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BLACK SABBATH – CHAPTER 8

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

BLACK SABBATH

CHAPTER 8

ZELLA LaSTELLA-SALLIE

IN ME (JESUS) YOU MAY HAVE PEACE. IN THE WORLD YOU WILL HAVE TRIBULATION, BUT BE OF GOOD CHEER, I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD. (John 16:33)

            As we all stared at the bedraggled, trembling man in handcuffs, Inga began to shake her head emphatically. She looked at Triple Lou. “Lieutenant, there’s no way Don killed our sister.”

            “Do you know this man then?” he asked.

            “I just know he went by Donny. We were acquainted in the homeless community. He can barely tie his shoes, let alone… Well, you know what happened. Besides, like I told you before, very few people here knew me as Inga Cognito. Just the Sallie’s and some of your officers.”

            “What’s this about Inga Cognito?” Brent asked. “You often called yourself that when we were kids.”

            The Lieutenant pulled her brother aside and spoke in a low voice so Inga wouldn’t have to hear the description of their deceased sister again. Then he explained to Brent about the words carved into Paloma’s flesh, ‘Inga Cognito is a fake.’

            Brent’s jaw clenched as he looked at his sister. His gaze was fierce but softened as he took in the sight of Inga meekly chewing her lower lip. Her arctic blue eyes were wide and frightened as she perceived what Triple Lou had told her brother.

            “I’m taking a leave of absence and staying with you, Sis,” Brent told her.

            Inga looked at me and then my husband. “But I’m living, I mean staying with the Sallies”

            “I’ll get an extended stay hotel or something,” he told her.

            “You’re welcome to stay with us,” I offered.

            “I don’t want to impose.”

            “It’s no imposition.”

            Seven stepped next to me and whispered like a ventriloquist. “Honey, he doesn’t want to impose.”

            “I insist,” I told Brent. In the Biblical parable of the two sons, Seven was very much like the son who initially said no but went. So now I whispered like a ventriloquist into my husband’s ear. “Inga’s sister was murdered; she needs her brother. She needs the stability of our home.”

            “We insist Brent,” Seven said.

            “Are you sure?” Brent asked.

            “Absolutely,” my husband reassured him. Then he spoke as if it were his own idea. “She’s been staying with us for a couple weeks, and could use the stability and familiarity she’s found in our home.”

            He grinned at me. Suspicious of possible smugness, I stepped on his foot and ground my heel in just a little. He grunted, groaned, and then frowned at me. I gave him a sweet smile. “Oops, sorry, Honey.”

            A uniformed officer entered the room escorting a fifty something year old man with a long gray beard and a long gray ponytail. His gray eyes were intense. By his side was a tall red haired young lady who appeared to be in her late teens or early twenties.

            They were an odd pair. He looked like an old hippie stoner in his faded jean jacket and jeans. She was rather goth in appearance. Two small rings adorned her lower lip. She wore a black t-shirt with little red skulls all over the front and back. Black jeans that were ripped and torn with red tights underneath, and motorcycle boots.

            “Lou,” the officer said. “This young lady and gentleman say they may have information on the murder of Paloma Likas.”

            “Little Priscilly!” Inga exclaimed as the two women embraced. “Only you’re not so little anymore.”

            Priscilly appeared to be all of six feet tall, compared to Inga’s five foot six. Then she and Brent exchanged greetings, only they shook hands rather than hugged.

            “I’m so sorry about Pal,” Priscilla Rosenwinkle told the siblings. Inga nodded, and both women wept as Brent looked solemnly at his shoes.

            Triple Lou gave them a minute and then spoke to the old stoner. “You say you have information regarding the murder of Paloma Likas?”

            “I do,” the man replied and handed the lieutenant some type of credentials.

            Triple Lou frowned as he read, then his eyebrows raised as he looked at the stoner. “Agent Jeffery Tull, FBI?”

            “At your service,” the federal agent acknowledged with a little bow.

            “Any relation to the musician Jethro Tull?” Seven asked with a little grin.

            I rolled my eyes. Why did my husband always have to think he was funny?

            “Haven’t heard that one before,” Jeffry Tull responded with a straight face. “You do know Jethro Tull is the name of a band, not a person. Well, I mean, he was person, but he was a British agriculturist or something, not the writer of ‘Locomotive Breath’.”

            “I knew that,” Seven said, waving a dismissive hand. “I was just…”

            “Thinking he was funny,” I interrupted.

            “Trying to be light hearted during a tense situation,” Seven said looking at me with such a serious expression I had to purse my lips to keep from giggling.

            Triple Lou waved a commanding hand. “Okay, enough with rock history. What’s your story, Agent Tull?”

            “I’ve been undercover at Bryson Bronx’s compound for quite some time. I can’t give any details on what for, that’s confidential. Pricilla here is an informant of mine. Long story short, one of Bronx’s hench men fancied her, so she got close to him to help me out.”

            “You could say I prostituted myself for justice,” Priscilla cut in.

            Agent Tull eyed her for several seconds. Whether his gaze held scorn or admiration, I couldn’t tell.

            “Anyway, I’ve been there for going on a year and I got nothing. But then about a month ago Priscilla was able to get a tap on her lover’s phone.”

            Priscilla scrunched up her face. “Don’t call him my lover!”

            “Sorry. He goes by the nickname Buzz. Anyway, Priscilla’s sister got word that Bryson heard that Inga was part of a homeless community here in Iowa. Then low and behold, an hour after Priscilla gets word that Bryson knows Inga’s whereabouts, Bryson gets an assignment to come to Iowa. Coincidence? I think not.”

            “But I couldn’t get a hold of Jeffery,” Priscilla cut in. “He always told me if I found something out to only go to him. But I needed to do something, I didn’t know how to get a hold of Inga. So I told Paloma, thinking she would know what to do. I didn’t realize she would come out here and get herself…”

            She looked at Inga guiltily. Inga hugged her again. “It’s not your fault.”

            “Talk about bad timing. I was on a three day retreat looking for UFO’s,” Agent Tull said with a look on his face that said he thought such a thing ridiculous. “No phones allowed, and we also fasted. Talk about a long three days. But I couldn’t say no, or my cover would have been blown.”

            “As soon as I told Jeffery, we took a red eye out here,” Priscilla said.

            “My cover is likely blown now,” Agent Tull shrugged. “But here’s the thing. They know they killed the wrong sister. They sent Bryson a picture and his reply was twofold. He told them, ‘look at the eyes you idiots! That’s Paloma, not Inga. And if Inga’s out there your phones have been bugged.’ They obviously ditched them. Before we came here to the police station, I traced Buzz’s phone to the Cedar River.”

            “So you think they’re still around?” Brent asked Agent Tull.

            “At this point I can only speculate,” he replied. “But yes, that’d be my best guess.”

            “How in the world will we find them?” Brent asked.

            Inga stared at her brother. Like me, she probably noticed he said ‘we.’ She boldly declared, “I need to be a decoy.”

            “Oh no, you’re not,” Triple Lou responded, shaking his head and waving his arms like a football official signaling no catch or missed field goal. “I can not put a citizen in harm’s way like that.”

            “You also can’t deny a citizen their freedom to walk the streets,” Inga said.

            Giving her a hard look, the Lieutenant said, “As long as the citizen abides by the law and doesn’t, say, shop lift.”

            Inga gave her brother a nervous glance and then looked away, ashamed. I stepped to her, put my arm around her shoulder, and tugged her into myself. She looked at me and I gave her a reassuring smile. My whole gesture implying the Apostle John’s beautiful words from 1 John 1:9. ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’

            She forced a smile in recognition. Then she added her own spiritual reassurance, saying, “Be still and know that I am God?” (Psalm 46:10)

            “Right,” I responded, still smiling.

            Little did I know that I would need to completely rely on her admonition in the coming days. About ten seconds after her words of encouragement, a uniformed officer burst into the room. With a voice filled with urgency, he declared, “Lou, there’s a four alarm fire! It’s Sallie’s home, Sir, and it’s fully engulfed!”

BLACK SABBATH – CHAPTER 7

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

BLACK SABBATH

CHAPTER 7

SEVEN SALLIE

TRUST IN THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND LEAN NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING (Proverbs 3:5)

            We had just found out that Inga’s brother was at the police station. After Triple Lou informed us that Inga’s brother was in town, she practically sprinted toward my car.

            “Why don’t you all ride with me?” Lieutenant Louis Lewis offered.

            This caused Inga to do an about face and she boogied to the lieutenant’s car instead.

            “But how will we get home?” I asked.

            “I’ll bring you back,” he shrugged. “If you ride with me, it will give us a chance to talk and for me to ask more questions.”

            The three of us, Inga, Zella, and myself began to get into the back seat of the Lieutenant’s unmarked police car. Triple Lou shook his head impatiently. “You all don’t need to get in the backseat; you’re not under arrest. Inga, why don’t you sit up front?”

            Inga had a look on her face like a child being punished, but she slowly removed her foot from the back seat of the car and went to the front. The main thing we learned from listening in on Triple Lou’s interrogation was that the other lady she came to Iowa with also had been a resident of the alien cult’s compound. This would prove to be a key factor with Inga’s sister turning up in the Midwest from the west coast.

            Inga’s reunion with her brother was odd. Both had a look of fascination on their faces when they saw each other. Yet when they hugged, there was more formality in the embrace rather than warmth. They also didn’t look like brother and sister. Did the three siblings all have different fathers?

            Brent’s black hair was slicked back. His close set, dark eyes looked hard. He was wearing a black shirt with a grey tie, black slacks, and shiny black cowboy boots. His appearance made me think of a mafia hit man. His deep voice was California cool. “Well little sis, you just kind of fell off the map. I was starting to think I’d never see you again.”

            “What about you? You joined the Marines and closed the door on us.”

            “No I didn’t. Pal wrote to me, but you didn’t.”

            Inga shrugged. “I guess I was mad at you for leaving us. I suppose you know she’s… Gone, our Pal, Pal?”

            I noticed his jaw clench and he stoically said, “Yeah.”

            “Pal, Pal,” she croaked. Then Brent pulled her into another embrace. This time there was more warmth, and he kissed the top of her head as she cried into his left pectoral. He looked rather fit when his biceps pressed against the fabric of his shirt as he held his sister in his arms.

            “How did you know to come here?” Inga asked after she pushed away from him. “From wherever it is you’re living?”

            “I’ve been in Miami for the last year or so,” he replied. “When my hitch was up in the Corps, I started working for a high end security firm.”

            I broke in and asked if the name of his firm was such and such.

            “Yeah,” he replied with raised eyebrows. “How did you know?”

            “I took a guess,” I said with a shrug. “My cousin Brock worked for a high end security company with an office in Miami. That would have been before your time though. But I got to know one of his coworkers who is still there. Do you know a Benito Bonanno?”

            He smirked. “I certainly I do; he’s my supervisor.”

            “Good guy,” I added.

            “Benny’s the best. I was ready to rejoin the Marines after a few months. I was working for a real (Expletive) in LA and was gonna quit. Benny happened to be out there at the time on an assignment and took a liking to me. He talked me into staying with the firm and moving to Miami and for working for him. Man, I never thought I would run into somebody here who knows Benito Bonanno. Small world.”

