Tag: life

BLACK SABBATH – CHAPTER 24

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

BLACK SABBATH

CHAPTER 24

SEVEN SALLIE

GOD IS OUR REFUGE AND STRENGTH, A VERY PRESENT HELP IN TROUBLE. THEREFORE WE WILL NOT FEAR THOUGH THE EARTH BE REMOVED. (Psalm 46:1, 2)

            The sunset was bizarrely beautiful. I’d never seen anything like it. It was both breath taking, yet ominous. Who would have thought a sunset could pose such a contradiction in our minds. It was like a living object lesson of Psalm 85:10. ‘Mercy and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace have met together.’

            Brilliant reds, greens, yellows, pinks, blues, and violets swirled together. Have you ever noticed how fast a colorful sunset can change into darkness? Well this sunset changed and morphed colors five times faster than usual. Yet darkness came five times slower than usual. And the color schemes just kept changing and moving.

             The fourth plague fell the previous day. Unrepentant humanity was scorched with great heat (Revelation 16:8, 9). Yet those of us who had the seal of God were protected. It was as if we were encased in an unseen bubble. The cells of God’s people scattered throughout the world experienced the same protection. Our friends and family back in Eastern Iowa were experiencing a similar shield that we were. I was so grateful to hear my daughter’s voice as she related this information to me.

            We had all had a restless night as the judgements of God continued to fall. Not that we feared for ourselves, for we loved Jesus (John 14:15) and had kept the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (Revelation 14:12). We were concerned for the unprotected. We mourned for friends and loved ones that sided with the commandments of men rather than the commandments of God.

            We took courage that the plagues indicated that the second coming of Jesus Christ was very, very soon.  The most stunning sunset our eyes had ever seen made us think of our Lord coming in the clouds of heaven. Not in some secret rapture.  

            John the Revelator tells us in the very first chapter, verse seven, that every eye will see Him. Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 that the Lord Himself will descend with a shout, with the voice of an arch angel, and with the trumpet of God. In Acts chapter one, when Jesus arose to heaven, verse eleven tells us that He would come in like manner.

            1 Thessalonians 4:18 tells us we should comfort one another regarding the second coming of Christ. Revelation 21:4 assures us that God would wipe away every tear and that there would be no more death, sorrow, or crying. There would be no more pain, for the former things will have passed away.

            Inga, C.S., who was formerly known as Jackson, Zella and I were sitting on C. S.‘s deck. We were comforting each other about the second coming of Christ as we watched the unique sunset. We were all excited, yet troubled by the falling of the plagues. So we were exercising the Bible instruction to exhort one another daily (Hebrews 3:13).

            It must have worked. C.S. got a boyish grin on his face as he took hold of Inga’s hand. “Come see, a quarter mile through the woods is a large pond. It wasn’t affected by the third plague. Sunsets are amazing there. This one will be absolutely phenomenal.”

            But Inga resisted and frowned. “This is the most interesting sunset I’ve ever seen; but I don’t like what it represents.”

            C. S. frowned back. “What do you mean?”

            “The reason the sunset is so unique is because the fourth plague has fallen. That means  fallen humanity has been scorched with great heat.”

            “Don’t think about that,” he petitioned. “There’s nothing we can do about it now. God is a righteous judge. Think of it as Christ’s imminent return being incredibly soon.”

            “C. S. is right, Inga,” I added. “The loud cry of the three angels messages was sufficiently broadcast. Everyone had their chance to accept or reject the God of Creation.”

            Inga pondered this for a minute. A girlish grin grew onto her face as she did so, and then they were off, walking hand in hand toward the woods. Zella smiled sentimentally as she watched them while I watched her. Her beautiful ebony skin glowed in the fast changing but slowly fading sunlight. “I think love has been rekindled.”

            “Were they in love the first time?” I asked.

            “There must have been something.”

            “Yeah, but Inga despised him for almost a decade. What we’re witnessing is new, fresh.”

            “No, I say there was something. Circumstances all those years ago just caused Inga to take a step back on her feelings.”

            “More like a leap.”

            “Life’s a strange trip,” she said with a shrug.

            I put arm around her and kissed her mouth. Aunt Holly and Benny were at the neighbors, so we were alone. I kissed her again and she giggled. “No wonder you talked Inga into going with C. S.”

            “I don’t know that I talked her into it,” I grinned. “But I was hoping for some alone time with the most beautiful woman on the planet.”

            “Aw, you’re sweet,” she said aiming a big eyed smile my way. I arose and moved to sit on her lap. She stopped me by placing both hands on my back side. “I don’t think so!”

            “Can’t blame a guy for trying.”

            “Sit back down,” she ordered. Then she arose and moved to sit on my lap. Unlike her, I allowed it. To my immense pleasure, she kissed me and I mean deeply. I wrapped my arms around her and planned on much more of the same. But it wasn’t to be.

            Inga and C. S. had entered the woods that surrounded the acreage via a trail to the southwest. From the northeast side of the woods we heard the crunch of leaves, the snap of a twig and the murmur of voices. Half a dozen people began to emerge from the woods and Zella sprang from my lap as though it were on fire… Drat!

            The little band was led by Benny and his two friends, a boy and a girl. Holly was with the children’s parents. The couple appeared to be close to Zella and myself in age. They made their way to the deck and Holly introduced us to Mick and Lindsey Wadena.

            Mick was medium height, burly and had thinning blonde hair. Lindsey had short strawberry blond hair. She reminded me of Mary Poppins, but it was probably the old fashioned dress she was wearing.

             “Wow, you’re Seven Sallie,” Mick declared.

            I opened my mouth to reply, but Zella beat me to it. With an exaggeratedly deep voice she said, “Yes indeed, it is he, the venerable Seven Sallie.”

            They all laughed and I looked at my wife. She giggled. “You always look like Daffy Duck when you’re exasperated.”

            They all laughed again, and I couldn’t help chuckling along with them. Then something happened that I didn’t know how to take. Mick was commenting on the strange sunset, but I was  overhearing Lindsey discreetly whisper to Holly, “I thought you said he looks like George Clooney.”

            “I just meant sort of,” Holly whispered back.

            Was this a compliment or a dis? Oh well, I wasn’t even meant to hear it.

            “So you know Arlo Aldo?” I asked Mick.

            “I do indeed,” he replied. “Eli Alderson also.”

            Eli was Arlo’s bandmate. They were both in a Satanic band for many years, and then after their conversion they started a Christian band. Mick rehashed what C. S. had already told me about Arlo vacationing up here and teaching them about the Biblical Sabbath. Then he went on to explain about him and C. S. sharing their information with others in their neck of the woods.

