Chapter 17 - The Sum of Things
September, 1963 - Atlanta, Georgia
Would not an all-powerful God who allows free will truly love a creation who seeks not their own way?
For Ruth Ann, a gentle spirit, the world was a puzzle and each day a labyrinth of discord which was more and more out of tune. Many evenings, she would crawl into bed shaking from the trials of the day. When not consumed with hanging on for dear emotional life, she spent her free time in the library. She loved to read about a world she thought she’d never see. The places her father had been were of particular interest to her. She loved works of fiction, too, although she cried often upon reading them. When not reading, she spent her library days writing letters to Gabby. Sometimes she cried when writing those too. Gabby and Ruth Ann shared their hearts in their letters as well as their dreams of the life they imagined as adults.
Ruth often felt at odds with the world. Even among her sisters, she was the different one. Where they were witty and quick, she was weird and quirky. They all sang like angels, but her voice was always a work in progress. Her oddities were numerous and growing. She didn’t listen to the right kind of music. She was obsessed with wearing something pink at all times even if it was just her nails. Her sisters all played piano. But, Ruth only wanted to play guitar, lead guitar at that. It was as if all her life she was playing a different chord.
In late September, 1963, Ruth sat on the back porch with her dolls at her side while her sisters sat around the radio listening to WAOK. Ruth felt a sense of melancholy. It was a longing for something more. Whereas Deborah’s moods swung from one extreme to another, Ruth’s life was a single note playing out night after night. She tried her best to forget the meanness shown to her day after day at school. So, many a night she sat out on that porch or sat next to a window trying to rediscover herself. Her daddy was good at cheering her up, but he was gone and that made her that much sadder.
Miss Elizabeth was cleaning up the dinner dishes while she kept an ear out for Ruth as she played outside. When she’d finished the last spoon, she stepped out onto the porch, and sat on the swing next to the eight year old Ruth Ann.
“Can I sit here with you for a while? My feet are so tired of standing.”
“Sure you can, Miss Elizabeth.” Ruth Ann said. She moved the doll on her right to her left to sit next to the one on her left as she pushed her eye glasses back onto the bridge of her nose.
“You telling your dolly all your problems?”
“Well, she has problems too. We try to help each other.”
Miss Elizabeth stroked the top of Ruth’s head down to the nape of her neck and said, “Oh, I see. Darling, I know you miss your daddy. So do I. But he’ll be home real soon.”
She didn’t reveal that she’d received a call several days earlier that Hosea was actually in a French hospital recuperating from what was being called exhaustion. Still, she hoped that he’d return in the next day or so. Elizabeth hadn’t mentioned any of this to the girls.
“Are the others girls at school messing with you again?” she asked Ruth.
Cil had moved on to the high school in the Fall. Deborah was still at the school, but she was too preoccupied with being a social butterfly to look after her little sister. Ruth Ann dropped her head and picked up one of her dolls in silence as slow, agonizing tears began to inch down her face. She tried to hold them back but gravity and emotion overwhelmed her.
Miss Elizabeth, knowing firsthand the sting of the cruel words of others, put her arm around Ruth Ann and pulled her into her ample bosom, “That’s alright baby girl, let it go, let it all go. Those silly kids at school don’t know a precious gem when they’re sitting next to one every day.”
Miss Elizabeth pushed to and from slowly in the home made swing rocking Ruth to sleep. As the child fell asleep, Miss Elizabeth noticed a bluish hue along the walls of the back porch. She didn’t know what it meant, but she knew these children were different from any she’d ever seen. She picked up Ruth Ann and carried her off to bed. Later, each of Ruth’s sisters stepped in to check on her and little Sarah climbed into the bed with her.
That should have been the end of the evening, with each of the kids in bed before 10:00 p.m., but it wasn’t. Miss Elizabeth was back in the kitchen. She had already made the kid’s school lunches for the next day. She’d just started organizing the food in the cabinets when the phone rang. She was hoping that it was Hosea.
