ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 17

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

DO NOT LOOK AT THE THINGS WHICH ARE SEEN, BUT AT THE THINGS WHICH ARE NOT SEEN… (2 Corinthians 4:18)

            “Where do you think this is all gonna go, Querida?” Vermillion asked, not trying to hide his malicious delight.

            “Hard to tell.”

            “It does look pretty bad for poor ole Jimmy, doesn’t it?” He asked with mock sympathy.

            “It doesn’t look good, but I’m hopeful that the truth will prevail.”

            “There you go with hope again. The problem is Jimmy’s history as a philanderer. Jenny and Lucy were both willing to overlook that history, believing he could change. But boy, oh boy, when Lucy and his brother walked in on Jimmy and Ginger! Talk about entertainment!”

            Vermillion cackled. The demonic realm had scored a sizable victory. You see, when Ginger, who was Jake’s girlfriend, rejected the call to repentance on the last night of the Bible prophecy seminar, she became open to demon possession. In human terms, for her situation with a rebellious heart, it was the last straw.

            Please understand. When Vermillion’s colleague Cinnabar entered Ginger, it wasn’t solely because she rejected a petition to accept Christ at the seminar. It was just the culminating act that had begun when she was fifteen and joined a party playing with a Ouija Board.

            This was a game that was no game. She thought she was playing with the mysteries of the spirit world. Instead they would play her. That seemingly innocent game led her to an interest in the occult. That interest in the occult led to closing her mind to Bible truth and opening it up to demonic control.

            When Jimmy got Jake interested in Bible prophecy, a part of Ginger’s soul wanted deliverance from the powers that gripped her. She felt like something wasn’t right with her soul. To look at her you would never know that the demonic realm was slowly, decisively taking her over. She worked in administration for the school district, liked to party on the weekends, and enjoyed going out on dates. But secretly, she met with a small group practicing black magic.

            Once her soul was given fully over to rebellion, Jimmy unfortunately was to fall into the crosshairs of the demon that controlled her. Cinnabar used her infatuation with Jimmy, coupled with her hostility to discourage these four brand new converts to following the Lord.

            Although Jimmy had a status as a womanizer, he had some personal rules as a lady’s man. Not only did he avoid dalliances with other guy’s gals, he shunned fooling around with any of his buddy’s ex’s as well. So imagine how it appeared when on the eve of getting baptized, two weeks after the Bible prophecy seminar ended, he was caught in a compromising position with Ginger.

            After Jenny revealed to Jimmy that he was the father of her unborn child, his brother Jake had played mediator. Jake was one of those people that was considered a jack of all trades, but master of none, except two. He was a talented guitarist and singer, and he also had a gift for playing peacemaker. He especially had the ability to listen and understand. This aptitude would be  challenged due to his brother’s incident with Ginger.

            At the end of the Bible meetings, Jake and Pastor Samson had managed to unify the tricky triangle his brother found himself in with Jenny and Lucy. Through prayer and reasoning, they achieved establishing Jimmy’s two girlfriends as girls who were just friends. Then the foursome of Jimmy, Jenny, Lucy, and Jake met with the Pastor a half a dozen times for more in depth Bible studies to prepare for baptism.

            Although Jake was a nice looking young man, he wasn’t the male specimen like his younger brother. He often thought that if he had his brother’s movie star looks, or his brother had his talent, it could be a star in the making. Quiet and introspective compared to his charming, social butterfly of a brother, Jake had always struggled to find ‘the one’ when it came to females.

            As he got to know Ginger, he felt like he had found his soulmate. The problem was, he was smitten with her physical beauty and over looked the little signs that defined a self-centered character. He was blinded by her shapely figure, long red hair, and striking blue green eyes.

            In the early evening of Friday, August 24, Cinnabar led Ginger to Jimmy’s trailer. The demonic realm knew that Jimmy went fishing with his roommate. They also knew his roommate was gonna camp at the lake and that Jimmy was going to be home alone. Ginger not only had a desire, but an obsession in her demon possession to seduce Jimmy.

            But when she got there, she discovered that no one was home. Inspired by evil, she went to her car, retrieved a knife, and cut his phone line. With supernatural help, she found a spare key under the deck in a small magnetic case, clinging to a bracket. She was then instructed to leave for a few hours.

            When she returned, she parked her black Datsun 280Z next to Jimmy’s pickup truck. She found him sound asleep in his bed. She crept back out to her car. She retrieved an empty four pack of wine coolers and placed them on the deck table along with half a pack of Virginia Slim cigarettes. She tiptoed back to Jimmy’s room and quietly disrobed every stitch of clothing. She sat in a desk chair and waited.

            On the other side of the mobile home park, Lucy made a phone call. “Hey, Jake, sorry to call so late but something weird is going on with Jimmy. You know how he was a no show at Bible study tonight. Well, now he’s not answering his phone and his answering machine isn’t picking up my calls.”

            “Oh well, I wouldn’t worry. When I got home from Bible study, I discovered he left me a message on my answering machine. He said he got off work early and was going fishing with his roommate. He said he might not make the study. Kind of odd since we’re all getting baptized tomorrow.”

            “Yes it is, and here’s another weird thing. I thought I would see if he was there and still up, so I just drove by his place a few minutes ago. His truck and his motorcycle were both there. But there was a black sports car in the driveway, instead of his roommate’s truck and it looked all dark inside his trailer.”