            “As a matter of fact,” Mick was saying. “I think it would be a great comfort if you talked to some friends of ours, Jack and Jill Hill. They…”

            “Jack and Jill Hill?” I asked. “Hill is really their last name? As in Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pale of water?”

            “Yeah, it really is,” he laughed. “Sorry, I guess I’m just used to it after all these years. They have an interesting love story. They became close friends as kids, preteens actually. Jack went by Johnny back then. But then when he and Jill started hanging out, his friends and siblings started calling him Jack to go with her Jill. His dad was John Senior, but went by Jack, so I guess it was a bit of a combination.

            “Anyway, Jill moved away, and they didn’t see each other again for several years. Then Jill showed up at one of his shows a thousand miles from where they first got to know each other. I actually witnessed their reunion. Our bands were touring together at the time. It was a pretty special, memorable moment.”

            “Your own coming together with Lindsey was pretty special too,” Aunt Holly said.

            “Yeah, I suppose it was,” Mick replied, looking fondly at his wife.

            Lindsey seemed like a pretty serious, no nonsense type of person. But she grinned and told us. “Would you believe a dog played cupid?”

            It took me a couple seconds to absorb a dog playing match maker in a romance. However, it wasn’t something I was foreign to. Zella had a rescue dog, a chocolate Labrador named Free. She had been horribly abused. She was blind in one eye and walked with a limp, among other things.

            Free disliked and was afraid of male human beings. The bigger and more macho, the more her disdain. Then one day a big, tall, muscular man with a deep voice came into Zella’s herb and health food shop. Free was in the store that day because Zella’s living quarters upstairs was being painted.

            Although she had warned Billy Bob Booker to keep his distance from Free, the gentle bear of a man couldn’t resist the wounded animal. To Zella’s utter shock, Free couldn’t resist him either. After she witnessed her dog offer up her belly to be scratched by the big man, she had to tell her best friend Willa what happened. In turn, Willa couldn’t resist wanting to get to know Billy Bob herself.

            I looked at my wife. Her stunned expression turned to one of curiosity. “You two were match made by a dog?”

            “Yeah,” they both said at the same time, and  then chuckled.

            “Please tell us about it,” Zella petitioned eagerly. She sat back in her chair, crossed her arms, and anticipated their story.

BLACK SABBATH – CHAPTER 5

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

BLACK SABBATH

CHAPTER 5

ZELLA LaSTELLA-SALLIE

HE HEALS THE BROKENHEARTED AND BINDS UP THEIR WOUNDS (Psalm 147:3)

            I felt a wave of anxiety when I saw Lieutenant Louis Lewis’s unmarked police car in our driveway. Then it transformed into anger. I had been paying close attention to my husband’s podcast and knew for a fact he said nothing amiss about the national Sunday laws.

            The worst, according to officials and authorities anyway, would be his explaining the Holy Scriptures rather than the traditions of men (Mark 7:8, 9) and for teaching the Biblical Sabbath rather than the commandments of men (Matthew 15:9). But it seemed we were rapidly losing the right to free speech.

            My jaw was clenched as I made my way to the front door of our home, so I tried to think positive. Maybe my cousin, the lieutenant, had shown up to make amends for the rift between him, his family, and me. They had judged me for the way I lived my life in my teens and early twenties. Fair enough, I can see how I might have brought shame to my conservative family.

            But even when I experienced a spiritual conversion, when I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, it still wasn’t good enough because I worshiped on a different day from them. This only caused more disapproval from them when national Sunday laws were established. Yet not one of them opened the Word of God to show me my error from Bible.

            I was barely through the door when Seven pulled me into an embrace. This felt odd because I could see Triple Lou sitting at our kitchen table watching us. Nonetheless, I took the opportunity to inquire about my cousin’s visit. Placing my lips a quarter inch from my husband’s ear, I asked, “Are you in trouble again?”

            In a low voice and looking me in the eyes, his own gaze as intense as I had ever seen it, he said, “Don’t panic, Inga is alright. Physically anyway. So, your cousin had reason to believe she was murdered. But it turned out to be, possibly, a relative of Inga’s. But she became distraught and ran into her room. Maybe you should go to her.”

            “I will,” I replied as I dashed off. Inga hadn’t closed the door, so I peeked in. She was lying face down on the bed with her forehead resting on her crossed forearms. She was whimpering and I softly spoke her name. “Inga, honey?”

            Her head popped up and she turned to look at me. Then she rolled off the bed and took a couple quick steps toward me. For the second time in only a minute, I found myself in a tight embrace. Only this time the hugger buried her face in my neck and sobbed.

            “Ssshh,”  I soothed as I stroked her hair.

            “My Pal, Pal is gone,” she croaked when she calmed a bit. “The only person I truly ever loved.”

            “Was she your best friend, Honey?”

            “Yes. Not only that, she’s my sister… Was my sister.”

            Saying ‘was my sister’ brought on another round of hard sobs into my neck. I could feel the wetness on my skin, but I didn’t care whether it was tears, slobber, or even snot. Apparently, she became aware of the moisture she was expelling onto me as well. She quickly separated from me and grabbed at a tissue box on the nightstand.

            “I’m so sorry,” she said, and with trembling fingers she pressed the Kleenex to my neck and shoulder.

            I put my hand gently over hers. “It’s okay, Honey. Why don’t you sit down.”

            “I don’t know what to do,” Inga croaked as she plopped hard onto the bed.

            “I didn’t know you had a sister,” I told my friend of only about two weeks as I crouched in front of her. “We could have put her up as well.”

            “I didn’t know she was in town,” Inga replied as if guilty of something.

            “Where did you think she was?”

            “In Nevada, probably Las Vegas.”

            “Can I ask why you weren’t with her?”

            “Because she was employed by the oldest profession, and I’d rather be homeless than do that, or even be supported by that.”

            “Why are you homeless, Honey? Where did you grow up?”

            Her grief turned to a look of alarm, but then she calmly said, “I better go talk to Triple Lou. I do not want to go over my life twice.”

            “I’m sorry, Honey, I shouldn’t pry.”

            She fiddled nervously with her fingers as new tears leaked from her eyes. With quivering lips, she said, “I’m so sorry, Zella.”

            “Honey, for what?” I replied, incredulous. “You just found out that your sister was… You know… So why would you need to apologize?”

            “Because you took a chance on a homeless woman, and what do I do? I bring this… This trouble to your home.”

            “It’s not your fault.”

            “Does God hate me?” she squeaked.

