Mortal Mistakes
“What do you mean ‘God helped you’?”
“It’s a long story Karen, but it began when I decided to trust in Jesus and follow His teachings. Then I started seeing things from His perspective.”
“This is where we make a right turn, isn’t it?" Karen asked, glancing at the piece of paper Jan gave her.
“Yes, then cross over to the left lane. It should be about eight or ten blocks on the left." Jan answered.
Karen turned right onto the one-way street headed east and moved to the left lane. Fierce wind whipped through a cross street and almost caused her to lose control of the car. Winds were gusting to eighty miles per hour all over the city. A garbage can bounded across the street in front of Karen’s car. Leaves, twigs and litter, swirled all around in the air and on the ground. Street signs rattled and overhead traffic lights and power lines whipped and swayed. Anything not securely anchored was being picked up and propelled by the wind.
“Jan, later on, I would like to hear more about your religious experience. Would you mind if I call you when things are a little more settled with me and Stan?"
Jan thoughtfully considered the words of Karen’s request. She sensed that Karen may have never made a personal decision to believe in Jesus, and she wondered about Stan too.
“Sure, I’d be glad to talk to you about it anytime, probably the sooner the better.”
Karen turned to look at Jan with a perplexed look. “What did you mean by that?”
“Karen, I don’t mean to be presumptuous or meddlesome, but from what I understand, Stan’s medical problem is potentially very dangerous. And what’s happened to your marriage relationship is tragic. Those are really good reasons to want God involved in your lives right now, the sooner the better. And there’s another important reason in the back seat." She pointed toward Jenny. “If you or Stan are not where you should be with God, you might want to take him off the back burner.”
Jan’s words sent a chill through Karen. She recalled that Dr. Ravit warned her of the morbid possibilities of Stan’s condition. She was determined to fight for Stan‘s life, so she had refused to allow herself to think about the possibility of death. It seemed to her that to do that would just be giving up and surrendering to an enemy. Still, she knew that Jan was right. Whether his condition ended in Stan’s death in the near future, or if he had to suffer with it for years, she wanted all the help she could get to support him.
“You’re right Jan. You’re absolutely right. We will talk soon." Karen formed a resolute look on her face. “Is that it there on the left, that old brown brick building?" Karen pointed with a look of dismay.
“Yee-uck. Yes, that’s the address," Jan answered.
Karen parked the car by the curb, directly in front of the building. She and Jan stared at the building. It was an old dark brick three story. Graffiti decorated plywood covered some of the first floor windows. Several windows on the second and third floor were partially open to allow relief from the heat. Pieces of trash littered the lawn, along with debris from the current storm. A grungy looking man lay sprawled asleep on the front porch. He loosely clutched a brown paper bag in one hand.
After a minute, Jan spoke. “Karen, I don’t think you ought to take Jenny in there. Just let her sleep. I’ll go in first and see if he’s home. If he is, I’ll either bring him out or come and get you.”
“I sure hate for you to go in there alone, Jan. It just doesn’t look safe.”
“I’ll be fine. I took judo lessons when I was in high school. She smiled and punched the air with her right fist. “You just stay here and take care of that little stinker," she said confidently, pointing to Jenny.
Jan checked the apartment number on the piece of paper that Stan gave her. Then she walked toward the porch, leaning into the fierce wind, holding her hair with one hand. She cautiously sidestepped the man lying on the porch floor and continued through the door, while at the same time keeping an eye on him. She found a darkened stairway and began to climb the worn metal and concrete steps. There was a moldy unpleasant odor in the stairwell. God how do people live like this? she thought. She almost tripped over a empty wine bottle, as she passed between the second and third floors.
She located the door to Stan’s apartment and slapped on it firmly with her hand. She waited for a moment and knocked again. The next time she pounded with the palm of her fist. There was still no answer. She removed a tennis shoe and slapped the door with it several times. There was still no response. She put her shoe back on and hesitantly turned the door knob. It opened.
