ANGELS AT WAR

CHAPTER 12

ARCHANGEL QUERIDA

WE KNOW THAT ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THOSE WHO LOVE GOD, TO THOSE WHO ARE CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE (Romans 8:28)

            Vermillion looked pensive as we watched the young couple leave the seminar. Lucy was on her Yamahopper moped and Jimmy on his muscle bike, a Yamaha Vmax. The contrast made me smile, but what brought me even more joy was the spiritual journey the young pair had undertaken.

            “The Lord can often turn even the worst situations into good,” I told Vermillion. “Beauty out of ashes.” (Isaiah 61:3)

            “We’ll see,” Vermillion replied. “I still believe in old faithful, the god of lust. Do you really think Jimmy is gonna be able to keep his pants on until he marries someone? It might even happen tonight. He’s pretty intrigued by Lucy’s short shorts.”

            “I beg to differ,” I countered. “After what your side did to her in Florida, she is too broken to give in to even a handsome charmer like Jimmy. Besides, Jimmy seems to be turning his charm over to truth.”

            “Well, my former friend, you should know how volatile and fickle the human condition is. Lucy may have been a virgin before those boys violated her, but she was already conceding her plan to remain pure until marriage. She had decided as long as she was in love, it would be okay. Even before love, she figured it would be okay to do ‘things’ for a guy she was getting close to.”

            “That may be true, but now her newfound interest in the Bible is overturning her worldly mindset.”

            “Sure it is,” he cackled. “Like I said, the human condition is fickle. As awful as the worst day of her life was, and although it resulted in a gallon of tears, time heals most wounds. Now that the brunt of the trauma has worn off, she will now figure that there is now no purity to hang on to. And who better to experience that with than a guy she has had a crush on for some time.”

            “On the contrary, she will realize that she is a new creation in Christ. Behold all things are new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

            Vermillion laughed maliciously. “They aren’t there yet, my former friend. Do you know what is in her purse, Querida?”

            “I do,” I admitted.

            “And you’re not gonna try to divert where they are headed?”

            “They need to get to know each other, Vermillion. And they have free will. You can’t have love without it. But with it comes risk.”

            “What about Jenny?” Vermillion asked with a smirk. I didn’t reply and he added, “Gotta love a love triangle, Querida. Even better, a quadrangle.”

            We watched as Jimmy followed Lucy on their two very different two wheelers. It was two and a half miles from the high school auditorium to Jimmy’s mobile home park. Jimmy frowned with puzzlement, as Lucy guided her moped into the left turn lane to enter the park. He pulled alongside of her. “Where are you going?”

            “Home, where do you think?”

            “I live here.”

            “I know. Or did you forget the incident with you and Lexi?”

            “Of course not. How could I forget getting a call from Lucifer?”

            She scowled. “I’ve decided I don’t like being called that.”

            “Fair enough.”

            “I live in here, too. How do you think we called you so fast after we spied through your window?”

            “Lexi said you guys probably went to the gas station.”

            She rolled her eyes. “Lexi’s such a phony. She’s embarrassed to admit to a guy that she has a friend that lives in a trailer park, while at the same time trying to get it on with a guy who lives in a trailer park.”

            The signal turned to a green arrow and Lucy throttled her moped. Jimmy shot past her in a second, then hit his brakes. “Since you live in here too, why don’t you be neighborly and stop by for a beverage?”

            They pulled into his two stall driveway, parking behind his pickup truck and new old car.

            “Don’t you have a girlfriend?”

            “I’m inviting you over for conversation. I might have a girlfriend, but I can still have a friend that is a girl, can’t I?”

            “That’s between you and her,” she shrugged. “So you’re not gonna try to seduce me like you did Lexi?”

            “She seduced me.”

            “What if I seduce you?” she asked with a teasing smile.

            “I guess I’ll have to resist.”

            “What if you find me irresistible?”

            Jimmy frowned but smiled. “Well, maybe this isn’t a good idea after all. It seems you’re the one that finds me irresistible.”