The caller asked, “Hello, is Mr. Johnson available?”
“No, he’s out of town right now.”
Miss Elizabeth answered and, as she glanced up, saw Cil standing in the hallway watching her.
“Ma’am, do you know when he will be back?” the caller asked.
“No, I do not. What is this about?” she asked.
“Are you a family member of Mr. Hosea Johnson?” the stranger inquired.
“Well, yes,” Miss Elizabeth answered.
The caller then said, “Ma’am, this is the Fulton County coroner’s office and I’m sorry to have to tell you that we believe that we have the body of Mrs. Lola Johnson. We need someone from your family to come down to Grady hospital to make a positive identification.”
Miss Elizabeth hung her head and thought for a moment, “There’s no one here to watch the kids.”
Cil touched Miss Elizabeth’s shoulder and spoke softly to her, “It’s okay. You can go. I’ll stay up until you get back.”
Although she hadn’t shared it with anyone, Cil had known that this was the night that her mother’s body would be found.
Miss Elizabeth grabbed the car keys and scurried out the front door. It was 10:55 p.m. Cil took her seat at the kitchen table and waited for everything to play out. For her, knowing what was to come was like trying to brace yourself before a tsunami you could see coming ashore. You know much around you will be lost, so your only goal is to hold on to those things you truly love.
The first person to wake up, just before midnight, was Sarah. She stumbled into the bathroom and went to the kitchen to see why the light was still on. There she saw Cil sitting at the table with just a glass of water. Cil offered the glass to Sarah.
“Have a seat,” she said to Sarah.
One by one, Cil told her little sisters. Sarah cried softly and curled up into Cil’s arms. Deborah who took every chance to vocalize how much she hated her mother wailed the loudest upon hearing of her death. But, when Cil told little Ruth Ann, she did not utter a word. While Cil chased Deborah around the house trying to hold her, Ruth stumbled out of the kitchen and unto the back porch. Stepping out into the small back yard, she fell to her hands and knees in the moist soft grass where she began to weep.
“Mama… Mama…,” she called out into the dirt gripping hard the blades of grass.
Around 1:30 a.m., Miss Elizabeth returned and she tried to comfort each of the girls. Still each of them longed to see their father. Around 4:00 a.m., their prayers were answered. Hosea, bags in hand, walked through the front door. Ruth and Sarah reached him first. Hosea wrapped one arm around each as he kneeled. Together, they told him that his wife, Lola had died.
He gripped them even tighter as he whispered to each of them, “I’m so sorry.”
When he stood up, Cil hugged her father as she cried uncontrollably. Finally, she released him to the arms of Miss Elizabeth. They held each other for a long time. Neither of them was particularly surprised that Lola had died of a drug overdose, but it was still a tragedy. Lola never realized that Miss Elizabeth truly cared for her despite her feelings for her husband.
At last, Hosea asked, “Where is Deborah?”
Everyone looked around for a second before Ruth answered, “She went to the bathroom a while ago.”
Sarah walked over to the closed bathroom door and proclaimed, “She’s not in there.” One of Sarah’s gifts was the ability to see far outside of the wave length of visible light. So, not only could she see in infra-red and ultra-violet, but she could also s
ee natural x-rays, which allowed her, when she focused, to see through doors.
Hosea rushed to the bathroom door and called out, “Deborah? Deborah. Deborah!” Hearing no reply, he forced the door open to find an empty room and an open window. Hosea walked briskly from the bathroom back into the living room. He asked Elizabeth for her keys. Then he picked up his fedora and his seldom used walking cane.
“Watch the girls,” he said.
With that, he walked into the night in search of his daughter.
Miss Elizabeth sent the girls back to their rooms so that they might get a little sleep before the sun came up. Then, she went into the kitchen to put on another pot of coffee for herself so that she might endure another stint waiting by the phone. What she didn’t know is that while she was in the kitchen, Cil had climbed out of her bedroom window.