Oh God, please don’t let me find him unconscious—or— I wish I had let Karen come with me. She reluctantly and slowly opened the door and stepped into the apartment. She looked cautiously around the place. Stan wasn't there. She continued to look around the apartment for a few minutes at it’s meager furnishings. Then she retraced her path back to Karen’s car.
Karen was becoming very anxious. The few minutes that Jan had been gone seemed like an hour to her. She looked over the seat at Jenny, who was still fast asleep. Then she eased out of the car, quietly closed the door, and stood on the sidewalk. She looked at the porch of the apartment building, then at the back seat of her car. She continued to turn her head back and forth every few seconds straining to hold her position in the wind.
God, she thought, don’t let anything happen to Jan. This is all my fault.
She was reminded that the only times she ever prayed were when she was in desperate need. Her imagination was running wild with nightmarish scenarios of what might be happening to Jan. She sorely wished that she hadn’t agreed to let Jan go into the building alone.
Jan popped from the front door of the building and waved at Karen, just as a man in a baseball cap and white T-shirt bounded from the side alley next to the building and leaped onto the porch directly behind Jan.
Chapter 28
A thunderous noise yanked Karen's attention to the other side of the street where a huge tree snapped under the strain of the fierce wind. She watched the tree crash into a utility pole and then collapse to the ground. Broken electric wires swung wildly from the utility pole and whipped about in the wind. Some of the wires spewed flashing electric sparks and made loud cracking sounds as the wires danced on the street like fiery vipers. One wire narrowly missed Karen, as it swung to the ground from a high voltage transformer on the utility pole. Karen stood with her hands clasped against the sides of her face, screaming. Another wire whipped up and across the top of her car and welded itself there. The loose end of the wire dangled over the driver’s side of the car near the ground. Karen looked with horror into the back seat of her car where Jenny was now waking.
Jan shoved the man in the baseball cap aside and ran toward Karen. Robert Louis Gatewood righted himself and ran close behind her.
“DON’T TOUCH THE CAR! DON’T TOUCH THE CAR!” Robert yelled. “YOU’LL BE KILLED! DON’T TOUCH THE CAR!”
Karen stood paralyzed and stared at the end of the wire which lay across her car. Another wire danced near her feet like a demonic snake spitting hot sparks in all directions. Some of the sparks bit at Karen’s legs causing her to hop and jump as she started toward the car. Electric sparks left pockets of smoking and smoldering grass between the sidewalk and curb.
Robert grabbed Karen around the waist and forcibly dragged her away from the car and the deadly dancing wires onto the adjacent lawn. As he grabbed Karen, he saw Jenny through the rear window. She was still strapped into her seat. She was screaming and frantically waving her arms. Tears streaked her face.
“Stay here!“ Robert warned Karen. Then he ran back toward her car. Jan came along side Karen and put an arm around her waist. She stared in disbelief at the man who appeared to her to be the same person who had shared a train seat with her.
*****
Walking from the nearby train station, Stan Bronsky heard an explosion and saw subsequent electrical flashes from
two blocks away. He looked gaunt and exhausted as he hurried along the sidewalk toward the scene. When he was near, he immediately recognized Karen’s car, because of bumper stickers and a dent in the rear bumper. He looked furtively around the gathering crowd until he spotted Karen on the lawn and started toward her. She was screaming hysterically and pointing toward the car. Stan turned to look at the car and saw his terrified child inside.
A pickup truck parked in front of Karen’s car was loaded with cardboard to be recycled. Electric sparks ignited the cardboard, and it began to blaze high into the air. Leaves of an overhanging tree withered under the heat and began to smoke. Some leaves burst into short-lived flames. Chunks of burning cardboard rose with the smoke and flames and swirled overhead in the fierce wind. Some of the flaming pieces landed on top of Karen’s car. Others blew underneath it. Black smoke began to billow from under the car.
Stan bounded with reckless abandon toward the car. Robert saw him coming and threw a body block against him to prevent his certain electrocution. Stan’s body crashed to the ground and his head made a thud sound as it hit hard on the concrete sidewalk. Karen, having just recognized Stan ran toward him with her arms flailing wildly.