            Jake felt a chill go up his spine. “Was it a Datsun 280Z?”
            “I don’t know,” she replied, and then described a couple features of the vehicle.

            “That sounds like Ginger’s car,” he responded as he felt his adrenaline spike. “What would she be doing at Jake’s at only minutes before midnight? Something seems fishy.”

            “Do you think she’d hurt Jimmy? Something seemed off with her to me. I sensed something evil.”

            “I don’t think so. But how about I come over, and we check it out?”

            Vermillion could tell I didn’t like the situation either. He was also concerned that their demonic strategy might be derailed. He asked, “Are you not going to try anything to stop Ginger?”

            I wasn’t about to tell him we had instructions not to interfere. I fully trusted God. If human beings could see the end from the beginning, they would see everything God does is right and necessary. That doesn’t mean it is not difficult to watch those we care for go through trials and hardships. However I said, “You forgot to mention Cinnabar.”

            “Ginger is doing it willingly; Cinnabar is just assisting.”

              “Why does she need to assist if Ginger is doing it willingly?”

            “Obviously, being human, Ginger can’t see the bigger picture. Like cutting the phone line, planting the empty alcohol bottles, where the spare key was hidden, and when to set Jimmy up for the fall in his bedroom.”

            “You might as well have just admitted your side uses control and force. Jesus is a Gentleman; He stands at the door and knocks for entrance to the soul.” (Revelation 3:20)

            “So we’re playing it smart and your side isn’t.”

            “You can’t see the unfairness? Once again you can’t have love without freewill.”

            “Once again it comes down to justice,” he replied bitterly, and then departed hastily to watch over his minions.

            At half past midnight, Lucy and Jake parked his Mustang in front of Jimmy’s trailer. After they negotiated the steps of Jimmy’s deck, Jake shined a small flashlight’s beam onto the table with the light illuminated the empty bottles and pack of cigarettes. Both were favorite brands of Ginger.

            They noticed the main door was wide open. After giving a pull on the screen door, they discovered it to be unlocked. Jake flipped on the kitchen light. “Jimmy?”

            Ginger got up from the chair and laid on Jimmy’s bed. Jimmy stirred, and when his brother’s voice was closer as he called a second time, Jimmy blinked sleep from his eyes and turned on a bedside lamp. He gave a start when he saw the naked woman in his bed. “What? Who? Ginger!”

            She sprung on top of him. He bellowed, “Get off me!”

            “Ready to give them a show?” she asked with an eerie purr that gave him goose bumps.

            He scrambled away from her. He had been sleeping in only his shorts. As he rolled off the bed, Ginger clutched them from behind and they slid down his legs as he fell to the floor. Right as he was pulling them back up, Jake and Lucy looked into his room.

            Jimmy’s startled face took in their startled faces. Then he looked at the naked woman in his bed, and then back to his brother and Lucy. He opened his mouth to speak, but Ginger’s voice filled the room instead. “Oops, I guess we got caught.”

            “It’s not what you think,” Jimmy tried.

            “Oh yeah, what do we think?” Jake asked with surprising calmness. “That Ginger just roamed in off the street and climbed into bed with you?”

            “That had to be what happened,” Jimmy tried again. “I swear, I was asleep a minute ago… Alone!”

            “Jimmy, we saw the wine cooler bottles and her cigarettes on your deck,” Jake said crisply.

            Lucy had been breathing hard, then emitted a little squeal and ran from the place. Jake ran after her. She began to walk briskly toward her home, her arms folded in front of her, frowning as if in deep thought. Jake caught up to her. “Lucy, wait.”

            Lucy kept walking but looked at Jake with a bewildered expression. He said, “Listen, Lucy, let’s not jump to conclusions.”

            “Jump to conclusions? I know what I saw.”

            “I know, I know. But the thing is, I’ve never known Jimmy to sleep with his buddy’s ex’s, let alone his brother’s ex, and only a little more than a week after Ginger and I broke up.”

            “Come on, Jake. I saw a naked woman in his bed, and him scrambling to get his shorts on. Plus you saw the empty bottles.”

            “Yeah, I know it looks bad, but there just has to be an explanation.”

            “I’d say it’s one of two things. He either decided he doesn’t want to give up his old life, or he’s under some delusion that you can have something like a bachelor party before one gets baptized.”

            “I’m going with a third option, and that’s that there has to be some explanation.”

            “Even though I can’t believe what I saw; my eyes saw what they saw.”

            “Let’s say you are right. The simple truth of the matter is that both you and Jenny agreed that your relationship with Jimmy should just be friends for the time being. And Ginger is no longer my girlfriend.”

            “Oh, I’m so confused!” Lucy said as she clutched her forehead with her left hand.

            “So you still had, um, feelings for him?”

            “I don’t know,” she whined. “But the reason I was trying to call him tonight was about that night of indiscretion he and I had.”

            “So you wanted to make sure everything was good between you two before you were baptized?”

            “I guess that’s part of it,” she shrugged. “Because things just got more complicated for Jimmy, Jenny and me. And on the day before we all supposed to get baptized together no less.”

            She sighed heavily and looked up into the starry sky. Jake gave her a minute. But she remained silent, so he asked, “Does Jenny know that you and Jimmy, you know, went all the way?”

            “I don’t know if she knows, but she’s going to know.”

            “What’s that supposed to mean?”

            “I went to the doctor today… I’m pregnant.”

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?”