After his meeting with FOX 5 WAGA-TV, Jeff felt confident that they would air the story about the mysterious light or object he had seen flash in the sky that night not long ago in Villa Rica. He headed over to Dusty’s Barbeque, a rustic restaurant with a lot of character, though maybe a little too rustic with a little too much character. Dusty’s was his favorite Georgia BBQ place.
Located on Clifton Road within a mile of Emory, Dusty’s was an icon among the Emory crowd and had Atlanta’s best barbeque by far, styled after the famed vinegar-based barbeque from the Piedmont Area of North Carolina. As good as it was, Dusty’s could not hold a candle to Kepley’s in High Point, N.C.
Entering Dusty’s, Jeff couldn’t believe his eyes. Samarra was sitting in a small booth at the rear. Seeing her for the second time in one day was a good thing. Maybe it’s a sign, he thought, briefly. He headed toward her table.
“We have to stop meeting like this.” Jeff, using one of his favorite lines, grabbed an iced tea pitcher, sweetened, and refilled Samarra’s half-empty plastic Coca-Cola glass. “How was the staff meeting?”
“Twice in one day, is that a good sign or bad sign?” she responded with her usual smile. Jeff wondered if her olive cheeks ever got sore from all that smiling, and how could anyone possibly be that happy. Maybe it was her husband or son that put that smile on her face, but it was lovely indeed.
“Of course it’s a good sign, silly girl. How’s the barbeque plate?”
“Good as usual, but the sizzlin’ sauce is a little too much for me. Hey, want to go hear a lecture with me? It’s in thirty minutes at the Emory Conference Center. Come on. Go with me.” Samarra had that little pout-look going on, using it to her advantage, begging just a little.
“How long does it last and what’s it about.” Jeff really didn’t have time, needing to get home and clean up, at least the kitchen, before picking up Chad but hated to miss an opportunity to spend an afternoon with Samarra. That would have to help his credibility if any of his single friends saw him with such a knockout. Some women were beautiful, he thought, but Samarra is in a league of her own.
“It’s not going to last long, maybe an hour. Then I have to pick up my son-Thomas. Go with me.”
“OK,” Jeff said, knowing he would end up with a dirty kitchen but also knowing that Chad could care less. Maybe he could stay for part of the lecture and still get all the stuff done that he needed to do. “You talked me into it, you smooth talker you.”
“Do you want to ride with me? In my new car? Vrooom, vroom,” he asked hopefully, though he figured Samarra wouldn’t be nearly as impressed with the GTR as he was. She was a girl for Pete’s sake.
“No, I better not. I’m always susceptible to getting emergency calls, especially with the missing smallpox cultures. I’ll meet you there in fifteen minutes. Will that work?”
Jeff picked up Samarra’s check, insisting that he pay because he was a Southern Gentleman, unlike those gentlemen from New England, if New England actually had gentlemen.
Leaning over, her modest pink tank-top revealing slightly the swell of her more-than-adequate cleavage, Samarra gave him his second kiss on the cheek today. She departed, rushing out the door. Jeff ordered a small beef sandwich to go, paid the bill and headed to the Emory Conference Center, cleavage on his brain.
Parking the gray Nissan GTR at the farthest reaches of the parking lot, trying to prevent a visit from the door-ding demon, Jeff crossed the lot, brushing spring pollen from his black, silk shirt, which only resulted in a green-yellowish smear. Taking the steps two-at-a-time, Jeff walked through the west entrance and into the common-area lobby, noticing the rose granite tile floor and the reflections of the hideous fluorescent fixtures recessed into the ceiling. The 2X4 fluorescent fixtures in the lobby ceiling seemed to highlight Jeff’s now black and green- yellowish silk shirt, as he headed to the men’s room to reinstate the shirt back to its normal state of blackness.
He wondered why any architect would use fluorescent lights in a conference center that had imported granite flooring and laughed, remembering all the Internet dates he asked to meet him at a Super Wal-Mart so they could see what each other really looked like. He learned quickly that fluorescent light left nothing at all to the imagination, magnifying small indentations in one’s face, seemingly to the depth of a lunar crater.