“Stan!" she shrieked.
Four teenage boys gathered nearby. Robert grabbed one by the upper arm. “Listen! I need your help! I need for you guys to keep anyone from getting near that car," Robert commanded with authority in his voice. “Don’t let anyone get close to that car or close to any of those wires or they will be killed! Do you understand?" he shouted, looking into their eyes. The boys stared back with apprehensive looks but nodded agreement. They positioned themselves near the car, facing away from it toward the onlookers. One of the boys swatted at a piece of smoldering cardboard that landed on his head.
Robert dragged Stan, who was now unconscious, away from the sidewalk and onto the lawn. As he rushed away again, Karen had a overwhelming feeling of déjà vu. She finally connected Robert with the man she saw on the fourth of July. Her mouth was wide open with disbelief. And she further realized that this was somehow connected to the frightening dreams that she had experienced.
Lord Jesus, Jan silently prayed, please save that little girl, please! Send help quick! She stood beside Karen, with an arm tight around her best friend's waist. Karen struggled to free herself from Jan’s grip but Jan held her even tighter.
“Jennnnneeeeee!” Karen screamed. She desperately wanted to get to her child.
Robert backed up several paces behind Karen’s car. Smoke was billowing from under the hood of the car. He took three short running steps toward the car and leaped onto the car's trunk.
The car was electrically insulated from the pavement by its tires. Robert knew that as long as he or the car didn't touch the ground, he and Jenny would be safe from electrocution. But one of the front tires of the car was now burning and in imminent danger of collapsing which would allow the car’s metal wheel to contact the pavement. That would complete a electrical path from the wire on top of the car to the ground. Then, the car and everything touching it, including Jenny and Robert, would become a conductor for a massive electrical current produced by several thousand volts.
Robert landed precariously on the small trunk of the car but managed to keep his balance. He took his large pocket knife from his pants and opened its blade. Karen watched him intensely. Seeing him open the knife she shrieked, “What‘s he doing?" She pointed frantically toward Robert. “He has a knife! What’s he doing with that knife?"
“Mummy! Mummy!" Jenny echoed Karen’s screams inside the car which was becoming clouded with smoke.
In the distance the wail of approaching fire truck sirens could be heard.
Robert had suffered from noise sensitivity since birth. Loud noises caused intense pain in his ears. His ears were stinging from the firecracker sounds of the electric wires, the screams of the child, the screams of her mother, and now the screams of sirens. He wanted desperately to plug his ears with his fingers. But he needed both hands free.
Robert hammered on the car's rear window with his knife to get Jenny‘s attention. With fear, she remembered past experiences associated with him. Seeing him and the knife, she lowered her head, wagging it frantically to and fro, and flailing her arms. Her screams grew even louder.
Karen struggled to drag Jan so that she could kneel beside Stan. She shook his head violently with one hand, trying to arouse him, without taking her eyes or pointing hand away from Robert. She continued to shriek. “He’s got a knife, Stan! Oh God, he’s got a knife! Someone help!" She broke free from Jan's grip and started toward the car. Jan grabbed her from behind and held Karen tightly around the chest with one arm and covered her mouth with her other hand in order to silence her screaming.
“Karen! I think he’s trying to get Jenny out of the car!" Jan yelled. The approaching fire truck’s siren and blaring horn, kept Karen from hearing what Jan said. The desperate struggle between them continued.
Robert knew that he had precious little time. Smoke was pouring from the engine compartment. The paint on the hood of the car was blistering and smoking. The danger of a gasoline explosion was eminent. At the instant when Jenny lowered her wagging head, he raised his right foot and stomped on the rear window of the car with all his might. The safety glass shattered into thousands of crumbs. He dropped to his knees and thrust the knife, through the window opening and into the car. Seeing his move, Karen strained every muscle of her body, escaped from Jan’s grip, and ran toward the burning car.
