ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 14

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

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

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

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

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

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

            “What do you mean?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

            “Well what?” he asked hopefully.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

            “So what is it?”

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

            “I thought you didn’t have any.”

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

            “I want one.”

            “You’re not old enough.”

            “Just don’t tell anyone.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

            “Can we go?” Jake asked.

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

            “Do they charge?”

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

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

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

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

            “We did,” Ginger said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

            I did something similar to a shrug.

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

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

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

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

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

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

ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 9

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

            “You what?”

            “I don’t feel like having sex.”

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

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

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

            “Yeah? Why is that?”

            “Because God and sex don’t mix.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

            “No, I took her home.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

            “Hey, I called first.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

            “We’ll see.”

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

            I ignored him, which I often did.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

            “Why only partly?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BLACK SABBATH

CHAPTER 21

SEVEN SALLIE

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)

            “Seven watch where you’re going!” my wife bellowed just as I veered our Subaru Outback back onto the dirt road after putting the passenger side wheels a couple feet onto the grassy shoulders.

            Inga had just stunned us by informing Zella and me that she had become pregnant as a fifteen year old girl. The impregnator happened to be the guy we were looking for in northern Minnesota. In my surprise I had glanced over my right shoulder at Inga, who was sitting in the back seat.

            This inadvertently caused my hand on the steering wheel to move along with my head. Or as my cousin Brock once called it after I got us into some trouble as teenagers, that lump  attached to my neck. His assessment may have proven correct, because my words caused my wife’s lovely dark brown eyes to produce daggers and her lovely lips to purse as if biting a lemon.

            “Did you abort?” I had asked.

            “Seven, that was crass,” Zella scolded. Then her countenance turned compassionate as she aimed it at Inga. “You don’t have to answer that.”

            “No, it’s okay,” Inga replied quietly and looked out of her window for a few seconds before admitting. “I kept him but then lost him.”

            “You mean you miscarried?” Zella gently asked.

            “No,” her voice croaked. “Jackson sort of became my boyfriend. We supposedly tried to be careful when it came to, you know, intimacy. But, well, I still ended up with a bun in the oven. He took me to some relative of his, I think it was a relative anyway. I never did understand what she was to him, an aunt, a cousin, I don’t know.”

            Inga shook her head and gazed thoughtfully out of the window again.

            “You don’t have to recount your situation, Sweety,” my wife told her.

            Yes she does, I selfishly thought. I want to know what happened.

            “No, I want you guys to know what happened. I want you to know what Jackson was like, even though I don’t understand him myself. Let me say this though. If Jackson Bronx has avoided the plagues, that is the biggest surprise to me of anyone. By far! I believe he got me pregnant on purpose. He… He…”

            Inga put her face in her hands and began sobbing. She spoke into her hands and her words, though muffled, were clear enough. “I don’t want to see him. I don’t understand why we were sent here. What do I say to this man I despise, even if he did somehow repent. He must have. He had to have. How else…”

            Inga paused. “Repent from what?” I asked.

            My wife’s leg twitched and I perceived that she wanted to kick me. “Seven, give her space. Did you forget to take your Genius Juice this morning?”

            “No, I took it.”

            “Could have fooled me.”

            “Sorry, Inga,” I said.

            “It’s okay,” Inga replied meekly. My heart ached for her. I was used to seeing her bold and feisty. It hurt seeing her so broken. But then her feistiness came back with a punch as she angrily declared, “Jackson groomed our baby for a satanic sacrifice.”

            “What!” Zella and I said at the same time. Then I only added to my wife’s ire by adding, “And you let him?”

            “No, I did not let him!” she barked heatedly. Then her demeanor shifted to solemn and she spoke with a monotone voice. “Benjamin wasn’t even a month old. Jackson and that witchy woman came and took him out of my arms as I was nursing him. They had two goons with them. Jackson, just as cold as could be, said ‘it is time for us to make our offering to the master.’

