hide.

            Now she was pregnant and there was a new feeling Vermillion was putting upon him. That feeling was trapped. A second was frustrated. This child might or might not be his. This thought pushed forth the question. “So this other guy, is he a dark man so you’ll know which of us that way?”

            She shook her head. “He has light brown hair and blue eyes.”

            He threw up his hands in frustration. “So it’s a fifty, fifty chance it’s mine or his?”

            She winced. “More like eighty, twenty.”

            “What’s that mean?” he frowned.

            “I mean I was with Devin five or six times to your once, you know, that month.”

            Jimmy gazed cooly at her, bordering on cold. Then he said, “I don’t know whether that’s better or worse.”

            First her mother, then Devin, and now Jimmy. Three negative responses, strike three. She bit her lower lip as she felt tears burn the back of her eyes. Jimmy noticed the glassiness in her windows to the soul. “I’m not holding you responsible in anyway. I almost wasn’t going to tell you, but I thought you had a right to know of the possibility. Goodbye, Jimmy.”

            For a second time she urgently reached for the doorknob. For a second time he covered her hand with his. “Jenny, wait.” She waited. “So I take it you’re having it.”

            “Stop calling my child it!” she said harshly.

            Jimmy felt his eyebrows raise. He had never witnessed Jenny hostile or angry. He raised his hands. “Sorry.”

            “I’m sorry for snapping,” she said, then rubbed her temples.

            “So,” he asked, then unable to say Devin’s name. “Have you told the other guy yet?”

            She nodded.

            “How did he respond?”

            “By giving me two hundred dollars toward an abortion.”

            “Does he know there’s a chance the child is someone else’s?”

            She shook her head.

            “So he didn’t even consider doing the right thing and asking you to marry him?” Jimmy asked and then frowned. When had he himself cared about doing the right thing in relationships?

            “Did you put that thought there?” Vermillion asked me with a smirk.

            “Why, are you concerned?”

            “Hardly. What is Jimmy Stetson’s longest relationship? Four months at the most.”

            “So you’re saying you’d ask me to marry you if I knew for sure it was yours?” Jenny asked as a scold, with sternly folded arms.

            “Well, now, Jenny. You said this other guy and you were together two years, while we only knew each other three months. And that was from one class, an hour a day.”

            “Plus one night for at least six hours between bar and bedroom,” she said bitterly.

            Jimmy was dumbfounded. Although he had been intimate with dozens of women, this was the first accusation of impregnation. “So… What are you gonna do? I mean, you know, what’s your plan?”

            “Right now I’m considering adoption.”

            “Is that what you want?”

            He noticed her eyes get glassy again. Then her lower lip began to quiver. “What I want is to not be pregnant.”

            Jimmy almost put his foot in his mouth and suggested an abortion. But she had already insinuated that wasn’t an option by the disgust at her ex-boyfriend. Plus he knew from their high school days she had been religious.

            “I better go,” Jenny said nervously as she wiped at a tear that leaked from her eye. Then she quickly turned toward his door.

            For a third time Jimmy placed a hand over hers on the doorknob. “Jenny, wait.”

            “Just let me go,” she squealed with a high pitched sob.

            Jimmy reeled back, and she fled through the door and trotted to a rusty yellow Ford Pinto.

            “Go after her,” I urged Jimmy. “If ever a person needed a friend, it was now.”

            “You feel trapped Jimmy,” Vermillion grinned. “No way you want to be involved in  raising another man’s child. Because it likely isn’t yours, just could be.”

            “There’s a reasonable chance it’s yours,” I petitioned.

            But Jimmy just stood there. I suppose it might seem like Vermillion and I were a cartoon. A little red devil with a pitchfork on one shoulder, and an angel in white with a halo on the other. The demonic realm would like you to think that. For they are masters of diversion, temptation and manipulation. For their supreme leader is the father of lies. (John 8:44)

            He told his first lie to the human race in the Garden of Eden, when he suggested to Eve, “You will not surely die.” (Genesis 3:4) Fallen angels are cunning, intelligent, while humans, apart from God, are no match. The Bible warns in Ephesians 6:12 that humanity spiritually wrestles against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in high places.

            But the remedy is sandwiched between this text in Ephesians 6:12! Verse eleven says—Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

            Verse thirteen says—Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. The verses that follow thirteen describe your weapons of spiritual warfare.

            Not even a half an hour after Jenny left, Vermillion gloated. “Now, watch me decisively win this battle for Jimmy’s soul.”

            A knock at Jimmy’s door this time revealed Lexi. She beamed a greeting at him. He grinned back at the beautiful girl. But puzzled, he asked, “How’d you know where I live?”

            “Phone book, silly.”

            She was hotter than ever in Daisy Duke style jean shorts. He could see she was wearing the same red bikini top from earlier in the afternoon. Only she made a feeble attempt at modesty by wearing a large white men’s tank top over it. It was so big for her petite frame that it only made the partially covered bikini top all the more alluring.

            “I was wondering if you would do me a favor?” she asked with a teasing smile.

            “Depends,” he replied with a coy grin.

            “So, the party this evening is a pool party. There’s supposed to be at least two girls per one guy. I don’t feel like competing for male companionship right now, but if I show up with someone who will be the hottest guy there, I won’t have to.”

            Jimmy’s vanity was flattered. His occupation in construction left him with a deep tan and muscular without needing to workout. Plus, if sexy Lexi felt she needed to compete for male attention, what must her bikini clad friends look like? Not to mention her earlier promise, ‘I’ll make it worth your while!’

            “I suppose I could help you out,” Jimmy responded with a sultry smile. He figured this would very much be worth enduring being, at twenty-two, the old guy there.

            “Cha-ching!” Vermillion triumphed.