            “Oh Honey, no!” I told her as I sat on the bed next to her, putting my arm around her. She leaned her head into the crook of my neck. I almost asked why she would say that. But obviously she had just found out that her sister had been murdered. I prayed silently. “Lord, what do I say?”

            “Honey,” I began. “It seems to me God put you in our path for such a time as this. You might have been killed with her. You weren’t. Not only that, you have us to help you get through this crisis.”

            “You mean you’re not gonna kick me out?”

            “Oh course not! Why would you think that?”

            “Well, Triple Lou is gonna want to know where we came from. Once you hear… I don’t know… I won’t hold it against you if you decide differently.”

            I opened my mouth to protest. But then I closed it. Although I didn’t believe the worst about Inga, did I really know her? Yet I trusted the Holy Spirit when He urged us to take her in. However, when I opened my mouth a second time, I said, “Do you feel up to talking to the Lieutenant now?”

            “I guess so,” she replied, but eyed me curiously. “Do you see him more as Lieutenant Louis Lewis or Cousin Louis Lewis?”

            “Right now as Lieutenant.”

            “Because of my sister?”

            “No, because I’m mostly estranged from my family.”

            “May I ask why?”

            “First because I got involved with racy things.”

            “You mean by marrying Seven?”

            “No, not race as in ethnic background, but racy as in lewd. I was a nude model.”

            “So you did porn?”

            “No, it was, um, erotica.”

            “What’s the difference?”

            “I didn’t have sex on film. Well, very minimal anyway.”

            “What do you mean by minimal?”

            “Honey, this doesn’t seem to be a good time for this discussion.”

            “You’re right, I know. I guess I’m both stalling and trying to understand how much I can trust Triple Lou.”

            “With this, I’d say you can trust him.”

            “Just not with the Sabbath inquisition.”

            “Yeah,” I smiled sadly. “It is weird that my family has shown more hostility at me not following the mainstream on the Sunday laws than they were for me being a centerfold. I thought when I repented, reformed, and accepted Christ and Christianity it would put me back in good graces with them. But apparently it wasn’t the right kind of Christianity. So instead the wedge in our relationships became deeper and, well, more wedged.”

            I stood and offered my hand to Inga. She sighed, stood, and put a limp hand in mine. “My head is swirling with so many things, Zella. Mostly grief and fear.”

            “I know, Honey. But trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5)

            “I will,” she said as her grip on my hand tightened. She eyed me earnestly for a few seconds. “Because the Lord put you and Seven in my life for such a time as this, right?”

            “Right, Sweety.”

            Inga and I walked hand in hand toward Lieutenant Louis Lewis and sat at the kitchen table with him. The first thing he said to Inga was, “I’m sorry for your loss, Ms. Likas.”

            “Thank you,” she replied meekly.

            With an odd mixture of stern and gentle, he asked, “Do you have any idea who might have killed your sister?”

            Inga took a deep breath. “My best guess would be my former fiancée.”

            I felt myself tense. Inga had a former fiancée?

            “And do you have any idea why this former fiancée would want your sister, and maybe even you, dead?”

            “He was a wealthy and polygamous cult leader. When I turned sixteen he chose me to be his seventh wife. My sister helped me escape.”

            “You’re now, what? Twenty four?”

            “Yes.”

            “So that was eight years ago. What makes you think he would still be after you all these years later?”

            “I have my reasons. But the short answer is, he’s demonic and vindictive. He also thinks I have supernatural powers he can somehow harness.”

            “Do you think you have supernatural powers?” Triple Lou asked with an arched eyebrow.

            Inga just shrugged. I was puzzled by this response.  Triple Lou frowned and seemed to peer into her unique arctic blue eyes. Then knowing Seven and I didn’t flow with the mainstream, he glanced dubiously at my husband and then me. My cousin Lou and I got along great as children. What happened that as adults we seemed to regard each other with suspicion and disapproval?

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES – PART 2 – CHAPTER 18

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES

PART 2

CHAPTER 18

DREW

HE REVEALS DEEP AND SECRET THINGS; HE KNOWS WHAT IS IN THE DARKNESS, AND LIGHT DWELLS WITH HIM. (Daniel 2:22)

          “Mom,” my beautiful bride began meekly. But then she paused, and I feared she was battling hostility. She took a deep breath and blew it out slowly.

          “What is it, Sweety?” Phebe asked with concern.

          “Are you actually my aunt?” Nancy blurted.

          Phebe’s face looked stunned. Then it morphed into sadness. Then she took a deep breath herself and blew it out slowly before saying, “Yes.”

          Nancy’s demeanor became calm and business like, which I suppose was better than out right anger. “So how come you never told me?”

          Phebe was clearly rattled as she nervously twisted a napkin in her fingers. “I was always torn with what to do. The time to tell you never seemed quite right. Also, there was this side where I felt it was better to leave sleeping dogs lay. There was also the aspect that I raised you more than your biological mother did, and I mean even here in California before all the bad stuff came to light.”

          “So where is she?” Nancy wanted to know.

          “After everything went down with the creep she was married to. How he was abusing you and others. She died of a heroin overdose the day after he was arrested.”

          “Suicide.”

          “Who knows?”

          “I also have reason to believe the creep wasn’t my biological father,” Nancy told her.

          Phebe shook her head. “No he’s not, regardless of what your birth certificate states.”

          “So you knew? That also would have been nice to know. Do you know what it was like believing half of my DNA was from him all these years?”

          Tears began to leak from Phebe’s eyes. “I’m truly sorry. It was such a difficult time, especially before it was found out that the creep was making that vile filth. He and your mom divorced, and they had joint custody. That’s how he was able to use you in…”

          “Did you know?”

          “No, Honey, you know I didn’t.”

          “Well, you let me think you were my birth mother all these years.”

          “All I knew was that there was something off about the man. I swear to God that I didn’t know he was making porn until that brave boy jumped through the window.”

          “He’s how I found out the truth.”

          Phebe nodded. “I figured. He came to talk to me some time ago.”

          “And you still didn’t tell me, knowing he knew your secret?”

          “What can I say? I’m a procrastinator, and after all this time, I didn’t know how to go about it.”

          “I don’t even know my real mom’s name,” Nancy said testily.

          Phebe hung her head, and her lower lip quivered. “It’s Phoenix.”

          “My real mom’s name is Phoenix?”

          Phebe was unable to lift her eyes, and my heart broke for her. I gently said, “Nancy.”

          “What?” She snapped, as her fiery gaze shifted to me.

          I don’t know what she saw in my face, but hers softened.  And I said, “The flesh profits nothing, it’s the spirit that counts… Phebe is your real mom.”