            “I was dumbfounded and demanded to know what he was talking about. Just as pleased as punch, that witchy woman, everyone called her Jezzy, explained about the satanic ritual. I went historical, but the two goons grabbed me. One of them put something over my face. It was a rag with chloroform or something.

            “The next thing I knew, I woke up in some woods behind this big mansion type house where I had my baby. Why they didn’t kill me I don’t know. But I got outta there with only the clothes on my back and hitchhiked back to town. That was a nightmare in itself. I don’t want to go into that right now though.

            “But when I finally get to the cop shop, the police acted like I was just a crazy lunatic. I guess I can’t blame them. And I guess that’s why the goons didn’t kill me. They knew the police wouldn’t believe me. But the police did let me use their phone to call my sister. And that was the beginning of us becoming homeless vagabonds.”

            “Wow, no wonder you’re not looking forward to facing Jackson,” I said.

            “Ya think,” Inga snapped. “Sorry. It’s just that I don’t have a clue how I am supposed to behave. I mean, am I really supposed to forgive the man that killed my baby. He was even the father of the child. I can’t fathom how that depth of evil avoided the plagues thus far.”

            “I don’t know what to tell you, Honey,” Zella said. “The only thing I can say is Jesus asked for forgiveness for those who tortured and killed Him.” (Luke 23:34)

            “Yeah,” Inga said meekly as she folded her hands in her lap, chewed her lip and gazed out of her window.

            A couple minutes later, GPS announced we were there. We already knew that as all six of our eyes were trained on a log cabin type house. It looked like something from a century or two ago. It had a small eight by ten foot porch with two rocking chairs.

            “Seven, why don’t you go knock on the door?” Zella petitioned.

            Why me! My mind shouted, yet I forced my actions to nobility. “Okay.”

            I tried three times, but no one came and I heard nothing inside. The cabin was on a bit of a hill, and the back side was twice as big as the front. There was a large deck supported by ten foot tall four by fours. About fifteen stairs jutted to the side of the structure.

            I heard low voices coming from the deck. With heart pounding I placed my foot on the first step, then the second step, then from my voice box came a greeting, “Hello?”

            The talking stopped and a twenty something year old man appeared at the top of the stairs. Thankfully he returned my greeting, albeit cautiously. “Hello.”

            He had sandy blonde hair and blue eyes looked at me through wire rimmed glasses. My first thought was that this couldn’t be Jackson. Inga described him with black hair and dark eyes. There were four deck chairs. Three were empty, but one was occupied by an older woman who appeared to be in her seventies.

            The sandy haired man held a Bible in his hand. With a friendly, but careful tone he asked, “Can I help you?”

            “I’m looking for a fella by the name of Jackson Bronx,” I told him.

            He looked stunned and took a step back. “May I ask why and who you are?”

            I chuckled nervously. “Well, it’s complicated, and might sound farfetched.”

            “Try me,” he said almost as a challenge and with narrowed eyes.

            “My name is Seven Sallie, I…”

            “Thee Seven Sallie?” the older lady broke in with an air of excitement as she arose and stood by the sandy haired man. “The legendary broadcaster?”

            With a little bit of a bow and a hand on my chest, I replied, “Yes ma’am, it is I.”

            My mind’s ear heard my lovely wife say, ‘Give me break.’ It was definitive enough that I even turned to see if she was behind me. She wasn’t. I also wondered if I should explain to this nice lady that my little head bow and hand to the chest was spontaneous, and that my mock humility sprang from praise actually making me uncomfortable.

            This wasn’t always the case with me. When I was a secular broadcaster with a syndicated show on hundreds of radio stations, I was full of myself. But after my Christian conversion, I began mocking my old self. I occasionally joked that I was a legend in my own time. Then my wife would finish my statement by declaring that I was a legend in my own mind. This usually garnered a laugh from the company we kept.

            The converted me enjoyed the tranquility of not taking myself so seriously. The born again me (John 3:3-7), the new creation I became (2 Corinthians 5:17), enjoyed true peace giving God the glory rather than myself.