Exiting the men’s room, he spotted Samarra standing by the entrance to the auditorium, talking to a couple of lady friends. Glancing at the marquis, noting that the speech was by Dr. Joseph Scibet Rosenberg, Professor of Apocalyptic Religion and Monotheism, Jeff suddenly wished he had declined. Today’s lecture, one of several in the series, was titled: Bible Prophecy and the Signs of the Times.
Jeff had no interest in the Bible or its superstitions any more than he was interested in the zodiac. He had friends, mainly lady friends, who could not start their day until the newspaper came with the day’s astrological forecast. Superstitions were bad enough, but religious superstitions were especially ridiculous.
Jeff had noted all the end-of-the-world signs proliferating, not only in the streets of Atlanta but even the streets of Paris where he vacationed a few months earlier, but had absolutely no interest in this lecture, though all the signs did seem extreme.
Walking toward Samarra, crossing the granite-tiled lobby with the fluorescent reflections of the ceiling above, Jeff graciously interrupted. Gently holding Samarra’s arm, he asked the other ladies if he could borrow her for just a minute.
“I have to go, just got a call from Melissa, some kind of emergency.” Jeff didn’t really lie, because he had gotten a call from Melissa yesterday, before the dream.
“Well darn. Please tell Melissa I said hello, and oh, how are the kids?”
“Audry is going on twenty-five, and the twins are twenty-five going on fifteen. Go figure.” This time it was Jeff who gave Samarra the cheek-kiss, three in a single day. Though it was a platonic thing, he knew that in his heart, she sure was pretty.
After Jeff left, Samarra took a seat at the rear of the auditorium while introductions were being made, loving the beauty and architecture of the elegant space, the thirty-foot ceilings and theater lighting.
“….and Condi Zimmerman. Ms. Zimmerman will be tonight’s moderator, or referee I might say,” Dr. Rosenberg said, pausing for the laughs to subside. “Sometimes we need a referee. Anytime religion is a topic, anything can happen.
“I would also like to welcome our Research Board and offer special recognition to Judi Ellis and Sheryl Lasseter for their hours-and-hours of voluntary research they have accomplished for this series.
“Judi Ellis, a paleobiologist at Emory’s Primate Research Center, has been an unbelievably great help. Sheryl Lasseter is Director of the United States Public Relations Liaison, as many of you know. She is a personal friend of many years, and I am glad she could participate.”
After the introductions, Condi Zimmerman informed the group to please hold their applause, comments or protests until the Question and Answer part.
Condi: “Dr. Rosenberg, you have lectured all over the United States and Europe about the coming apocalypse and the ‘signs- of-the-times’ and about the roles of Christianity, Judaism and Islam in this coming apocalypse, should it occur. Please explain.”
Dr. Rosenberg: “Thanks Condi, and it will occur, it’s just the timing that may be in question. No matter the religion, or lack thereof, the end has been on man’s mind, probably from the beginning. And please understand that these are only my opinions. “God has not come down and told me I was correct, but I have studied the prophecies for four decades.”
“The end, Biblically, does not mean the end of the planet, the destruction of earth from its very orbit. Earth will not cease to exist or break apart. According to the Biblical prophets however, it will undergo massive changes and the system of things as we know them will cease to exist.
“Almost two thousand years ago, Jesus, who Christians believe is the Messiah who was foretold by the ancient Jewish prophets to come to the Jews and save them from themselves, was having a conversation with a few of his followers.
“Remember that all of Jesus’ followers at that time, about 33 A.D., were Jews; and even today the Jews and Muslims consider Jesus to have been a great teacher and prophet, though apparently a liar at the same time, which is not possible for a prophet, since he did say he was the Messiah and Son of God.