          A look of wonder came into my fiancée’s face. Then she quickly moved in front of her mother and knelt. Hugging her she said, “Oh, Mom, I’m sorry! Drew is right, you are my real mom, and I love you so much. I just want the truth.”

          “I love you too, Honey, more than anything in the world.”

          “Yes I know. You proved that by moving me halfway across the country. But I do wish you would have told me about our family situation.”

          After the two women hugged for a minute, Phebe said, “You were traumatized, Honey. Your first therapist suggested I let you believe that I was your mother. It wasn’t hard because when Phoenix had her turn with the joint custody, it was usually me looking after you. And she and I looked identical, so you probably didn’t know the difference.”

          “Where is… where are her remains?” Nancy asked.

          “She was cremated, and her ashes were scattered in the ocean.”

          “Who are your parents?”

          “You don’t want to know.”

          “Yes I do. I’m an adult now, I want to know my roots.”

          “Your roots have been severed. Like Drew said, the flesh profits nothing.”

          “Why don’t you want me to know about my grandparents?”

          “Because I ultimately hold them responsible for what happened to you, and what happened to my sister.”

          “I don’t understand.”

          “Long story short, my parents were heavily involved in the occult. I shunned their belief system, while Phoenix embraced it. Because of my sister’s involvement in satanism, she became associated with the creep that abused you. She also became strung out on drugs, so much so, she neglected her own daughter.”

          “Where are your parents?” Nancy asked.

          “My father is dead, and, the last I knew, my mother lives in Santa Monica.”

          “I assume you don’t associate with her.”

          “Your assumption is correct.”

          “When did your dad die?”

          “Almost two years ago.”

          “Yet you apparently never let on, because I had no idea.”

          Phebe shrugged. “He was already dead to me.”

          “When was the last time you spoke to your mother?”

          “When my dad died. Mom wanted me to come to his funeral. I refused, and she was angry.”

          “So if the creep isn’t my dad, who is?”

          Phebe looked at me, and then back to her daughter. “This is also another aspect I never knew how to explain. I know you think I moved to Iowa because of my friend Grace. Which it was truly a part of why I went there. But I went there because of Drew’s dad, and his friend Eli.”

          “Huh?” Nancy frowned. “How did you know Drew’s dad?”

          “I didn’t.”

          “I’m not following.”

          “Well, after everything went down with the boy jumping out of the window, I felt the need to take you far away from the situation. I didn’t know where to go. I saw Drew’s dad and his friend and bandmate Eli on the cover of a Christian magazine. I knew they had been in the satanic band ‘Son’s of Molech.’

          “I read the article, about how they had turned their lives around, became Christians, and formed a Christian band along with Eli’s son and his son’s wife. The article mentioned they  resided in eastern Iowa after living in California for most of their adult lives. They said Iowa brought them a fresh start, that it was where the two friends met as teenagers. I felt like it was a sign for you to get a fresh start there as well.”

          Nancy looked stunned but managed to say, “Well, you must have been amazed when I became friends with Arlo’s son.”

          “Indeed I was.”

          “Yet you didn’t tell me the connection.”

          “Honey, like I said…”

          “That’s so weird,” Nancy said with a deep frown. “You moved halfway across the country because of two guys on a magazine cover. Two guys you didn’t even know.”

          “Well, I didn’t know them, but you see, they knew your father.”

          “Okay, now that’s the million dollar question. Please tell me who the sperm donor was.”

          “He was a man named Donald Reed.”

          I felt my toes curl, my body tense, and my mouth drop open. Nancy did a double take when she saw my reaction. “Drew, do you know this Donald Reed?”

          “I know of him,” I told my bride to be. “He was bandmates with my dad and Uncle Eli in “The Sons of Molech’. He was the singer but went by the stage name Izzy Iscariot.”

          Nancy’s expression was one of bewilderment. But she asked, “Was he the one that got really drunk and choked to death on his own vomit, or the one that killed himself in a very violent manner?”

          I cleared my throat. “The latter.”

          “I was so glad to find out that I didn’t share DNA with the creep that abused me,” Nancy replied numbly. “But I don’t know that this Izzy character is a very big step up.”

          “I don’t know what to tell you,” I told her. “I don’t know much about him myself. Both my dad and Eli never wanted to go into detail about their former band after God helped them turn their lives around. They just warned about the dangers of the occult. My dad even insisted that Jerry and I never look into his old band.”

          “So your dad won’t tell me about him?”

          “I don’t know,” I shrugged.

          “What do you know about him?” she asked Phebe.

          “Not much, I only met him twice, and that was enough. He was like a feral animal.”

          “If my dad won’t tell you, maybe Jerry can tell you something,” I said.

          “I thought you said Arlo told you guys to stay away from learning about the band.”

          “I obeyed; Jerry didn’t.”

          What would my dad think? I had to call him and find out.

          “Hey, how is it out west?” my dad greeted cheerily.

          After very brief small talk, I told him. “So Nancy found out who her biological parents are. It just so happens you know her father.”

          “I do?” he chuckled. “Small world.”

          “Very small!”

          “Yeah? Well who is it?”

          “Donald Reed.”

          Silence.

          “Dad?”

          Silence.

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES – PART 2 – CHAPTER 17

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES

PART 2

CHAPTER 17

NANCY

STAND FAST THEREFORE IN THE LIBERTY BY WHICH CHRIST HAS MADE US FREE, AND DO NOT BE ENTANGLED AGAIN WITH A YOKE OF BONDAGE    (Galatians 5:1)

          As Nancy gazed out of the airplane window, she reminded me of the girl I saw for the first time more than a decade ago on the playground. Her demeanor was both defiant as in ‘don’t mess with me,’ coupled with sad and lonely.

          I had a hard time concentrating on the book I was reading since I kept stealing glances at her out of the corner of my eye. During one such peak her head snapped in my direction, and my eyes flipped quickly back to my book.

          I felt her fingers on my chin, then she gently turned my head to look at her. She was grinning as she said, “Always keeping a watchful eye on me, huh Drew?”

          “Whatever do you mean?” I replied innocently.

          “I mean, you’ve always been there for me, even when I wasn’t there for you,” she told me as her eyes welled.

          “You’ve always been there for me as well.”

          She snorted. “Hardly. I’m sure you recall our three year hiatus, instigated by me.”

          “We were kids, foolish teenagers that needed time to grow.”

          She laughed, and for the first time since she was told her mother was actually her aunt, she looked somewhat happy. “Have you forgotten that we’re still teenagers?”