            “Speaking of small worlds,” Inga cut in. “How did you end up out here when Paloma was only discovered hours ago?”

            “Pal called me two days ago and said you were in trouble.”

            “What made her think I was in trouble?”

            “Did you come out here with Jane Joplin?”

            “I did.”

            “Well apparently she went to Bryson Bronx and told him where you were. I imagine she got a handsome reward.”

            “That traitor,” Inga said quietly. “So how did Pal find out?”

            “Do you remember a girl by the name of Priscilla Rosenwinkle?”

            “Of course I do,” Inga smiled. “Silly Priscilly. She was a little redhaired pistol. She always reminded me of Pippi Longstocking.”

            “Well she’s all grown up and living in Las Vegas, and it turns out she and Paloma got together occasionally.  Her sister, who still lives on the compound, got wind of Jane’s agenda. She heard that Bronx was sending two of his guys to Iowa. She also heard that she gave him your phone number and had it tapped. That’s why she came out here in person without giving you a heads up.”

            “So she died trying to save me,” Inga said quietly, staring at the floor in contemplation.

            “Yeah, I suppose so,” he said gently. “But don’t you dare think this was your fault.”

            “Pal and me, we had a falling out, you know,” Inga said quietly, wiping a leaked tear with a finger.

            “No I didn’t know.”

            “You know what she was doing in Vegas, right?”

            “Working at a casino,” Brent replied with a little shrug.

            “Hardly,” Inga snorted. “She took up the trade that is only legal in Nevada.”

            Brent gazed at his sister in disbelief. “No way.”

            “Yes way,” Inga responded. “That’s why I came out here with Jane. She said she knew someone, said we’d get jobs. Neither happened. She couldn’t find her supposed friend, and we got no jobs. We ended up in a homeless camp, and not long after that, she bailed on me. Eventually I ended up getting busted for shop lifting at a grocery store. That’s how I met Mr. and Mrs. Sallie here.”

            Inga waved an open hand at Zella and me.

            “So you’re what, a lawyer?” Brent asked. “I assumed you were a cop.”

            I opened my mouth to explain, but Inga spoke first. “He’s a windbag.”

            I closed my mouth, pursed my lips in exasperation, and looked at Inga with hooded eyes. My wife put her mouth to my ear. “Honey, you look like Daffy Duck when he’s exasperated with Bugs Bunny.”

            I relaxed my expression. Inga stepped to me and put an arm around my lower back. Looking at her brother, she said, “I didn’t mean that. There’s just something about Seven that makes me want to tease him all the time. Truth is, he and Zella took me in. They’re saintly people.”

            Inga sniffed and wiped a tear with the hand that wasn’t clutching my waist. What range of emotions the poor girl was enduring. I put my arm around her and gave her an affectionate hug.

            “Hey, wait, you’re Seven Sallie,” Brent replied with a frown.

            “Yes sir, I am he,” I acknowledged with mock nobility.

            He nodded. “Okay, I see what Inga meant by windbag.”

            I felt the Daffy Duck expression return to my face. Brent must have noticed and immediately corrected himself. “No, no! I didn’t mean it that way. Just that her joke, windbag, you talk for a living. On your podcast. I’m sure you’ve heard of Josiah Brimstone?”

            “Of course,” I replied. “He’s one my biggest detractors.”

            Brent nodded. Josiah Brimstone had been known as one of the foremost, so called, prosperity gospel preachers. But over the last year or so, he became a champion for Sunday laws, evangelizing their importance. He had also, very publicly, criticized me and my podcast. So I publicly offered to open the scriptures with him on his own program. On that point he was yet to respond, and I guessed he probably wouldn’t.

            “Well, until I took this emergency leave, he was the latest client I have been assigned to,” Brent explained. “Another colleague and myself have been traveling the country with him the last month on his speaking tour.”

            I lifted my hands in surrender. “For my part, I don’t hold that against you.”

            “Hey, just to be clear, there’s nothing to hold against. I am not an admirer or follower of his at all. As a matter of fact, my association with him has only made me more ensconced in atheism.”

            “I’m an atheist too,” I told him.

            He looked at me like I had two heads. Then he snorted and shook his head. “Figures, another religious phony.”

            “I’m no phony, I believe everything I espouse on my podcast.”

            “Then how on earth can you be an atheist?”

            “How about you tell me about the God you don’t believe in?”

            For the next minute or two it sounded like he was reading from a Josiah Brimstone script. But he quoted disparagingly, especially the concept of an eternally burning hell. With a look on his face like he bit into a lemon, he said, “What kind of God would burn people for eternity just because they choose not to believe in him?”

            “See, I told you I was an atheist. I don’t believe in that God either.”

            I went on to explain that a thorough study of the scriptures concerning hellfire and the state of the dead proved that hell, so to speak, was an event at the end of time, and not a place of eternal torment. (You can obtain free study guides on these subjects from Amazing Facts. Simply ask for study guide #11 ‘Is the Devil in Charge of Hell?’ and/or #10 ‘Are the Dead Really Dead?’)

            The timing might have been odd for an impromptu Bible study. But we were soon to be distracted from it. Two uniformed officers entered with a bedraggled looking man in handcuffs. He was shaking violently, whether from some type of drug withdrawal or fear I didn’t know. But when one of the officers spoke, it sent a chill up my spine.

            “Lou, we found Paloma Likas’s cell phone and purse in a grocery cart full of this man’s belongings.”

BLACK SABBATH – CHAPTER 4

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

BLACK SABBATH

CHAPTER 4

SEVEN SALLIE

WHEREAS YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN TOMORROW. FOR WHAT IS YOUR LIFE? IT IS EVEN A VAPOR THAT APPEARS FOR A LITTLE TIME AND THEN VANISHES AWAY (James 4:14)

            A knock at my front door revealed Lieutenant Louis Lewis standing on my stoop. It had been a couple weeks since he and FBI Agent Nora Medora had stopped by to threaten me. Oh, they called it a warning, but I clearly saw restrained hostility in their demeanors.

            “Good afternoon, Lieutenant,” I greeted, I hoped cheerfully. I could feel my blood pressure spike a bit. There is no fear in love, I reminded myself (1 John 4:18). Followed by love your enemies (Matthew 5:44).

            “Afternoon,” he responded, eyeing me cooly.

            No fear in love, love your enemies, my mind repeated. “I’d like to say to what do I owe the pleasure, but I can’t help wondering what I said on podcast that made you show up. I’ve tried to be, shall I say, cautious, since you and Nora were kind enough to warn me.”

            What I didn’t acknowledge to the police officer was that I was choosing my battles wisely. And hopefully it was not as a wise guy, which was my sinful tendency. I needed to seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance with timing in what to say and do. I needed to follow the example of Jesus when He said things like, ‘Tell no one,’ and ‘My time is not yet.’

            “This has nothing to do with your podcast, Sallie,” Triple Lou said. “I need to ask you a few questions about Inga Likas. Also known as Inga Cognito.”

            “Did she get into some trouble?”

            “Yeah, I’d say she did.” He sighed and ran a hand over his face. Then his tired looking dark brown eyes met mine. “I’m afraid she’s been murdered.”

            “What!”

            “I’m sorry. There was no easy way to break it to you.”

            “That can’t be!”

            “I’m afraid it is. Her body was found down by the river in a patch of woods off of first street. Now I know she had been staying with you, so there are a couple things I need to know.”

            “You don’t understand, she…”

            “Once again,” he interrupted. “I’m sorry to break it to you like this, but…”

            “Lieutenant,” I interrupted. “You…”

            “Maybe we should sit,” he interrupted. “How about at the kitchen table?”

            “Yeah, that would be fine,” I said and then sighed. “Can I get you something to drink? Relaxed Mind tea? Sparkling water?”

            “No thanks. Now, Mr. Sallie, when was the last time you saw her?”

            “Please, call me Seven.”

            “Now, Mr. Sallie, when was the last time you saw her?”

            “About fifteen minutes ago.”

            “Fifteen minutes ago? That’s not possible.”

            Inga walked up to the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down. “Do you have any leads on who killed me?”

            Triple Lou stared at Inga in astonishment. It was as if he had lived two thousand years ago and witnessed Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead.

            “It.. It’s you,” Lieutenant Louis Lewis stammered.

            “It’s me,” Inga said with a shrug. She was amazingly calm for having just found out that she had been murdered. Yet I noticed her fingers were trembling slightly. Then her lower lip developed a bit of a quiver as she asked, “So what makes you think I’ve been murdered?”

            “I swear, I thought for sure it was you,” Triple Lou said mildly, still looking at Inga in disbelief. “I’m sorry if I upset you.”

            Now I noticed Inga’s eyes were becoming watery, so I spoke up. “Lieutenant, can you tell us why you thought Inga had been murdered?”

            “I saw her for myself,” he replied, as he turned his gaze onto me.

            “What did you see?” I asked.

            He looked back to Inga. “I don’t know if you want to hear this.”

            “Give it to me straight, Triple Lou,” Inga said flatly.

            Now I am obnoxious by nature. But by the grace of God, I no longer purposely try to get a rise out of people since giving my life to Christ. The old me would have smiled at Inga’s disrespectful tone. But the new creature inside my flesh cringed at the use of the flippant name she used for the gruff police officer. Yet it seemed to roll off his shoulders as if she had called him sir, officer, or lieutenant.

            “Well, for one thing, it looked like your hair,” he told us. “But I see you got it cut.”

            Inga’s dread locks were gone, and her dark brown hair was cut into a pixie style.

            Being rather dense I said, “Didn’t you recognize the face?”

            “It was beaten beyond recognition.”

            “What else?” Inga asked stoically.

            “Carved in her flesh, on her torse to be exact, were the words, ‘Inga Cognito is a fake.’ Also on her person was a Nevada ID that called her Inga Marie Likas… So I hope you can see why I was confident that the… Why I thought it was you.”

            “Did she have any tattoos?” Inga asked hesitantly.

            “Why yes, she did. On the back side of her wrist. A banner that said love conquers all, surrounded by flowers and…”

            “1 Corinthians 13:4-8 under the flowers,” Inga interrupted.

            “Yes,” Triple Lou said solemnly and then paused. “Who is she, Inga?”

            But instead of replying, Inga’s chin began to quiver, and tears seemed to pop out of her eye socks. She coughed out a sob, covered her mouth with her hand and ran to the bedroom.

            “Must be a relative of hers,” the Lieutenant said quietly.

            I shook off the shock I felt and said, “I better go comfort her… Or something.”

            I got up slowly from the table. Although my heart broke for Inga, I selfishly longed for my wife. I mumbled, “Zella, you should have been home a half hour ago, where are you?”

            Low and behold the front door popped open and my beautiful wife stepped into our home. I stepped quickly to her, and we embraced. Having noticed the Lieutenant’s car in the driveway, she whispered into my ear, “Are you in trouble again?”

            I explained the reason for Triple Lou’s presence. My wife is mentally tough because she is spiritually grounded in the love of Christ. She pushed away from me and briskly walked toward Inga. I slowly walked back to the table, sat, and then sighed as I eased into a chair.

            Triple Lou and I sat in silence for a couple minutes. Then I said, “Maybe you could come back later, or we could come down to the station later.”