“Remember the movie Liar Liar with Jim Carrey? The character played by Carrey could not tell a lie, even if he wanted to. That is the way it was with the ancient prophets, they could not lie when they were speaking in the first-person for God. They spoke the words that God gave them to speak. That does not mean these guys were happy to be prophets, because many of them were killed by the very people to whom they were prophesying.
“Jonah and the whale. Most everyone has heard the story. Actually the Bible did not mention a whale but a ‘big fish’ that would include the whale species but was not limited, as there were and still are, many large fish in the sea capable of swallowing a man entirely.
“Nineveh, you see, was the capital of Assyria; that would be Syria today. Assyria was Israel’s staunchest enemy then, similar to present-day Syria.
“Nineveh was a large city, taking three days to walk from one side to the other and was known for its decadence. There were prostitutes, pole-dancers, public nudity, homosexuality, adultery, orgies, graft, you name it, anything goes, or went.
“Jonah thought, ‘no way am I going to go tell those people to change their evil ways or else. They’ll kill me!’ So he took off, got on a boat to Tarshish, Spain, hoping to escape.
“Prophets were often reluctant, because they feared being thrown from a cliff or stoned to death; and for you college kids, stoned to death may not be what you’re thinking.”
The audience laughed and knew exactly what Dr. Rosenberg was talking about.
Condi: “Dr. Rosenberg, do these prophecies have relevance in today’s world? Have any of the prophecies come to fruition, and what were Jesus’ followers asking him about The Last Days?”
Dr. Rosenberg: “In reality Condi, and ladies and gentlemen, every single prophecy that was made by the ancient Jewish prophets came true, unlike the predictions of Nostradamus, the Hopis and the Mayans, except for those pertaining to The Last Days or End Times. Now they are coming to fruition, faster than you might think.
“One very key prophecy that came true was the restoration, the regathering if you will, of the Jews to Israel. May 15, 1948, after nearly three thousand years of exile, occupation and dispersion, Israel was restored and so was the language of the ancient Jews, Hebrew. This is significant because it was foretold that God would reestablish Israel to her ancient borders in the End Times. While Israel does not live in all of what was ancient Israel, it is happening as we speak.
“When the Apostles questioned Jesus after he told them that an end-of-all-things would come, they wanted to know when? I mean, who wouldn’t want to know that?
“The answer to that question, when the times would end, was not answered; because Jesus claimed not to know the exact date and time. He said that only God (his Father in heaven) knew the exact date and time. That includes December 21, 2012. However he did tell his followers to look for certain signs; and when they happened, the time would be near. I have outlined some of these signs in your Program Notes:
Jesus’ words, the Gospel, would be told to all parts of the world population.
“There were many other prophecies about the signs of the end of times, including but not limited to:
People will be lovers of themselves (Narcissism). Notice any of that going on?
People will be lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, ungrateful and unholy.
Children will be disobedient to their parents.
There will be great sexual immorality. Do ya think? “Concerning the recent hailstorms, including the storm in
China that killed more than ten thousand people and a million livestock; goats, cows, chickens, the hailstorm is an interesting phenomenon.
“According to Revelation, the final book of the Bible, just before the world wide devastation referred to as The End, people will proclaim that the hail was the worst plague of all.
“Just last week at Georgia State University, a young, female, Muslim student was killed in class by a large hailstone crashing through the window. There was a gentleman, Jeffrey Ross, who risked his own life to return to save this young lady, but to no avail.”
Samarra wondered why Jeffrey had not mentioned that when her Blackberry began to vibrate, indicating an incoming call. She quietly slipped out the rear auditorium exit to return the call. There was no number registered; but there was a message, a chilling message she thought.
“Samarra Russell, do not be concerned with who this is. You need to get home as soon as possible. We left a package for you on your kitchen counter. Do not hesitate, because timing is everything.”
Samarra didn’t recognize the voice, but the accent sounded Middle Eastern. She did a one eighty and exited the building, in a rush.
As Samarra passed the conference room, she heard Condi Zimmerman ask Dr. Rosenberg if the Koran or Islam played a part in The End; and she wondered what the answer to that question would be.