          “Maybe so, but we’re much closer to twenty than twelve.”

          “Maturity wise, you’re more like forty,” she said, and then looked at the book in my hand. “Make that more like sixty. How many teenagers have a physical book in their hands on a flight, rather than a phone?”

          “Hey, stop aging me,” I joked. “You’ll have me over a hundred by the time I really am forty.”

          “Just think how wise you’ll be, though.”

          “Well, okay, as long as I don’t have a hundred year old body when I’m forty.”

          She looked at me fondly, but behind her eyes was that unbearable sadness again. “Those three years without you in my life were so empty.”

          “There was a huge void for me as well.”

          She looked at me with a baffled expression. “I completely understand why I love you. What I don’t understand is why love me. I tend to be moody and witchy, I have hard time being girly, I come from an incredibly dysfunctional family. So you’re, like, too good to be true.”

          “Well, let me address these one at a time,” I told her. “When you go through a spell of darkness, your light shines all the brighter when you come through the other side. As for not being girly, I like that you’re not. It makes your natural femininity all the more beautiful to me. And obviously you have had a dismal childhood, whereas mine was very blessed. So I want more than anything to bring you into that fold by making you my wife. But first we have to repair the breach you feel with the only family you currently have.”

          “I don’t know how I could make this trip without you by my side. Even with you, I don’t know how to confront who I thought was my mom about her actually being my aunt.”

          “Are you that angry with her that you view our trip to California as a confrontation?”

          “I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m just… confused.”

          “How do you feel about her?”

          She smiled wryly at me. Then she said softly, “You really get me.”

          “Do I?” I asked with a shrug.

          “You’ve always known when to leave me be, and you’ve always known when to talk.”

          “Are you avoiding my question?”

          Her mood swung back to seeming happy as she laughed. “See, you even knew I was avoiding the question.”

          “Are you gonna answer it?” I asked gently.

          She looked away from me and her expression turned pensive. After a minute she looked at me and spoke with a bit of hostility. “I’m angry that she lied to me all these years. It was bad enough I endured, you know… Then the rest of my childhood, I grew up believing my mom was my mom, when in reality she was my aunt. It rattles my faith in everything.”

          “Including your new relationship with Christ?”

          She nodded. “Can you blame me?”

          “No, but it’s not surprising.”

          “Why is that?”

          “You remember that there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repents?” (Luke 15:7)

          “Yes, of course.”

          “Well, on the other hand there is anger in the demonic realm. Jesus warned us that in this world we would have tribulation, or trouble. (John 16:33) Then he told us what?”

          “Be of good cheer I have overcome the world,” Nancy finished with anything but cheer, her arms folded, her gaze at the back of the seat in front of her. Then she turned to me and said a bit testily, “Well, then you tell me what I should think and feel about Phebe.”

          I had never heard her call her mother/aunt by her first name before. So I cautiously replied, “I’m sure she had her reasons.”

          Nancy snorted and turned her gaze back to the back of the seat in front of her.

          “Here’s what I do know. Your mom…”

          “She’s my aunt,” she interrupted stubbornly.

          “No, she’s your mother,” I relied with equal stubbornness.

          “If she was truly my mother, I would have known she had a twin sister. It seems I know nothing about my family, and Phebe would never answer my questions about her parents or any other relatives. She would just tell me it was best I didn’t know, or you don’t want to know. So that’s why I don’t feel optimistic about this trip. I don’t know who she is.”

          “She’s the woman who raised you.”

          “Under a huge lie.”

          “She’s the only family you’ve got.”

          She looked at me again, and any semblance of happiness was gone. She appeared so lost and vulnerable, I couldn’t help saying, “Until we are married. Then you and I will be family.”

          Nancy and I were not a couple prone to public affection. But she emitted a little whimper and kissed me firmly on the mouth. Although delighted, as soon as our lips separated, I looked to my right, slightly embarrassed. But the seat next to me was vacant, and the older lady in the end seat appeared to be sleeping.

          “There’s something I want to make sure you’re considering about your mother,” I said.

          “Stop calling her my mother,” she said quietly, yet menacingly, then folded her arms abruptly. “Phebe’s my aunt.”

          “Maybe she’s biologically your aunt,” I said gently. “But she left her life in California and came to Iowa, far away from your trauma, to raise you, to protect you. Obviously you’re aware of all the beach décor in the house you two lived in. Then practically the minute you left for college, and moved in with Addie, she returned to California. She came to the Midwest knowing only one friend here, and then spent a decade away from the ocean and other friends she loved.”

          “Yeah,” she replied with a look of wonder on her face. Then after staring trance like at the back of her seat for half a minute, she spoke as if to herself. “How did I not see that? I guess couldn’t see the forest because of all the trees.”

          “I have no doubt that Phebe loves you,” I declared.

          “Yes, thank you for opening my eyes,” she responded softly, squeezed my hand. “I do believe my mom loves me.”

          Nancy’s mother/aunt lived in a condo with two other women in Huntington Beach. It was in walking distance from the Pacific Ocean. Despite the deceptions about her childhood, Nancy and Phebe hugged warmly. I was thrilled when Nancy said, “Hi Mom.”

          “Oh Sweety, I was so excited when you let me know you were coming,” Phebe told her, then smiled warmly at me. “And doubly excited that you brought Drew.” Then she laughed. “And triply excited that you two made up and are friends again.”

          “We’re more than friends, Mom, we’re engaged,” Nancy said happily, looking at me and then back to her mom/aunt.

          “Oh Honey, that’s wonderful!” Phebe practically shouted, then hugged her daughter/niece again. Then she hugged me, kissed my cheek, and told us ‘Congratulations.’

          There was a clear family resemblance between the two women. Especially with their hair since Nancy’s red gold hair was now shoulder length, and her mother/aunt’s hair that was once down to her tail bone strawberry blonde hair was now in a short bob.

          Phebe was very much a modern hippie. Long flowing colorful dresses, plenty of beads with rings on most of her fingers. She also had a laid back surfer drawl, which may or may not have been enhanced by the imbibing of marijuana.

          One of Phebe’s roommates was conveniently in Oregan visiting kids and grandkids over that Labor Day weekend. So Nancy was able to stay in her room over our three day stay. I slept in a hideaway bed in the living room. Nancy’s mom/aunt was puzzled that we didn’t sleep together, even after we explained that we weren’t married yet.

          This opened the door for Nancy to share her new Christian faith with Phebe. Her reaction was neutral. Although her vocal response was affirmative by saying ‘that’s nice.’ Her bodily reaction was stiff, as if to say ‘don’t push it on me.’

