HEAVY METAL MIRACLES – CHAPTER 12

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES

CHAPTER 12

ARLO ALDO

BEFORE I FORMED YOU IN THE WOMB I KNEW YOU; BEFORE YOU WERE BORN I SANCTIFIED YOU; I ORDAINED YOU A PROPHET TO THE NATIONS (Jeremiah 1:5)

            I had never had such an extreme mood swing in my life! I went from several days of despondency to ecstasy in a matter of minutes. The only reason it took minutes instead of seconds was it was too good to be true, or so it seemed. My mind reeled, processed, and then I felt overwhelming love for a future child and the present mother who carried him.

            Female flesh had never looked so good as I gazed upon Penny’s swollen abdomen. Yet it wasn’t a lustful gaze as I swayed on my knees in front of her. It didn’t help my chaotic mind that I was sleep deprived. I looked up at her and then arose a bit unsteadily. “How do you feel about this?”

            “Freaked out,” Penny replied, strangely matter of fact.

            “That will happen with an unwanted pregnancy,” I told her. My declaration was actually a bit of a test. I liked her response.

            She frowned, and I could see her jaw muscles move briefly before she spoke. “I wouldn’t say it’s unwanted, but more like unexpected.”

            “How come you’re just now telling me?” I asked softly, not wanting her to think I was angry. “Our encounter was four months ago.”

            Her lovely dark eyes widened guiltily. “Arlo, honestly, I just discovered for sure only a little more than a week ago. I meant to tell you several days ago at church. But we were either interrupted or I couldn’t get up the nerve. But I had been in denial, I guess. When I noticed the weight gain, I was sure it was from snacking too much. As far as missing my menstrual cycle, its happened before due to being perimenopausal.”

            “What’s that?”

            “You know, symptoms that some women get before the actual menopause itself. In a nutshell, menopause is a time in a woman’s life when she loses the ability to bare children.”

            “Well, it seems you’re not menopausal yet.”

            “Ya think!” she snapped. Then she sat with a hard thump onto my bed and leaned back on her arms.

            I quickly squatted in front of her and clutched both sides of her belly. “Hey, easy.”

            She chuckled. “Who would have thought the wild he man rock star, Arlo Aldo, would make a loving father? But I think you will.”

            “I appreciate your vote of confidence,” I told her. “Let me ask you this though. What kind of husband do you think I’ll make?”

            “Well, your ex-wife apparently didn’t think you were a very good one,” she blurted.

            That hurt! Penny had a reputation for a sharp tongue, but that was cold. I reeled back and sat down hard myself. Only the floor was much harder than the bed Penny had plopped on to. My sleep deprived brain was jarred. I shook my head, stood abruptly, and downed the rest of my bottle of water. Penny came up behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist in a reverse hug. “Arlo, I’m sorry for that, but I didn’t like the direction you were going. I’m already freaked out about the prospect of motherhood. Bringing up marriage makes me be doubly freaked.”

            I turned and her arms fell by her sides. She did look contrite, so I smiled. “I guess a person reaps what they sow.”

            “What do you mean?”

            I shrugged. “I married Reese without hardly knowing her. Now I was testing the waters with you in the same boat.”

            Her face softened, but her words about my ex were harsh. “I am not the same boat as your ex-wife at all! If I were to take the plunge of marriage, I would die before I betrayed my vows.”

            Her softened face hardened again. Then her eyes welled, and she stomped to the window, abruptly crossing her arms as she gazed out at Mrs. Mendelbright’s backyard. Now I went and reverse hugged her, my hands resting on our child cocooned in her womb. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t comparing you two as people, only thinking about marriage again without knowing someone very well.”

            She turned to face me, and my arms fell by my sides. “It’s not that. After I spoke, I realized what a hypocrite I am.”

            She walked past me and plopped down hard on the bed again. I went and knelt in front of her again and placed my hands on her stomach. “Will you stop being so rough on our baby?”

            She laughed despite a tear running down her cheek. “Arlo, our baby is fine with the way I sat. If I sign up for roller derby, then you can get up tight.”

            I began to gently caress her abdomen. She looked me sternly in the eyes. “Arlo, unless you’re willing to make love, please stop touching me.”

            “That’s why I’m insinuating marriage, Pen. I want to make love with you in the worst way.”

            “Why is it the worst way? Shouldn’t it be the best way?”

            “No, because right now it’s forbidden.”

            “Why, just because we don’t have a legal document or have participated in a ceremony?”

            “It’s more than that. The document and ceremony represent commitment.”

            She sighed. “I know you’re right, but it’s hard to give up the old ways of thinking. The thing is Arlo, and this is full disclosure. I think I’ve always been afraid of commitment. So can you blame me? I mean how long have we known each other?”

            “Twenty three, twenty four years.”

            She laughed. “And with a twenty two and half or twenty three and a half year gap in between. As a matter of fact, I’ve only had one relationship last more than a year.”

            “How much longer than a year?”

            “Two months short of two years.”

            “Hmm, a catch twenty-two.”

            “More than you know.”

            “So what happened?”

            “The person was married, we got found out, and their marriage ended.”

            “So that ended your relationship with him as well?”

            “He didn’t want it to. He wanted me to marry him. But like I said, I feared commitment. Plus, I hated myself for being the other woman. My dad left my mom for a younger woman, and I absolutely despised him for it. So much so I even changed my last name to Balwin because I didn’t want his name attached to me. Then I end up doing the same thing only on the other end.”

            “Let me guess, he was older with a family?”

            She made a pained expression and nodded. “I interned under him in North Dakota. He had two other vets working for him. When my internship was up, I was hired and worked another two years at his clinic. He was handsome like an old time movie star. He reminded me of Cary Grant.”

            “What, was he like fifty or sixty years older than you?”

            “No,” she said with a scowl and threw a pillow. Then she sheepishly admitted, “Twenty-one years older.”

            “Did you love him?”

            She shrugged. “Yes, while at the same time despising him for being unfaithful.”

            “It takes two to commit adultery,” I said, and then cringed.

            But she looked humbled. “I have no excuse, but excuses were exactly what I made.”

            “What kind of excuses?”

            “First I bought into him having a loveless, sexless marriage; but that he stayed in it for the kids. So it started as friends with benefits, and I told myself his marriage was between him and his wife. If it wasn’t me, it would be someone else, and I was jealous of the imaginary someone else. I also told myself I would never let him leave his wife for me, which I held to. But there was always guilt, which was overruled by the thrill of the illicit and forbidden. Plus I always told myself just one more time, or this was the last time. There was also the satisfaction of it not being a real, time consuming relationship. I didn’t have to go to family functions, cook dinner, or argue about housekeeping. I could focus on my career. My career was also another aspect. He was a brilliant doctor, and a fantastic mentor… Is that enough excuses? I’m sure I could come up with more.”

            “Plenty.”

            “So how about you? How come you never married Elsa after what, six or seven years?”

            She was referring to my longtime girlfriend who was a model and actress. “Eight. The simple answer is that I didn’t want to marry someone who would have me as a husband.”

            She laughed, but I told her. “That’s no joke. I think she was more attracted to my stage persona than to me. There was also the element of my money. Even before I was a Christian, I didn’t like the prospect of a prenup. If you’re not going to pledge forever, what’s the point?”

            “But after that long with her, wasn’t there a common law factor anyway?”

            “No, we never lived together. When Elsa and I were together, I spent more than three fourths of my life on the road. Our home was hotels whenever we could get together.”

            “So when your marriage with Reese ended, did she get half?”

            “She got half of my earnings from the band during the time we were together. But she was unaware of my other investments which exceeded my salary from the band. She settled for a two million dollar settlement. She made out pretty good, since it seemed she only married me for my money.”

            “I don’t understand, you look like you should be on the cover of a romance novel.”

            I felt myself make a face, and she laughed. “It’s a compliment, Arlo.”

            “But that sort of sums it up. She looked at me like I was a feral, dumb jock. Turns out she was more into the charismatic, plastic type.”

            “Why were you attracted to her?”

            “It was a combination of things. Elsa and I had broken up a couple months earlier, and as shallow as our relationship had been, it left me feeling empty. I was tired of life on the road and wanted to settle down. I started reading self help and spiritual books. We were finishing up a world tour, and our last stop was LA, where we were based out of.

            “Being known as a satanic band, we often had protesters, but I usually ignored them. But there was no ignoring Reese. She looked like a Victoria’s Secret model dressed in ‘Little House On the Prairie’ garb. I was captivated and approached her. We talked about spiritual things for about ten minutes before I told her who I was. She was fascinated, which should have been a clue. She was protesting my show, but then she was enthralled by my presence.

            “We had dinner the next night, I went to church with her, I quit the band, we began dating, I got baptized, we got married, she cheated, yadda, yadda, yadda, we got divorced. On the plus side, her ultimate view of me as a neanderthal saved me a lot of money. Instead of getting half, she didn’t even get ten percent.”

            “Just how much are you worth?” Penny asked. Then she closed her eyes and held up a hand. “I’m sorry, that’s none of my business.”

            “No worries,” I grinned. “You’re worth half if you decide to marry me.”

            She threw another pillow at me. I caught it and with toes curled told her. “Twenty seven million last time I checked.”

            She gasped, and her eyes widened. After she processed this for a minute, she said, “Well, I guess I don’t need to worry about child support.”

            “Especially if we’re married,” I told her, attempting a charming smile.

            But she only frowned. “Why didn’t what you said about Elsa apply to Reese?”

            “What do you mean?”

            “You know, how you wouldn’t marry someone who would have you as a husband?”

            “Well, two reasons. I asked her after I quit the band and converted to Christianity. And second, after I converted to Christianity, I was convicted that I shouldn’t have sex outside of marriage. Forgive me if this is TMI, but I really like sex. That’s how I ended up allowing you to seduce me.”

            She reached for another pillow to throw, but there wasn’t one. So I threw the last pillow she threw at me back at her. She caught it and then marched over to me and began beating it over my head. It didn’t hurt.

            I grabbed her and pulled her onto my lap. Laughing, she said, “Arlo, careful, the baby!”

            I immediately let go of my grip on her. She laughed harder, then kissed me on the mouth. I kissed her back, then said desperately, “Penny, marry me!”

            She sprang off my lap as if I was on fire. She ran a hand through her silky dark hair and looked at me as if I was crazy. Maybe I was. “Arlo, are you nuts?”

            I went to her and pulled her into my arms. “Yes, for you.”

            “I can’t believe you’re willing to marry a second time on short notice.”

            “Short notice?” I laughed. “There’s a big difference between this and last time. The biggest is we’re having a child together, and I want to be a part of his or her life. So you and I might as well marry so we can make a sibling.”

            She laughed. “Actually I was already regretting that he or she wouldn’t have a sibling.”

            “Then we’ll start working on a second as soon as possible. After all your biological clock is almost out of time.”

            She shoved me but chuckled. “Thanks a lot.”

            We had an awkward moment where we just stared at each other. Then I asked, “Can we pray?”

            “Sure,” she said, and we knelt on the floor, facing each other. We held hands and I asked for a blessing on our child. I had mentioned that God knew our baby before he was even in the womb.

            When our prayer ended, a little miracle transpired. As we arose from our knees, Penny asked, “If it’s a boy, how about the name Jeremiah?”

            “Sure. Was it because of my prayer?”

            “Sort of. I thought of my grandfather, my mother’s father when you mentioned in the womb. He was a doctor, and he was my biggest inspiration on me becoming a doctor myself. Only he was a people doctor and has delivered many babies. His name was Jeremiah, but he went by Jerry. Anyhow, my mom was an only child, and it was family lore that she was supposed to be Jerry Jr. if she was a boy.”

            “Did you know that when I mentioned God knowing our baby before he was in the womb, I was borrowing from the book of Jeremiah?”

            “Really!”

            “Yeah, maybe he’ll be ordained a prophet to the nations as well. That’s what the rest of the verse says. Whatever his life course, he will be blessed because we asked, and God is faithful.”

            Penny’s face seemed aglow. Her eyes were misty, and she looked joyful. She hugged me. She was so natural. I inhaled her sent. No perfume, just her and maybe a hint of Ivory soap. Her warm breath declared something musical into my ear. “I love you, Arlo.”

            “I love you too, Penny. That’s why you should marry me. Soon, very soon.”

            She pushed away from me, her face still radiating joy. I’m sure her words back to me caused me to radiate joy as well, for they gave me hope. “Maybe I will.”

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES – CHAPTER 11

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES

CHAPTER 11

PENNY

FOR YOU FORMED MY INWARD PARTS; YOU COVERED ME IN MY MOTHER’S WOMB. I WILL PRAISE YOU FOR I AM FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE. (Psalm 139:13, 14)

            “I can’t stand to be around you, Penny,” Arlo had told me.

            “Well hey, that’s just what every girl wants to hear when she feels drawn to a guy.”

            He laughed, but then sighed and ran his hands through his long blonde hair, causing his large biceps to bulge like softballs under his dark blue long sleeve dress shirt. A moment before he had declared my presence to be a nuisance as he had disconnected our faces, which had been joined at the lips.

            It had been four days since my sister snapped me out of my denial of pregnancy. It had been three days since my doctor officially confirmed that I was with child. It had been two hours since I had surprised Arlo by joining him at Cotton Creek Cove Fellowship. It had been one minute after we had sat down on bench down by Cotton Creek. The rippling brook was about a football field’s length behind the church. It was also exceptionally warm for late February.

