The Stolen Star

screamed above the heads of those sitting at the table and there could only one possible explanation for their appearance:

  “A leak, there’s been a leak!!!”

  Immediately, the portrait of his magnificence that was hanging right above the throne began to stir. It depicted him in all his finery. An immaculate black suit and trousers tucked into elegant boots. In his hands he held a small whip decorated at its base with a huge black diamond. His face was framed by his straight glossy black hair and his beard and moustache formed a pointed triangle. His face was long with a huge nose and the blackest hawk-like eyes, which had strange green twinkle to them. His thin lips were set into a permanent hint of a sneer.

  Suddenly the portrait tore itself from the wall and began to beat its underlings around the head. It took on a life of its own and magnificence’s whip flashed in all directions flogging his servants all over. They dived for the floor and lay kow-towing servilely. Thunder and lightning poured forth from magnificence, his eyes flickered with a serpentine fire and he was so full of rage that his thin lips were stretched into a huge grimace from ear to ear. The beating continued for nearly an hour and when the portrait finally stopped and stood itself in the middle of the table, the first deputy carefully lifted his head and said:

  "Your magnificence, there must be some mistake. There can’t have been any leak.”

  "Silence!” screamed the portrait, "security has detected a beam, which darted out of the council chamber, passed straight through the thick side of the mountain and in an instant had shot up into the heavens.”

  Once again the whip flashed in the hands of the boss of bosses.

  "Have mercy on us, your magnificence but there was absolutely no living thing in the council chamber."

  “What about the rose in your lapel Deputy!" Magnificence thundered.

  “A rose, what rose? Ah, yes but that was made for communications," said the first deputy trying to explain himself.

  “Well, where is it now?!”

  And indeed the rose was no longer there in its place hung a small old fashioned school bell.

  "I… I bought it for my grandson as a present, he’s just about to start at school and I attached it here so I wouldn’t forget it."

  In truth the deputy had no idea whether it was his little bell or not but he had no choice in the matter. He was one of those people who had at one stage had been seduced and sold his soul for allure of money. But today when the portrait had been hitting him around the head a single humane thought flashed into his brain:

  “Why was there only ever the boss’s portrait in this place and never the boss himself? Did he actually exist at all? Then why did he have to hide behind such a complicated and ornate disguise?”

  Today, the boss reminded him of one of the cartoons from his childhood, which was only really frightening the first time he saw it and then stopped being frightening at all when he understood it.

  Well, there was no way that the boss was going to turn himself into something real from this portrait.

  The poor chap even smiled to himself at this thought but immediately covered his mouth with his hand.

  “Oh Lord, I only hope no-one noticed.”

  The vice deputy’s soul was filled with a pleasant warmth. His demonic persona had been suffocating him for a long time. And now he had remembered God, even here in the citadel of evil, this meant that it was time for him to leave these dark and black people.

  Before long the deputy had thought up a decent excuse to leave the demons, he got himself a posting in a religious sect. Of course all the others held on to their posts tooth and nail and the deputy's place was filled as quickly as he was forgotten. And that was the second important leak of information that day.

  The first part of the plan was to split the family up. As one they wielded a huge and powerful life force and it would be difficult to overcome them. The plan had to be cunning because in order to split people apart you have to do it on a spiritual level as well. After that it’s just a question of “divide and rule”.

  The Family

  The family had a life of its own. The parents worked, the children studied at school, grandmother did the housework and the Star of faith shined brightly above them. The family was like any other, but the light of love shone particularly brightly on this family.

  During this period grandmother prayed for everyone, she was old and very wise. She was a boundless source of good advice and had a saying for every event that life could throw at you. Grandmother passed her faith on to her family as if it were the most precious treasure in the world. Thanks to her, the family observed all the Christian holidays and traditions. Even though this was at a time when going church could mean risking many of life’s comforts. But God kept and preserved them all.

  The children grew up to be kind, clever and generous. The family was untouched by evil. Of course, each member had their own bad experiences, but these were barred at the door of the family home. Then everyone would discuss what had happened together, give their opinion and… everything would carry on as before.

  The parents invested their lives and souls into their children. They watched them with great pride. The children were successful in everything they did: in science, in music and in sport.

  The happy times continued as the children grew up and began to study in college. The student lectures, exams and, of course, parties passed in the blinking of an eye. The house was always filled to bursting with friends and mirth.

  Eventually the girls made their choices and found husbands. Two new people came into the family. The parents welcomed them with joy. They lived on friendly terms and the daughters' husbands had more or less the same values as the family. But their parents were not altogether happy with everything. They began to "preach sermons” to their sons and pass judgement on everyone else. The children began to harbour secrets from their parents, the previous openness and sincerity in their relationship began to disappear. The family began to experience more difficult times. The family's life force had dissipated and dissolved and its vital aura became a pale imitation of itself. During this period the daughters took a very intelligent and adult position in relation to their husbands. The daughters’ parents did not meddle in their married daughters affairs so as not to interfere in the young people’s independence. But this generosity and nobility only served to deepen the pressure on the family. But what was to be done? Who would come to their aid and where would it come from? Basically, two worlds were rubbing up against each other within one family. Distrust had found its way into the family.

  The mother read the Bible from cover to cover. What a wonderful world God had opened up for his people in this book! So much advice, goodness, love and charity! At every opportunity she tried to pass on all these gifts to her children. Her daughters understood, but the others, the husbands, either didn’t understand or disagreed with everything. Faith, it seemed to them, was a sign of weakness.

  One of the husband’s parents placed a complete veto on their daughter in law’s spiritual beliefs. And this veto was backed up by a series of threats that the daughter would be cut off from their family.

  It was difficult. The father died before his time. The mother remained alone and helped her children silently, patiently and with love.

  The old prophet had given her a piece of advice she had never forgotten – “never be slow to turn to the Lord”. Of course faith never left their home but at that time it took a particular effort to keep all these negative things at bay. And she could only count on herself and her children. After all you can’t tell the local priest everything. If she were to describe every detail it would end up sounding like some sort of thriller.

  Everyone worked as hard as they could both physically and spiritually. Natalie was more successful in her work. She mastered the science of psychology, studied human capacities that had been previously remained unknown, sp
ent time in many ancient monasteries and churches and worked her way through so many tomes of literature covering the various branches of alternative medicine that in time she was able to open her own practise.

  Sophia supported her husband after he had been in an accident with every ounce of the strength of her spirit. She also nursed her son who suffered from stress related illnesses all through his childhood as a result of a mistake made by the doctors during his infancy. She kept her family's moral spirit up during all these difficult times. She also studied and mastered the different languages, cultures, customs and traditions of the various countries that she had been living in with her family.

  The mother also did much to help. She was totally responsible for one of her grandsons and supported his spiritual and physical development. She developed in many ways herself. But she believed these merits to be a blessing from God rather than her own achievement.

  And the family had great hope for the future. As St. Paul said in his epistle to the Romans:

  "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit?"

  And the daughters gave birth to children: Sophia had Michael and two years later Natalie had Ben. And it came to pass that the two cousins ended up living in