“Why haven’t we heard this before?”
“Oh we have,” Michael said. “Every culture has its own man-god myth. The truth has always been out there but frankly, it hasn’t been important till now.”
“Why now?”
“The collective experience is becoming…bogged down, mostly due to the religious dogmas refusing to die. Very soon, these fundamentalist creeds will threaten the very existence of all life on earth. That’s why your son is returning to us. He’s the light who will lead us out of the darkness.”
“I thought that’s what he was doing when he came the first time.”
“He was…and he did, but through the centuries, his life and words have become so grossly misunderstood his own legacy threatens everything he ever stood for.”
She sat quietly contemplating.
“Does that trouble you?” he asked after a time.
“I…I guess it’s just not…quite what I had expected.”
She returned to her thoughts, fidgeting once more with the handkerchief. “You mentioned…before,” she said, softly, “that heaven was a real place. Do you think Todd is in heaven?”
Michael smiled. “If I didn't know better, I'd say you really loved him."
Maria stared curiously at Michael. “Yes…”she said softly, “I…did.” Oh my God… I do. I do love him… and he never knew…I never knew.” Her breath caught in her throat and she fell silent. She turned away and sat staring out the port window, her eyebrows pulled together in pain.
“I think Todd is exactly where he was meant to be all along,” Michael said.
Maria turned to face him, her eyes welling with tears. “Do you think he’s happy?”
“I‘m sure of it.”
She began sobbing. “Do you think he remembers me?” Fresh, hot tears flowed down her face. “Do you think he ever thinks about me? Can he feel how much I love him now?”
Michael put his arm around her and pulled her close. “Who could forget you?”
“I’m so tired of crying,” Maria sobbed. “I’m tired of crying over him, wondering where he is…if he's alright, wondering if we would ever be allowed to have our family back…I can’t believe he’s….” She pulled the handkerchief to her face and moaned between fitful sobs.
“Everything okay, Brother Michael?” Mallory said. She and Sarah had stepped out of one of the rooms and into the hall.
“Come,” Michael said, gently pulling Maria from her seat. “Let’s all help Maria find that bed.”
Michael helped Maria to her feet and the four of them made their way down the tiny hall toward the cockpit of the aircraft. They found the room and Michael helped her through the door. He pulled the lavish blankets back, helped Maria into the bed, pulled the covers up and gently tucked them up under her chin.
“It’s been a long time since anyone has done that for me,” she said softly, smiling up at him through tear-filled eyes.
“I very much like doing that for you.”
Maria yawned behind her hand.
“You go to sleep now. We’ll be in Sydney in a few hours.”
“Where?” Maria asked.
“Sydney, Australia…That’s where we’re going.”
“It’s funny,” Maria said, smiling softly. “I never thought to ask. You’re right…I am…very—”
Maria fell asleep. Michael looked down at her beautiful face. “She’s so sad and exhausted. Isn’t there anything we can do for her?”
“She should not be here,” the massive figure standing behind and to his right said.
“You are not in accordance with the Father's will,” the other one said with a voice that sounded as old as time itself,
"The Father has given me dominion." Michael said. "I am a man. I have a man's needs. The Father has given me anyone I want—"
"Not this one."
Michael put his hand up. "Enough! Your mission is to provide me with answers not dictate who I can have or can't have! Do your job and tell me when my question will be answered!”
“The question will answer itself,” both creatures said in unison as they moved soundlessly towards the door. Michael looked on as the mammoth beings returned to the familiar forms of Sarah and Mallory as they stepped out and closed the door behind them.
~~~
Since noon, Todd had been sitting on the curb in front of the house where he and Maria had lived. Occasionally he’d stand up, find a rock and bounce it off the wall. Her car was parked in the driveway. Everything was exactly as it was. He reasoned the Vinces were keeping it for the baby’s new parents; the next family whose lives they would invade and destroy. He stood and threw another rock.
He had been thinking about going in, but he wasn’t sure he could stand the pain. At first…back in the city when the notion struck him, he was even harboring the hope that Maria might be at the house, but of course she wasn’t. Only her ghost was there.
He slowly walked up the steep driveway towards the front door. He decided to turn and walk away but his hand involuntarily reached for the key above the door jamb instead. The door swung open. Everything was just the same as it was. He stepped into the living room. The emptiness of the deserted house filled his senses. He slowly scanned the dark room. The furniture, the pictures, everything was just as it was before their lives had been changed forever.
He looked at the dark, foreboding fireplace and remembered how it used to glow and crackle. He remembered its flickering flames, the soft dancing shadows on Maria’s beautiful face. How they cuddled together drinking Merlot in the warmth of the cozy fire.
“Todd, listen,” Maria said from the couch. He turned into the darkness towards the distant, fleeting voice. She pointed at the black lifeless television. “Todd, the asteroid…” the voice echoed, as the ghost vaporized into the gloom of the murky, lonely room. He made no effort to wipe the tears away as he slowly moved to the kitchen.
“I think I felt the baby kick,” the ghost of Maria said meeting him at the kitchen door. “The baby…”
He turned and looked towards the dining room.