            “Don’t worry, I’m joking. I find you resistible.”

            They went inside. Lucy took off her sneakers, sat in a Lazy Boy recliner and stretched out her legs. Jimmy opened his fridge and looked inside. “There’s 7up, orange juice, milk, or water. What’ll you have?”

            “No beer?”

            “You’re not old enough.”

            “That hasn’t stopped me before.”

            “Sorry, I don’t have any,” Jimmy replied. The previous weekend was the first time as an adult that he hadn’t had an adult beverage. Now, the last few days were the first time he had no beer in his refrigerator since he had lived on his own.

            “I’ll just have water,” Lucy said. “I didn’t really want a beer; I was just testing you.”

            “I don’t need any tests from you; life already gives me enough.”

            They talked about the seminars, both of them excited about the Bible truths they were learning. Then they delved into their religious histories.

            “I have none,” Jimmy said. “We didn’t even do the twice a year Christmas and Easter thing like some of my friends did. My parents ran a concrete construction company, and I had an uncle who owned a bar. His tavern was their sanctuary come the end of the work week. So I never really thought about God as a kid.”

            “So you were like an atheist by default?” Lucy asked.

            “I guess,” he shrugged. “I believed in the super natural, but to me, it was all a big mystery. I thought all religion was a joke. From money grubbing televangelists to people bowing to the Pope and kissing his ring, to the fire and brimstone theology my sister embraced a few years ago. I guess it was her conversion that first got me considering the God question. Only I didn’t like the answers until I started going to these meetings at the high school. Especially the one debunking eternal torment.”

            “Yeah, that was huge for me, too,” Lucy said. “I grew up with religion. I even went to a Christian school through the ninth grade. I was always torn over hell. I couldn’t reconcile what I read about Jesus in the gospels with your ‘gonna burn forever if you don’t believe.’”

            Jimmy studied Lucy for a long second. “How did you end up in a clique of snooty snobs?”

            Lucy almost spit up a swallow of water as she laughed. “Tell me what you really think of my friends.”

            “I just did.”

            She shrugged. “I guess that makes me a snob, too.”

            “No, not really, you don’t seem to fit with them.”

            “Funny you should notice that. I never did feel like I fit with them.”

            “So how then?”

            “A few reasons. Amy and I have been friends since the first grade. She and I went to that same Christian school.”

            “Yet she doesn’t seem to be a believer,” Jimmy interjected. “That one and only meeting she came to didn’t seem to resonate with her.”

            Lucy shrugged. “To each her own.”

            “What else?”

            “I’m the wild one of our group. Like it was my idea to spy on you and Lex. I behaved outrageously to feel like I fit in. I guess you could say I was a show off, and it worked. I’ve even been known to, ya know, flash guys.”

            “Flash?” Jimmy frowned. “What do you mean?”

            “Gimme a break. Jimmy Stetson doesn’t know what a flash is?” She mimicked lifting her shirt. She felt a wave of anxiety over the memory of last time she did that four months ago in Florida.

            “Okay, I get it,” Jimmy said. “It’s just that you don’t seem the type.”

            “Why is that?” she asked with a coy smile. “Because my chest doesn’t try to burst out of my tops like Lexi’s?”

            “No, I suppose because I’ve only seen you at Bible meetings. Plus you’re not as flashy as the others. No pun intended with what you just told me.”

            “You mean I’m the ugly duckling of the bunch?” she asked with wide eyes. Lucy knew full well she was cute.

            “On the contrary, I think you’re the most beautiful.”

            “Careful, you have a girlfriend,” Lucy said with a sultry smile.

            “Do I?” Jimmy asked as a genuine question.

            “Ho, ho, ho,” Vermillion chortled. “You see, my former friend, in this world lust rules. It is an unstoppable force.”