            “I really need to talk to her as soon as possible. If we don’t catch the perpetrator within the first forty eight hours, the odds of ever finding him drop dramatically.”

            “So you think it’s a him?”

            “In most cases of a brutal murder it’s a him,” he told me sternly. “But to be fair how about I change it to ‘them.’”

            “Them? So you think it’s more than one person?”

            “Sallie, why do you always have to be so difficult?”

            “I don’t mean to be, Sir. I just like to explore every detail of a subject.”

            “Ya know, even when you’re being respectful, I somehow feel that you’re mocking.”

            “I’m sorry you feel that way. On the other hand, we live in a dog eat dog world. Your paranoia could be looked at as just being cautious.”

            “I’m not paranoid,” he said testily. Then he forced a smile and said with eerie calmness, “I’m not paranoid.”

            He glanced at the door that concealed Inga and my wife. Then his eyes shifted to me. Then he looked back at the door. Then he looked back at me. Then he muttered to himself, “Oh nuts.”

            “So Lieutenant, do you have time to investigate a murder while at the same time enforcing Sunday laws?”

            His eyes narrowed with distaste, and I put up my hands in a surrender gesture. “I’m sorry how that came across. When I’m under stress, it gets hard to control my natural bent for flippancy.”

            “Be careful Sallie, you do realize you’re a suspect?”

            “What! Surly you don’t think I killed… Whoever it is that was killed?”

            He sighed. “At this point everybody is a suspect. But no, I don’t think you did it.”

            “Well, good.”

            “Yet,” he added cooly.

            After a minute of awkward silence, Triple Lou said without looking at me, “I am off of overseeing Sunday ordinances though.”

            “Yeah? How come?”

            “Conflict of interest.”

            “May I ask what the conflict of interest is?”

            “You may,” he replied but then remained silent.

            “Well?”

            “I just said you could ask, I didn’t say I would answer.”

            Despite the violent death of somebody seemingly related to Inga somehow, I laughed. “It sure can be hard to like somebody that’s flippant.”

            “Tell me about it,” he said.

            “Well, I wanted to understand your conflict of interest, and I found it annoying when you responded with flippancy instead.”

            He still eyed me with narrow eyes, but the corner of his mouth twitched. “’Tell me about it’ was a figure of speech, not a request. You’re something else, Sallie.”

            “That’s what my wife always tells me.”

            “I bet she does,” he said, sighed and rose from the table. He began to slowly do laps around the kitchen table. “I’ve been studying out this Sabbath issue with my Bible and concordance. Now I was believer that we kept Sunday in honor of the resurrection. But then I discovered in the book of Acts, in particular chapters thirteen and seventeen, that they kept the Sabbath. Jesus had been long risen from the dead by then.

            “Then I looked up Constantine and how he mandated on March 7, AD 321, dies solis meaning ‘The Day of the Sun’ in latin, making Sunday the official day of rest.”

            “Lieutenant, that’s awesome!”

            “Yeah, well, truth is truth. I also got to thinking about the first scripture I read on the Sabbath. Genesis 2:3 says God sanctified it. I couldn’t find anywhere in scripture where God sanctified or made holy, the first day of the week.”

            “That’s because He didn’t.”

            “Right,” he replied as if he didn’t want to admit it. But then he acknowledged, “So, I told the Captain I didn’t want to oversee the Sunday laws anymore.”

            “How’d that go over?”

            “Okay, but now he regards me with suspicion.”

            “Ya mean he didn’t before?”

            “Sallie, do you always have to…” He grinned, shook his head and said, “No, he didn’t.”

            The bedroom door opened, and Inga and Zella came out walking hand in hand. Inga’s arctic blue eyes were red rimmed as she said in a childlike voice, “I’m ready to talk, Lieutenant. I don’t know how much help I’ll be, but I want you to find who did this.”

            “Okay,” Triple Lou said with surprising gentleness. “Let’s start with this. Do you know who she is?”

            “Her name is Paloma, she’s my sister.”

BLACK SABBATH – CHAPTER 1

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

BLACK SABBATH

CHAPTER 1

SEVEN SALLIE

NOW THE LORD IS THE SPIRIT; AND WHERE THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS, THERE IS LIBERTY (2 Corinthians 3:17)

            As I exited the courtroom, a young lady that had been ahead of me for shoplifting stepped up next to me. She said, “I’m surprised they let you go.”

            She appeared to be in her thirties. I’m not good at guessing ages, but my wife is. Her shoulder length dark brown hair was dread locked and grungy looking. Her jeans were dirty, her black converse sneakers had seen better days, and her faded flannel shirt was frayed at the cuffs. My first impression was homeless, and I wasn’t wrong.

            “Why do say that?” I asked cheerily with an arched eyebrow.

            “Triple Lou brought you in himself,” she said as if this delighted her.

            “Triple Lou?” I inquired, arching my eyebrow a little higher.

            “You know, Lieutenant Louis Lewis,” she said, separating lieutenant and making it sound like two separate words. Lou tenant. “So what did you do? The plaintiff wouldn’t let me stay in the courtroom to hear you go before the judge.”

            “The official charge was inciting civil disobedience.”

            “Wow!” she exclaimed, her eyes widening. They were the brightest blue I had ever seen in a pair of peepers. I even wondered if she wore colored contacts. “What kind?”

            “On my podcast I encouraged people to keep the Biblical Sabbath. The Sunday ordinance will lead to mandatory worship and that would be unconstitutional.”

            “That’s pretty lame,” she said dejectedly.

            “Yeah, thankfully the judge thought it was a pretty lame charge as well.”

            “No, what I meant by lame, was when you said civil disobedience, I assumed you organized a riot or something.”

            “Sorry to disappoint you.”

            She eyed me thoughtfully, putting a finger on her chin. Then her eyes widened again. “Hey, didn’t you used to be Seven Sallie?”

            “Actually I still am.”

            “No you’re not.”

            “What do you mean ‘no I’m not?’”

            “I mean you used to be crazy popular. Somewhere between Rush Limbaugh and Bill Maher. Then you just suddenly fell off the map. What’d you do, have a sex scandal or something? Or are you some kind of pervert?”

            I liked this girl; she was spunky. However, my hands did feel the slight urge to go around her neck. “My name is still Seven Sallie, regardless of a drop in popularity. What’s your name?”

            “Inga,” she replied.

            “Inga what?”

            “Cognito.”

            I smiled. “Your name is Inga Cognito?”

            “Your name is really Seven?”

            “It’s my actual middle name,” I told her, pulling out my driver’s license and handing it to her. Her eyebrows arched in surprise. I suppose because I trusted her enough to hand over my personal ID.

            “Sebastion is your first name?” she asked with a look on her face as if she bit into something sour.

            “It is.”

            “No wonder you go by Seven. Why is your middle name Seven?”

            “I was the seventh of seven kids. My twin brother’s middle name is Six.”

            “So are your other sibling’s middle names one, two, three, four, and five?”

            “No,” I replied. “So what is your real name?”

            She handed me back my license and pulled a book bag off her shoulders. She dug into it and pulled out an ID. It wasn’t a driver’s license; just an official state issued ID from California. If it wasn’t a fake, she was only twenty four. What kind of life had she lived that she looked like she could be in her thirties? My hands no longer wanted to go around her skinny neck. I felt more inclined hug to her.

            “Inga Marie Likus,” I said.

            “That’s my name, don’t wear it out,” she said casually. “So you didn’t tell me. How did you fall off the map from your popular radio show?”

            “I simply changed my main broadcast topic from politics to teaching the Bible and religious history. Most of my sponsors let me go, so I was forced to start my own podcast, losing most of my listeners in the process.”

            “So it was becoming a Christian, rather than being a perv?”

            “Sorry to disappoint you.”

            “I’m not disappointed at all,” she said, and pulled a pocket size Bible from her flannel shirt. “I’m a believer too.”

            “That’s good!” I told her. I paused, and very gently asked, “So why did you shop lift then?”

            She looked me square in the eyes. “Because I hadn’t eaten in two days.”

            Although it was she that broke the eighth commandment, it was me that felt a sense of shame. Meekly, I replied, “I see.”

            I looked at my shoes in the bustling courthouse hall. I was relieved when my wife stepped to my side. “Inga, this is my wife, Zella. Zella, Inga Cognito.”

            “Inga Cognito?” My wife frowned.

            “Oh, he’s crazy. My name is Inga Likus.”

            My wife looked rather puzzled about me conversing with this wild looking young lady. But then she smiled warmly at her when Inga declared, “Wow, what are you an African princess?”

            “No, I’m afraid not.”

            “You look like Karrueche Tran.”

            “I assume that’s a complement, so thank you.”

            “It is, she’s lovely. So what are you doing with this very pale radio has been?”

            The urge to put my hands around her neck was returning.

            “I don’t know,” Zella said, looking at me with a frown. Then she grinned and winked.

            “Inga here is shop lifter,” I said, then instantly regretted it. “Sorry, that was low.”

            Inga simply shrugged. “Only when I’m hungry or otherwise need something to survive.”

            “Where do you live?” Zella asked.

            “In a tent, if it’s still where I left it.”

            “Hey,” Zella said, her face lighting up. “Our son is up in Minnesota for the summer at his grandparents farm. You could stay in his room for a while to get back on your feet.”

            I looked at my wife, stunned. Then realized I was shaking my head. I turned my gaze onto Inga, and she was looking at me with a sad countenance. “That’s okay, I’ve never had solid footing to get my feet back onto.”

            Jesus’s words flashed through my mind. “Whatever you have done to one of the least of these My brothers and sisters, you’ve done for me.” (Matthew 25:40, 45)

            “Zella is right,” I told Inga. “Please come and stay with us, and we’ll help you get your feet on solid ground.”

            “Why would you invite me into your home?” she asked meekly. “One of the only things you know about me is that I’m a thief.”

            I felt my toes curl. Was this a warning? Oh well, anything she might steal from us was replaceable. But the Holy Spirit, also known as The Comforter, comforted me by giving me these words. “Another thing I know about you is you carry a pocket size New Testament with you.”

            Zella happily took hold of one of Inga’s hands. Inga pulled back, a little startled. But then she let my lovely wife hold her hand. “Inga, come have supper with us. I made a lasagna and there’s plenty. Then take a long shower while I prepare your bed for you.”

            Inga had a look of awe and gratitude on her face, like we were offering a great gift. It occurred to me how often we take for granted everyday blessings. She croaked, “Okay, thank you.”

            Over dinner, Inga was reluctant to say much about herself. When I asked how she ended up in Iowa, clear from the west coast, all she said was a girl she knew was coming here and that there were more jobs to be had than in California. Inga had now been in Iowa six weeks and had not found a job. She shrugged and said, “Kind of hard when you have no address to put down on an application.”

            Inga certainly took Zella up on a long shower. I heard the water running for almost a half an hour. I think the only reason she stopped was she ran out of hot water. When she was done, Zella helped her get settled in the bedroom. I’m ashamed to say, I stood outside the closed door and eavesdropped.

            “Oooooh, this is so comfortable.” I heard Inga purr.

            “I’m glad you like it,” Zella enthused.

            “I love it! Thank you so much!”

            “You’re very welcome.”