            With my heart pounding, I opened my mouth to tell Arlo that he was going to be a father. But before my words could come out, Arlo stopped them by covering his mouth over mine. I didn’t resist, but after around sixty seconds of an extremely friendly mouth embrace, my pulse quickened for a different reason. But then he separated from me as if I was the devil. Who knows, maybe that wasn’t far from the truth.

            Although a professed Christian since I was a girl, my faith was more like an insurance policy, rather than a personal relationship with the Savior. Until the Lord used Arlo and Abby to open my eyes to Bible truths, my conversation during the judgement might have gone like this. “Haven’t I gone to church dozens of times every year? Haven’t I saved many animals from death and discomfort? Haven’t I devoted time and resources to animal rescue organizations?”

            And the response I received would have likely been “I never knew you; depart from me you who practice lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:21-23).

            Arlo looked at me and grinned sheepishly. “Sorry Pen, that wasn’t very gentlemanly.”

            “Which one? Saying you don’t like to be in my presence, or taking liberties with kissing me?”

            “I actually love being in your presence! But due to your extreme loveliness, coupled with our night of passion, and coupled with my abstinence ever since that night, I feel tormented around you.”

            “It would be fun to end your torment,” I told him with a sultry smile. Keep in mind I wasn’t converted yet.

            “That doesn’t help,” he said with a smile. Then his face grew serious. “I was so glad to see you show up at church today. But were you there for me or the pursuit of God?”

            “Both,” I replied. Then I told him all about how I had been studying the Bible, and that I had read the three books Abby had given me. ‘Steps to Christ,’ ‘The Desire of Ages,’ and ‘The Great Controversy’ (between Christ and Satan).

            We talked about spiritual things for the next ten or fifteen minutes. Finally we reached a point in the conversation where I had both an opening and the nerve. “So Arlo, there’s something I…”

            “Hey kids,” A voice called, causing me to jump, and then making my jaw clench in frustration.

            It was the pastor. He was a man in his sixties, but lean and fit. He had a long white beard and was known affectionately as Captain Kirk. His name was Kirk Samson, and he had been a Chaplain in the army and was honorably discharged with the rank of Captain after a decade of service.

            “Why don’t you two come on up to the church basement? We’re gonna play Bible Trivia?”

            “That doesn’t sound fair, you’ll clean up,” Arlo replied with a chuckle.

            “No I won’t, son. I’ll be playing the role of game show host.”

            “What do you say, Pen?” Arlo looked at me.

            I didn’t want to be a party pooper. Plus the mood was ruined at the moment for me to reveal parentage news. “Sure, but I get the feeling I’ll be watching more than participating.”

            We made our way back to the sanctuary. I had worn a tan and white stripped dress with white tights, and toeless heels to church. But before Arlo and I walked down to the creek, I went to my truck and retrieved my hiking boots. Now back inside the church, I kicked them off and reached for my heels. I heard Arlo chuckle as he watched me.

            When I had changed into my hiking boots before the walk, Arlo had said, “Watching you walk in those heels was pretty intense.”

            “Yeah?” I replied with a coy smile.

            I had assumed he was admiring my attempt at femininity. But instead he declared, “Yeah, I thought for sure you were gonna twist your ankle.”

            I had stuck my tongue out at him then, but his chortle now was for a different reason. I discovered his amusement was centered on my shoeless feet. From my ankles to my toes, my white tights were stained with a brownish hue from my dirty hiking boots. “Oh no, my brand new tights.”

            “I guess you can take the girl out of the country, but not the country out of the girl.”

            “What’s that supposed to mean?”

            “I mean that you’re better suited for jeans and flannel rather than dresses and pantyhose.”

            “Thanks a lot,” I said, tossing one of my heels at him. He dodged it and I threw the other. He caught it with one hand. “But jeans and flannel are more comfortable.”

            He knelt in front of me, apparently pretending to be a shoe salesmen, and attempted to put one of my shoes on my foot. “I can’t wear those with all the dirt stains.”

            He picked up one of my hiking boots and carefully placed it on my foot instead. Then the other. Then he grinned at me. “There you go princess of the outdoors. Nobody will even be paying attention to your feet.”

            He was right, for the next three hours they stayed under the table as we first played Bible trivia and then conversed. There were three other couples besides Arlo and me. Even though I was the only one at the table that had a doctorate, just as I figured, I was more of a spectator than a participant.

            However, I also was the only one under forty. With the exception of Arlo, all of the rest were also long time Bible believers. At sundown that late Saturday afternoon, the Biblical Sabbath ended (See Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31, 2:1-3), and the pastor closed out our little gathering with a word of prayer.

            Although I had enjoyed the fellowship, I also had anxiously awaited to get Arlo alone and tell him the news about my womb and what resided there. But my plans were foiled yet again. Arlo had offered to help pastor Samson work on the church’s sound system, and I could tell that it was going to be a while. So I left alone and went home.

            Getting together with Arlo Sunday was also out. Early that morning he flew out to California to take care of some legal matter first thing Monday morning. That week had been busy for me as well, and although Arlo returned Tuesday, we were unable to get together in person for a few days. The couple of times I tried to call, he didn’t answer, and I didn’t leave a message.

            Then I got a visit from my sister on Friday morning. She greeted me. “So apparently Arlo took the news of fatherhood bad?”

            “No, I haven’t had a chance to tell him yet.”

            “Well, he must know, because Eli’s concerned about him. He hasn’t come out of his room for the last two or three days. All Eli knows is it has something to do with parentage.”

            “You mean you told Eli that I was pregnant with Arlo’s child!”

            “No, no, no! I haven’t told a soul, I promise!”

            “Well, how would he be upset then? You, me, and my doctor are the only ones that would know about my pregnancy.”

            “Cross my heart, Pen. Maybe you should go talk to him.”

            Fortunately I had most of Friday afternoon off. Arlo and Eli were still staying at Mrs. Mendelbright’s bed and breakfast. It was the off season for her, and she was often cooking two meals a day for the pair. They were also paying her handsomely, and she was delighted! She said it was the first time she had made a larger profit in the off season.

            It was a large beautiful Victorian home. Although I was familiar with the location of the place, I had never been inside. It was like a combination of a historic old home and a hotel. I told Mrs. Mendelbright who I was and why I was there. She too seemed concerned about her tenant, and it only made me the more apprehensive.

            I could hear a TV inside Arlo’s room. I knocked three times, but there was no reply. I tried the door handle, and it was unlocked. I opened the door slowly and discovered Arlo laying on his back, fully dressed in jeans and a blue flannel shirt, mouth agape, and snoring softly. The old sitcom ‘Three’s Company’ was playing on the tube. I sat on the bed and took hold of his hand. He moaned, his eyes fluttered, opened, and turned their gaze on me.

            “Janet?” he croaked, gazing at me with squinted eyes. He looked at the TV and then back to me. “You’re not Janet, are you?”

            I glanced at the TV. I resembled one of the characters on ‘Three’s Company’ who was named Janet Wood. I wasn’t offended since she was pretty. Since I had let my hair grow out the last few months, from what my sister called a man cut, I had also recently been told that I looked  like Joan Jett.

            “Sorry to disappoint, Arlo, but it’s me Penny.”

            He sat up rubbing his bleary eyes. “Oh, hey, Pen. I’m not disappointed in the least. How’d you get in here?”

            “I knocked a few times, but apparently you were sound asleep. The door was unlocked, so I came in. I was worried about you.”

            “Oh?” he said, raising his eyebrows. “Why is that?”

            “You haven’t answered my calls, and Eli said you haven’t come out of your room for the last couple days.”

            “Yeah, yeah, I guess I’ve been in a funk,” he said, looking at me, and I could tell he was concentrating on focusing on my face. “You’re so pretty, Pen… I’ve been watching you on TV. There’s what they call a marathon of this show. I couldn’t stop watching because you look like you on it.”

            “Arlo, have you been drinking?”

            His eyes widened. “No, Pen… No I haven’t, but I’ve been sleep deprived all week.”

            “Can you tell me why?”

            “I’m no good, I’m no good,” he groaned, and then put his face in his hands.

            Was I in the ‘The Twilight Zone’? First I meet an older lady named Mrs. Mendelbright, who happens to be Arlo’s landlord. Just like a Mrs. Mendelbright was Barney Fife’s landlord on an episode of ‘Andy Griffith.’ Then Arlo, seeming like he was drunk due to sleep deprivation, starts declaring ‘he’s no good,’ just like I’m pretty sure Barney did on that same episode. Also, the actor Don Knotts, who played Barney, was on both ‘Andy Griffith’ as well as ‘Three’s Company.’

            “Arlo, Honey, why are you no good?”

            He lifted his face toward the ceiling, his face scrunched in pain. “Oh, Pen, it hurts!”

            “What hurts, Arlo?”

            “My soul.”

            “Why does your soul hurt, Sweety?” I soothed. I wasn’t good with terms of endearment. But my sister was, and I mimicked her form of speech that I had witnessed her use throughout the years, especially when she consoled someone.

            Arlo got out of bed and gulped down half a bottle of water. Then he said, “A couple of weeks ago, my ex-wife informed me that I was the father of a three month old little boy.”

            My whole body tensed, and Arlo pinched his nose and wept again. I just stared at him as my mind reeled. After a minute he continued. “I thought, wow, I have a son! But then I thought, wow, I don’t want to have to be involved with that betraying witch for the rest of my life. But I have a son! And I want to be a part of his life. Maybe I need to move back to California.”

            I was now so stiff with tension, I thought I might topple off of the bed. “So you’re moving back to California?”

            “No,” he said shaking his head, and snorting sarcastically. “Tt turns out he’s not my son after all. My ex claimed he was mine, because a DNA test determined that it wasn’t her current husband’s, with whom she was having an affair with while we were still married. But then a DNA test also determined that it wasn’t mine either. She discovered this the other day in my lawyer’s office. Then you wouldn’t believe what she started babbling to her husband.”

            Arlo was both crying and laughing as he shook his head. I gave him space, and then he continued. “That can’t be, he wore a condom, he wore condom. Her husband asked who and I couldn’t believe her reply. It was their pastor, the Reverend Bruce Simon. He was also the man who baptized me. I now feel like my baptism was illegitimate. Can you believe the Reverend that baptized me not only committed adultery, but with my wife!

            I noticed how when Arlo called Bruce Simon Reverend, he did so mockingly. Interestingly, Pastor Kirk Samson gave me a little lesson when I had called him Reverand at Cotton Creek last week. With a twinkle in his eye, and like a loving grandfather, he said softly. “Please don’t call me Reverend, my dear, for I am not worthy. Scripture declares in Psalm 111:9, King James Version, that Holy and Reverand is God’s name. You can call me Kirk, or some like to call me Captain Kirk, or if you like formality, Pastor Samson is fine also. Shoot, I’ll even answer to hey you.”

            I laughed, and thought, I like this guy!

            “I believe you deserve the respect of at least Pastor Samsom, Captain Kirk,” I said with a grin. With his long white beard, he reminded me of Moses, and with his self-deprecating humor and powerful sermon, my first impression of him was as a man with impeccable character.

            “I don’t believe your baptism was illegitimate, Arlo. The so called man of the cloth is the one that sinned. Also, Captain Kirk enlightened me on the title Reverend.”

            I shared with him the verse, and he seemed pleased despite the emotional pain he was dealing with. Then he gave me a quick scripture lesson along the same lines. “I do know that Jesus said in Matthew 23:9 that we’re to call no man on earth father. Of course he’s talking in the spiritual sense. He didn’t mean we couldn’t call our dad, father. But I did not know about the Reverend thing.”

            After a moment of silence, Arlo sighed and declared, “I deserve it.”

            “Why do you say that?”

            “All those years promoting evil in our band. Plus, I’m ashamed to admit, I fathered two abortions in the past… How ironic, as nihilist in a hardcore, hedonistic rock band, I gave no thought of exterminating my child’s life. Now I’m grieving the loss of what turned out to be a fictional child of mine.”

            “So is that what you’re mostly upset about right now? You wanted to be a part of your ex-wife’s child’s life?”

            “Yes, big time! I have a different world view nowadays. It seems like it was possibly my only chance at, what would you call it, heritage? Family? At least for a long while.”

            I was no longer nervous or hesitant about revealing his impending fatherhood. “Arlo, you can still be a father to a child.”

            “Are you out of your mind! You expect me to be a father figure to the child of my cheating ex-wife? Fathered by an adulterous pastor? Forgive me if that’s unforgiving.”

            “That’s not what I’m talking about,” I said. I lifted the old comfy purple flannel shirt I was wearing up to my chest, exposing my entire stomach. My faded blue jeans were unbuttoned because they were otherwise too tight on my expanded waist. Yet I honestly wasn’t trying to entice him sexually. “Our night together more than four months ago now. This the result.”

            If ever there was ever a stunned expression on a face, it was Arlo’s. His mouth gaped open, and his eyes were bulging from their sockets. After a moment, he gathered himself and stepped toward me. He put a hand on my lower cheek. Although it was warm, I felt goosebumps rise. He spoke quietly as his eyes welled. “So there’s gonna be a human being that is part you, and part me?”

            I nodded.