Robert’s knife quickly sliced through the seat-belt that restrained Jenny. He dropped the knife and grabbed Jenny, who screamed all the more. He grasped her arm with one hand and lifted her through the broken window opening. One of the teens and a fireman, who had just arrived, grabbed and restrained Karen just before she reached the car. Robert held the screaming, wiggling and kicking child tightly to his chest and leaped from the car as far as he could.
Before Robert and Jenny touched ground, the right front wheel of the car made contact with the pavement and a blinding flash shot from beneath the wheel. The top of the car emitted an accompanying flash and then glowed cherry red for a few seconds.
The back of Robert’s tee shirt was ignited by shooting sparks. One fireman grabbed Jenny away from Robert, while another ripped his smoldering shirt from him. Other firemen used extinguishers on the pickup truck with it’s remaining load of blazing cardboard.
The dancing wires and the electrical sparks instantly stopped when power to the wires was shut off by utility workers several blocks away.
Karen snatched Jenny from a fireman and hugged and kissed her repeatedly.
Jan approached Robert to thank him. Now, she was sure that he was indeed the same man that she had met on the train.
God, I know that you sent him. Thank you, she prayed silently.
“I remember you from the train," she said.
“Yes. I remember you too.” He masked his excitement of seeing her again. They hurried to where Karen knelt on the ground by Stan. Karen looked up at Robert with grateful eyes. Tears flooded her face.
“Thank you," she said. “Thank you with all my heart." She held Jenny close with one arm and stroked Stan‘s head with her other hand. Ambulance technicians worked busily around Stan, who was still unconscious.
“I’m sorry about him," Robert said, pointing at Stan. “I hope he's okay. I didn’t mean to hurt him. He quietly backed away and relaxed for the first time since the excitement began. He paused to consider what happened, and to think about the people involved, and his past connection to them. He lowered his head. “Thank you Lord," he quietly prayed, “thank you for helping me.”
Having moved closer to him, Jan overheard his short prayer. “I thank you too,” she said softly. “What you did was wonderful. I mean risking your life to save that little girl." She placed her hand around his arm and looked into his face.
“I prayed that God would send help and he did. He sent you." She smiled as she looked into his eyes.
“I’m just glad I could help," Robert said. For only the second time, their eyes directly met. This time he didn’t look away from Jan. His face was blackened from the smoke but Jan didn’t notice that at all. She continued to look deep into his eyes.
*****
“Out of the way folks! Coming through!" a medical technician ordered as Stan was carried on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance. Karen walked beside him carrying Jenny. She paused just long enough to ask Jan if she would be able to get home okay.
“Yes, I’ll be fine. You go with Stan." She resumed looking into Robert’s eyes.
“What were you doing around here?" Robert asked.
“It’s a long story," Jan answered. “If you’ll let me take you to supper, I’ll tell you all about it. I’m Jan Murray." She extended her hand and smiled at him.
“Robert. Robert Gatewood." He started to extend his hand, then noting the soot on it, quickly wiped his hand on his trousers and extended it again. “Okay, Jan, I‘d really like that. But let me just go inside and wash up and put on a shirt," he replied, pointing toward the apartment building. “It won’t take but a couple of minutes." He was turbulent with excitement. “You want to wait here or go inside? It’s a little rough," he warned with a frown.
“I’ll take a chance," Jan laughed. “Couldn’t be any worse than Stan’s place.”
“Stan’s place?” Robert asked.
“The guy on the stretcher. That’s Stan. His apartment is in your building.”
“I thought I recognized him," Robert replied. “I’ve seen him come and go a couple of times, but I have not met him. Who‘s the lady with him? I‘ve seen her and the little girl before too.”
“That’s his wife and daughter." I’ll tell you more about them. She wondered where he had seen Karen and Jenny.
Jan picked up the pillowcase wrapped painting that she had dropped on the lawn and they walked up the building stairs together. Robert opened the door to his apartment and motioned for her to go ahead of him.