            “I haven’t slept in something softer than my sleeping bag in four years.”

            My mind’s eye saw the tattered sleeping bag as she carried it into our house.

            “I’m so glad you like it, goodnight.”

            I heard the door handle jiggle and quickly tiptoed the short distance to our living room. I sat down on the couch and picked up a book. Zella walked briskly toward me with what appeared to be a stern expression. My first thought was that she was gonna scold me for eavesdropping. But how could she know?

            Instead, my wife sat down hard next to me on the sofa, grabbed a decorative pillow, pressed it to her face and sobbed.

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES – PART 2 – CHAPTER 19

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES

PART 2

CHAPTER 19

NANCY

  THE ANGEL OF THE LORD ENCAMPS ALL AROUND THOSE WHO FEAR HIM, AND DELIVERS THEM (Psalm 34:7)

             “Dad?” Drew had petitioned. My fiancée had his phone on speaker and had just told his father that his former bandmate, Donald Reed, was my biological father.

            Donald Reed was more known by his stage name Izzy Iscariot. He had been a hardcore satanist, whereas Arlo, Drew’s dad, had been, shall we say, a nominal occultist. Then Arlo left the band he shared with Izzy when he became a devout Christian. Not long after, Izzy had committed suicide in a very violent manner.

            Apparently the news rendered Mr. Aldo speechless as Drew tried a second time. “Dad?”

            “Oh, yeah, son, I… I’m sorry,” he finally stammered. “This just takes me by complete surprise.”

            “Yeah, I can imagine,” Drew replied. “Maybe I should have waited to tell you in person.”

            “No, no, that’s fine… But are you sure? How did you find this out?”

            Drew told him about how my mom was actually my biological aunt. He explained the connection between my mom’s family, their occult ties and Izzy.

            There was a long enough silence that it prompted Drew to say “Dad?” again.

            “Yeah, Son… Maybe you should reconsider marrying Nancy.”

            I felt my face flush as Drew looked at me with a stunned expression. I loved Arlo Aldo, and I thought he loved or at least liked me. So his suggestion to his son hurt and I felt tears sting the back of my eyes. But I clenched my jaw and pushed them back.

            “Dad, I love her. I want to spend the rest of my life with her. She’s a child of God and her own person, no matter parentage.”

            Yet again Drew was a balm to my tortured soul. I loved him more than anyone in the whole world and desperately wanted to spend the rest of my life with him as well. So his father’s words were very much a threat to my insecure psyche.

            “I understand that, but you see… What you just told about her parentage. It’s, I don’t know, all wrong.”

            “Dad, I’ve been on speaker, so Nancy is hearing all of this.”

            Silence again. But before Drew could say Dad, I meekly cut in. “Hi, Arlo.”

            “Nancy, hi. Listen, I didn’t mean anything personal. It’s just that there are things you don’t understand.”

            “You mean about me originating from demons?” I replied cooly.

            “No, no, no!” he responded. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

            “Then why do parents I never even knew make me unworthy of your son?”

            “It’s not that. It’s complicated. You see, before Izzy offed himself, he wrote several people letters, me included. Actually they were notes cuz Izzy was too deranged for a proper letter. Anyhow, he threatened to, um, have me haunted me in a particular manner.”

            “Oh come on, Dad, you can’t be serious! You know what the Bible teaches about the state of the dead.”

            “Yeah, yeah, of course, the dead don’t know anything (Ecclesiastes 9:5). Notice I said have me haunted. In other words curse me with the demonic.”

            “Dad, you also know God is bigger and stronger than the devil.”

            “Yes of course, but I can’t escape the ramifications of what I was involved with. You don’t come away from years of dabbling in the occult unscathed. Jesus Himself referred to Satan as the ruler of this world.” (John 12:31)

            “Yeah and He also said, ‘If I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.’ (verse 32) Of which you are a part.”

            “Jesus also said we would have tribulation.”

            “Yes, but what did He say before and after?” I began to clarify. “Before what you quoted, He said, ‘In Me you may have peace.’ After, He said, ‘Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.’” (John 16:33)

            “You’re missing the point. Even though we are Christians, we shouldn’t test fate. The devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking who he can devour. (1 Peter 5:9) Look, I don’t do certain things regarding, say, lust or drugs, so I won’t be tempted. I also should heed the warning of a curse Izzy promised to put on me and my family.”

            “A curse? You’ve got to be kidding! What exactly did this lunatic write that has you so bent out of shape, so unreasonable?”

            “I don’t know verbatim; I haven’t looked at it in years.”

            “You mean you still have it? You saved a, um, suicide note?”

            “I did.”

            “Why? What for?”

            “For a reminder of what God rescued me from. Also for a possible time like this.”

            “I don’t understand, Dad. What could he have possibly threatened you with that has you freaked out about me marrying Nancy?”

            “You just told me she’s his daughter.”

            “Biologically. But he apparently didn’t even know he was gonna be a parent. He died a half year before Nancy was even born. Shoot, the woman that birthed her didn’t even raise her. So how dare you accuse her of bringing a curse to our family.”

            “It won’t bring a curse if you don’t marry her. I’m sorry, Nancy. I love you like you have been part of the family. But some things just aren’t meant to be, like if you would have found out you were siblings separated at birth. You certainly wouldn’t marry then.”

            “I don’t mean any disrespect, my father,” Drew told him calmly. “But you are being superstitious and ridiculous.”

            “Am I? Do we or do we not wrestle against principalities, powers and the rulers of darkness, spiritual hosts of wickedness in high places?”

            “Once again you are leaving off the before and after. By that I mean the putting on of the whole armor of God. (Ephesians chapter 6) So tell me what Izzy said that has you this rattled.”

            Arlo sighed heavily from more that fifteen hundred miles away. “Izzy wrote a half dozen notes to people he thought betrayed him. Most of his message to me was crazy rambling. But he ended it by telling me that I sold my soul as much as he did, and you don’t get to just leave the band, just like the mafia. He said I was breaking up his family, so he was gonna infiltrate mine and curse it. The very last thing he said was, we mingled our blood and seed, now my sacrificed blood will mingle with your lineage unto the third and fourth generation. Then he signed his name in blood.”

            “What did he mean by you mingled your blood and seed?” Drew asked.

            “You don’t want to know.”

            “Of course I do, that’s why I asked.”

            “Haven’t I told my children that I didn’t want them researching my time in ‘The Sons of Molech? The person I was then is dead, just in a different way than Izzy.”

            “And I’ve honored that request. But now you’re telling me that something about your time in that situation has rendered the woman I love unworthy to marry.”

            “When I partook in the ritual to sell my soul for rock and roll, we drank a strange concoction. It contained three ingredients mixed in a large chalice.  The base was liquor, but the other two ingredients came from our bodies. We each submitted a vial of blood and…”

            “Okay, I get what was in it.”

            “You wanted to know,” Arlo said with more hostility than I had ever heard from the man.

            “I had no choice… So you guys drank each other’s…”

            “Eli and I were nineteen. Izzy and our drummer Kyle had already had a taste of success in the rock scene. Eli and I were young and dumb and on our own in LA. We were willing to do whatever it took to achieve fame and fortune.”

            “Okay, I don’t need to know any more about that aspect,” Drew said and looked me right in the eyes as he continued speaking with his father. “But I still don’t find that reason enough, at all, to call off our marriage. As a matter of fact, after we get back, I hope Nancy will agree to marry me as soon as Pastor Samson will perform the ceremony.”

            I was confused, distraught, and unable to hold Drew’s gaze any longer. I looked at my feet.

            “I don’t believe in coincidences,” Drew’s dad said forcefully. “What are the odds that you and Nancy just happened to become friends? Then romantic? Then to find out she shares fifty percent of her DNA with a deranged satanist who warned that he was gonna mingle his blood and seed with mine. I have the written documentation to prove it.”

            “Documentation?”

            “Hey, he may have been an out of control nut job in the end, but he took his demonism seriously.”

            “So what exactly do you think is gonna happen?” Drew asked incredulously. “You seem to be putting more faith in Izzy cursing you, or us, or whatever, rather than trusting God.”

            “No, it’s not that at all. Let me be frank for a minute.”

            “You mean other than Dad or Arlo?”

            “Under normal circumstances I would find that funny. However, to be frank, I don’t like the idea of Izzy and I having both of our DNA existing in the same grandchild.”

            Rather than tell his dad I likely couldn’t bear children, Drew simply replied, “Look, if we ever have a boy I promise we won’t name him Damien.”

            “That’s not funny.”

            “I’m not trying to be. Forgive me but this whole conversation has seemed ludicrous.”

            “I know it has. But on the other hand we live in a strange, fallen world.”

            “Look, here’s the way I see it, Dad. The flesh profits nothing, it’s the Spirit that counts. As in the Holy Spirit. You look at Nancy and my lives converging as a bad omen. The way I see it, her mother came to Iowa as an answer to prayer. And that answer to prayer was seeing you and Uncle Eli on the cover of a Christian magazine. She read how you and Eli repented of your lives in ‘The Sons of Molech,’ and were both living for God and family in the heartland, and she moved there herself in hopes her daughter could find healing from extreme abuse. That causes me to trust in light rather than fear darkness.”

            “I respect that, Son, I truly do. But I’ve also tried my best to protect my family from the dangerous dark stuff I was involved with for many years. God saved me and blessed me, and I’m very thankful for that. But there has also been an element that has haunted me all these years. With all that you have just informed me, I feel like the walls of protection I have constructed with God’s help through the years are collapsing in on me with this news.”

            “I’m sorry you feel that way, Dad.”

            “Please tell me you’ll consider my warning.”

            “With all due respect, I don’t need to consider. I love Nancy, I trust God, and I’m not superstitious. For me, she’s a gift from God, not an obstacle from Satan like you seem to think.”

            Arlo sighed heavily. “Look, we’ll talk when you get home. This conversation is not going anywhere.”

            “I want to see Izzy’s letter or note or whatever it is.”

            Pause. “Fair enough.”

            Drew and his father exchanged goodbyes. Then Drew took my hand. “Sorry about all that.”

            I shrugged, looked away from him for a few seconds, then back and asked, “How come you left that call on speaker?”

            “You want the truth, right?”

            I nodded. “But it hurts. I don’t get why Arlo is blaming me.”

            “He’s not blaming you.”

            “How can you say that when he was practically insisting that you don’t marry me?”

            “I don’t know what to tell you. He has always appeared to me to be such a man of faith. It completely took me by surprise to hear him react so irrationally. But I also thought his time in the occult was behind him. It never occurred to me that he felt haunted.”

            “His reaction surprised me too.”

            “Please don’t take it personally.”

            “It’s hard not to.”

            “I know. But his problem ultimately is with Izzy.”

            “I didn’t choose who my parents were.”

            He smiled warmly and said, “But Phebe chose you.”

            “Yes, she did!” I replied. Then several sobs burst forth. Drew hugged me tight, but I felt so tired and weak I could barely get my hands onto his shoulders.

            When I calmed and we separated, he said, “Despite my Dad’s bizarre reaction to Izzy being, you know… We will still get married as soon as possible.”

            “No,” I replied shaking my head vigorously.

            The smile left Drew’s face. “Why not? Don’t tell me you agree with his reasoning.”