Cil stood outside of Ruth and Sarah’s bedroom window. Staring back at Cil, the two youngest sisters opened the window and Cil helped them down to the ground. Cil knew where Deborah was headed. She was headed to the Council of Nob office on Auburn Avenue. The three of them began their trek from their West End home. Alone, Cil could have made the journey in little time at all, but she knew the future and she knew that her two younger sisters were to be with her this night.
Hosea also knew where Deborah was headed. Deborah always longed to be wherever her Aunt Elisa was. With news of her mother’s death, Hosea knew that Deborah would go looking for Elisa. Thus, Hosea realized that Deborah must be headed to the Council’s stronghold. But he also realized that if Deborah had indeed found Elisa, Elisa would probably have contacted him telepathically or even by phone to let him know that his daughter was safe. Hosea pulled up to the curb two doorways down from The Council’s front entrance. He exited his car and proceeded to the front door. At five in the morning, there was only one security guard working the front lobby. A mortal man, he stepped out to retrieve the morning paper and, as he did, Hosea stepped through the open door as quickly and quietly as a Shaolin monk. Letting go of the world, Hosea listened to the Divine within him, just as he had many times before. This time he was wearier than he could ever remember.
A couple of days in the French hospital had revived him somewhat but the heaviness was upon him again. Still, he pressed on. His spirit told him that he needed to go downstairs to find Deborah. From the partially-lit lobby, Hosea opened the heavy metal door leading to the stairwell that led to the Boardroom. Several centurions stood guard in the hallway. Their bodies were deformed as were their spirits. Hosea could literally feel the evil in his stomach. As Hosea stepped fully into the hallway, the first monstrosity raised his arm towards him.
Hosea called loudly and firmly, “Claudicatis!” which meant “halt” in Latin.
The beast froze instantly. Hosea proceeded to do the same to the others in the hallway, but each encounter drained him more than the one before.
Hosea reached the bottom of the stairwell and walked across the open floor. He came to another large metal door. This one was locked from the inside. Hosea wiped his nose and then pressed his fingertips against the door feeling the cold steel against his skin. He first noticed the blood on his fingers as it smeared across the door. The blood was from his nose. He did not stop. He stood back and knocked three times on the door in three different locations proceeding down the door. He reached for the door handle and turned it opening the door. The room was modestly lit by only the emergency lighting.
Hosea reached for the wall switch and called out, “Deborah!”
When Hosea flipped the wall switch, the dormant lights flickered as they revealed Chase standing on the far side of the room on a riser. In his left hand, Chase held his unsheathed sword while his right hand pressed across Deborah’s torso holding her close against him so she, too, faced her father.
Chase replied to Hosea’s call, “Welcome, Hosea. Deborah is right here. She came here looking for Elisa and found me instead. The others are out of town, but they left me here to watch the house. Imagine that.”
He smiled a wicked grin before going on, “Deborah and I have been getting to know each other.”
Hosea yelled out, “Take your hands off of her! We have a deal!” as he squinted. He struggled to adjust from the darkness to the now brightly lit room.
“Oh, I will and we do. As long as Elisa serves us, no one on the Council will take direct action to harm any of your girls, not that it really matters with this one, since she’s not long for this world anyway; for there is a darkness building up within her already. But as for you…”
Chase released Deborah to the floor and swung his sword slowly.
“That arrangement does little for you. See, if one understands all of the variables, one does not need to see the future to know the future. I knew that Lola would overdose last night and I knew that Deborah would come here, and finally, I knew that you would come looking for her.” Chase began to circle Hosea as he continued, “So, when the others decided to take a little field trip, I asked to stay behind. See, you were always the target. No, you’re not a Circle Knight, but you are known and respected by all the relevant parties. Dispatching you will certainly be noticed by the Elders.”