            “For real, and you’re sure it’s mine?”

            “For real, and there’s a one hundred percent chance my egg was fertilized by you. I told you before we ever made love that it had been half a year since a man had been allowed into my sacred spot. Just so you know, I haven’t even kissed a guy besides you since.”

            Then he went onto his knees in front of me, and kissed our child cocooned behind my flesh.

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES – CHAPTER 10

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES

CHAPTER 10

PENNY

  BEHOLD I STAND AT THE DOOR AND KNOCK. IF ANYONE HEARS MY VOICE AND OPENS THE DOOR, I WILL COME IN TO HIM AND DINE WITH HIM, AND HE WITH ME. (Revelation 3:20)

            “So Penny, what was going on with you and Arlo last night?” my sister demanded with hands on her hips.

            “So Ariel, what was going on with you and Eli last night?” I replied, mimicking her hands on hips.

            She folded her arms over her chest, lifting her chin. “I asked first.”

            “Give me a break, what, are we kids again fighting over a doll?”

            “You didn’t play with dolls.”

            “I did so.”

            “Yeah, only to play doctor with them.”

            “And what did I become?”

            She snorted a laugh. “Eli and I were simply reminiscing of our time as teenagers. It was an innocent, nostalgic look at the stars.”

            “Yeah? As he hugged you from behind?”

            “It was cold. Now what about you and Arlo in a lip lock and a tight embrace?”

            “It was a friendly kiss.”

            “On the lips? I’ve never kissed a friend, male or female on the lips.”

            “Well, I guess I’m friendlier than you.”

            She laughed menacingly. “Yeah, Penny, ‘I hate people.’ Baldwin is friendlier than me.”

            I sighed and sat down behind my desk. We were in my office at the clinic I shared with two other vets. I was tired. Abby, our best assistant, quit with less than two weeks notice. Yet, I understood her situation, and we parted on good terms. The night before I slept poorly due to the uncertainty of Arlo’s  and my relationship. Then twenty minutes before my sister arrived, I lost a family’s beloved Cocker Spaniel.

            Although I had warned them it was a long shot, and although I try to stay detached from defeats in veterinarian practice, the moment had worn me down. I couldn’t stop a couple tears from my eyes. I whimpered, “I’m in love with Arlo.”

            “Oh Sweety,” my sister replied, pulling up a chair next to me, and taking one of my hands. My sister was a very empathetic person. She was right about me having a hard time liking people, although hate was too strong of a description. I think anyway. So just as a yawn often causes another person to yawn, my tears produced tears to emit from Ariel’s eyes. “Isn’t Arlo seeing Abby, though?”

            “That’s what I was talking to him about.”

            “And?”

            “When Arlo first showed up in town, he was hanging out with both Abby and me. But he had the Bible in common with Abby, and nothing is more important to him. I was jealous, and knew he and I had chemistry. So four months ago I seduced him… And it worked.”

            Ariel’s large brown eyes became even larger, and her mouth gaped in surprise. She whispered, “You and Arlo had… Sex?”

            I cringed, the word sex never sounded dirtier. But I didn’t feel that way about the passion between Arlo and me that night. So I declared, “We made love.”

            “I don’t get it, he’s so devout. He makes such a big deal about what day a person worships on. Yet he fornicates outside of the bonds of marriage?”

            “It’s not like that Ariel. All have sinned. He was devastated. He even tried to flee right before we, you know…”

            “You mean you had to talk him into it?” She frowned. Her words and expression made me feel like a tramp.

            “Let’s just say I persuaded him.”

            “How?”

            “Well sister, I may not be as striking as you, but I can still be rather sexy.”

            “Me more striking? Hardly! I’ve always been envious of how you can still look lovely even when you’re dressed more like a guy.”

            “I’ve always been envious of…” I pointed at her chest.

            “And I’ve always been envious of your perfect legs.”

            “Okay, we’re a couple hot sisters,” I said. But then becoming uncomfortable with the beginnings of a love fest, I teased, “Despite you being in your forties now.”

            “Yeah, well you’re not far behind,” she grinned. Then she grew serious. “So, after your night with Arlo, what happened?”

            “Nothing,” I shrugged. “I felt terrible that he felt terrible. I also knew that Abby had a thing for him, and that they were better suited for each other, so I stayed out of the way. Besides, I found it highly unlikely that Arlo would give into temptation again. And at the time I was mostly interested in him physically.”

            “So why did Abby give him a Dear John letter then?”

            “She confided in me that Arlo didn’t reciprocate her feelings for him. Also that he asked about me on a regular basis. Then last week she asked me about the few times I hung out with Arlo. I told her I began to avoid him so she could be free to win his heart. My seemingly selfless act moved her. So now she has switched things up so I could be free to be with Arlo.”

            “By the looks of last night it would seem that you are.”

            “It’s complicated. Due to religious convictions, we would have to be married before we would, um, well, you know…”

            “Have sex?”

            “Make love.”

            “Apples and oranges, my dear. So let me ask you this. How come you’re so willing to fornicate? Are all the times I’ve seen you in church just for Mom’s benefit?”

            “In all honesty, pleasing Mom plays a big part. But I’m also a seeker, and sanctification is a process that is the work of a lifetime. Besides, like you always say, we’re saved by grace.”

            “That doesn’t mean we’re free to do whatever we want.”

            “Oh really? So let me get this straight. It would be a sin for me to fornicate with Arlo. But it’s okay for you to worship on the day that religious systems appointed rather than the day God Himself  blessed and made holy.”

            “Once again, apples and oranges.”

            “I beg to differ. Sin is transgression of the law, says 1 John 3:4. And the Ten Commandments are the only part of the Bible that God wrote Himself. You can’t pick and choose which ones are necessary and which aren’t.”

            “I understand your point. However, you can’t compare getting naked with another person with what day you choose to worship on. You should worship God every day.”

            “True, but there is only one day that God set apart as particularly special and blessed. Malachi 3:6 declares that God does not change. So where do human beings get off on thinking they can change the law of God? Yet the Bible predicted that the religious system that ruled in the dark ages would think to do just that. Daniel 7:25 talks about this persecuting power that would think to change times and law. The Sabbath is both. And the Word of God predicted this many centuries before it happened.”

            “Well, it’s tradition now,” Ariel said with a shrug.

            “In vain they worship me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men. That’s Mark 7 verses 7 and 8.”

            She snorted. “It seems Arlo and Abby are turning you into a legalist.”

            “That depends on your reason for obeying the law of God. If you’re doing so just out of duty, then yes, you’re a legalist. But Jesus said in John 14:15, if you love Me, keep my commandments. So our motive to obey should be because we love Him.”

            Ariel’s mouth hung open and her arms were crossed defiantly across her chest. But then she forced a smile. “Look at you, Pen, you’re not only a DVM, but a Bible scholar as well. How did that happen?”

            I shrugged. “It has been a lonely few months, so I’ve been studying for myself the things Abby and then Arlo have been telling me. I guess you could say Abby had planted the seeds, and Arlo watered them.”

            Ariel changed the subject. “So what would you do if Arlo asked you to marry him?”

            “He’s not going to because we haven’t known each other all that long.”

            “That’s not what I asked. I asked what would you do if he asked?

            “I don’t know,” I replied and then bit my thumb. “But we’d need to see each other for a while first.”

            “Oh my word! My confirmed bachelorette sister would consider a husband?”

            “Whoever said I was a confirmed bachelorette? Just because marriage has never been a priority with me? I’d consider settling down with the right guy one day.”

            “And Arlo, former wild rock star, might be he?”

            “Doubtful, but never say never. Now it’s your turn, buckaroo.”

            “What do you mean?” my sister asked with wide innocent eyes.

            “You know very well what I mean. That backwards hug between you and Eli. I don’t buy for a second that it was just cold. Otherwise you wouldn’t have stepped out of it so quickly.”

            “Honestly, I was just reminiscing. My senior year of high school was the happiest time of my life, mostly because of Eli. But then it ended up the worst time of my life after he not only left town but left me pregnant.”

            “You know, last night when we saw each other, I swear it looked like Eli was about to kiss either your neck or cheek.”

            “Really?” Ariel asked, and then bit her thumb and began to stare at nothing.

            “Reminiscing my foot,” I suggested.

            Ariel snapped out of her trance and then laughed. “What are we… a couple of teenagers?”

            After she left, I took of my white lab coat and hung it on a hook. My t-shirt rose a couple inches, and I yanked it down in annoyance. I needed to stop snacking in between meals. I frowned, went to a mirror, and lifted my shirt. As I studied my midriff, Ariel walked back into my office.

            “I forgot my…” She started to say, and then froze. “Pen… are you… pregnant?”

            “Of course not,” I snapped, yanking my shirt back down.

            “Are you sure?”

            “Sure I’m sure. I think I’d know, being a doctor. I just need to go on a diet.”

            “When was your last period?”

            “I don’t know, a couple months ago. Look, the last couple years it’s been inconsistent. I think I’m perimenopausal.”

            “You know your night of passion with Arlo. Did he, um, wear a certain something when you two became one?”

            “No,” I replied quietly as I felt my face flush. Denial is a strange thing. “Do you really think I could be pregnant?”

            Ariel looked sympathetic, yet sarcastically said, “I don’t know, Sis, I’m not a doctor. But I’m gonna go out on a limb and suggest Abby wasn’t the only one that planted a seed in you, albeit this being a different kind.”

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES – CHAPTER 9

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES

CHAPTER 9

ELI

THE LAW OF THE LORD IS PERFECT, CONVERTING THE SOUL; THE TESTIMONY OF THE LORD IS SURE MAKING WISE THE SIMPLE (Psalm 19:7)

            Life is a strange trip. The whole year I lived in Iowa as a seventeen year old, I could not wait to graduate high school and leave. But one thing that did give me contentment was my friendship with Ariel Grobstick. Then that friendship turned romantic right before Arlo and I fulfilled our plans to go west to pursue our dream of rock and roll stardom. I still remember those last words exchanged between Ariel and me as if it were yesterday.

            “I gave you my virginity!” she had told me with tears pouring out of her eyes. “You said you love me more than anybody on the planet.”

            “I do, I truly do, Ariel,” I pleaded, her words were like a knife in my gut. Yet the second part of my response displayed how cold hearted I was. “More than any person, Ariel. But my first love has always been music. I need to do whatever it takes to be successful, and the L.A. rock scene is the best place for that. Come with me.”

            “Why, so I can be your mistress?” she replied bitterly.

            “What do you mean? I would never cheat on you.”

            “You just said you love your guitar more than me.”

            “Ariel…”

            “Goodbye, Elijah,” she spit, turning and walking briskly away from me. I didn’t see her again for more than two decades.

            It was now midwinter in Iowa. Despite feeling like the frozen heartland was a prison as a teenager, I was now forty years of age and had been residing there for four months of my own free will. And I had never been happier in my life. It was all because of the instant family I had miraculously acquired by opening a letter one day.

            It had all turned out better than I had expected, but it hadn’t been without some challenges. First of all I needed to gain trust. Not only because I was a virtual stranger to my twenty two year old son, but also because of my rather crazy past as a wild rock star.

            Then two weeks before Christmas, Ariel’s second husband, who had been seriously injured in a scuffle with her first husband, died suddenly after suffering a stroke. Since Ariel had been the most skeptical of me upon my arrival, and since we had been lovers as teenagers, the death of her husband made me extra uncomfortable.

            Not long after meeting my son, we began jamming together. In other words we were creating music. He was a fantastic singer, and his wife was a superb drummer. When Arlo arrived, he took up the bass with us. Over the days and weeks, we evolved into a pretty tight little band and practiced three or four times a week.

            In the beginning of these sessions, Ariel was present every time. It was as if she was a mother hen making sure that I wasn’t a wolf. I can’t blame her. If ever a band’s record needed a parental advisory label it was ‘The Sons of Molech’. Even while a member of the band, I often distanced myself from the content, sighting that I wrote the music and Izzy wrote the lyrics.

            After the death of Ariel’s husband, she only joined us a half a dozen times when we practiced. On this day, in mid-February, she arrived with our five year old granddaughter. I tried not to notice how well Ariel filled out the black leggings she wore. Her dark hair with sprinkles of salt was pulled back in a ponytail. She rarely wore makeup, but this day a little mascara framed her large lovely brown eyes.

            In one hand Crystal carried the little guitar I had bought her. I typically gave her a five to ten minute guitar lesson before our band practiced. She was surprisingly good. Could musical talent be genetic? I knew little of such things.

            In Crystal’s other hand, she held a card. She shyly smiled as she shoved it toward me, using the name she called me, which I absolutely loved. “Here, Poppop.”

            “Thank you, Crissy,” I said cheerly as I opened it. It had a cartoonish picture of two kittens holding hands. Inside it asked, ‘Will you be my Valentine?’

            “I’d be delighted to be your Valentine, Sweetheart,” I told her as I spread my arms, She leapt into me for a hug.

            I glanced up at Ariel and she smiled happily at us. When we broke from our hug, Ariel handed another card to Crystal, took her guitar from her and said, “Go give this to Uncle Arlo.”

            I felt my toes curl. Not only at being one on one with Ariel, but I was fearful of how Arlo would handle a Valentine card. He was really into what he called primitive Godliness. Not only the Bible and the Bible only, which was great, but he also became a student of history, which was also great. Yet in my opinion, he took it too far, often preaching about the pagan origins of most of our holidays.