            “It’s not that. I don’t want to get married without both of your parents’ blessings.”

            Drew began to chew on his lower lip as he looked away from me. I knew what he was thinking. His mother was repulsed by Izzy every bit as much as his father.

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES – PART 2 – CHAPTER 14

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES

PART 2

CHAPTER 14

JEREMIAH “JERRY” ALDO (DREW’S BROTHER)

HE IS A DOUBLE MINDED MAN, UNSTABLE IN ALL HIS WAYS (James 1:8)

            “You gotta be kidding me!” I told my little brother.

            “About which?” Drew responded with a chuckle.

            “Both,” I replied, initially feeling more concerned than happy for him.

            He had just told me that he was reunited with Nancy, his longtime friend that was a girl. But strangely, after more than three years of animosity between them, she was now his girlfriend. Not only that, he had just revealed his plan to propose marriage. But before informing me of this, he declared Nancy’s intention to be baptized.

            This whole situation was a head scratcher. I always knew Drew was crazy about Nancy. The great divide in their friendship more than three years ago had to do with religion. She professed atheism and my brother seemed on his way to sainthood. So as they got older, their union became more like oil and water.

            As for marriage, I had been certain that Nancy was a lesbian for a few reasons. For one thing, although she’s kind of pretty, she never tried to look girly. She typically sported a short, boyish haircut, boyish clothes, and wore no jewelry or makeup.

            For another thing, it didn’t seem like she reciprocated Drew’s feelings. And little bro is a good looking guy. Also, after her rift with Drew, her constant companion became this big, strong athletic chick, Addie, who always wore rainbow colored bracelets. Then they moved in together after high school. Forgive me for assuming, but if it looks like a duck.

            “Well, this is ironic,” I told him.

            “What is?”

            “Both.”

            “Both of what?” Drew asked with both a grin and a frown.

            “You and Nancy married, and Nancy baptized.”

            “What’s ironic about it?”

            “For one thing, Nancy being an adamant atheist getting baptized.”

            “She was more agnostic than atheist, but now she has seen the light.”

            I considered telling him that another part of the irony was Nancy joining our church as I had fallen farther and farther away from it. But I sat on it, so he asked, “What’s the other irony?”

            “You the consummate loner when it comes to dating is getting married. And me, the guy with the unfair label of womanizer is all alone.”

            “I don’t think your reputation is unfair. You’re not even twenty and have dated more than a dozen girls. And as for me getting married, I haven’t even asked her yet.”

            “Yeah, I’ve hung out with a lot of girls. But can you name me one actual girlfriend?”

            “What about your current lady, Brenda?”

            “Former. But if you thought of her as my girlfriend, you’re right, she was my longest relationship at a whopping six weeks.”

            He looked at me with concern. My brother knew I was a hypocrite. He knew I rode the fence between the world and the church. But as closely as he walked with the Lord, he didn’t know my heart, only God did.

            “So what happened?”

            “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

            “You know me better than that.”

            “Brenda and I broke up because she wanted to have sex.”

            I couldn’t help laughing through my misery as my brother looked at me like I had two heads. Then he chuckled. “I thought you said she wanted to have sex. You must have meant that she refused to have sex.”

            “No, you heard me right.”

            Now he looked at me like I had three heads, but this time I didn’t laugh. Even my own brother, who I felt very close to, assumed I had bedded several females. But I didn’t hold it against him. He was never nosey about my private life, and I usually didn’t kiss and tell.

            “I don’t understand,” Drew frowned. I would now have to change him from never nosey to seldom. “It’s well known that you’re a, you know, player.”

            “Some reputations are unfair. But to be fair, I never minded the assumptions.”

            “So you’ve never actually had, you know, intimate relations?”

            “Nope.”

            “How can that be? You go to parties, you drink stuff that you shouldn’t, you often come home when the sun is coming up.”

            “I’m not gonna deny kissing and getting touchy feely with the girls, but I’ve never actually had sex.”

            “Why?” he asked dumbfounded. Not that he thought I should have, he just didn’t understand the reality.

            “I know I haven’t always followed the fundamental beliefs of our church,” I admitted.

            “Ya think,” he replied with a little smile as he tossed me a subtle rebuke.

            “But due to our upbringing, I don’t know, I couldn’t bring myself to use a girl for sex when I didn’t feel like it was someone I wanted to commit to.”

            “I see,” he replied as he put a thoughtful finger to his nose and gazed at me as if he were a psychoanalyst.

            My feet shifted uneasily. I guess I was hoping for some kind of pat on the back, not just ‘I see.’ So I said a little testily, “It’s as simple as that… I suppose.”

            “I’m pleased to find this out, Jerry. Don’t feel weirded out.”

            Okay, that was more what I was looking for. He was pleased. “I’m not weirded out… Well, maybe a little.”

            “Can I ask you something without you thinking I’m being judgmental?”

            “Go for it.”

            “You basically admitted to being backslidden.”

            “I suppose I did.”

            “How?”

            “What do you mean how?”

            “I mean we have an understanding of the whole Bible. Especially our understanding of prophecy and how it has been mostly fulfilled in history, and not some fake futuristic interpretation. I still get goose bumps thinking about Daniel 7:25 and how approximately one thousand years after it was written, it was profoundly fulfilled by Emperor Constantine in the fourth century when he made Christianity a legal religion. Thereby bringing many pagan sun worship characteristics into the church. In particular Solis Invicti, which is the day of the sun, Sunday.

            “He declared this the ‘Sabbath’ of the Roman Empire rather than the Sabbath God wrote with His own finger in Exodus chapter twenty, and instituted at Creation in Genisis 2:2 and 3. Thereby arrogantly thinking to change times and law predicted by in Daniel 7:25. The Sabbath being both a time as well as a law. This same verse also predicted the result would be a religious power that persecuted God’s people, the saints. This was fulfilled to a T during the dark ages. Now there is just one major piece of the prophetic puzzle to be fulfilled, and it’s rapidly building to the conclusion.”

            “If you really believe the end of the world is near, why do you want to get married?”

            He shrugged. “We know the end is close by the signs of the prophetic times, but no one knows the day or the hour. It could be this year, or another hundred years plus.”

            I’m ashamed to admit that although I grew up in the same church as Drew, I goofed and fooled around more than I paid attention. I counted down minutes until the service was over, instead following the scriptures the Pastor instructed us to look up. So I only had a superficial understanding of what Drew was expounding on.

            I admitted all this to my brother. “So I guess I got drawn away by the things of the world. I was more interested in dreaming about a career in sports. I got sucked away in the parties and the girls. Then I blew my knee out, and tore my rotator cuff, and I just wasn’t the same after. So I lost myself in the party lifestyle, looking for adventure, and looking for love. So now I find myself here talking to you. Lost in love, lost my sporting career, and I’m finding parties and looking for thrills a dead end road.”

            “Well, God’s mercies are new every morning,” Drew told me with a reassuring smile. (Lamentations 3: 22 and 23)

            I shrugged. “I guess that’s good to know.”

            “No guessing about it,” Drew replied happily.

            I felt a strange mixture of irritation and hope. It had only been two days since I had experienced another failed chance at a mate. Plus I was hung over from trying to drown my sorrows with a bottle of Jim Bean Kentucky Bourbon. I pinched my nose and groaned.

            “Hey, I think God’s timing is impeccable,” Drew told me enthusiastically.

            I felt the balances shift on my mixed emotions, but it was irritation that was outweighing hope on the spiritual scales. Sarcastically I responded, “Well, I’m glad you think my discouragement is a positive thing.”

            “Dear brother, sometimes we need to be brought low in order to see our, well, need. I can see you’re in need right now, and it comes at just the right time.”

            “What are you talking about?” I asked impatiently.

            “Sevenia Sallie is going to be leading a revival, slash, prophecy seminar.”

            “Is she that teenager some have called the girl prophetess?”

            “Well, she was a teenager when she did her first one, but she might be twenty years old now. So have you met her?”

            “No, you know I haven’t been to church much the last couple years.”

            “It starts the day after tomorrow. Why don’t you come?”

            “I don’t know,” I whined.

            “What else you gonna do? Drink yourself into oblivion like you did last night?”

            “How’d you know I got drunk last night?”

            “It’s pretty obvious you’re hung over. Just give it a try. Sevenia is a compelling teacher. If it doesn’t trip your trigger, well, just don’t come again. But I think you can spare an hour to give it a chance.”

            I reluctantly agreed and then couldn’t believe I almost chose to miss out. Sevenia, daughter of the radio broadcaster Seven Sallie, was indeed a captivating speaker. I was also smitten with her look.

            To most guys, she would probably appear to be a plain Jane. Like Nancy, she wore no makeup or jewelry. But unlike Nancy, her shoulder length auburn hair and knee length denim skirt made her appear more girly. Plus, her tan cowboy boots with light blue and lavender plaid shirt gave her a country girl appearance I loved.

            I was being drawn in two directions as I not only listened but took notes on her presentation. Her teachings were drawing me toward repentance, and her person was making me wonder if she was single. Would she go for a guy like me? When we shook hands after she ended the seminar for the evening, any hope of romance between the two of us was quickly shot down.

            Before my brother had a chance to introduce us, she beamed at me and said. “Is your name Jerry?”

            Although I wasn’t famous like my father had been, I had been a locally prominent athlete. I assumed that was why she knew my name, and with exaggerated bravado, I replied, “Yes, ma’am, it is I.”

            She laughed and I grinned from ear to ear. But what she said next immediately wiped the smile from my face.

            “My cousin showed me some pictures of you on her phone several days ago. Although I thought you looked familiar, I didn’t put it together that you were Drew’s brother.”

            With a sinking feeling, I asked, “Who’s your cousin?”

            “The girl you’re dating, Brenda.”

(Writer’s note: If you would like to learn more about authentic Bible Prophecy, please look up David Asscherick’s 5 Good Reasons series on YouTube. Or Amazing Facts ministry featuring Doug Batchelor.)

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES – PART 2 – CHAPTER 13

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES

PART 2

CHAPTER 13

NANCY

OH, THE DEPTH OF THE RICHES BOTH OF THE WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE OF GOD! HOW UNSEARCHABLE ARE HIS JUDGEMENTS AND HIS WAYS PAST FINDING OUT! (Romans 11:33)

            The Lord works in mysterious ways. I had a hard time believing Drew when he told me that God saw me as a virgin. I had a hard time believing God accepted me, as the song declares, ‘Just As I Am.’ Then just when I began to fully believe, I was taken to the lowest depths of doubt and despair.

            First, the most intimidating woman I had ever known had caught me trotting virtually naked through her house. Then Drew’s mother kicked me out of her house. The third strike came when she barged into the room I had briefly stayed in. I was already fighting off a panic attack as I was dressing and gathering up my things. For a second time in not even twenty minutes, I locked eyes with the most intimidating woman I have ever known, while in a state of undress.

            I was wearing only panties when I saw Dr. Aldo’s eyes go to my rib cage, where two dozen thin scars resided. I had resorted to cutting myself in my darkest hours of loneliness and despair. I had never felt such deep shame in my life as the most intimidating woman I had ever known discovered this secret. I pressed my legs together so she wouldn’t see a dozen more on the insides of my thighs.