            “Okay,” the sandy haired man said matter of fact, clearly not as impressed with me as his older companion.  “Nice to meet you, Mr. Sallie. But why are you here then?”

            “I’m with a young woman named Inga Likas. She…”

            “Inga Likas!” he interrupted with wide eyes. He definitely was more interested in Inga rather than the venerable Seven Sallie.

            “Yes, also known as Inga…”

            “Cognito,” he interrupted again.

            “Right, so apparently you know her.”

            “Of course I do.”

            “Okay, great,” I replied, frowning as I wrapped my mind around this second guy. “So do you know where Jackson Bronx is?”

            “You’re looking at him.”

            I looked to my right and to my left. Inga described Jackson as having black hair and dark  eyes. This guy in front of me had sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. “I’m afraid I don’t understand. Inga described you as having black hair and brown eyes.”

            “When I knew her, I dyed my hair and wore colored contacts,” he said quickly, then grabbed my forearm and asked excitedly, “Is she here?”

            I looked at his hand on my arm and he pulled it away. “Sorry.”

            “No problem,” I replied. “Yeah, she’s around front.”

            He went down the deck stairs two at a time and I followed. Inga and Zella were slowly roaming around the front yard. Their heads swiveling as they took in the woods that surrounded about an acre of lawn. Inga froze as Jackson approached her.

            “Inga!” he said with open arms as if to hug her.

            She took a couple quick steps back and ordered, “Stay away from me.”

            He put up his hands in a surrender gesture.

            The front door opened and an eight or nine year-old boy ran to Jackson. “Papa, Aunt Holly said Inga was here.”

            My eyes went from the boy to Inga. I never saw a more stunned face in my life. Her jaw hung open, as did my wife’s. Then my gaze returned to the boy, and I took in his wide, expressive arctic blue eyes, Inga’s eyes, as they trained on her. Then my jaw dropped when I heard him ask Inga, “Are you my mom?”

BLACK SABBATH

CHAPTER 11

ZELLA LaSTELLA SALLIE

BEHOLD, I SEND YOU OUT AS SHEEP IN THE MIDST OF WOLVES. THEREFORE BE WISE AS SERPENTS AND HARMLESS AS DOVES (Matthew 10:16)

            My whole body tensed when I opened the front door and saw my cousin standing on the stoop. Lieutenant Louis Lewis gazed at me with hound dog eyes, his hands jammed into his pockets. I froze because it had only been a day since my husband had been arrested for inciting civil disobedience on his podcast.

            But then as I took in the woebegone countenance of my one time childhood playmate, I recalled Seven telling me that Triple Lou had been not only fired but arrested himself for reiterating my husband’s call to obey God rather than men.

            “Lieutenant,” I greeted.

            “Former Lieutenant,” he corrected. Then he forced a smile. “You can call me Louie if you like.”

            I couldn’t help giggling. He hated being called Louie when we were kids. He often barked, “I’m Louis, with an s, not an e.”

            “How about Louis with an s,” I said with a warm smile.

            The curl at his lips didn’t seem forced this time. “Suit yourself, but I’m fine with Louie. I’m not a sensitive kid anymore that couldn’t wait to be a grown up. Now I’m a grown up that wishes he was a kid again.”

            “Seven told me what happened, I’m sorry.”

            He shrugged. “That might not be the worst of it. Karen and I got into a big argument today. It’s not good. Not good at all.”

            “Over what you told that TV reporter yesterday?”

            “Well, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak. Actually, maybe I should say the boulder that broke the camel’s back. She has always been more churchy than me. When I studied out this Sabbath issue, I discussed my findings with her, and she didn’t like how I did an about face on the Sunday law situation. Her being quite religious, she was proud of the fact that I was in charge of Sunday ordinance enforcement in this area.”

            I felt like I should invite him in, but there were a couple areas of concern. For one thing this wasn’t my home. We were guests of Destiny and Brock Storm, who graciously took us in after our house was destroyed by fire. Destiny and I had been preparing dinner when the doorbell rang. With her hands covered in flour, she had asked me to answer the door.