            But I couldn’t help chuckling when Arlo’s face lit up in exaggerated glee. Then he picked Crystal up and spun her around three or four times as she squealed with delight.

            Ariel pulled up a chair, sat, and strummed Crystal’s guitar a few times. “How about you give me a guitar lesson?”

            “Seriously?” I asked with an arched eyebrow.

            “Sure, why not,” she replied with a shrug.

            “You never wanted any guitar lessons twenty years ago.”

            “I didn’t need any,” she said with a coy smile. “You paid attention to me back then without me asking.”

            Words got stuck in my throat. Was she flirting with me? It had only been two months since her husband passed away. Was there a timetable for grief and its extent? I suppose everybody was different.

            “Eli, will do me a favor?”

            “Sure, but let’s get a bigger guitar.”

             “I’m not talking about that,” she said with a little giggle. Then she became serious. “Will you please stop avoiding me, and tiptoeing around me.”

            “Am I?”

            “Ya think.”

            “Apparently not,” I said with a smile.

            Once again she giggled, but then became serious. “Before we, ya know,  made a baby, you were one of the best friends I ever had. Ever since our senior year, I’d look up at the stars at night and recall how wonderful it was sitting next to you gazing at the twinkling heavens and talking the night away. Now, to have you so close, and only to be avoided. It, well, hurts.”

            “I’m sorry, Ariel. I truly am. The truth is, I have been avoiding you. But its only because I hurt you all those years ago. I felt like my presence here only made things worse for you. I even thought about going back to California for a while right after Doug passed away. But selfishly, I have been enjoying getting to know Ethan and his family, and couldn’t get myself to go.”

            “Well I’m glad you didn’t go. I admit, I was skeptical when you first arrived back in October. But your presence has been a blessing to us all. Watching you bond with Ethan and Crystal has warmed my heart, and I never would have believed it possible.”

            “Really, why’s that?”

            “You have to ask? Sweet Eli Alderson became sinister Eli Endor. That whole ‘Sons of Molech’ thing was as if you left me and married a prostitute.”

            “I’ve come to realize over the last couple years how wrong my thinking and rationalizing was. But you have to believe me when I say I didn’t take the whole satanism thing seriously. I looked at our band like a traveling horror show, and I was an actor playing a part. Like Alice Cooper. You know he’s a Christian. And as far as I know, he still tours with his traveling horror show. As for me, ‘The Sons of Molech’ are done forever.”

            “It helps that half the band is dead,” she said.

            “Even if they weren’t, Arlo quit, and I was following on his heels. Now, writing Christian songs with Ethan… It feels redemptive. Like making amends for promoting that which was dark and evil.”

            “Where do you see this all going?” Ariel asked with an eager expression.

            I shrugged. “We’ve got enough songs to record a CD. Then who knows? Play some shows, go on tour.”

            The door to the church auditorium opened. Ariel and I both looked and watched Penny walk in. She hadn’t been to one of our band’s rehearsals in months. I noticed Arlo slink in the opposite direction. I wasn’t the only one tiptoeing around one of the Grobstick sisters. Although they both had different last names now.

            “What’s up with Arlo and Penny?” I asked.

            Ariel looked at Arlo. “What do you mean?”

            “She came in and he went to the other side of the room.”

            “So?” she replied with a shrug.

            “Oh, I don’t know. When he first arrived here in Iowa, not long after I did, they seemed awfully chummy. Then all of a sudden they don’t seem to want anything to do with each other.”

            “I do know he’s been seeing Penny’s assistant, Abby.”

            “Oh, I think they are just friends. He goes to church with her. They’re both into that Biblical Sabbath thing. He says the Bible and the Bible only, something like primitive Godliness.”

            “Primitive Godliness,” she snorted. “If Abby’s into something like that, maybe she should stop having one night stands while she’s engaged.”

            “What, you don’t believe she could repent and be forgiven?”

            “No, I do,” she said with a bit of a whine. “I didn’t mean to sound judgmental. It does seem like something weird is going on with the three of them, though. I know Penny had a thing for Arlo, but it seems he has more in common with Abby. Yet the two women have to work together.”

            “So what did Penny tell you?”

            “Nothing. She doesn’t talk to me about her love life. But I know my sister, and I observe… Speaking about the Sabbath situation, I wish you’d tell Arlo to stop brainwashing Ethan. Now he’s talking about going to that Seventh Day church.”

            “Brainwashing?” I chuckled. “They’ve just been studying together. I’ve even joined them.”

            “I guess Arlo is a fairly new Christian. I suppose he doesn’t understand the Sabbath was changed to Sunday in honor of the resurrection.”

            “He and I have discussed that. He says baptism is what honors the resurrection. He says Sunday keeping became a prominent tradition in the fourth century when Constantine made Christianity a legal religion. When that happened a bunch of the pagan traditions entered the church. One of them, the worship of the sun God, on the venerable day of the sun, was Sunday which became instituted.”

            “Look at you, Mr. Bible scholar,” she joked, yet I detected an air of annoyance.

            “He said the Bible says God doesn’t change (Malachi 3:6). God wrote the Ten Commandments with his own finger, and the Sabbath is right in the middle (Exodus 20:8-11).”

            “But we’re not under the law, we’re under grace.”

            “Do we then make void the law through faith. Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law. That is Romans 3:31.”

            “You’re freaking me out, Eli,” she with a smile. “I guess you’ve convinced me that you’re not a satanist.”

            “Hey, Ethan is not here yet, and it seems Crissy is more interested in playing drums right now. Are you really interested in a guitar lesson?”

            “Sure, why not?”

            “I’ve got an acoustic guitar out in my truck.”

            My Shelby Mustang was in storage for the winter, so I was just about to unlock the pickup truck I had acquired when Ariel came up behind me. She had a look of wonder on face as her eyes danced with excitement. “Eli?”

            “Yeah?”

            “Before we go back in, will you hold me like you used to, and we’ll look at the stars for a minute.”

            “Sure,” I replied with an easy smile. She turned and backed into me, and I wrapped my arms around her, so we were spooning. She turned her gaze toward the sky with a sentimental look on her face. I inhaled her scent, and was considering kissing her cheek, when we heard a murmur of voices. It was Penny and Arlo, over by her pickup truck. They didn’t see us. Ariel suddenly lost interest in the night sky.

            Penny retrieved something from her truck. It was an envelope, and she handed it to Arlo. “So you say she quit her job and is leaving town?”

            “I guess so… I’m sorry,” Penny consoled.

            “It’s no big deal, we were just friends. I did hope we could be more, but I just couldn’t…”

            “Couldn’t what?”

            “Get you out of my head,” he blurted.

            “Oh Arlo,” she said. Then she went to tiptoes and kissed his lips. Then she hugged him and pressed the side of her face onto his chest as they held each other. With her cheek pressed into Arlo’s chest, she spotted Ariel and me watching them. She quickly shoved away from Arlo. As soon as she did this, Ariel abruptly stepped out of my backward embrace. Then we all just looked at each other for a long speechless moment.

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES – CHAPTER 8

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES

CHAPTER 8

ARLO ALDO

WITH HER ENTICING SPEECH SHE CAUSED HIM TO YIELD, WITH HER FLATTERING LIPS SHE SEDUCED HIM. IMMEDIATELY HE WENT AFTER HER, AS AN OX GOES TO THE SLAUGHTER (Proverbs 7:21, 22)

            I felt Penny’s warm breath on my face as she spoke with her lips only an inch away from mine. “Arlo, Honey, do you have protection?”

            Penny implied carnal protection, as we had been on the verge of fornicating. But it spoke to me of spiritual protection, what was I doing about to fornicate? Penny and I weren’t married!

            “You’re right!” I blurted, leaping from her bed as if it were on fire. I grabbed my jeans, and hurriedly began to dress. Several scriptures passed before me like the scenes of one’s life before they die.

            The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, is not of the Father but of the world (1 John 2:16). Do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts (Romans 6:12). Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry (Colossians 3:5). Flee sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 6:18). Abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul (1 Peter 2:11). Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed (James 1:14). Do not lust after her beauty in your heart, Nor let her allure you with her eyes (Proverbs 6:25).

            “Right about what? Where are you going?” she asked with her lovely large brown eyes looking pleadingly.

            “I need protection,” I croaked.

            “Hold on.” she said. Once again, my mind was on spiritual protection. While her mind was on carnal as she opened her nightstand and pulled out a box of condoms.

            She glanced guiltily at me, but then scowled. “Don’t judge me. I’m not promiscuous. The last time I had a guy in here the snow was flying, and it’s now October.”

            “I’m not judging. I’m leaving.”

            “Oh great!” she said disgustedly. I didn’t know if she meant about me leaving, or that the box of prophylactics turned out to be empty as she shook it. Maybe both.

            “I’ll see you later, Penny. I’m truly sorry.”

            She sprang from the bed and grabbed my hand. “Arlo, come lay back down.”

            Her words and actions reminded me of Joseph fleeing from Potiphar’s wife. (Genesis 39:7-12). This recollection caused me to jerk my hand from hers. In the ambiance of the dim light I could see her jaw clench as she grabbed my hand back. “I’m not Potiphar’s wife!”

            Was it a coincidence that she spoke of what I was thinking? She pleaded. “I’m the woman whose strawberry milkshake shake you’ve been tasting for the last half hour. Remember?”     She went on tip toes and pressed her mouth firm against mine. Oh, I remembered alright!

            I look at the cosmic conflict we are doing battle with like balance scales. When you are drawn away by lust, the carnal side rises and the spiritual lowers. On the other hand, when you behold Jesus, pray, ask for the Holy Spirit to help you (John 14:26) and personally study your Bible, the spiritual side of the balances can rise to the top and bottom out the carnal. Thereby by living out righteousness by faith.

            James 4:7 instructs us to submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. And the devil can come to you in the guise of a naturally beautiful woman who desires you. I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t do a thorough job of resisting her. Portions of those verses I recited may have passed through my mind, but not my heart. I didn’t ask the Helper, AKA Holy Spirit to help. Instead I satisfied my carnal instinct.

            I wanted to flee once the sexual indulgence was over. But Penny hooked a leg over mine, wrapped an arm across my chest, nuzzled her head into the crook of my neck and chest as she sighed with satisfaction. I was trapped! Sure, I could have flung her off like a rag doll, but we had just done the most intimate act that two human beings can do. I may have sinned, but I still needed to be a gentleman, even if I lay there wallowing in the vomit of my sin (Proverbs 26:11).

            “Arlo, I’m sorry,” Penny said quietly. “Guys aren’t exactly lining up to go out with me. But I’ve never coerced a guy like I just did you tonight.”

            “You didn’t put a gun to my head.”

            “It felt like it.”

            “It’s only because I want to live a righteous life.”

            She winced. “Not only did I beg a guy to sleep with me, I led him to betray his faith.”

            She didn’t mean to, but her words betrayed my faith like a knife in the gut. Somehow I forced a smile, and kissed her head, taking in the scent of her rose shampoo. She was like a basic, no frills model of a female. “I went willingly, Pen. You did not beg me. You’re a natural beauty I just couldn’t resist. You’re the most physically pure woman I’ve ever been with.”

            She lifted her head and looked at me. She smiled, but her eyes were watery. She kissed me. “Ya know, if you want to live a righteous life, you ought not lie. Now get out of here, ya big lug. But I do want to ask you one favor.”

            “Okay?”

            “Tonight was a one off so please don’t kiss and tell. But most important, give Abby a chance. I know she’s head over heels for you. I feel like I horned in.”

            I was stunned, and I didn’t know what to say. She was forcing a smile, but tears ran down her cheeks. I wiped them with my thumb. Did the woman I was in bed with just say I should pursue another woman she knew? The strangest postcoital I had ever experienced. And I was a rock star! Or had been.

            The next day I sat across from Abby’s pastor as he sat behind a desk in his office. His name was Kirk Samson. He had been an Army Chaplain for many years, honorably discharged with the rank of Captain. So most of his congregation affectionately referred to him as Captain Kirk.

            He stroked his long white beard, his intense blue eyes on mine as he listened to me relive the previous night with Penny. I actually wept as I finished talking, wiping my eyes as well as blowing my nose with a tissue the good Captain had given me. He leaned forward with his elbows propping him up on his desk. “Son, have you ever dropped the soap in the shower?”

            I frowned. Was he nuts? When I heard his sermon the previous Sabbath, I had never listened to such reason. I had never heard a preacher quote more Scripture. That’s why I called on him and was grateful when he made time to see me. Then after I pour my heart out, he asks if I ever drop the soap during a shower?

            “Of course,” I blurted, instantly regretting the impatience in my tone.

            “What’d you do?”

            “What do you mean what did I do? I picked it up.”

            “And then what?”

            Why did I just confess such a shameful thing to this virtual stranger? He had struck me as such a wise, Godly man the other day. But now one on one with him, it appeared he had a screw loose. “I continued on with my shower,” I said, placating him.

            “Son, you dropped the soap with the woman you were indiscreet with,” he told me. “Your tearful confession was picking it up. Now move on and keep getting yourself spiritually clean.”