            I was puzzled when Drew’s mom tried to make a joke about seeing me in a state of undress again. Was she being sarcastic? Even though I perceived she was actually trying to be friendly, my breathing came hard and fast as I failed to hold off the surging panic attack.

            Then right on the brink of an emotional breakdown, it was as if a spiritual switch was flipped. The light of God’s love chased away the demons, and it came through the most intimidating woman I have ever known. She knelt in front of me clutching one of my hands in two of hers. With head bowed she petitioned, “Nancy, would you please forgive me?”

            Although her humble, contrite actions caused my anxiety to change directions, I was dumbfounded and confused as I meekly replied, “For what?”

            “For my whole attitude toward you all a long.”

            I knelt in front of her, and she lifted her bowed head, looking at me with tear rimmed eyes. As we faced each other on our knees, I tried to make sense of what was happening. Why was the most intimidating woman I had ever known being nice to me? Surely Drew had told her that I was dirty and defiled. To top it off, I saw her eyes go to the scars on my rib cage. They were all neatly arranged like a planted row of trees. It was an obvious case of self-abuse rather than an accident. I simply replied, “I don’t understand.”

            “I think you do,” she responded quickly. But her brisk reply was not haughty. She couldn’t hide the fact that she had never liked me. I don’t think she even tried to hide the fact that she didn’t like me. So why now? That’s what I didn’t understand.

            “Did Drew tell you about, you know, what happened before I came to Iowa?”

            Her lips pursed tightly, and her eyes welled with tears as she nodded. But I just gazed at her flatly, numbly. “So you know how dirty and defiled I am.”

            “No, not at all. I see how you were terribly wronged.”

            “You know I’m in love with Drew,” I said mechanically, as if my emotions were all tied up.

            “Yes, I’ve always known that,” she said with what seemed like a warm smile. Did she mean she now didn’t seem to mind? After she now knew how scarred I was, both physically and mentally? I frowned as my tied up emotions began to loosen ever so slightly. I had never, ever had a warm smile aimed at me by the most intimidating woman I had ever known.

            “But I never thought you were right for him,” she admitted. “That was one of the reasons I’ve always treated you kind of coolly.”

            “Try frigid,” I blurted and instantly regretted it. “I’m sorry! Dr Aldo, I didn’t mean to say that. I’m just so discombobulated. Between what happened last night, and now this morning.”

            She laughed, shook her head, and touched my cheek. “No, you’re right, Honey, I was indeed frigid. But I hope to call that a thing of the past going forward.”

            It occurred to me that I was still naked except for my panties. I gasped and covered my breasts with both hands. Rising hastily I said, “I need to get dressed.”

            “I’m sorry for barging in on you, Nancy. I’ll leave, but please tell me you forgive me.”

            “Oh, yes, of course I do,” I replied as I threw on jeans and a t-shirt. “But please don’t go. I want to ask you something.”

            She stopped her retreat and looked at me with arched eyebrows. “Sure, ask me anything.”

            I chewed my lower lip for a few seconds. “Drew told me that in God’s eyes, I’m a virgin. What’s your opinion?”

            “I agree with my son one hundred percent.”

            “How can that be?” I puzzled as I sat on the bed.

            Dr. Aldo sat next to me. “Because what happened to you wasn’t your choice.”

            “But I did what the man who impregnated my mother told me to do.”

            The most intimidating woman I had ever known looked lovingly at me as she put a gentle hand on my knee. “Honey, you were only a child. There’s a reason there are laws. There’s a reason a person isn’t considered an adult until a certain age. And my Dear, you were a long, long way from that certain age.”

            We were silent for a long moment as I gathered my thoughts. Then the most intimidating woman I had ever known spoke with the meekest voice I had ever heard from her. “Sweety, can I ask you something?”

            Honey, Dear, and now Sweety from the most intimidating woman I had ever known. I frowned and said, “Sure.”

            “Do you still cut yourself?”

            I felt my face flush as I shook my head. “No.”

            “Good,” was all she said as she patted my knee.

            Even though she didn’t inquire further, I wanted her to know something. “The only times I ever cut, was when Drew wasn’t a part of my life.”

            “So why did you push away from your friendship with him early on in high school?”

            I noticed she said friendship, so I began to test the waters a little bit. “Because I was deeply in love with him, and I knew I didn’t deserve him. I also was scared. What I went through as child made me fearful of physical intimacy. I didn’t want to be unfair to him.”

            She looked at me with a pained expression. I wondered whether it was because I declared to be in love with her precious son, or whether out of concern for how damaged and broken I had been. Her next words surprised me. “Drew’s deeply in love with you as well.”

            I looked at her with a stunned expression, and the most intimidating woman I had ever known giggled. I didn’t know that Dr. Penelope Aldo was even capable of giggling. “Does my acknowledgement surprise you?”

            “Yes, it does!”

            “Listen, I’m a realist. Until today, I never really liked you, but I’ve always known you held Drew’s affections.”

            “I don’t understand your sudden change about me. Is it pity?”

            “It’s self-realization.”

            “What do you mean?”

            “I mean that after talking with Drew, it hit me like a spiritual slap in the face that I was being judgmental. I always thought you were snotty and opinionated. Actually not unlike my own inclinations. But after Drew’s explanation, what I perceived as arrogance in you turned out to be brokenness.”

            “I see.”

            “Please don’t take what I’m gonna tell you next the wrong way.”

            “Okay,” I replied cautiously.

            “As a vet, I’ve tended to hundreds of abused animals. So as soon as I found out how horribly abused you had been, it didn’t take long for shame and then repentance to take effect.”

            “I’m glad you care for us damaged animals,” I replied with a lighthearted smile.

            “You’re a precious child of God. I do apologize for behaving self-righteously and judgmentally all these years.”

            “Regardless of what made me who I am, or was, or whatever, I was frequently a snot. Forgive me for giving you a reason to not like me with my frequent bad attitude.”

            “So I guess we forgive each other?”

            “Yes, lets.”

            “Can I ask you one more question, and once again I mean no offense?”

            “Let me guess, you’re wondering if my interest to get baptized is genuine, or a ploy to please Drew.”

            “You know what else is sudden? You and me being on the same page. Yes, that is what I’m wondering.”

            “I believe it is genuine, but it is all so new to me. I guess I had been ignoring the Holy Spirit. But then last night, witnessing Drew’s faith with a gun pointed at his head… I mean, I have always wanted that peace and faith Drew has. But then witnessing Drew’s faith and calm under such duress, I went from wanting it to needing it. Talking with him this morning, he convinced me I could have it.”

            “I’m glad. You know, the angels in heaven rejoice over one sinner that repents.”

            “They do?”

            “Yes, look up Luke 15:7 and 10.”

            “I will,” I replied, and we smiled awkwardly at each other, but in good way. “Oh my! Where does it all go from here?”

            “that remains to be seen, Honey,” she said, patting my knee and standing. “But I think it will be good. But promise me one thing. Don’t ever run out of Drew’s life again, even if you decide to just be friends.”

            “I won’t,” I replied as I also stood. “I promise.”

            Then the most intimidating woman I had ever known hugged me warmly and kissed my cheek. I discovered that day how amazing the working of the Holy Spirit is. For I once I was lost, but now I was found!

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES – PART 2 – CHAPTER 12

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES

PART 2

CHAPTER 12

DR. PENNY ALDO (DREW’S MOTHER)

JUDGE NOT THAT YOU BE NOT JUDGED. (Mattew 7:1)

            I never liked Nancy, and I never disliked her more than when I saw her coming from my precious son’s bedroom wearing next to nothing. Forgive me for being crude, but the too small, skimpy nightgown was so revealing, I could tell that her pubic hair matched the color of the red-gold color of the hair on her head. I was surprised I could make out the faded Tweety Bird on the front, that’s how worn and thin the garment was.

            I had never liked the sullen, know it all attitude she exhibited even as an eight or nine year old girl. As a teenager I thought of her as downright snotty. It was ironic that I felt this way because what I just described in Nancy was the overall assessment people had of me throughout most my life.

            But being judgmental can be subtle. I excused my own attitude as being a result of feeling socially inadequate, coupled with being cynical of my fellow human beings with their faults and weaknesses. Why didn’t I give her credit for the same?

            I was both relieved and angry with Nancy when she and Drew had a falling out as fifteen and sixteen year olds. I was relieved that they were no longer chums, yet on the other hand I was angry that she had hurt my darling son. When she began her freshman year of college, and Drew his senior year of high school, it looked as though the divide in their relationship was permanent, and this pleased me.

            As my son prepared to graduate high school, and enter into adult life, I was so proud of him when he became part of a news story for solving a murder. Then I was dismayed that his heroics were partnered with Nancy right after they had somehow reunited. I was then disheartened when they began to spend time together once again.

            To add salt to my wound, Nancy’s crazy friend had pointed a gun at my son’s head. Once again I was left with mixed feelings. I was pleased with his faith and courage. Yet I was concerned with what other lunatics she might be associated with if they continued to hang out.

            I surprised myself by agreeing to let her stay with us. One of my least favorite persons would be under my roof until she found a new place to live. How long would that take? Would she drag it out? Then it only took her eight or ten hours to misbehave beyond belief.

            I was confused and angry as to why she had been in in Drew’s bedroom virtually naked. Had she corrupted my virtuous son? Although he had a heart for God rarely seen in most teenagers, he was still a young healthy male, and she was a rather attractive female, albeit in an odd sort of way.

            But let me briefly be positive about the young woman. I did like her odd beauty. It was odd because it was so pure. Her typical boy’s haircut actually made her look cute. I had never seen her wear makeup, nor a dress, no piercings, even her ears, no tattoos. She typically wore t-shirts or sweatshirts, jeans, sneakers, and frequently a baseball cap. But with her flawless alabaster skin and doe eyes, you could still tell she was very much female.

            Maybe it was none of my business what Nancy and Drew were up to. After all, he was an adult now. But he will always be my baby, and whatever was happening between them was going on under my roof. So I took the privilege of knocking on his bedroom door and petitioning entrance.

            When I first stepped through the door, I didn’t see Nancy anywhere. But she had to have come back in here after she quickly retreated down the hallway. Was she hiding in the closet? Then I saw tufts of strawberry blonde hair emerge from behind Drew’s shoulder, followed by her blue-gray eyes peeking at me with arched eyebrows.

            I might have laughed under different circumstances, but I was too angry in that moment. “Come out from behind Drew, young lady,” I demanded. “Is this the thanks I get for graciously letting you stay here while you find a more permanent place to live?”

            “I’m sorry,” Nancy responded with a monotone voice as she came from behind my son. She was now wearing his robe. I didn’t know if I was glad she was covered, or more annoyed that she was wearing something of my son’s that was rather personal.

            “I should have never come here,” she said. “I’ll gather up my things and leave.”

            “That’s a good idea,” I replied stubbornly.

            Nancy began to bolt for the door when Drew barked, “No, stop! Mom you don’t understand!”
            Drew had grabbed Nancy’s hand, stopping her. She and I were both stunned, and our mouths gaped open in surprise. Drew was incredibly even keeled and calm. For him to make such a forceful command was surprising indeed.

            “You just don’t understand, Mom!” Drew repeated passionately. “Stop jumping to conclusions.”