“Tell me one more time,” Maria’s voice echoed off the dark walls. “What does our baby look like now? What does our baby…our baby....”
The sweet voice slowly dissipated into the nothingness that surrounded him. He wiped the tears away with the back of his hand, moved to the end of the hall and opened the bedroom door. The memory of Maria’s lilting laugh sounded from somewhere far away. The sweet smell of her lilac perfume still lingered in the room as he stepped in. He caught his breath at the sight of Maria’s clothes, still hanging in the closet. As he slowly moved towards the closet, his sadness burst into his throat. He collapsed, dragging Maria’s blue dress with him to the floor.
“We had each other!” he screamed, between sobs. “She was mine!”
He lay for hours on the floor crying, pressing his face into Maria’s blue dress, until he had no more tears left. He sat up, wiped the tears away, moved back into the living room and dropped heavily onto the couch. He spotted the photo album he and Maria had started soon after they moved in and reached for it. The pictures seemed strange now. Who were these silly people looking so unconcerned? These naïve little people didn’t have a care in the world. He found the eight-by-ten of Maria from back at UCLA, reached down and kissed her lips, pulled the gun from his pocket and pushed it into his mouth.
“You don’t really want to do that, do you?”
The voice came from behind him. He turned. A man was standing at the open front door. “Don’t I?”
“No, you don’t.”
“Ok,” Todd said, pushing the gun back into his pocket. “And, who might you be?”
“My name is Manny and you’re gonna’ shoot yourself the moment I leave, aren’t you?”
Todd thought about it. “Yeah, doesn’t matter though, we’re all gonna’ die anyway.”
Manny slowly moved into the house. “I’m the assistant pastor at the Church of Christ just up the street.”
r /> “Oh good,” Todd said. “Maybe you could give God a message for me….” He threw his hands up and pushed both middle fingers into the air.
Manny frowned. “You don’t wanna’ do that either.”
“Let me tell you what I do want, pastor!” Todd yelled. “I want you to get the hell out of here, so I can blow my head off in peace!”
“I think you just want peace,” Manny said. “I don’t think you really want to blow your head off.”
Todd laughed and dropped his hands. “I can see why you dudes have started going door to door. My guess is business isn’t so good these days.”
“No, you’re wrong,” Manny said. “Our business is booming—”
Todd laughed animatedly. “Of course… what am I thinking? Calamity, despair…I bet you’re making a killing selling prayer cloths right now.”
“No, Mr. Riley, we’re reaching out to people who’ve abandoned all hope. We’ve gathered food from our own pantries and are feeding the hungry. We’re taking care of the lost and the lonely, the old and the sick. We offer sanctuary and lodging for anyone who needs it.”
Todd sighed and sat back down on the couch. “You do that,” he said softly. “Keep everybody well-fed till your God turns them all into asteroid dust.”
Manny stood quietly at the door before slowly moving forward. “Are you gonna spend the rest of your life feeling sorry for yourself?”
“Yeah,” Todd said. “I plan on cultivating and nurturing this pain…and do you know why? Because this pain is all I have left of my wife…that’s why! And…how do you know my name?”
“I’ve been the assistant pastor at the Church of Christ for a while now. I always meant to come and talk with you folks. I guess I just haven’t gotten around to doing it till now.”
“Good timing,” Todd said.
An uncomfortable silence fell on the darkened room.
“Ok, Manny, this is the deal,” Todd said finally. “I don’t care about God. He doesn’t care about me, so… listen closely. I’m not interested….Can you understand? Look, read my lips…N-O-T I-N-T-E-R-E-S-T-E-D.”
Manny smiled and lifted his hands into the air. “Ok, ok I understand, but there’s something you should remember: In all things, God works for the good of those who love him; who have been called according to his purpose.”
“What did you say?” Todd yelled.
“I know you’ve been called according to his purpose—”
“Why would you use those words?” Todd said. “Why those words?”
“Leland was a friend of mine,” Manny said. “He had connections, found out where you lived and knew I was the assistant pastor at a church near you. He was convinced from the beginning that you were called by God. He wanted me to check up on you from time to time when you got out.
Todd sniffed and glanced around the room. “Leland’s dead.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“We had a Christian outreach at the prison. We were notified.”
Todd softened. “He died singing Amazing Grace.”
Manny smiled. “That sounds like Leland. He was a true man of God.”
“Yeah, a dead one,” Todd said. He looked away for a moment before returning his attention to Manny. “I’m still not interested."
Manny turned back towards the door. “The creator of heaven and earth is calling you, Mr. Riley. I wouldn’t ignore Him if I were you. At some point He may stop.” Manny stepped out the door.
“Manny!” Todd yelled.
Manny returned to the door.
“There’s a woman and a little girl, they’ve been shadowing me since I left the city. My guess is, they’ve figured out I won’t hurt them and want someone to run to in case of trouble.”
“Do you mean Ashley and little Meagan?” Manny asked.
“How did you know?”
“They’re sitting on your front lawn. I talked to them on my way in.”
Todd frowned and nodded. “Good,” he said softly. “Can you help them?”