            Okay, he was wise after all. He was just giving me an object lesson. A little parable if you please. He picked up a Bible on his desk, flipped through some pages until he found what he was looking for. He handed it to me and asked me to read 1 John 2:1. “My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

            “You may have violated the law of God,” Captain Kirk told me when I finished. He leaned forward, a twinkle in his bright blue eyes. “But by confession and repentance you have hired Jesus as your lawyer. Our Savior is so many things to us. Our Redeemer, The Prince of Peace, The Wonderful Councilor, The Bread of Life, just to name a few… But He is also our lawyer, and He has never lost a case!”

            “Thanks, Pastor, I needed that!”

            “Praise God!” the pastor smiled. Then his face grew serious. “Son, may I say something that might be out of bounds?”

            “I don’t know what you mean, but please say whatever is on your heart.”

            Those intense blue eyes looked cautious. “I assume the woman in your story is someone other than Abby. She told me you two were simply friends, and that she hasn’t known you long.”

            “No, Sir, it wasn’t Abby.”

            “Good. Now, I need to tread carefully here. When I council with people, it’s in the strictest of confidences. But in a case like yours and Abby’s, your relationships intertwine. So I know that you know that she has some quite serious issues herself.”

            “Yes, Sir, I do.”

            “Good. So please tread carefully with her.”

            “I will… Sir, did she tell you about my background?”

            He nodded. “That you were married a couple of years, but recently divorced.”

            I nodded. “Did she tell you how my wife and I met?”

            He shook his head, leaned back in his chair, laced his hands together, and clearly expected an unusual story. He got one. I told him all about her being with a Christian organization that was protesting outside one of our concerts.

            “So you were deeply involved in the occult?” he asked with a concerned frown. “How long and how deep?”

            “Well, almost twenty years. But how deeply involved, only God knows. I never took the actual… how do I put it? …religious aspect of devil worship seriously. I viewed myself like an actor playing a part in our band. The most egregious thing I ever did was in the beginning, before we had major success. I took part in a satanic ritual, where we, um, well, sold our souls for rock and roll so to speak.”

            “I see,” Pastor Samson replied as his frown deepened. “That’s very, very dangerous spiritual ground to have walked.”

            “I know, believe me, I know. I was nineteen years old. So at the time I looked at what we did like playing the Ouija board, you know, like a game.”

            “More spiritual danger,” Captain Kirk interjected. “The Ouija board is a game that is no game at all! People unwittingly invite the demonic into their lives when they mess with that.”

            “Yeah, I know. That’s why I never had true peace the whole time I was in the band. On the other hand, there was a lot to take my mind off of the danger. Money, fame, models for girlfriends. I didn’t party as hard or fornicate with a variety of women like the other guys. I was actually in a committed relationship for eight years.”

            “But you never married?”

            “Nope.”

            “May I ask why?”

            I chuckled. “I guess you could say I didn’t want to be yoked to someone who wanted to be yoked to a rock star from a satanic band. But with Reese, she’s my ex-wife, she wasn’t romantically interested in me until after my conversion. Ironically, we were married six months after we met. In eight years with Elsa, I never even considered proposing.”

            “Why caused your breakup with Elsa?”

            “My Christian conversion.”

            “What happened with you and your wife?”

            “When I became a Sabbath keeper, it didn’t sit well with her. But, to whatever degree, it was also a convenient excuse for her to start seeing another man she fancied. They married before the ink was dry on our divorce.”

            “How did your bandmates take your conversion?”

            “Izzy, the singer, leader, and the one who took satanism the most serious, hated me. He even told me he was gonna put curse on me. Kyle, the drummer, was too immersed in addiction to care much. Eli, the lead guitarist, and my best friend was happy for me.”

            I told him about how Eli was interested in God, but noncommittal. But that he had asked me to pray for him and was reading his Bible on a regular basis. I explained our history, and how it was actually here in the Cedar Rapids metropolitan area where we first met as seventeen year olds. I told him about Eli recently finding out that he has a son and granddaughter, and how we had been toying with forming a band with his son and his wife. I was quick to point out that they were Christians.

            Then I went rigid. Eli! What would he think of my Christian witness if he found out about Penny and me? Would he find out? Should I tell him? Or should I just wait to see if the ball dropped, and then humbly admit my indiscretion?

            I put my face in my hands and groaned. “Pastor, I have another dilemma.”

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES – CHAPTER 7

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES

CHAPTER 7

PENNY

THE HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS, AND DESPERATELY WICKED; WHO CAN KNOW IT? (Jeremiah 17:9)

            “Hey,” my assistant Abby said with a breathless grin as she breezed into the clinic. “Did you have a good weekend?”

            “It was okay,” I replied. “I’m going to guess you had a good weekend.”

            I hadn’t seen Abby this happy in more than a year. Ever since the twenty eight year old’s fiancée ended their relationship the previous autumn, she had been depressed. He did this right after she discovered she was pregnant. I had thought him a creep, but her friendship with Arlo brought to light an interesting twist to the conception of her baby daughter Lindsey.

            She giggled. “Yeah, I had a really nice weekend.”

            “Oh yeah, what’d you do?”

            “Well, Arlo Aldo went to church with me Saturday,” she said breezily.

            I felt myself go rigid. A few nights previously, he and I had talked for a couple hours. I felt like we bonded, and I even told him as we parted that if he wanted to do something this weekend to give me a call. He very cheerfully said okay. But apparently he chose to spend time with my pretty, decade younger assistant. Was I jealous? I think I was, but why?

            “Oh yeah?” I replied, purposely appearing disinterested.

            “Yeah,” she said with more giggles. “Then yesterday he came out with my little rock climbing group. He had never done it before, but he was a natural. All those muscles aren’t just for show.”

            “That’s nice,” I said, leafing through some papers, and pretending to be looking for something as we talked. “So do you have a thing for Arlo?”

            My normally plain Jane redheaded assistant had an air of sexiness about her and looked cute as she crinkled her nose. “I think I do. He’s so handsome and rugged, yet gentle.”

            Oh well, lost at love again… What was I thinking? Lost at love? Arlo and I had one lengthy conversation with occasional, mild flirting.

            “So when are you gonna see him again?”

            “I don’t know,” she replied with a shrug. Then her bubbly demeanor dissipated. “Truth is, I think I’m more interested in him than he is me.”

            “Oh yeah, why’s that?”

            “Well, as he put it, the ink isn’t dry on his divorce yet. Plus he treated me more like we’re pals rather than, you know, mutually romantically interested.”

            “I see,” I replied, hopeful that all wasn’t lost with Arlo and me. But then something dawned on me. If Abby and I were secretly and not so secretly competing for the same guy, how would that affect our working relationship? She was the best assistant I ever had. Oh well, I’d cross that bridge later, and hope that it wasn’t rickety.

            Two days later I was invited to a small gathering at our family’s church to listen to some of the songs Eli and Ethan’s band had been practicing. Of which, Arlo played bass. I decided to do something I rarely did and wasn’t very good at. I made myself look girly.

            I didn’t want to overdo it. I didn’t want to be obvious. A little mascara to enhance my big brown eyes and a little lip gloss to sensualize my lips. I had pretty fantastic legs, if I do say so myself, so I dug out one of the two shorter skirts I owned. It was denim, and I forgot how high it was above the knee. I tugged it down, but it didn’t help much. I put brown penny loafers on my feet and wondered if anyone would comment on Penny wearing penny loafers.

            I spotted Arlo’s bass guitar in a stand down in the church basement where the band had been practicing. But I saw no Arlo. Everyone else was there. Then I heard a toilet flush behind me. Then water running in the sink. Then paper towels departing from a dispenser. Then the restroom door flung open, and the happy hulk emerged.

            “Hey, pretty Penny in penny loafers,” he grinned. I couldn’t help grinning back, even though I tried not to. So it took all of three minutes for someone to make a ‘Penny in penny loafers’ comment. I knew I should have worn pumps, or even my old cowboy boots.

             “You clean up nice,” he added.

            This is where I exposed one of my biggest flaws. That was speaking before thinking, rather than thinking before speaking. “Yeah, but do I look as good as Abby up on a rock in spandex athletic pants?”
            His grin grew bigger. “That wasn’t horrible to look at.”

            “You know, to lust after a woman is committing adultery with her already in your heart.”

            “I’m not married anymore, so I no longer have a covenant with my eyes,” he said, quoting Job 31:1.

            “Is that right?”

            “That’s right, so I’m gonna go ahead and admire your surprisingly shapely legs too.”

            “Surprisingly?”

            “Yeah. For a girl that tries to dress like a guy, I would have guessed your legs would be hairy.”

            “I don’t try to dress like a guy. I just don’t put a whole lot of effort into being feminine.”

            “Well you should. You’re lovely to behold when you do.”

            I snorted a laugh. “You call this effort? You should see me in me my blonde wig, leather skirt, and black stockings with heels.”

            “Okay,” he said eagerly.

            “Too bad, I hate heels.”

            “Hence the penny loafers,” he said, and then frowned. “Do you really have a blonde wig?”

            “I do. But it was given to me as a joke. I’ve only worn it once. Why do you prefer blondes? I don’t know that you’re even a gentleman.”

            “Actually I don’t, but you in a blonde wig would be a curious sight. You in a leather skirt and stockings would be an even curiouser site.”

            “I don’t think curiouser is a word. Besides, it’s character that counts, not appearance,” I declared, and then felt a wave of hypocrisy as the marriage I wrecked flashed into my mind.

            “Very true,” he agreed. “And to be honest, as a fairly new Christian, and a brand new single man, I’m still figuring out the boundaries of appropriateness when it comes to admiring attractive females, and admiration crossing over into lust.”

            There were around forty or fifty people milling about. Eli interrupted numerous conversations as he directed the band to assemble and begin play. They were fantastic!

            Afterward, Arlo and I went to an old fashion café. He had a piece of cherry pie with vanilla ice cream. I had a strawberry shake. With my penny loafers and white ankle socks passing as bobby socks, it seemed like we were on a fifties style date. Was it date? I certainly felt like a teeny bopper when I couldn’t help asking, “So, do you like Abby?”

            He shrugged. “She’s a nice girl.”

            “I know she has a major crush on you.”

            He stopped a fork full of pie halfway to his mouth. With raised eyebrows he replied, “She does?”

            “Can’t you tell?”

            “Well, I mean, we do get along pretty good. And she’s nice looking. But I’ve only been divorced for about two minutes, so I’m not ready for a relationship.”

            I felt both relieved as well as disappointed. Did I want a relationship? A relationship with Arlo Aldo? I do know I wanted to go to bed with him. But would he be willing? I wasn’t a committed Christian back then. When I went out on a date, which was becoming more and more infrequent, it was usually with someone I already knew. Therefore, we usually ended up in bed. But Arlo seemed to take his faith very seriously. If he kept what he referred to as the Biblical Sabbath, I highly doubted that he would be willing to fornicate.

            Arlo continued about Abby. “Besides, as you know, she has some issues. And I have enough of my own right now.”

            “By issues, do you mean her daughter Lindsey? I know with her family belonging to a conservative church and all, it was difficult for her to have a child out of wedlock.”

            “Actually, her family was pretty cool. It’s the guilt she still feels over her fiancée.”

            “Guilt over her fiancée? Don’t be ridiculous! After four years together, he knocks her up and then immediately dumps her just weeks before their wedding.”

            “He’s not the father,” Arlo blurted, and then his eyes got wide, and he put delicate fingers to his lips. I would have giggled at the sight if the subject matter wasn’t so serious.

            I felt an electric chill throughout my entire body that somebody with Abby’s character would cheat on her fiancée. Then I felt hurt that she had apparently confided in Arlo, but not in me. Abby had only worked for me not quite two years, but I felt like we were pretty close friends.

            “So Abby told you this?”

            “Nope,” he said, shaking his head. “I met her former fiancée’s brother at her church. I think he thought Abby and I were an item. He took me aside and warned me that she was a cheater. He also said her former fiancée let everyone think he was the deadbeat to save her from disgrace. He said he also left town due to his own undeserved disgrace.”

            “I don’t believe it!” I said. “Sweet little, God fearing Abby not only cheated, but let the betrayed take the fall.”

            “Please keep this between you and me,” Arlo said. His eyes looked somewhat panicked. “I promised him I wouldn’t tell, but I let slip figuring you already knew. Trust me, I can tell by things she’s told me that she plans to set the record straight. She told me she had been backslidden for years and had things she needed to own up to. I’m betting what I just told you is part of it.”

            “I’ll keep it to myself, I promise.”

            “I hope this doesn’t make you think less of her. I believe she’s repentant. I think she’s just seeking God’s grace and working up the courage to come clean.”

            “I have my own skeletons, Arlo. What you just told me only makes me feel for her.”

            We drove separately, and out in the parking lot, grinning, he stuck out his hand to shake. I opened my arms and said, “I think we can do better than that.”

            As we broke away from the hug, I went on tip toes and made to kiss his cheek. Only I missed on purpose and kissed half of his mouth. I could tell it took him by surprise, and he made a joke of it, saying, “Mmm, strawberry.”

            Aiming wide innocent looking eyes that weren’t so innocent, I invited. “If you like the taste, have some more.”

            “Don’t mind if I do,” he replied, and lowered his face to mine.