            Nancy looked at Drew in awe. He seemed more upset than when he had a gun pointed at his head.

            “What’s not to understand?” I said with a shrug. “A naked nineteen year old girl came from your room as the sun was coming up.”

            “She wasn’t naked,” Drew responded emphatically.

            “Might as well have been.”

            “Dr. Aldo, I’m sorry,” Nancy said meekly. “I couldn’t sleep, and my mind wouldn’t shut off from what happened last night. I could hear Drew moving around, and without thinking I just went to him. As soon as I realized by the look on his face I…”

            “So Drew got the same eye full that I did,” I interrupted heatedly.

            Drew pinched the bridge of his nose and Nancy turned three shades of pink before she said, “I better go.”

            Drew took a step toward her, grabbed her hand again, stopping her, and whispered something in her ear. She glanced at me with sad, anxious eyes, then stared at the floor for about ten seconds. She looked at Drew, nodded, then yanked her hand from his, and ran down the hall.

            Alone with Drew, the tables turned on me. It was as if he were the parent and I were the child. “Mom, do you really think Nancy and I were having sex?”

            “Well, no, I don’t believe you would have premarital sex,” I told him, and almost made the mistake of saying, unlike your brother. “But on the other hand, the proof is in the pudding.”

            “What’s that supposed to mean?” he replied testily as he crossed his arms.

            Once again, hostility coming from Drew gave me pause. “Although I believe your intentions were pure, it appears to me that that wayward girl was, at a minimum, trying to seduce you. I know you are a decent young man, but you are entering your sexual peek.”

            “Mom!” Drew whined with a deep blush. Whining was another thing foreign to my son. All of these uncharacteristic mannerisms only made me more certain that something untoward was a foot.

            “Mom, just let me explain,” Drew said as he held up a hand, signifying hold on. “As soon as Nancy realized her state of dress, she put on my robe while we talked. And we conversed mostly about spiritual things.”

            He told me about his dream. He explained her embarrassment when he turned on the light. He revealed her interest in being baptized after they talked spiritual things until the sun came up, emphasizing that she wore his robe the whole time. He also informed me that he assured her that she should be able to sneak back to her room after disrobing. He also pointed out that she made him look the other way. Then he threw a verbal knockout punch.

            “Mom, there’s something you should know about Nancy. I asked her permission to tell you before she bolted away.”

            He proceeded to tell me about how her father had abused her and used her in child porn. Then explained that when her mother found out, the two fled California for Iowa. He said he always knew she was troubled, but until recently, never knew exactly why.

            It had been a long time since I had felt such overwhelming guilt. Before I became a serious follower of Christ in my late thirties, I had done many egregious things which caused me shame. The most serious was an affair with a married man. But my new feelings about Nancy had the sharpest sting of remorse.

            I had spent many years volunteering my veterinarian skills to the ministrations of abused and neglected animals. Yet for a decade I did nothing but treat a horribly abused young girl coldly. Was it a good enough excuse that I didn’t know? Hardly!

            This might have been my biggest life lesson, and it came at sixty years of age. I breathlessly told Drew, “I need to make things right.”

            “Mom, wait!” Drew petitioned, but I was already scrambling down the hall.

            As quickly as I made it downstairs to her room, I stopped, dropped to my knees ten feet from her door and offered up a quick prayer. “Father, forgive me for my treatment of Nancy tonight and all the previous years. Please give me wisdom and humility in my attempt to make things right. In Jesus name, Amen.”

            The door to Nancy’s room was cracked open. In my haste to talk to her, I knocked a little too vigorously and the door opened. Nancy was startled to suddenly have an audience as she attempted to put a bra on. Rather than continue the process of dressing, she covered her breasts with folded arms. In her state of undress, I saw numerous thin pink scars on both sides of her rib cage. She was, maybe even is, a cutter.

            “We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” I tried to joke.

            As I looked into her anguished face, I realized my comment was in poor taste. ‘Lord, what now?’

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES – PART2 – CHAPTER 11

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES

PART 2

CHAPTER 11

DREW

TASTE AND SEE THAT THE LORD IS GOOD; BLESSED IS THE ONE WHO TAKES REFUGE IN HIM (Psalm 34:8)

            “On second thought, maybe you should stay awhile longer,” I heard Nancy say with a  sultry tone.

            “Maybe you’re right,” my brother replied cooly.

            Then I heard more shuffling and low moans. What was going on? Was Nancy making out with Jerry? What happened to her fear of intimacy? What about her and me?

            “What about Drew?” Jerry asked.

            “Like I said, as much as I love and admire him, we’re no good for each other. Last night proved it. I had never admired and respected him more. But it also convinced me that I could never be the woman he needs.”

            “But thinking I was Drew, you asked me to kiss you.”

            “Yes I did. Who knows or understands the human heart?”

            “It’s deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.” (Jeremiah 17:9)

            “Now you sound like Drew,” she giggled.

            “Speaking of sound, I wouldn’t have kissed you if I knew that you thought I was Drew.”

            “That was, indeed, bizarre.”

            “You should have seen the look on your face when you realized I wasn’t Drew and turned on the lamp. What gave it away?”

            “When you started to get handsy. Drew made it clear he believes in waiting until marriage for sex. You obviously don’t.”

            “No, I admit I am not a saint like Drew.”

            “How come you don’t believe like he does? You come from the same family.”

            “I just don’t buy into all that primitive Godliness stuff my family’s church sells. There’s a reason it’s called primitive. By the way, you said you want the peace Drew seems to have. After what you witnessed tonight, that doesn’t motivate you?”

            “It’s not that simple. I just believe we do the best we can, and apparently Drew’s better at it than most of us.”

            There was a moment of silence, then Jerry said, “Look, I should go.”

            “I know you should, but please don’t go.”

            “Nancy, put that back on!”

            “Why, am I not beautiful enough for you?”

            “No, you’re surprisingly stunning!”

            More giggles from the least giggly girl I ever knew. “Why is it surprising?”

            “Because you’re like, you know, a feminine guy.”

            More giggles. “You sure know how to flatter a girl. Now let’s get you out of your clothes.”

            “Nancy, we can’t betray Drew.”

            “How are we betraying him? Am I his girlfriend?”

            “I don’t know, are you?”

            “Well, I’m a girl, and we’re friends, but I don’t really think I’m his girlfriend.” Giggles.

            “You don’t really think? What’s that supposed to mean?”

            “I don’t know. I guess we got this strange attraction, but then there’s this other side that makes our chemistry like oil and water.”

            “We shouldn’t do this.”

            “Then why aren’t you stopping me?” More giggles.

            I could hear clothes shuffling, the smacking of mouths together, then the springs in the mattress creaking.

            Then Nancy saying, “Jerry, I changed my mind.”

            “What!”

            “This is no good, we shouldn’t be doing this.”

            “You have got to be kidding!”

            “No I’m not!”

            “Well I’m sorry, you took me too far to stop now.”

            “Jerry, stop!”

            “This is your fault. You should have stopped this before we shed our clothes, let alone climbed into bed.”

            “Jerry, no, please!”

            I raised my fist to pound on the door. Then something surreal happened. Nancy’s warm breath was on my ear as she shook my shoulder. “Drew.”

            I bolted upright in my bed. With a full moon’s light streaming through my window, I made out Nancy’s shadowy silhouette. Apparently I had been dreaming! Actually having a nightmare is more accurate!

            “Are you okay?” Nancy asked.

            “Um, yeah,” I managed.

            “You were making an awful groaning and moaning sound.”

            My mind was still hazy from sleep and reeling from a very real seeming dream. “Is Jerry here?”

            “Your brother?”

            “Yeah, was he in your room?”

            “No, I thought you said he was camping.”

            Have you ever awoken from a bad dream, and then the realization that it hadn’t been real washes relief over you? The shower of relief I felt in that moment was so wonderful. “Thanks for waking me, Nancy.”

            “Drew, were you having a bad dream?”

            “Indeed I was.”

            “What about?”

            I felt a little embarrassed. I did not want to tell her I was nocturnally imagining she was getting it on with my brother. “You don’t want to know.”

            “Actually I do,” the feisty Nancy I had known so well throughout our lives so well demanded.

            I turned on my bedside lamp and literally gulped. She was wearing a tiny nightgown that was too small, old and rather worn. It was pink and had Tweety Bird on the front. It was to the point of becoming tattered and see through. And I’m embarrassed to report that I saw through. I’m ashamed to say I couldn’t get myself to look away, until Nancy noticed my eye bugging out.

            “Oh!” Nancy gasped as she witnessed my astonishment. I felt her leave the edge of my bed and dash to the door. I thought she was about to leave, but she grabbed my robe that hung on a hook behind my door and put it on. She cinching it tight and then sat at my desk’s chair. “Drew, I’m so sorry! After the stress of last night I put on my oldest and most comfy nighty. I wasn’t thinking when I came up here without my robe. My mind has been churning ever since we went to bed hours ago.”

            “No need to apologize,” I said and tried to give her a reassuring smile but ruined it by saying, “I just wasn’t expecting to see you with more birthday suit than bed clothes.”

            She blushed, groaned and flanked her eyes with both hands in an effort to hide her face. Hoping to change the subject I said, “Why did you come up here?”

            She looked at me, her embarrassment disappearing. “I couldn’t sleep, and it sounded like you were moving around. So I thought I’d ask you a few questions about the things cycling through my brain… Sorry to wake you, but you were making awful groans in your sleep.”

            “No, no, like I said, I’m glad you came and also glad you rescued me from my nightmare.”

            “Me rescuing you, that’s a first,” she said, with a look of fondness in her eyes. “So, you were gonna tell me about your bad dream.”

            “Not much to tell. Probably the events from last night interfered with both of our sleep. I was just dreaming some guy was in your room. You two were fooling around, and then you wanted him to stop, and he wouldn’t. I was gonna make him stop when you, well, stopped me from dreaming.”

            “Would this guy in your dream be Jerry?”

            “How’d you know?”

            “When you first woke up you asked if he was here.”

            “Oh yeah, you’re right… Now your turn. What’s on your mind?”

            She chewed on her lower lip for a few seconds as she studied me. Then she arose and sat on the edge of my bed. Although covered with bedsheets, I now became aware of my own state of undress. I was wearing briefs and nothing else. “Nancy, will you look toward the west wall? I want to throw a shirt and sweats on.”

            She did as I asked, and I slunk out of bed and for some reason tiptoed to my dresser. I yanked a t-shirt over my head. Then I put one leg and then another in a pair of sweatpants. I turned back toward Nancy and was pulling them up my legs only to discover her staring at me.

            “Nancy! I asked you to look away.”

            She shrugged, aimed a coy smile at me. “You didn’t say for how long. Besides, I guess this is how two chaste people accidently play show me yours and I’ll show you mine. Now we’re even.”

            “How embarrassing!”

            “How do you think I felt?”

            “Feel better now?”

            “Forgive me but I do in fact feel better now,” she said with a satisfied grin.

            “Okay, now tell me what’s on your mind.”

            “Well, as you know, I’ve been reading the Bible. I’ve especially been thinking about the life of Jesus. I’ve even researched Him historically. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Jesus is a historical figure. He was God in human flesh. Wasn’t it Phillip who said show us the Father?”