Hosea coughed and demanded, “Deborah, go outside!”
Deborah couldn’t move. She lay on the floor sobbing.
Hosea called out again to her, “Deborah, get yourself up now! Go!”
Hearing her daddy yell got Deborah’s attention. She lifted herself up and scurried out of the control room.
Chase teased Hosea, “Oh, you’re a good daddy to want to spare your child from seeing me spill your blood. How thoughtful.”
Hosea coughed again, “If it is my time, it is my time.”
Chase swung his sword slashing its tip across Hosea’s cheek, drawing blood.
“Well, aren’t you going to ask me what happened? What made me go over to the other side? They all do.”
“I won’t. I, too, know something about how things work and how things fit together.”
“Yes, you do, Hosea. We both know that you’re capable of dragging this final act out, but we also know that this is indeed the final curtain. You know that your other three daughters will be here shortly, and that you would rather die quickly than run the risk of them confronting me in some ill-conceived effort to rescue you.”
Hosea nodded slightly, “So, get on with it.”
“Ah, no fear whatsoever. Oh, how I wish that you would do me the honor of putting up a fight. But since you are one of the few truly honorable men I’ve ever met, I will, as a gift to you and Elisa as well, end this now and take my leave. Good night, fair saint.”
With those words, Chase ran his sword through Hosea’s abdomen. Hosea grabbed his side and silently stumbled towards the wall. He struggled not to cry out in concern for his daughter outside. He collapsed against the wall, sitting upright and holding his side.
Chase wiped his sword and as he began to walk back to the lab where one of Elisa’s portals stood, he glanced back at Hosea
He offered to him something that he seldom offered to any, “If all people of faith were like you Hosea, I would not be wedded to this pledge of blood and vengeance. Sleep well for you are one of the few who has earned it.”
With those words, the assassin was gone.
Hosea sought to hang on long enough to see his girls one last time. Hosea’s prayer was answered. Not thirty seconds after Chase’s departure, he heard his girls coming down the stairwell and he smiled. He heard Ruth Ann asking Deborah why she was in the hall. Then, all four of his girls burst through the door.
They came in looking for a fight. Seeing their father on the floor and blood everywhere, they ran to his side, calling out, “Daddy!”
Hosea hugged them as best he could before chuckling just a bit, “I love you all so much, it hurts.” Hosea coughed more blood.
Ruth cuddled right next to his wound, reaching her arms around her father as best she could. “Don’t go. Do
n’t go,” she whispered over and over again.
Sarah was at his other side looking intensely into her father’s face.
Cil, who knew this was coming, knelt at his feet weeping. Her tears fell upon her father’s dusty black shoes.
Deborah stood off to the side crying.
Hosea called to her, “Deborah…”
She ran to him. Ruth moved a little to make room for her as Deborah fell to her knees grabbing her father around his neck and pressing her cheek to his. She continued to weep as she professed her love for him.
With his last breaths, Hosea continued to instruct them, “Go with Rob. Listen to Elizabeth. Take care of each other and always forgive one another, for to hate one another is to hate me and what I’ve taught you too.”
This last part was something Hosea said often when he thought their bickering had gotten out of hand. Thus, Hosea passed from this world and to the next.
Ruth held on to her father gripping his jacket as tightly as she’d gripped the blades of grass the night before upon hearing of her mother’s passing. She held on until Cil pulled her from his corpse. Throughout the years, Ruth only knew that she screamed and screamed because her sisters would later tell her that she did. Of her own accord, she remembered very little of those moments. Only in her dreams does she recall even a sense of those events in the basement, and even then it’s more of an emotion than any detail.
She had been angry with her sister Deborah when they found her at the bottom of the stairwell, instead of in the Boardroom helping their father. As soon as she saw the pain and self-condemnation that blanketed Deborah, Ruth Ann quickly let go of those feelings. Where Deborah was about holding on, Ruth was about letting go.