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES – CHAPTER 6

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES

CHAPTER 6

ELI

THEN GOD BLESSED THE SEVENTH DAY AND SANCTIFIED IT, BECAUSE IN IT HE RESTED FROM ALL HIS WORK WHICH GOD HAD CREATED AND MADE (Genesis 2:3)

            I was about to take a drag off of my cigarette, for I still smoked in 1999, when there was a menacing laugh and a sharp flick of a finger in front of my face. Instead of my lungs filling with toxic, nicotine laced smoke, I watched my Kool filter king sail off of the back porch I was sitting on. I was at a bed and breakfast where I was now residing after one night in a hotel. The cancer stick sailed into the leafy grass below.

            “Eli, you dog!” Arlo laughed. “You told me you quit smoking.”

            Laughing and rising from my lounge chair, I hugged the only person I considered family at that juncture of my life. But I was excited to share with him about the family I hoped I was gaining.

            “I did quit,” I squeaked, because he was hugging my so tight. “But then I always seem to restart.”

            Arlo looked better than ever, tan and fit. I hadn’t seen him in months. In our band, ‘The Sons Molech,’ Arlo played bass guitar, and his stage persona was similar to the Marvel comic book character Thor. With his long blonde hair, and a physique like a bodybuilder, he played the part well.

            “I thought your flight was coming in this evening,” I told him. “I was planning on picking you up.”

            “I took an earlier flight, and I rented a car,” he explained. “I don’t want to bother you or anyone else for a ride while I’m here.”

            “I’m hoping you’ll be here for a while,” I grinned. “We need a bass player.”

            He frowned but smiled. “Let me guess, your, um, reunion with your son is going well?”

            “I don’t know that it’s called a reunion when we only met a few days ago,” I explained. “But yes, your prayers were answered. Turns out Ethan, my… son, is a singer song writer, and his wife is a very good drummer.”

            “That’s fantastic!” Arlo grinned. “I can’t wait to meet them.”

            “Hey! How about tonight? They’re throwing a birthday party, but I told them I couldn’t stay long because I was picking you up at the airport.”

            “You’re cutting out on your own birthday party for me?” He smiled sheepishly and gave my upper arm a friendly punch.

            “No, it’s for my… granddaughter.”

            “Wow, that sounds weird! Your granddaughter. And she was born on your birthday?”

            “Yep. She was born the day I turned thirty five.”

            “Man, you Alderson’s start young.”

            “Yeah, so young we don’t even know we had kids.”

            “And I suppose nobody knows it’s your birthday as well?”

            “I’ll announce it at the end of the party. I wanted this to be Crystal’s day, and not overshadowed by me.”

            “Good idea,” Arlo said, then his eyes widened. “Fire!”

            He vaulted over the deck railing and began stumping on about a five foot wide circle of burning leaves in the lawn ignited by the cigarette he flicked from my lips. I put a hand on the railing, but thought better of vaulting, and trotted down the six steps into the yard. I also thought better of dancing in the flames and grabbed a nearby watering can. The pail of water extinguished the flames quicker than Arlo’s foot maneuvers.

            “Wow, I hope Mrs. Mendelbright didn’t see this,” I said, looking up at the large Victorian house.

            “Who’s Mrs. Mendelbright?”

            “The proprietor, or landlady if you prefer.”

            Arlo laughed. “That’s a good one.”

            “What is?” I frowned.

            “Mrs. Mendelbright.”

            “What’s so funny about that? She’s a sweet little lady. I don’t want her to think I’m riff raff.”

            “You mean you’re not joking?”

            “Joking about what? We just set her lawn on fire. Actually you did.”

            “So you don’t know who Mrs. Mendelbright is?”

            “Of course I do, she owns this place.”

            “No, I mean the Mrs. Mendelbright I’m talking about,” Arlo tried to explain. “You know ‘The Andy Griffith Show’ right?”

            “Of course, but I can’t say I ever watched much of it, though.”

            “You don’t know what you’re missing, it’s a classic,” Arlo said and then frowned. “So you don’t know who Mrs. Mendelbright is then?”

            “Of course I do, she owns this place.”

            Arlo laughed. “Truth is stranger than fiction. Andy Griffith was the sheriff of this quaint little town of Mayberry. He had this squirrely deputy named Barney Fife. In this one episode, Barney got kicked out of the room he rented from a, get this, Mrs. Mendelbright. He was kicked out of his room for cooking in it against the rules. He burned his food, and she smelled it.”

            “Quick, lets cover this black circle with leaves.” I instructed after hearing his story.

            “Just think if Mrs. Mendelbright discovers this burnt circle and finds out about the band you used to be in,” Arlo laughed.

            “That’s not funny,” I replied, even though I laughed. Then in all seriousness, I said, “I think she has a room available if you want to stay here.”

            “You know, I think I will. I get along well enough with my parents, but it’s just not the same as when I was a kid.”

            “So the old saying is true, you can’t go home once you’ve left.”

            He didn’t seem to like this idea and pointed back and forth between us. “Look, we’re home, ain’t we?”

            “I lived here a little more than a year, and couldn’t wait to leave, so this is hardly my home.”

            “Then what are you doing back with seemingly no timetable to leave?”

            I frowned. “I don’t know, maybe finding a home.”

            He chuckled. “Let’s go see Mrs. Mendelbright about a room.”

            “Nice,” Arlo said as he looked around his room. “It’s like staying at a grandma’s house instead of the hotels we’re used to.”

            “Mrs. Mendelbright makes a great breakfast if you get up in time.”

            “I take it you don’t get up in time?”

            “I’ve never fully gotten away from rock star hours, but she always seems to have a huge homemade muffin available for me… I really hope she doesn’t see the burnt spot in her yard.”

            “Don’t worry about it. I told her.”

            “You what!”

            “My conscience bothered me,” Arlo shrugged. “Like I said, don’t worry, she laughed about it. She even complimented you for not smoking your cigarettes in her room.”

            “Probably laughed it off because your biceps are bigger than my thighs.”

            “I wouldn’t hurt a woman.”

            “She doesn’t know that.”

            “Actually I’m hurt by your insinuation,” Arlo said, placing gentle fingers on his chest. “I won her over with kindness and charm, not intimidation.”

            “Kindness and charm?” I chuckled. “That’s probably how the serpent beguiled Eve.”

            Arlo grinned from ear to ear. “You’ve been reading the Bible I gave you.”

            “Yeah,” I shrugged. Then sensing a sermon was forthcoming, and not in the mood, I said, “Hey, let’s get to that birthday party. Help me load up her presents.”

            “What’s in this box?” Arlo asked as he and I retrieved it out of Mrs. Mendelbright’s garage.

            “A battery powered Jeep. It’s even pink. I also got her a rocking horse. Oh, and a guitar, how could I forget that?” I laughed.

            “Kind of overkill, don’t you think?”

            “Well, I got the rocking horse before I saw the little pink jeep.”

            “How about you let me have one of them?”

            “It’s not your birthday yet. Besides, you’re too big for all of them.”

            “I meant for me to give to your granddaughter. You shouldn’t be so overindulgent.”

            “Okay, how about the rocking horse?”

            “Perfect. A rocking horse from Uncle Arlo.”

            “Great Uncle Arlo.”

            “Awe, you think I’m great?”

            “Sure I do.”

            The party was at Penny’s veterinarian clinic after hours. When I saw the kids were getting pony rides, I selfishly thought it would overshadow my jeep. But I was wrong, she loved it! She was so excited, it also got her past her shyness around me. She actually hugged me and kissed my cheek. For the first time I felt overwhelmed by feelings of love.

            I couldn’t stop a tear from leaking. So this wonderful feeling turned into mortification as two dozen pairs of eyes watched the former macho rockstar Eli Endor weep over the affection of a little girl. But Ariel quickly approached me, wiping her own tear, hugged me, and whispered. “Don’t be embarrassed. That was one of the sweetest things I ever saw.”

            On a different note, I unwittingly witnessed the beginnings of what would turn out to be a complicated love triangle. I immediately noticed a chemistry between Penny and Arlo when they were… would it be introduced or reintroduced? I’ll go with reintroduced, because of the first words out of Arlo’s grinning mouth as they shook hands were, “Gone for a swim lately?”

            I noticed Penny’s lips purse, not in anger, but suppressing her own grin in reference to his throwing her into a lake more than two decades ago. Then she shot back with her own jab. “Taken any steroids lately?”

            “That’s below the belt, young lady, I’ve worked hard for these guns. I’ll admit that I’ve ingested some unhealthy chemicals in my time, but never for artificial muscle growth.”

            “His physique looks pretty natural to me, Pen,” One of Abby’s vet assistants piped up, and then blushed.

            She was a handsome redhead with pretty green eyes. Abby, like her boss Penny, appeared to be a tomboy. I initially wondered if she and Penny were more than coworkers. But I discovered that day by the way she looked at Arlo, that Abby was definitely into dudes. They also had something unique in common.

            “I noticed your cap says, ‘Amazing Facts’,” Abby said to Arlo, referring to the baseball cap he was wearing backwards that advertised his favorite Christian ministry. His blonde ponytail hung behind the bill. “Are you a Sabbatarian?”

            “Yes I am,” Arlo said happily.

            “Me too,” she responded with delight.

            They began a conversation, and I witnessed Penny giving them sideways glances. After their discussion ended, I asked Arlo what a Sabbatarian was.

            “It’s someone who keeps the Biblical Sabbath,” Arlo replied.

            “All Christians go to church on Sunday, so what’s the big deal?”

            “Most, not all. The Biblical Sabbath is actually the seventh day of the week, not the first.”

            “How do you know that?”

            “Cause the Bible tells me so. Starting with Creation in the book of Genesis. God blessed the seventh day and set it apart as a permanent memorial of Creation. It’s also part of the Ten Commandments, the one part of the Bible that God personally wrote.”

            “Well, why do most Christians keep Sunday?”

            “Sunday keeping really took off when Constantine made Christianity a legal religion in the fourth century. When he did, pagan beliefs became merged with Christian beliefs. This led to the dark ages. I’m sure you’ve heard that?”

            “I have, but I don’t know exactly what it is.”

            “It was a period of over more than a thousand years where Christians were persecuted if they didn’t follow the Papacy. The dark ages officially ended 1798 when Napolean’s General Berthier basically arrested the Pope.”

            “Are you really Arlo Aldo, bass player for ‘The Sons of Molech’?

            “Not anymore, old buddy. By the way…”

            “Guys, come get some birthday cake,” Ariel’s voice invited.

            “We’ll talk more later,” Arlo said.

            As I mingled, chatted, and took bites of cake, I heard playful banter between Penny and Arlo. But some of it being playful is questionable. This is the last bit I heard before a big splash.                               Penny asked Arlo, “How come you don’t have any tattoos, but your old bandmates were covered in them? Are you afraid of needles or something?”

            I wasn’t covered with tattoos, but my left arm was pretty much sleaved with various wild animals, skulls, and guitars. Izzy and Kyle on the other hand were almost entirely covered with ink. Izzy even had one on his face.

            “You don’t put bumper stickers on a Lamborghini,” Arlo said happily.

            “But what if it isn’t a real Lamborghini, but kit car?” Penny asked with wide, innocent eyes.

            “That’s it!” Arlo declared as he scooped up Penny in his arms and marched to a pond.

            She squealed and laughed, but as Arlo was about to toss her into the pond, Abby came up behind him and tickled his ribs. He jerked, convulsed, and dropped Penny. Then the two women working in tandem, shoved Arlo into the pond causing a big splash.

            He took it in good humor until I told him. “I don’t know how you’re getting back to the B and B. Because you’re not getting into my car looking like a swamp rat.”

            Penny gave him a ride home. It was warm for late October, and they sat on that back deck where Arlo tended to start fires. They talked for two and a half hours, and a different type of fire was started.

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES – CHAPTER 5

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES

CHAPTER 5

PENNY

I SPEAK IN HUMAN TERMS BECAUSE OF THE WEAKNESS OF YOUR FLESH. FOR JUST AS YOU PRESENTED YOUR MEMBERS AS SLAVES OF UNCLEANNESS, AND OF LAWLESSNESS LEADING TO MORE LAWLESSNESS, SO NOW PRESENT YOUR MEMBERS AS SLAVES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS FOR HOLINESS (Romans 6:19 NKJV)

            I’m sure I was more nervous than both father and son as they met for the first time. It was forefront in my mind that I was the one responsible for this encounter. Whether it went well, or if it turned into a dumpster fire, it was my letter that I sent to Eli several weeks ago that ultimately caused this meeting. This weighed heavily on my mind.

            This period of my life found my walk with the Lord weak, and my faith feeble. Nonetheless, as I watched Ethan and Eli lock eyes for the first time in my sister’s living room, my lips silently pleaded. “Please, oh please, Dear Lord, let this go well.”

            Eli appeared to be cool as a cucumber. What an odd phrase. What’s so cool about a cucumber? Anyhow, he smiled that smooth smirk of his and extended his hand to his son. “Ethan, it’s very nice to meet you.”

            Ethan just stared at him as if in awe. I silently muttered, “Take his hand, Ethan, don’t blow him off. Please don’t blow him off.”

            Eli cleared his throat and slowly withdrew his hand. Then Ethan grabbed it and chuckled nervously. “Sorry… It’s just… I’ve wanted to meet you ever since I found out you were… You know.”

            “Yeah,” Eli replied a little breathless. “I came as soon as I realized the possibility.”