          Nancy was usually a very gung ho type of person. So I was a little surprised that we were there more than a full twenty four hour day before Nancy broached the subject that had inspired our trip out west in the first place. It came after dinner, during our second evening at Phebe’s.

          “Would you like some dessert?” Nancy’s mom/aunt asked. “I have strawberry ice cream or a coconut Pepperidge Farm cake. Or we could have both.”

          “No thanks,” my bride to be answered with an eerie calm, her fingers laced together and resting on top of the table. “But there is a serious matter I’d like to discuss with you.”

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES – PART 2 – CHAPTER 16

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES

PART 2

CHAPTER 16

NANCY

YOUR ADVERSARY THE DEVIL WALKS ABOUT LIKE A ROARING LION, SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR. (1Peter 5:8)

          “If you’ve always felt anxious about seeing him, why do want to meet with him?” Drew asked me.

          “I’m not afraid anymore,” I said boldly, exercising my new faith. “The Lord has given me a spirit of power, love, and a sound mind, not fear.”

          Drew was pleased, his smile loving. And this made me happy as he said, “Quoting 2 Timothy 1:7, very nice.”

          “I need to thank him in person,” I told Drew.

          “How did he rescue you?”

          I had never talked of my escape, and until now, Drew had never asked.

          “He jumped through a picture window.”

          “Huh?”

          “When I was… being used… for… you know.”

          “Yeah,” he said, taking my hand and giving it a supporting squeeze.

          “I usually did what I was told, otherwise I was punished. But the last time I was subjected to their perversion, I broke. When they told Justin to join me on the bed, I started crying. The person who impregnated my mom barked at me to get it together. I tried to reverse the sobs, but I was still choking out these little whimpers.

          “Justin had this look on his face as I tried to hold it together. I don’t really know what was in his expression. Compassion, fear, uncertainty, I don’t know. But all of a sudden, he leapt from the bed and dashed down the stairs. The three guys that were about to film us shouted for him to get back as two gave chase. One watched me.

          “Only seconds after he dashed from the room I heard the crash of breaking glass. He dove through the living room window of the big house we were in. The neighbors across the street were out doing yard work. As soon as they saw a ten year old boy, who wasn’t wearing any clothes, fall into the front yard in a spray of glass, they called 911.”

          I had been pacing as I spoke. As I told of Justin jumping through a picture, I found myself standing in front of the living room window of the Aldo’s home. I felt Drew’s arms go around me, spooning me into himself. It was then I realized that I was trembling. His embrace was like a warm blanket on a cold night. The more I experienced it, the more it felt like home. I couldn’t wait to hold the title of wife.

          “I guess I misspoke a moment ago,” I told him after I felt the softness of his lips just ahead of my right ear.

          “About what?”

          “About having no fear.”

          “I beg to differ.”

          “What do you mean?”

          “You stopped trembling.”

          Reluctantly I stepped out of his reverse hug. But I did something equally as pleasurable. I looped my arms around his neck and put my lips on his. “That’s because after the gift of salvation, the greatest gift God has given me is you.”

          “That’s sweet of you to say. I too can say the same thing.”

          “Hardly,” I said with a laugh that had no humor behind it. “How can you say that when you have been my protector for a decade? Minus three years, due to my stubborn ignorance.”

          “Because my greatest joy on this earth has been loving you.”

          I hugged him fiercely, then kissed him just in front of his right ear before I whispered into it. “I want to marry you as soon as possible. I no longer fear intimacy.”

          “I’m ready and willing,” he told me with a warm smile.

          I couldn’t resist putting my lips on his again. But as soon as our mouths separated, I picked up my phone. Thirty seconds later I spoke to Justin for the first time since we were children. He was delighted to hear from me. He was surprised, but very willing, when I told him I would like to meet with him in person. He also had no problem with Drew joining us.

          A week later we met Justin in Chicago. He lived in a high rise apartment, but we met at a pizza place. I was concerned that it wouldn’t be private enough, but the thought of going to his home was disconcerting. I don’t know why. Although we had been forced to do very inappropriate things together, he ultimately was my rescuer from that prison.

          I remembered Justin as a nice looking, athletic boy with dark hair and brown eyes. Now all these years later, he had the pasty out of shape look of someone who spent a lot of time at a computer or gaming. Also, despite being only in his early twenties, his hair was noticeably thinning.

          I was expecting to see scars all over his face and arms, and even braced for it. I had a vague memory of him in the chaos of police cars and ambulance. I recalled seeing him wrapped in white towels with lots of blood. But upon meeting I only noticed a thin line above his left eyebrow, and a thick two inch scar on his right forearm.

          After shaking hands and telling him it was nice to meet with him, I pointed to the scar. “Is that from…?”

          “Yeah,” he replied casually. Then he humbly added, “I wasn’t cut up as bad as you might think for jumping through glass without, you know, not being dressed.”

          It was indeed awkward at first. I had a hard time looking at him as I simply uttered, “Yeah.”

          A waitress asked if it was three of us. We told her it was and then followed her to a booth. Thankfully, it was fairly secluded for a public setting. Drew slid in next to me, with Justin across from us.

          “I was surprised when you wanted to meet me in person,” Justin said with a hesitant smile after we sat. “I was just hoping for a letter, phone call, or text. Just something to know you turned out alright.”

          “Yeah, well, about that,” I responded. “I felt bad about ignoring you, because I always have really appreciated what you did for me.”

          “I understand. So what motivated you to meet with me now?”

          “I recently became a Christian and I became convicted that I needed to thank you, in person if possible. I also wanted to share my new faith, because it was that that finally gave me enough peace and courage to reach out to you.”

          “I see,” he replied with neutral expression. “Well, good for you. I’m glad you’re in a good place.”

          “Are you a believer?” I asked.

          “I’m a believer in justice.”

          “So what do you do, Justin?” Drew asked.

          “I work in law enforcement,” he said with subtle pride. “On the computer side. I guess you could say I track down scum that do things similar to the things we escaped from.”

          “That’s wonderful!” I said. “So you’re making a career out of rescuing people like you did me.”

          “Yeah, I suppose you could say that,” he replied with a pleasant smile. “Only now I’m able to do it without jumping through picture windows.”

          “I’m sorry,” I said, and had to look away from him.

          “Nancy,” he said, and waited until I looked at him. “What I did saved my life too. But even if it was only yours, I do it over a thousand times.”

          “But not a thousand and one?” I said and instantly regretted the lame joke.

          But Justin laughed and said, “To be honest I would stop at a thousand.”

          After a brief pause, he asked, “How’s your mom?”