            Another reason was the discussion at the kitchen table and its five occupants. Seven, Brock, Inga, Inga’s brother Brent, and Benito Bonanno were discussing a plan to capture Paloma’s killer. This plan entailed using Inga as bait; an agenda the former Lieutenant adamantly opposed.

            I looked over my shoulder and gave a start. Destiny was standing right behind me. She giggled. “Sorry, sweety, I didn’t mean to sneak up and have my ugly mug frighten you.”

            I laughed, but Louis Lewis spoke. “If you have an ugly mug, I’m an outright monster.”

            “He’s right, you’re anything but ugly,” I told her.

            Destiny was like a Barbie doll come to life. Only she dressed like a country girl in her usual attire of flannel shirt and jeans.

            “Ah shucks,” Destiny replied. Then she quickly dismissed the issue by asking, “Won’t you come in, Lieutenant?”

            “Former Lieutenant,” Louis Lewis corrected as he stepped through the threshold.

            “Oh, yes, sorry,” Destiny winced.

            “Hey Cous, you didn’t correct me when I said I looked like a monster,” Lou said as he walked into the Storm residence, eyeing me ruefully.

            I grinned and my heart soared. Not just at his lightheartedness, but because he called me cous after years of estrangement with my family. I reassured him, “You’re not a monster.”

            “Just ugly,” he said.

            “No, you’re not ugly either.”

            “Now, don’t be bearing false witness,” he said with a little smirk. But his eyes were contradictorily sad. “We come from some of the same gene pool, right?”

            “Of course, primarily Grandma Birdy and Grandpa Ike.”

            He nodded and asked, “So if you get to look like Halle Berry, why didn’t I get to look like Jamie Foxx?”

            I felt embarrassed at his offhand compliment and didn’t know what to say. Thankfully Inga sauntered up and put her left arm over my shoulders and her right around Destiny’s. “How do you think I feel hanging out with these two lovelies? I look like something the cat dragged in.”

            “Now, young lady,” Triple Lou said. “You’ve got a pair of the most striking eyes I’ve ever seen.”

            “Only because they’re so light blue they sometimes seem white. But my nose is pointy like a witch. My lips are thin, teeth are crooked, and my body looks like a scarecrow.”

            “You would look interesting with green skin,” Seven said as he joined us in the foyer. Then he bellowed after Inga kicked him in the shin. “Ouch!”

            “Opps, sorry,” Inga said with a mischievous smile. “I forgot I was wearing cowboy boots that Destiny gave me. They have kind of a hard point, don’t they?”

            “I can definitely verify that,” he groaned.

            “If you think Inga would look interesting green, I have to say, you look interesting with a red face dear,” I told my husband.

            “With comments like that, you won’t get any loving from me,” Seven declared.

            “Is that supposed to be a threat?” I replied with a smoldering grin and an arched eyebrow.

            Seven’s eyes widened as he seemed to realize how ridiculous his warning challenge was. “No, of course not, dear. I miss spoke. You can have as much of me any time I want.”

            “It should be you can have as much of me any time YOU want,” I mistakenly corrected, as I realized he said that on purpose.

            “Oh, okay!” Seven said happily as everyone laughed. “Thank you, Dear.”

            “So Lieutenant,” Destiny said cheerfully. “What can we do for you?”

            Lou looked uncomfortable and embarrassed. “Um, it’s former Lieutenant.”

            “Yeah, Seven told us that you were, um…”

            “Prison mates,” Seven broke in.

            “I was gonna say let go,” Destiny said, giving Seven a playful shove.

            “Fired would be more accurate, “Lou clarified.

            We all looked at him, and he gave each one of us an uneasy glance. Then he turned toward the door and said, “I better go.”

            I grabbed his hand and called him something I hadn’t since we were barely teenagers. “Louie, how come you stopped by if it isn’t police business?”

            Although he faced us again, his uneasy expression intensified. Destiny sought to put him at ease. “Mr. Lewis, you’re very welcome here. I guess we just didn’t know whether it was police business or pleasure.”