            “I wrote to you six years ago,” Ethan told him matter of fact.

            “I didn’t see it,” Eli replied quickly. “Or if I did, I figured it wasn’t legit.”

            “What made you think Aunt Penny’s letter was legit?”

            Eli looked at me and a wave of anxiety flowed through me that I felt through my whole body.

            “Well, this may be TMI,” Eli said with an uneasy smile. Then he proceeded to explain about getting a vasectomy when he was only twenty years old. He explained about numerous accusations of fatherhood over the years that he laughed off. But my phrase ‘A Penny for your thoughts’ had caught his eye. He saw the one possibility with my letter that he could in fact have fathered a child.

            “So,” Ethan said hesitantly. “You traveled all this way just to meet me?”

            “I did.”

            “The man who took your place wouldn’t walk across the street to see me,” Ethan said bitterly. This statement caused Ariel to take her eyes off her son and his biological father for the first time. She looked at her feet as if in shame. But she was between a rock and hard place. She already had two daughters with her first husband before he started treating Ethan like dirt.

            “I’m sorry about that.”

            “It’s not your fault,” Ethan shrugged. They stared at each other for a long moment. Then Eli looked past him and asked, “Who are these lovely young ladies?”

            “Oh, this is my wife, Amy,” Ethan introduced. “And this sweet little girl hugging her leg is our daughter Crystal.”

            “Nice to meet you, Amy,” Eli said, shaking her hand.

            “Likewise,” Amy replied with a smile. “Crys, can you say ‘hi’ to Daddy’s… I… don’t know what I should, you know, refer to you as.”

            “Eli’s always worked just fine,” he told her with a warm smile. Then he went to one knee and offered his hand to Crystal. “Hi there, Crystal. You sure have a pretty name.”

            She ignored his hand and shyly buried her face into her mother’s thigh for a few seconds. Then she pointed at Eli and said, “He looks like Daddy… Only old.”

            Everyone laughed at this. Then Ethan crouched by Eli but spoke to his daughter. “You know Great Grandpa Frank, Sweety? Eli is his son.”

            Eli’s head turned so fast to face Ethan I was concerned he’d get whiplash. “You know my father?”

            “After I found out you were my bio dad, I looked him up. We sort of developed a relationship. I try to see him every couple weeks.”

            “Why wouldn’t he have told me I have a son?” Eli said with a frown.

            “He said he tried to contact you, but you never returned his calls.”

            “Has it been more than six years since I talked to him?” Eli said to himself.

            “Seven,” Ethan told him. “He’s told me that you two don’t get along very well, and that’s why you’ve never gotten back to him.”

            “I’ve traveled a lot,” Eli tried to explain. “Time sure can get away from a person.”

            “There’s something else you should probably know,” Ethan said. “Since I hit off with, well, my grandpa, your dad, I had my name legally changed from Smothers to Alderson when I turned eighteen. I hope that’s alright with you.”

            “Of course, of course,” Eli replied happily. Then seeming somewhat jealous, he asked, “So you and Frank get along pretty well, huh?”

            “Yeah,” Ethan nodded happily. “He cried when I asked him if I could change my name to Alderson… I mean happy tears, he was touched.”

            “He cried? I’ll be dogged. I didn’t know he had tear ducts. I should probably go see him.”

            “He’d like that.”

            “He would?”

            “I guarantee it.”

            “He was pretty angry and disappointed with my occupation. I even tried to win his approval by paying off his house. But he said he wouldn’t take a dime from a sick devil worshiper.”

            “Can I ask you question?” Amy asked Eli.

            “Sure, ask me anything you want.”

            She winced and asked quietly. “Are you a really Satanist?”

            “No,” Eli replied, adamantly shaking his head. “But the leader of the band I was in for a lot of years was. So for a time, I guess you could say I dabbled on the fringes by association.”

            “That’s a dangerous thing to dabble with,” Ariel pipped up.

            “Trust me, I know,” Eli admitted. “I’ve had night terrors to prove it. You really do have to be careful who your friends are.”

            “Can I ask you something?” Ethan said.

            “Absolutely.”

            “If you got a vasectomy when you were only twenty, you must have been pretty adamant about not wanting children. So why are you interested in me?”

            “I was dead set on being a musician, on traveling the world. I didn’t want the obligation of children, and I knew I wouldn’t be a good father… As for my interest in you, time has a way of changing people. A twenty year old doesn’t make the wisest life choices. I don’t know if my procedure was even legal. It was something I wanted done, and our band’s manager greased palms, so to speak.”

            “So if you had to do over?”

            “I’ve never been much of a rearview mirror guy The past is past, ain’t nothing you can do about it. I view life like a chalk board. You mess up, erase it and move on with a fresh start.”

            “In my belief system as a Christian,” Ethan said. “We call it repentance.”

            Then seeming to want to change the subject, Eli said, “I understand you play guitar.”

            “Yeah I do. I’m okay, I guess, not like you though.”

            “He’s fantastic singer,” Ethan’s wife Amy spoke up.

            “And he writes songs about God, love, and sacrificial living,” Ariel piped in.

            “Yeah, you write songs?” Eli asked enthusiastically.

            “Mostly about God, love, and sacrificial living,” his mother repeated.

            “I heard you the first time, Ariel,” Eli said patiently, although his jaw seemed to clench. “And I’m glad. I wouldn’t want anyone to follow the dark path I took.”

            “So you do regret it?” Ariel asked.

            “Like I said before, I’m not a rearview mirror guy.”

            “Why would you be?” I blurted. “You became rich selling Satanism.”

            His eyes winced when he glanced at me. But it was a look of pain rather than anger or defiance. Then he spread his hands in defeat. “I’d like to tell you I’d do things different, but I can’t time travel. Hindsight’s always clearer than foresight, right? There’s nothing I can do about it now.”

            “Yes there is,” Ariel practically barked. “You can publicly repent and accept Christ.”

            “I’m not beyond that Ariel,” Eli told her. “Just so you know, I asked Arlo to pray for me before I came to this meeting.”

            “Really?” my sister said meekly. Then she got demanding again. “Well, you could also help our son get his songs exposed.”

            “Mom! Aunt Penny!” Ethan ordered. “Give the man a break. I just met him fifteen minutes ago!”

            “It’s okay, Ethan,” Eli said gently. “I’d be glad to do whatever I can to help you. I’d really like to hear you sing and play, if you wouldn’t mind.”

            “I’ll get his guitar out of the car,” Amy said.

            A couple minutes later, Eli and Ethan sat across from each other. Eli looked eagerly at his son. But I could see a nervous tremor in Ethans hands, and I felt my toes curl. He handed the guitar over to Eli and look of surprise came onto the rock star’s face. “Would you play something first?”

            “What should I play?” Eli asked hesitantly.

            “Just don’t play something from your band days,” Ariel said.

            “Band Aid?” I inquired, wondering what the little strips for minor injuries had to do with this.

            “Band days,” Ariel said slowly. Big sister putting little sister in her place.

            Eli strummed the instrument, making sure it was in tune. Then he launched into a fast  Spanish flamingo style of play that made all of our jaws drop open.

            I recalled more than two decades earlier Eli was in the high school jazz band. At a school assembly, they performed, and Eli had a solo that was anything but jazz. He played, arguably, the most famous hard rock guitar solo of all time, Van Halen’s ‘Eruption.’

            He played it flawlessly. You would have thought Eddie Van Halen himself was there  playing it. The whole assembly of between three and four hundred students became silent. Not that you could hear much else with the riffs coming out of the amplifier. As the last notes reverberated through the auditorium, a collective roar of cheers drowned out the fading guitar, and Eli Alderson became a school legend.

            But he was also a polarizing figure in some ways. Mothers, including our own, didn’t want their daughters associating with this good looking, wild, long haired rocker. As for the guys, some thought he was the coolest thing ever and wanted to hang out with him. While others were jealous and wanted to beat him to a pulp.

            Eli would once again become a polarizing figure in town these twenty some years later. Only this time it was centered in the church community as he worked on music with Ethan and what was known as the ‘Praise Team’ at my family’s church.

            Then fuel was added to the fire when Eli’s former bandmate, and former Cedar Rapids resident, Arlo Aldo showed up. He had a six foot, ridiculously muscled frame, capped off with long blonde hair and dreamy blue eyes. Although now a devout Christian, he brought added controversy. He also brought turmoil to my personal life.

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES – CHAPTER 4

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES

CHAPTER 4

ARLO ALDO

HE WHO DOES NOT TAKE UP HIS CROSS AND FOLLOW AFTER ME IS NOT WORTHY OF ME. HE WHO FINDS HIS LIFE WILL LOSE IT, AND HE WHO LOSES HIS LIFE FOR MY SAKE WILL FIND IT (Matthew 10:38, 39)

            “Arlo, I need you to pray for me,” Eli’s voice said into my ear, via the telephone.

            First I felt an adrenaline rush, fearing something was wrong with my dear friend and former bandmate. Then I felt hopeful. Over the course of two years I had tried to witness my faith to Eli. I was certain he dealt with the same nightmares and demonic harassment I had since leaving our satanic rock band, ‘The Sons of Molech.’ Anyway, this was the first time he had actually asked me to pray.

            “What’s going on, Eli? Are you okay?”

            “I am doing great. So far anyway.”

            “Hang on, I’ll come right over.”

            “Ah, I don’t think that’s possible.”

            “Why?”

            “I’m about two thousand miles away.”

            “What? Where?”

            “Iowa.”

            “Iowa! What are you doing in Iowa?”

            I had grown up in Iowa. It’s where Eli and I first met when we were seniors in high school. He only lived there a little more than a year. I had never known him to purposely return there, other than a handful of times when our band was on tour. But to him it was just another stop on the schedule. He had lived with his dad and stepmother during his seventeenth year of life. But he didn’t get along all that well with his dad and talked to him only once a year at the most.

            “Is your dad okay?” I inquired.

            “Huh? Oh… I don’t know. I haven’t seen him.”

            “What do mean you haven’t seen him? What on earth are you doing in Iowa then?”

            “You’re not gonna believe it.”

            “I already don’t.”

            He laughed, and I felt relieved. Whatever he wanted prayers for must not be too terrible.

            “Do you remember Ariel Grobstick?”

            “How could I forget her?” I replied as an image of her in gym class wearing short gym shorts popped into my head. Then I shook it off. I had been a happily married Christian and had made a covenant with my eyes not to lust after other women. (Job 31:1).

            But now my yearlong marriage was over. My former wife, the person who was instrumental in pulling me out of the occult and into Christ’s loving and forgiving arms, had left me because I had gone too deep into the Bible. That coupled with the handsome man who convinced her I was a fanatic. For they married just days after our divorce was finalized.

            But although single, I was only a few weeks from forty years of age. So it seemed inappropriate for my mind’s eye to focus on a seventeen year old girl sitting cross legged in gym class wearing  short shorts. Even if she was currently my age, I hadn’t seen her since we were teenagers.

            Ariel came from a religious home and although she was a knockout, who looked like she could be on the show ‘Charlie’s Angels,’ she didn’t date much due to parental restrictions. But I seem to recall another vision of her standing by her locker, hugging textbooks as her long dark hair flowed over her shoulders. She was gazing dreamily into the eyes of Eli, his own dark hair flowing over his shoulders.

            “Well, it seems I knocked her up right before you and I went west seeking fame and fortune.”

            My mind was grappling with this. Knocked her up? Slang for impregnation. “Are you saying Ariel birthed a child of yours?”

            “And raised.”

            “So you have a twenty something son or daughter?”

            “Yes, a twenty two year old son and a granddaughter that’s four or five… What was that clatter?”

            “Sorry, I dropped the phone…. So have you met them yet?”

            “Not yet. I just met with Ariel and her sister.”

            “I don’t remember Ariel having a sister.”

            “A little Tomboy named Penny.”

            “Penny… Penny. That doesn’t ring a bell.”

            “You know that smart mouthed chick you threw into the lake that time?”

            “That was Ariel’s sister! She was a cute little gal.”

            “She still is, and a doctor of veterinarian medicine to boot.”

            “Now that you mention it, I should have seen the resemblance… So that’s what you want prayers for? This brand new fatherhood situation.”

            “Yes indeed. I don’t know how much a 22 year-old is gonna want to know a father he never met.”

            “I’ll be glad to keep you in prayer. How long are you staying out there?”

            “If we hit it off, probably a couple weeks.”

            “Maybe I should come out for a couple weeks. I haven’t been home for quite a while.”

            “Should you do that when the school year isn’t over for Brenda?” he asked, knowing my now ex-wife was an elementary school teacher.

            “We haven’t talked for a while, have we?”

            “It’s been at least a few months. I guess because we don’t work together anymore,” he laughed.

            “Brenda divorced me.”

            “What! Why? What’d you do?”

            I chuckled with no humor. “I developed a closer walk with God through a deeper study of the Holy Bible.”

            There was a pause, and I wondered if I was doing the right thing confiding my relationship woes with him. I believed Eli was still wrestling with spiritual darkness, and I didn’t want what happened with Brenda and me to be a stumbling block.

            “I’m afraid I don’t understand, Al,” Eli said. Everyone in the inner circle of our band called me Al. Al being short for my last name. “Let me get this straight. You became a more hardcore Bible believer, and Brenda left you for that?” Eli used a profane word before he continued. “You met her while she was protesting one of our concerts, waving a sign that says ‘Jesus saves.’ To my limited understanding, it doesn’t get any more hardcore than that.”