          I shrugged. “She’s okay. She moved back to California.”

          A pained look came over his face. It was so weird. I didn’t even know this guy, but I read something in his expression that made me inquire. “What’s wrong?”

          “There is a second reason I wanted to be in communication with you.”

          “Okay,” I replied hesitantly, not completely comfortable with his demeanor.

          “Nancy, do you know much about those three guys that were, um, abusing us, and others?”

          “Just that the man who impregnated my mother was killed in prison. Another committed suicide. And the third disappeared.”

          He winced. “What I know is complicated. By your response, I don’t think you know the truth about, as you put it, the man who impregnated your mother. What I know about him likely will bring you relief. But it will also raise questions about your mother that may be, well, upsetting.”

          “I want the truth,” I said calmly.

          “About your mom or the man you think impregnated your mother?”

          My heart raced but still outwardly calm I replied, “Both.”

          “The woman that brought you to Iowa is your aunt,” he told me, and I felt my jaw drop before he continued. “Her twin sister was addicted to heroin. The guy you thought was your father kept her strung out so he could use you in the vile garbage he made. Just so you know, your mother didn’t know what he was doing. When she found out, she mysteriously died from an overdose.”

          I was completely and totally stunned. Yet I managed to ask, “How do you know this?”

          “I overheard the guy you thought was your dad tell the guy who disappeared that your mom found out what they were doing, but not to worry because he took care of it. The next day I heard she died of an overdose. The rest I found out through my job with the FBI.”

          “Why did my mom, or as you say, my aunt keep this from me?”

          “I have a pretty good hunch therapists told her to pretend she was your mom for your benefit.”

          “But why?” I mumbled.

          “I don’t know if you recall,” Justin said with a pained look in his eyes. “But when you began to cry, you know, just before I went for a leap, you whimpered, ‘I want my mommy.’”

          I felt my lip quiver as I replied, “I remember.” Then God gave me the fortitude to ask, “Who’s my father if the creep isn’t?”

          “I don’t know. That might be a question for your aunt… I’m sorry, your mom.”

          “It is what it is,” I replied mechanically.

          I felt a hand squeeze mine and recognized the familiar touch immediately. I looked at Drew, my fiancée, the I man I was destined to spend the rest of my life with. His look of love and compassion let me know everything would be alright. But in the moment, I still had hard questions I wanted answers to.

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES – PART 2 – CHAPTER 2

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES

PART 2

CHAPTER 2

DR. PENNY ALDO DVM

I SAW THAT WISDOM IS BETTER THAN FOLLY, JUST AS LIGHT IS BETTER THAN DARKNESS (Ecclesiastes 2:13)

            I didn’t mean to spy on my eighteen year old daughter. I never intended to invade Ivy’s privacy. But on a camping trip with my husband and our two boys, thirteen year old Jerry and twelve year old Drew, I got a pretty bad headache. A couple pain relievers helped, but they made me long for bed. But not in our camper.

            Maybe I shouldn’t have referred to camping as a trip. A trip sounds far away. We were on a camping outing with three other families from church, and the grounds weren’t even five miles from our house. So I bowed out just as the late July sun was setting, and I drove home to sleep in my own bed.

            Rory and Ivy had intended to go to fireworks with their boyfriends. So when I arrived home at about eight thirty, the house was locked. I slid my key into the doorknob and twisted. I was a little surprised to hear music coming from downstairs. It wasn’t blaring, but it was loud enough that Ivy and her best friend hadn’t heard me.

            Since Rory and my daughter had met three years previous, they had become inseparable. From the time she was five until she was fifteen, Ivy had been best friends with my niece, Crystal. Technically, I was Crystal’s Great Aunt, since she is my sister’s granddaughter.

            Crystal and Ivy had a major disagreement back in 2010. Ivy had been upset that Crystal began to drink socially and began to cross intimacy lines with the boy she had been seeing. Ivy had rebuked her sixteen year old cousin and hence came a falling away. Although they reconciled, their rift had caused a shift in their relationship, and they rarely hung out thereafter.

            I had mixed feelings over the whole ordeal. On one hand I was very disappointed to see the dissolving of a long friendship. On the other hand, I was pleased with Ivy for her moral stand and being courageous enough to voice her concern. But only a few months later, she brought home Rory, and her concerns about her cousin seemed a bit contradictory.

            I was confused. Ivy had chastised Crystal for risky behavior, then befriended a girl that looked multiple times more dangerous than my niece. But over the weeks and months that Ivy and Rory hung out and studied the Bible, Rory began to change.

            True religion is about relationship. Real relationship is about free will. Despite Rory’s wild appearance and sullen demeanor, most of the people in our church, and everybody in our family, accepted Rory just as she was. But it wasn’t long before the hard core rock and roll shirts disappeared as well as her black fingernails. Her dyed black hair grew out to her natural brown, matching her lovely eyes.

            Although Rory was a year older than Ivy, she was in the same grade. With all the moving and changing schools she did being a military daughter, she ended up a year behind.  I’m not gonna say brat, that would be the pot calling the kettle black.

            Over the first two years of their friendship, Rory often attended church with us and was even baptized. Eventually a couple nice young men that were a grade older began to occasionally attend with the young ladies. Before they went off to college, the boys gave the girls promise rings. That’s what made what I saw that fourth of July all the more puzzling.

            During their senior year of high school, Ivy and Rory decided to go to the same college as their boyfriends. They also subtly began to withdraw from church activities that last year of high school. By that summer we were lucky to see them once a month at a service or midweek prayer meeting.

            I followed the music downstairs. Sitting by the sliding glass doors of our walk out basement on a pillow chair was Ivy and Rory. Ivy was six inches taller than Ivy’s five foot four. She was also ten or fifteen pounds heavier than Rory’s one hundred and ten. So Rory being smaller, was leaning back into Ivy.

            I stood dumbfounded as I studied the situation. They were fully clothed, which was a plus. Also, there was only one chair pillow, so this was the best way they could share. Another thing, they had boyfriends, with whom they were supposed to be seeing the fireworks. So where were they and why weren’t they on their way to see the fireworks?

            The stairwell was behind them, and I ever so slowly began to back up. I would reenter and make enough noise for them to hear me. But before I made it back to the stairs, I saw Ivy hook Rory’s shoulder length hair behind ear. Then she gave her ear a little nibble, causing Rory to giggle, slap Ivy’s thigh, and say ‘Stop it, that tickles.’

            My heart was pounding, and my knees felt weak. I slipped on the first step of the carpeted stair, making a thump. At the same time, Rory flipped around, kneeling in front of Ivy. I thought for sure she saw me. But grinning she said, “This is better.”