            “Not when love can conquer all when embraced,” I countered as Vermillion’s countenance fell. Not because of my words, but what was arriving in front of Jimmy’s trailer that was about to shift the mood between the couple. He was hoping their banter would lead to the bedroom. But he would settle for four rowdy guys unsettling her.

            It was Friday. When Jimmy’s roommate’s  work week ended at five that afternoon, he and three coworkers headed to the bar. After a half a dozen rounds, they were feeling no pain. Nor were they feeling much restraint. Their voices were loud and their laughter boisterous as they burst through the door of the trailer for an evening of poker.

            Jimmy considered the rowdy young men harmless. As a matter of fact, only a couple weeks ago, he likely would have joined their party. So he was a little surprised to see the frightened look on Lucy’s face. Especially after she had admitted to being the wild one of her clique.

            “Sorry, man,” Jimmy’s roommate said. “I didn’t know you had a hot date tonight.”

            “No big deal,” Jimmy replied.

            “Hot’s an understatement,” one of his roommate’s friends declared with an alcohol fueled declaration. “You can join our little party, honey.”

            “Is that her moped?” another one asked. “You gonna give her a lesson she can’t learn at school, Stetson?”

            Now Jimmy noticed Lucy begin to tremble. He felt the urge to start throwing punches but went with the instinct to get Lucy away immediately. He took hold of her hand. She had a flash back of an aggressive hand taking hold of hers in Florida with her fingers feeling like they were breaking. She jerked her hand from Jimmy’s and almost shrieked, ‘Let go of me.’

            But before the words came out, she looked into Jimmy’s eyes. She saw concern and compassion. Although she was breathing hard, his presence made her feel safe. Thank God she didn’t cry out! But she did whisper, “I need to go.”

            “I’ll walk out with you,” he said.

            As he began to follow Lucy out of the door, his roommate put a hand on his shoulder. “Sorry, man. Not only for interrupting, but the guys and their big mouths. You know how they are when they have been drinking.”

            “Yeah,” Jimmy replied mildly. Then he humbly regretted his own potential to be disrespectful while in his cups.

            Lucy made a beeline toward her moped. Jimmy stepped quickly after her. “Lucy, I’m really sorry about that.”

            She felt embarrassed by her terrified reaction to the crude guys. She forced a smile. “No, I’m sorry. I’ve heard guys be even worse than that before, it’s no big deal. It’s just…”

            She didn’t finish so he asked, “It’s just what?”

            “Never mind,” she replied with a forced laugh, but began to tremble again.

            Jimmy took hold of her hand and she let him. She felt so drawn to him, but at the same time felt like she might have a panic attack. “Talk to me, Lucy.”

            She shook her head, then looked into his eyes. “Have you ever been forceful with a girl?”

            “No, never,” he said immediately.

            “Have you ever talked crude like they just did?”

            “Maybe when I was drunk, but it was a mutual banter between me and the woman. I don’t recall anyone ever getting upset.”

            She took a few deep breaths and began to calm. She hugged herself, and Jimmy instinctively tried to pull her in for a friendly hug. She recoiled saying, “Don’t touch me.”

            “Sorry,” he said mildly, putting up his hands.

            “No, please do,” she said and walked into him.

            He wrapped his arms around her and could still feel slight tremors emanating from her body. She started to cry but clung to him tighter. He just quietly held her.

            After a couple minutes, she eased away from him. “I feel I need to tell you something. But only if you can promise not to tell another soul.”

            “Okay.”

            She suddenly turned a little playful, even though her eyes were red rimmed. “Cross your heart and hope to die?” she said as she made an X over her chest.

            He did likewise with an X and said with a small smile, “Stick a needle in my eye.”

            “Four months ago Amy and I went to Florida for spring break with her older sister,” she began, and then stepped into an embrace with him again. “I can’t look at you when I say this… My mom and Amy’s parents thought we went on a camping trip…”

            She paused a long time, so he said, “I did spring break in Florida once.”

            She began to whimper. Then Jimmy went rigid after she said, “The night before we came home, four guys raped me.”