            “Well, she also had a little help from a guy she used to teach with. She remarried him before the ink was dry on our divorce settlement. But that’s beside the point. We still would have had an issue with one Biblical doctrine in particular.”

            “Oh yeah, what was that?”

            “I discovered this ministry called ‘Amazing Facts.’ They proclaimed the Biblical Sabbath was Saturday rather than Sunday. I started discussing my findings with not only other church members, but her pastor as well. The man who married us. He actually got mad and asked me to stop attending if I was going to rebel.”

            (Amazing Facts has a web site called Sabbath truth that explains the Bible Sabbath.)

            “Let me get this straight. You were kicked out of a church for discussing the Bible.”

            “To be fair, I wasn’t kicked out. I was asked not to come if I was gonna cause trouble.”

            “Once again, discussing the Bible, in church, is causing trouble?”

            “Not conceding that he was right, and I was wrong, despite little scriptural evidence on his part. The more Bible texts I shared, the angrier he got.”

            I heard Eli snort in disgust. “That’s why I steer clear of religion malarky.”

            I instantly felt like I made a mistake. “Look, we may have disagreed, but that pastor is good man. In my zeal I may have gone about it in the wrong way. Maybe he’ll take a look at what I showed him. He does lead his congregation well in doing the basic Christian virtues. Helping the homeless, initiating clothing and food drives…”

            “Protesting rock concerts,” Eli interjected.

            “Hey, it turned my life around.”

            “Yeah, it got you married for two minutes and then broke your heart.”

            “Well, even the Bible warns that life isn’t gonna be easy.”

            “Yeah, so what’s the point?”

            Once again I felt like a bad witness for Christ. “Look, I’ve gotta close on the sale of my house, and get stuff in storage until I find another place. But I’m coming out there as soon as I can. We’ll talk more then about what’s been happening with me. It sounds like I need to catch up on you as well. Big time!”

            “I’d go say ‘hi’ to your parents,” Eli said. “But you know they blame your bandmates for leading their sweet innocent baby boy into depravity.”

            “Well, they have someone new to blame now in Brenda.”

            Four days later, high up in the sky on my way to Iowa, I felt happy and hopeful on multiple fronts. For one, I hadn’t been to my hometown in quite some time, and I longed to see my family. Then there was Eli, my brother from another mother. When I had hung up with him the other night, my eyes welled with tears of frustration. I felt like my witness did more harm than good. But then my phone rang ten minutes later. It was Eli with a quick word that changed my mood.

            “Hey, what’s up, E?”

            “Just wanted to say thanks for praying for me. I’m pretty nervous about meeting my son tomorrow… That sounds weird to say.”

            “Sounds weird to hear,” I replied. Then after a slight pause, I said something I should have said after our previous, more lengthy conversation only ten minutes earlier. “I love you, brother.”

            “Love you too, man, can’t wait to see you.”

            “Same here.”

            This time, my eyes welled with happy tears. I was going home. Little did I know then, after traveling the world multiple times, I was going to find the love of my life where I grew up!

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES – CHAPTER 3

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES

CHAPTER 3

PENNY

THEREFORE 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)

            My sister looked stunned as she stared at Eli. I’m sure I looked stunned as I stared at my sister.

            “Elijah?” Ariel had said with a baffled tone in her voice. “Eli Alderson?” Then she spoke a little more heatedly. “Or should I call you Eli Endor?”

            Eli didn’t speak, but he looked at me as if for direction. I felt my jaw clench in irritation that he looked more amused than concerned. “I can explain,” I tried.

            “Can you?” my normally even keeled sister said with a low angry voice. She folded her arms abruptly and I noticed her hand trembling. What had I done!

            “You see… I…. Well, you know… It’s like this.”

            “Oh, okay, I understand now,” my sister said sarcastically. Sarcasm from my meek, sweet, lovely sister was something you rarely saw. Her next words included something I never heard from her lips before. Profanity. “Just what in the (blank, blank) are you doing here, Eli?”

            As people began to look over their shoulders, the amusement left Eli’s face. But he was still amazingly calm. He even reminded me of an old time movie star as he stood.  With a charm that at the time I cynically wondered if it came from the devil,  he said, “Please Ariel, I mean to cause no trouble. If my presence here bothers you this much, I will start heading west as soon as I eat my supper.”

            Then something amazing happened. Ariel’s angry concerned demeanor transformed right before my eyes. Despite her long salt and pepper hair, and the beginnings of crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes, she morphed into that dreamy teenager that let this goodlooking charmer create my nephew Ethan in her uterus.

            Ariel sat next to me in the booth. Roxy, our waitress, approached with a side salad for me along with a glass of ice water. She also had a side salad for Eli, but his glass of ice was tainted with Coca Cola. Roxy smiled at my sister and asked, “What can I get you Ariel?”

            “Oh… Just a cup of tea, Roxy.” Then she looked at Eli with a neutral expression. “I’m sorry I overreacted, but what in fact are you doing here?”

            “Like he said, he’ll go back home,” I piped up. “I think that would be best.”

            Ariel turned a cool gaze onto me. “Obviously he is here because of you. So what did you tell him?”

            “I didn’t tell him anything… I wrote to him.”

            “Like I said,” Ariel spoke slowly, as if to a child. I guess I will always be her baby sister. “What did you tell him in the letter you wrote to him?”

            My tongue felt like it was stuck, so this compelled Eli to speak in my behalf. “She told me I had a son and granddaughter. I wanted to see if that was true. But as much as I want to see them, I don’t want in any way to make you uncomfortable or disrupt your life.”

            “How unselfish for a satanist,” my sister replied casually.

            “I’m not satanist, and I never was,” he responded. Then he frowned as is he doubted his own statement.

            “Is that right?” Ariel asked. “So what was all that music you created all about? The pentagrams, goat heads, and demons on your album covers? The sex, violence, and paganism you promoted?”

            “I wrote melodies and riffs. Izzy wrote the lyrics and created the image.”

            “Melodies?” Ariel said with a sarcastic snort. “So, you just wrote guitar parts? You didn’t wear gothic makeup and point like this as you played a guitar solo with one hand?”

            Ariel did what I believe was known as a satanic salute as she pointed with her index finger and pinky. It was an odd sight to see on my deeply religious sister.

            “I was playing a role,” Eli defended. “Eli Endor was like a character in a play. My legal name is still Alderson.”

            “You played a role alright. During a time of desperation in my life, my son found out you were his sperm donor. Then he tried to emulate that so called character you played.”

            Eli’s face froze, and he actually looked horror stricken for a moment. “Ariel, I’m truly sorry. Not only for your son, but for the role I played with God knows how many impressionable souls.”

            “God? Souls?” Ariel asked, not mockingly but with an inquisitively arched eyebrow.

            “I’ve thought a lot about my past life over the last year or two.”

            “You mean you’re regretful?”

            “Yeah,” he shrugged.

            “So your mouth said ‘yes,’ but your shrug said ‘no.’”

            Eli chuckled. “Let me put it this way. I’m regretful for the use of dark spiritual imagery. But on the other hand, I enjoyed not having a nine to five job.”

            “And also making a truck a load of money,” I piped up.

            Eli glanced at me for a second and then turned a thoughtful gaze back to Ariel. Just like as a kid, I felt jealousy over the way Elijah Alderson looked so adoringly at my sister rather than me. Nothing had changed. My pretty, feminine sister pulled her long braided ponytail over her shoulder, and her delicate hands with manicured fingernails began to gently stroke it.

            I looked at my hands with my nails cut short  to better minister to animals. Then I ran one of them through my short brown hair with blonde highlights. The short pixie style was due to convenience. My sister’s subtle makeup enhanced her pretty features. Would it do the same for me? Her eyes, which looked identical to mine, looked all the more adorable due to the long mascara enhanced lashes.

            Even the way we were dressed. Her tight turtleneck revealed an alluring, ample chest. My loose flannel covered my smaller, but perky chest. Her tight black leggings revealed the fact that she stayed fit. My jeans were worn and ripped, but wasn’t that hip? Even our footwear. My dirty, well-worn cowboy boots, compared with her cute pink running shoes. Forgive me, but I was a little jealous.

            “What did you mean by your son trying to emulate me?” Eli asked.

            “He took up the guitar, and grew his hair long,” Ariel replied. “Thankfully his sweet, mostly wholesome girlfriend steered him away from the occult garbage.”

            “Is he good?” Eli asked.

            “Yes, he’s a fine young man. He has made some mistakes, sure, but he’s a truly good guy.”

            “I meant is he good at guitar?” Eli asked.

            I couldn’t help my guffaw. Both of them looked at me, and Eli seemed to know the reason for my outburst. “I already assumed a son of Ariel’s was a good man. But my guitars have always been the love of my life.”

            “So your regrets,” Ariel asked cautiously. “Does that mean that you’re not in the band anymore?”

            “I don’t know how closely you followed ‘The Sons of Molech.’ But we are no longer a band. Two are dead, and Arlo Aldo became a devout Christian. You remember Arlo?”

            “How could I forget?” she asked with a slight edge to her voice. “He’s the one that talked you into going west to start a band, right after I gave in to, you know.”

            “Gave in to what?” Eli asked, and I marveled that he couldn’t read between the lines.

            “You know,” Ariel repeated, but this time she blushed. “The thing that created Ethan.”

            “Ariel,” he said breathlessly. “It was a two way street. I tried to resist you.”

            “I know,” she acknowledged, then redirecting the subject. “So Arlo became a Christian.”

            “He did. And he takes it seriously.”

            “And you?” Ariel asked with an arched eyebrow.

            “I don’t know what I am.”

            “Do you know Jesus?” Ariel asked.

            I felt my toes curl. Although I considered myself a Christian at the time, I wasn’t nearly as devout as my sister. I was considered the bold one of us two. Yet it was she that would talk to total strangers about Jesus. But it’s hard to talk to people about faith when your own walk has been crooked.

            Although Ariel had relationship problems, it was I who had a relationship infidelity. For I was the catalyst that ended a marriage, as well as a career. Although I confessed my sin and repented, it left me forever tainted.

            “I’ve never met Jesus,” Eli said cynically. Then with utter seriousness he added, “But I have met the devil.”

            “How did that work out for you?” I piped in.

            Eli smirked. “He’s a roaring lion, seeking to devour. But he sometimes gives you the world first to lure you into the lion’s den.”

            “Jesus is the only way out,” Ariel smiled warmly, taking his hand. He returned his own warm smile, and it caused the green eyed monster to pinch my cheek.

            Why did I feel this way? Eli was just a schoolgirl crush for me, and he fooled around with my sister, not me. Plus, as tainted as I still felt for committing adultery, Eli had probably been with hundreds of women, done tons of drugs, and no matter the degree of his intentions, he had made some sort of pact with the devil that clearly affected him. Did Arlo Aldo truly get victory in Christ after his own involvement with a prominent satanic band?

            “I believe you when you say that,” Eli replied to my sister. “Arlo’s been beating me over the head with a Bible. He has repeatedly told me Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Also that He stands at the door and knocks, and I just need to let Him in.”

            “Why haven’t you?” Ariel asked.

            “A side of me wants to. I guess the door’s stuck.”

            “Keep reading the Word and praying, and the door will get greased.”

            Eli gave her hand an extra squeeze, and Ariel put her other hand on top of their already joined hands. I thought about pulling them apart. I thought about reminding her that she’s married, although my sister would never cheat despite the fact that her and her husband’s intimate life was permanently altered due to his paralysis.

            “So Ethan came out of his rebellious faze?” Eli asked.

            “Not before he got his girlfriend pregnant when he was only seventeen.” Then she leaned in toward him and with a low conspiratorial tone. “Like father like son.”

            Now she was calling Ethan his father!

            “Oh!” my sister jerked excitedly and dug in her purse for a wallet. “I have pictures. Penny, would you be a dear and switch places with Eli?”

            The year was 1999, and there were no smart phones, so Ariel pulled out her oversized wallet and began to show him pictures of his son and granddaughter. Our food arrived and Eli became so absorbed in looking at the offspring he never knew he had, he let it get cold.

            I had somewhat lost my appetite. I didn’t understand why. I slowly nibbled my food as I watched my sister and her former hedonistic boyfriend huddle together in shared delight.

            “Man, he’s a goodlooking guy,” Eli enthused.

            I couldn’t help snorting. “That’s pretty narcistic since he clearly resembles you.”

            They both looked at me. Eli gave a quick casual glance, and then turned back to the pictures. Ariel frowned and shook her head. I was troubled. Somehow Eli had won her over her, and I didn’t know what to think. Should I be happy? Should I raise caution flags? Then what I both feared and longed for happened.

            “Do you want to meet them?” Ariel asked.

            “Sure, if you think you’re ready. If you think Ethan would be ready.”

            “Yes I do, I truly do. But how about tomorrow? I’ll talk to him tonight, so he can have time to get his head around it. I’m sure he’ll want to meet you, but don’t get your hopes up either.”

            “Great!” Eli declared. Then he looked at me with an air of satisfaction.

            What had I done! My night of intemperance with a bottle of wine and a pen had brought a devil worshiper into our midst. For I feared Eli Endor still held Eli Alderson captive.