            Rory closed her eyes and kissed Ivy on the mouth. I retreated as quickly and quietly as I could. Panting slightly at the front door, I opened it, and slammed it back shut. I threw my keys on the kitchen table, making a clatter. I said loudly, “Ivy, are you home?”

            The music from downstairs went silent, and my daughter petitioned me cautiously from the bottom of the stairs, “Mom?”

            “Hi honey, I thought you were going to the fireworks?”

            “Oh, well, we were, but we got into a bit of a disagreement with the guys, and, well, I guess were pouting,” she explained and then emitted a little laugh. “And I thought you were camping?”

            “I got a headache and just wanted to sleep in my own bed.”

            “The bed in your camper is your own bed,” she joked.

            I marveled at how calm she was. Maybe I was making too much out of what I thought I saw. Maybe the girls were just clowning around. Maybe I was in denial. Maybe I just didn’t want to deal with it.

            “True, it is my bed in the camper,” I told her. “But comparing that bed with my at home bed, is like comparing a Lazy boy with a fold up chair.”

            “Your bed in the camper is that bad?” She frowned.

            “No, but it’s not a Sleep Number either… So, what type of disagreement did you have with the boys?”

            She shrugged a shoulder, “They wanted to go to a party instead of fireworks.”

            “So how come you and Rory didn’t want to go to the party?”

            “Truth is, I was the party pooper. Rory was willing to go.”

            “How come you weren’t?”

            “They guys started drinking some since they’ve been in college. I’ve read my birth mom’s diaries, or journals, or whatever you want to call them. It seems adult beverages led to drugs, and drugs led to her taking off her clothes for a living.”

            “You are wise beyond your years,” I said smiling at her, and putting a gentle hand on her cheek. I was beginning to think that I was jumping to conclusions with what I thought I saw with her and Rory.

            “Oh hi, Mrs. Aldo,” Rory said meekly as she appeared in the stair well.

            I had convinced Rory to stop calling me Mrs. Aldo more than two years ago. It was now strange to hear her call me something other than Penny. Being referred to as Mrs. Aldo by her suggested guilt. And the guilty look on her face caused suspicion to resurface.

            “Hello, Aurora,” I replied.

            She frowned, then smirked with paranoia in her eyes. “You haven’t called me Aurora in a long time.”

            “You haven’t called me Mrs. Aldo in a long time.”

            “Oh, well, I just, ah, woke up from a nap.”

            “Did you?” I replied, crossing my arms, and then turned my gaze onto Ivy. I’d never known my daughter to lie. “Were you napping too?”

            She had a stunned look on her face as she stared at Rory. But then she calmly looked at me and said, “I was watching the sunset.”

            I told myself not to press it but asked, “While Rory napped?”

            Now she crossed her arms and frowned. “Mom, what’s the big deal? I just told you we didn’t go to a party because there was drinking. Now you’re giving us the third degree like we stayed here to shoot meth or something.”

            “You’re right, I’m sorry,” I said smiling and touching her arm.  “Forgive me, I’m tired and have a headache. I need to go to bed.”

            She gave me a reassuring smile and then kissed my cheek.

            The following morning, my headache was gone, but with the thermometer mercury rising on another hot day, I refrained from returning to the campground. Early in the afternoon Arlo walked into the house with a disgusted look on his face. He asked, “How’s your headache?”

            “All better.”

            “Good, do you want mine?”

            “Do you have a headache now?”

            “Yes, your son. He pushed Ben Weaver into the lake. His family happened to be camping there too.”

            Ben Weaver was a notorious bully who our son Jerry had clashed with a couple times. One of them leading to a three day school suspension.

            “Why did Drew do that?” I asked with a little smile. Ben Weaver, fifteen, was also the son of a local high school gym teacher and the head football coach.

            “You know better than that, although Drew is definitely not innocent.”

            I had in fact been joking. Our oldest son Jerry was thirteen and rapidly gaining a broad shouldered, muscular build like Arlo. He was also athletic and very coordinated. But he was quick tempered like his mother. He was loyal unto death, and fiercely loved his little brother, whom I suspected had something to do with Ben Weaver going into the drink.

            Our younger son Drew, age twelve, had the even keel demeanor of his father, but was bold in speaking truth. He also had a quick witted tongue and was on the small side physically like me. Eventually he would go on a growth spurt, but would still remain Jerry’s little brother, other than by age.

            “What Father said is true, Mother,” Drew spoke up with a James Bond type elegance. Then he sat on a kitchen chair and crossed one leg over the other. “It was I who instigated the bruhaha.”

            I put a hand over my mouth as if pondering. But I was really hiding a grin.  

            He brushed a strand of sandy blonde hair from his eyes and continued, “We had crossed paths earlier at the outing and he threatened me about staying away from his tree fort in Baylor’s woods. I saw his mom walking up behind him, and I asked why he had all those pictures of nude men hanging on the walls of his fort. He practically shouted that it was nude WOMEN he had hanging on the walls of his fort. His mother found this rather interesting and grabbed him by the ear, guiding him back to their camper to have a talk with his father.”

            “Were you really snooping around his tree fort?” The grin now having left my face.

            “I was.”

            “He did have a good reason, Mom,” Jerry defended. Then Drew defended him. I have to say, my boys were each other’s brother’s keepers.  

            “So a little while ago, Ben found me strolling by the lake,” Drew explained. “I guess he thought I needed a bath, but my dear brother helped me change the fates. He saw Ben moving rapidly in my direction and intercepted.”

            “May I ask why you were snooping around his tree fort to begin with?” I inquired with hands on hips for affect.

            “You know how your cat Buttons has been missing for four or five days,” Jerry said, and then looked at his little brother. Drew said, “I have reason to believe Ben Weaver used Buttons in some type of occult ritual.”

            My hand went to my mouth again. But this time it wasn’t hiding a grin.

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES – CHAPTER 12

Posted on by Johnathan Embers

HEAVY METAL MIRACLES

CHAPTER 12

ARLO ALDO

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

            “What’s that?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

            “What do you mean?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

            “Twenty three, twenty four years.”

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

            “How much longer than a year?”

            “Two months short of two years.”

            “Hmm, a catch twenty-two.”

            “More than you know.”

            “So what happened?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

            “Did you love him?”

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

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

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

            “What kind of excuses?”

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

            “Plenty.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

            “Why were you attracted to her?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

            “What do you mean?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

            “Sure. Was it because of my prayer?”

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

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

            “Really!”

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

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

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

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