            “Um, well,” Lou shifted his feet and then rocked on his heels. “Everything is happening so fast. I mean several weeks ago I was in charge of Sunday ordinances. One of my tasks was to monitor Seven’s podcast. To be honest, I thought of him as an enemy. But I felt a need to be fair, so I studied out the issue and discovered I was on the wrong side of the issue. Now my position cost me my job and likely my marriage.”

            “So you and your wife disagree on the Sabbath issue?” Destiny asked.

            “We do,” he nodded. “But we’ve had some history with marital problems. We’ve separated a couple times during our twenty two years. It’s not easy being married to a cop, let alone a cop in charge of other cops. Ironically, when I was put in charge of the Sunday thing, it pleased her. It brought us together like we hadn’t been together since newlywed days. But when I turned to the other side, it, it… How do I put this?”

            Inga broke in. “Is it sort of like if you were put in charge of vice and then started seeing a hooker?”

            Lou gazed at her for a few seconds with hooded eyes, then acknowledged, “That’s kind of a creepy analogy, but I suppose it does make the point.”

            “So if you’re not here because of the investigations…,” I said. Then I asked warm and inviting, “Are you here for fellowship then?”

            With hands deep in his pockets, he shrugged a shoulder, and then nodded. “I guess so. Or maybe I’m looking for confirmation that I did the right thing.”

            As often as my husband liked to clown around, he did have a serious side. He usually seemed to know how to balance the two and now was one of those times. He read from the book of Matthew, chapter 10, verses 36-39:

            “A man’s enemies will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”

            “That’s easy for you to say,” Lou said solemnly. “You and Zellie came together seeking the truth.”

            “Not exactly,” I interjected. “Seven and I started seeing each other before we became converts. Seven went first, you might say, and I thought it was going to cause our brief relationship to end. But then I went to a prophecy seminar held by his then teenage daughter, Sevenia. It was during these that I experienced a transformation in my life and became converted.”

            “Fair enough,” Lou shrugged. “Guess I’m comparing apples to oranges. Everyone has their own trials.”

            A ding from the doorbell revealed FBI Agent Nora Medora. Destiny invited her in, and I noticed her eyes widen when she discovered Lou not only present but staring her down.

            “Oh, Lieutenant, hello,” she greeted my cousin.

            “Former Lieutenant,” he replied coolly.

            “I see,” she replied, then regained her composure, folded her arms and eyed him coolly. “I suppose you blame me.”

            “Well, you got the ball rolling,” he said and then sighed. “But no, I don’t blame you. I don’t like you, but I don’t blame you.”

            She snorted. “Tell me what you really think.”

            “I did,” he barked. “You do your job thoroughly, and by the book. But you’re also cold, and don’t care who you step on in the name of duty.”

            “I’m not gonna argue,” she said with a casual shrug. “You’re entitled to your opinion. But I don’t feel I step on people while fulfilling my duties. I had no desire or intention of you getting fired. I simply thought your superiors should understand your mind set and thereby get you back on track.”

            “Who’s to say I’m not on the right track?”

            “Look, I didn’t come here to argue. And I truly didn’t intend for you to get fired.”

            Lou put up his hands in a sign of truce. “And I truly don’t blame you for my firing. If I would have toed the line, I wouldn’t have lost my job. But I had to follow my convictions.”

            “Nora, why are you here?” Destiny inquired. “I don’t mean to sound unhospitable, but, you know, with all that’s been going on lately. Plus I doubt you came by hoping to find a Bible study to join.”

            “Right,” Agent Medora said, and then eyed Inga with true sympathy. I felt my toes curl with the look of compassion on the world hardened agent’s face. “I was just made aware that Pricilla Rosenwinkle was found dead in her apartment only a few hours after she arrived back in Las Vegas.”

            Inga gasped, but then cautiously asked, “From what, a drug overdose?”     

            Agent Medora drew in deep breath as she shook her head. “She was strangled.”