Manny smiled. “Ashley and Meagan are safe now.”
~~~
“The coastal areas, for the most part, have been the hardest hit; the Atlantic coast in particular. Within an hour of the announcement the streets of New York City filled with people, everyone trying to get out of the buildings at the same time. We’ve known since the beginning of the twentieth century that on any given workday, there are around seventy-five people in the buildings of New York City for every square foot of space in the streets. That’s not taking into account the vehicles. It’s been three days since the announcement. Most of the people are still in the streets, crushed together like worms in a can….People are dropping like mayflies.”
“Boston…pretty much the same story…only they’re having to deal with the massive onrush of people camping out on the beaches waiting for some sort of rescue. It’s the same story up and down the coast from New England to Florida. The west coast has suffered a similar calamity.”
“Mexico and Canada have both sealed their borders and are shooting our people on sight. Both nations have their own hysteria to deal with.”
“The country’s airports were completely swamped from the outset. Within hours of the announcement, people flooded the terminals, demanding passage out of the country. The airlines weren’t able to handle the onrush…The citizens swamped the tarmacs and runways, till it was impossible for anyone to leave. It’s the same story everywhere.”
The Director of Homeland Security paused a moment to adjust his reading glasses, looked up at the President and continued. “The central states have pretty much given way to total lawlessness. The police and military, for the most part, are abandoning their posts, leaving the law-abiding citizens to face the marauding bands of criminals on their own. There are reports of some vigilante groups making halfhearted attempts at maintaining order but they haven’t been particularly successful.”
“The criminals seemed to have organized somewhat and have pretty much horded what’s left of the entire food supply for themselves. The gasoline and heating supplies have been taken…they’ve taken the livestock…”
“Utah…all out war. Apparently, the Mormon leadership recommended its members keep a two-year supply of food on hand…word got out. A particularly nasty group took over the weapons stored at the abandoned Tooele Depot. They killed everyone who stood in their way…”
“The Mormons managed to re-group and mount a resistance…those who hadn’t left the area…As far as we know, the fighting is still going on out there.”
The President sighed and turned to the SECDEF. “I should never have made that damn announcement.”
“What else could you do, sir?” the SECDEF said. “The whole world watched Challenger explode on TV. Your announcement only confirmed what they already knew—”
“What’s the latest word from the European Union?” the President said.
The SECDEF sat up in his seat and snorted. “Well, sir, apparently we haven’t reached the point of desperation they’re hoping for. That will have to happen before they pull out their trump card. You can bet the wheels are spinning as we speak; big dealers negotiating in dark smoky dens all over Europe.”
“Of course,” the president said. “They finally have their tough cousin in a headlock. What do they want now?”
“Well sir, at this moment, it’s a game of numbers. To date, our population is estimated to be just under three hundred million souls…All twenty-six E.U. member states, with the exception of Malta, are willing to take up to a million of our citizens each, providing reparations are met. Bulgaria is also willing to take some of our people, but that still leaves around two hundred seventy four million homeless Americans. Israel has tentatively offered to take some of our Jewish citizens but that isn’t final. Hamas is standing firmly against it, of course.”
The SECDEF paused for a moment and continued. “Even if all the nations of the world welcomed our people with open arms, we could never move that m
any people in the small amount of time we have left.”
The president looked down at his desk. “I shouldn’t have attempted such a risky venture. I should’ve spent the time working out a realistic plan of evacuation instead of wasting the lives of our brave men and women on such a chase.”
The SECDEF glanced up from the floor, shifted his eyes around the oval office and turned his attention to the President. “I don’t profess to have the wisdom or the knowledge to run our great nation but if it’s any consolation, I’d have done the same damn thing as you did.”
“As would I,” the Chief of Staff said, breaking his silence.
“Me too,” the head of Homeland Security said.
“I would’ve too,” the Secretary of State said, breaking his silence as well.
The President smiled. “Thanks people. That means more to me than you can imagine.” He leaned back in his chair.
“This is what we’re gonna do,” he said after a moment. “We’re gonna bring the battleships home. Wake up the mothball fleets, commission every ship we can find and commandeer every seaworthy yacht. Then we’re gonna distribute them evenly on both coasts and park them five miles off our beaches. Then we’ll find every Flying Crane and bulldozer in the armed forces and use them to clear the airports. We’ll line the planes up in an orderly fashion and wait for just the right time. Charlie and I,” he nodded at the SECSTATE, “are gonna find homes for our citizens. We will get our ducks in a row my friends…and we are gonna get our people to hell out of here.”
~~~
The four identical SUVs drove up the vast circular driveway. They pulled forward and stopped at the curb. Dozens of dark-suited men quickly disembarked one by one onto the broad sidewalk. Behind the four SUVs, and preceding three others, a long white limo, sporting a small Saudi Arabian flag on each fender, glided to a rest in front of the Embassy of Russia in Zagreb, Croatia. The men in black suits quickly moved to their respective stations. Most of them fanned out, diligently scanning each of their pre-arranged zones for signs of trouble. A few others moved to the rear of the limo and pulled the passenger side door open.