            “Yes.”

            “And Jesus said that if you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father. Anyway, the thing I can’t get passed is you telling me that I’m a virgin in God’s eyes.”

            “You don’t believe me?”

            “I do and I don’t,” she told me, her eyes welling with tears.

            “Have you come to believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God?”

            “I have.”

            “Then I want to share a special passage with you,” I said, reaching for the Bible on my nightstand. I turned to 2 Corinthians and found chapter 5 and verse 17. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.”

            Nancy took the Bible from my hands and reread the text as if in awe. Then she read from verse 19. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.”

            I reached over and flipped to John 6:63. “Listen to the words of Jesus. ‘It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.’”

            “I want that life,” she said eagerly.

            “It’s yours for the asking,” I told her. I showed her several verses to back that up. In particular Luke 11:9-13.

            “Drew,” she said with a small, vulnerable voice. “My fear of intimacy has been my biggest obstacle with you and me being, you know, romantic. I also know that your biggest obstacle with me has been me not sharing your faith. I just want you to know, I now share your faith, although it’s all so new, and I would like to be baptized… And one more thing. I know for sure that you are the one person on this planet that I no longer fear to be intimate with.”

            “Does that mean you feel like you’re stuck with me?”

            “Hardly,” she replied and then actually giggled! Then her face grew serious, and her eyes grew misty. “I love you more than you’ll ever know.”

            “Well then I’ll spend my life trying to find out.”

            I couldn’t believe it, more giggles! Then something else unusual for Nancy. She looked bashful, her face colored, and she pressed her hands between her knees. “Does that mean…?”

            It occurred to me that we knew each other pretty well. So all I had to do is say “It does.”

            She gave me a quick chaste kiss, and we continued conversing until the sun began to come up. When we suddenly noticed light coming through the blinds, Nancy arose with a start. “I better get back to my room before someone gets up. We wouldn’t want them to get the wrong idea.”

            “Don’t worry, my dad was a musician most of his adult life. My parents aren’t early risers,” I spoke the famous last words.

            Nancy stopped at my door and made a hand motion for me to turn away before she removed my robe. I heard the door open and shut. About ten seconds after she left, I arose to go use the bathroom. But as I reached for the door handle, it popped open, and Nancy flew in. Her eyes looked like they were gonna pop out of their sockets, and she held her hand over her mouth, muffling something like a scream.

            “Nancy, calm down! What’s wrong?”

            “You’re mom was up making coffee!”

            “She was? Did she see you?”

            “Yes!”

            “You’re sure?”

            “Positive! She looked right at me and what little is covering me.”

            There was a gentle rap on my door. Then my mother spoke with an eerily calm voice. “Drew, Honey, may I speak with you?”

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES – PART 2 – CHAPTER 10

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES

PART 2

CHAPTER 10

NANCY

LOOKING STEADFASTLY AT HIM, SAW HIS FACE AS THE FACE OF AN ANGEL (Acts 6:15)

            “Addie!” Nancy barked as her heart felt like it would pound right out of her chest. “What do you think you are doing?”

            Addie had a gun pointed at Drew’s head and demanded that he renounce his faith. He refused. She touched the pistol to his forehead. “I’m not telling you again.”

            “Then I’ll say this, because I will never betray my Lord. Father forgive her for what she is about to do.”

            Nancy’s mouth fell open in disbelief. She was about to come out of her skin with adrenaline. Yet the person with a gun held to his head looked as tranquil as someone watching a beautiful sunset while he sat on his porch sipping Yogi brand Relaxed Mind herbal tea.

            Addie emitted a half screech, half groan as she dropped to her knees, clutching her head. Her gun clattered next to her and Drew casually picked it up. It was an old twenty two revolver. As Addie’s body shook with sobs, Nancy marched to the kitchen table with clenched jaw and retrieved her phone.

            “Wait, Nancy,” Drew petitioned. “Don’t call the police, it’s not loaded.”

            Once again Nancy’s mouth gaped open in disbelief. But this time her eyebrows furrowed in anger rather than arched in amazement. “She had a gun pointed at your head, Andrew Arlo Aldo… And made threats!”

            “Like I said, it wasn’t loaded,” Drew said with a little smile at her using his entire legal name.

            “That’s beside the point! Nobody can go about with a gun making threats without facing consequences.”

            “Go ahead, call the police,” Addie choked as she rolled onto her back and put an arm over her eyes. Her tone was part hostile and part desperation. “My life is over anyway.”

            “I can’t believe what you just did!” Nancy said with gritted teeth, her thumb hovering over the send button. “Tell me why, Addie, why?”

            “You know why,” Addie replied as she sat up and hugged her knees. Her face was red, her cheeks were wet with tears, her upper lip was wet with snot, and her chin was wet with saliva. “I love you.”

            “I love you too,” Nancy told her with surprising gentleness. “But not in the way you want me to.”

            “Why did you lead me on then?” Addie asked with a pleading voice.

            “I didn’t mean to. Both times when we started to take things further, I told you I just wasn’t comfortable.”

            Further from what, I wondered. Then felt my toes curl as I felt like I was eves dropping on a very personal dispute. But how could I leave until this gun issue was resolved?

            “Yeah, so I give you plenty of space and time, and you reward me by doing the tongue tango with your friend Diego.” Addie did air quotes when saying ‘your friend.’ “Do you know how much that hurt? Not only knowing about it, but walking in on it?”

            “I told you I had too much to drink, just like when you and I…” Nancy eyed me guiltily. “Look, I’m sorry I hurt you. But if that’s why you pointed the gun at Drew’s head, I’m the one you should have done it to instead.”

            “He’s the one filling your head with all of the Bible nonsense,” Addie said angrily, pointing a finger at me this time instead of a gun. “He’s the one making you all lovesick, when I had you first. I thought he was a fake, Mr. Holier than Thou, and I needed to prove it to you.”

            Nancy eyed me guiltily again, only this time a blush was added. Despite her embarrassment, she spoke with surprising tenderness. “Drew’s no fake, he’s the real deal. I guess you did prove that to me.”

            “You seem to be right,” Addie responded, glancing at me with an embarrassed look. “I’m sorry, Drew. I’ve never felt like a bigger fool in my entire life.”

            “When I said Father forgive you, I meant it,” I reassured her.

            “You asked your… God to forgive me, but do you?”

            “Absolutely,” I replied, handing her a tissue for her soggy face.

            She raised it up as if in display, I guess suggesting, ‘look he’s even handing me a tissue.’ She began to whimper as she put it to use. Nancy took a step toward her as if to provide comfort. But she stopped, pursed her lips, and crossed her arms.

            Nancy agreed to not call the authorities. Addie apologized profusely and adamantly insisted that she would never ever do something like that again under any circumstance. It seems she acquired the gun via her mother’s nightstand. She also made sure the chambers were empty and had checked it thrice to be sure.

            Although seeming a little on the reluctant side, Nancy forgave her as well. However, she insisted that she could no longer share living quarters with Addie, effective immediately. Since her mother had moved back to California after Nancy graduated from high school, I invited her to my family’s home.

            My parents lived on a forty acre ranch that had plenty of timber on rolling hills. Thus their five bedroom home was built on a hill. The unique structure’s basement was a bit deeper than your average cellar and walked out onto a sloping back yard. From the front, the home looked like a one story ranch. Whereas from the back it was three stories high.

            Since Mom and Dad already had guests, we had to put up Nancy in a small, but cozy fifth bedroom in the basement. I offered her my bedroom, but she insisted that she wanted to stay tucked away from everybody else. That was my impression, not necessarily hers.

            My bedroom was directly above the room Nancy had retired to. At around two thirty in the morning I awoke and went to the bathroom. Upon settling back into bed, I heard a low murmur of voices coming through the furnace ducts. One voice was deeper than the other. Was I hearing things? My adrenaline spiked a bit, especially with what happened the previous evening. It concerned me that someone might have broken in downstairs.

            I made my way to the basement and checked the sliding glass door. It was locked with no sign of forced entry. I eased over to the bedroom door and heard Nancy talking in low tones to someone. Was she on her phone? What was the deeper voice I heard upstairs? Although too faint to make out the words, it certainly seemed male.

            Standing outside the door, I could hear what Nancy was saying in low tones. “You wouldn’t believe it. Drew had this out of control lunatic pointing a gun at his head, but he just looked so incredibly calm.”

            I heard the deep murmur of a male voice; I was certain this time. Yet I couldn’t make out what he said. Knowing the layout of the room, the head of the bed was right by the door. I envisioned Nancy sitting cross legged and leaning against the head. The other person was obviously sitting in the chair that was against the back wall. That’s why I heard her but couldn’t make out the other person.

            But who could it possibly be? My first thought would have been my brother Jerry, but he was on a weekend camping trip fifty miles away. Could it be a deep voiced female? Was it Addie? Yet Nancy seemed very rattled by her actions; even declaring multiple times on the ride to my parent’s place that she thought she knew Addie.

            “You should have seen his face,” Nancy continued. “It was like, um, well, angelic. It was almost like he wanted to die. I never ever thought of Drew as suicidal, just the opposite. But, like, do you think he could be… Maybe just a little?”

            Low deep murmur.

            “Yeah, your right, it’s his incredibly strong faith.”

            This person knows me! My dad? Uncle Eli? Just to be clear, Eli Alderson isn’t my biological uncle, just my dad’s closest male friend. Although I had many friends, I didn’t think of any being close enough to show up in the middle of the night. Plus most of my friends didn’t like Nancy.

            Low murmur, then Nancy declaring. “I don’t understand my feelings for Drew. I mean I love him so much. And after last night there’s not a person I admire more in the whole world, but you know what’s really weird? When we kissed a couple weeks ago, it was both wonderful, and… Oh, I can’t say.”

            Low murmur, then Nancy actually giggled. She was the least giggly girl I had ever known. “Well, after we kissed for a minute, it was like… It was like… Oh, I don’t know, it was just… Like kissing my brother. But I don’t have a brother so how would I even know?”

            I felt a wave of disappointment. She didn’t like kissing me? Although I didn’t think it felt like kissing my sister, our extended lip lock did seem to lack something. But I had never kissed a girl before, in a romantic sense. Plus it seemed like finding a dead body tainted the experience somehow. Low murmur, another giggle. Nancy giggling? Do we really know anybody? Who was this making her giggle anyway?

            Low murmur.

            More giggles from Nancy. What was going on? “No kissing you was definitely not like kissing my brother.”

            Diego! It had to be Diego! But why would she invite him into my parent’s home?

            Low murmur.

            “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to, I’m not sleepy after all that happened last night.”

            Low murmur.

            “I understand. But you don’t need to apologize…. I kind of liked it.”

            Low murmur, more giggles from Nancy. “It wasn’t unpleasant, but what about Drew?”

            Low murmur.

            “You’re right. As much as I admire him and think he’s cute, we’re just not right for each other… But you and me? Come on.”

            I heard shuffling feet. Then the squeak of mattress springs. Shuffling and then the smacking shmucking sound of what? Lips on lips and then some? Then yet more giggling from Nancy. “Maybe you better go.”

            “Maybe you’re right,” my brother Jerry said.

            What!