Chapter Five
Gifted Away
I idly sipped my green tea as I waited for Maria. She was late. I saw her then and I did a double take, even as I groaned inwardly.
This was not what I’d been expecting. Elsie had gone overboard to say it mildly, but why had Maria gone along with it? And why did she have to look so darn hot!
Maria came to a stop before me and she tipped back her Indiana Jones styled leather fedora to give me an expressive eyebrow hike up, “What do you think Elon?”
My eyes drifted away from her face and I was grateful for the table covering my lap. What did I think?
I think I wanted her to go find some other clothes is what I thought!
But what I said was, “I think that if you strapped a sawed off shotgun to your hip and you had a crossbow cradled in your arms you’d be the 18th century Hollywood style version of what a vampire slayer should look like.”
Completely dead faced serious she responded with, “I never much cared for crossbows, but the shotgun and I go way back.” She said, as she patted the leather pack she had slung on with one hand suggestively.
She couldn’t be serious!
Feeling my temper begin to rise I said, “The vampire slayer comment wasn’t a compliment! Don’t you think you look somewhat conspicuous in that getup?”
Her eyebrows rose as she took me in with a single glance, “Couldn’t you say the same for yourself Elon?”
Was she inferring that I looked like a vampire slayer from the 18th century?
I glanced down at myself.
Sure I wore a good bit of leather and I had a hat and I dressed somewhat more old fashionably…… Oh darn! I did look like a vampire slayer.
I sighed and glanced up to see her smiling playfully at me. Oh God what are you trying to do to me with this woman!
“I guess you’ve made your point.” I said grumpily.
She smiled triumphantly in response and sourly I got up and turned away to head down the street and away from her.
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Maria followed after Elon. She was certainly having an effect on him and in some ways that was her purpose if not her job description, if it could be called that. She didn’t like the thought of this being a job. It was going to become far too personal a thing to think of Elon as simply a job objective.
Sudden panic coursed through her. It was going to be personal what transpired between her and Elon wasn’t it? She wasn’t just going to be……..”
“No.”
Her panic paused for a moment. Was there going to be more to follow that definitive thought?
There was nothing. But she knew what it wasn’t going to be so that left her with the position of determining how personal things would be. She wasn’t good about being personal, but this was important.
“Elon I don’t think you should be embarrassed because of your attraction to me.” Maria said hurriedly as she tried to keep up with Elon’s fast pace.
He stopped.
“I know I am considered beautiful and I’m flattered that you think so as well and I’m not offended by it.
Elon looked back, “There can never be anything intimate between us!”
“Why?” Maria asked hesitantly.
“I made a promise a long time ago that I have to keep.”
Elon turned back to continue on, but Maria spoke out more boldly than she felt inside, “My purpose here with you isn’t to torment you or much less to be a source of temptation to lead you away from any promise that you’ve ever made.”
Elon turned around and it was quite apparent that he was very angry. So much so that Maria wanted to back away, as he came toward her, but she didn’t.
“And just what pray tell is your purpose?” Elon said, as his hot breath washed out over Maria’s face.
Feeling like she was staring down a lion Maria softly said, “A gift.”
“What!!! What kind of a gift?” Elon stormed out with in question.
“A gift from God to you.”
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I stared incredulously into her eyes, but found no lie there. She was serious!
“You’re for me?” I asked trying to clarify what she’d said.
She nodded and I thought of the toy shop owner who’d made me take the doll claiming I’d have a daughter and then six more children after that. I thought of all the women I had passed by from Queens to milkmaid sirens to finally come to this moment that I had been sure would never happen. Was God really giving me what I had always desired?
“The hotel incident?” I asked leadingly.
Maria nodded somehow knowing as to what I was referencing and said, “It’s hard to obey some things. Being given away as a gift to a man is not something I ever expected to be asked of me. It’s not something I would’ve ever conceded to on my own. No offense meant.”
“None taken.” I said just as softly as she had spoken.
I saw a bench beside us and I sat down feeling overwhelmed inside and very confused.
“You don’t understand it either?” Maria asked.
I looked up at her and shook my head no.
“But something makes you believe what I’m saying?”
“Yes.” I said before looking away. I was confused and yet I was privately elated.
There was another emotion rising up within me choking off any feeling of elation I had previously felt. It was fear. Fear of making a mistake. Fear of the unknown. Fear of what might be asked of me. So many fears and I tried to swish them all away, as they were trying to spoil one of the greatest moments of my life.
“Elon?”
I glanced up to see Maria standing there almost on the verge of tears.
“What is it Maria?”
“I…… I…… I……”
I pulled her down to the bench beside me. Tears were now flowing and she wouldn’t look at me. She seemed almost scared to.
“What are you scared of Maria?”
She shrugged expressively, as if to say she didn’t know or that there were too many fears to count.
“Me?” I asked.
Her eyes turned to mine and she quickly said, “No, not really. Not anymore.”
I studied her for a long moment, “You know I think you’re one of the bravest women I’ve ever met.”
Her eyes lit up in surprise, “Whatever could make you think that?”
“I just do. Now what were you going to ask me Maria?”
“Could we date for a while before…….”
“Absolutely!”
She went on as if I hadn’t spoken, “I know I don’t have the right to ask and I’d never refuse you or what God wants, but I…….”
“I’ve waited for over 3000 years I think I can wait a little longer.”
I watched her face go slack with shock and before she could burst out with the usual questions I said, “You’re worth the wait anyway.”
She swallowed and just looked at me looking very shaken. Sudden thoughts filled my head and I gripped the bench hard feeling shaken to the core of myself.
Dimly I heard Maria calling to me, “Elon are you all right?”
I came back to the present and opened my eyes to gaze into her worried ones.
Out of curiosity I asked, “Was there anything else the God asked of you in concern to me?”
“He told me to pray for you.”
I nodded and glanced down. Not only was God giving me physical and emotional companionship with a woman that I wouldn’t have to watch grow old and die, but he had also given me help in the work that I did for the Kingdom.
In all my years I’d never had anyone devoted to praying just for me. Perhaps it was possible that I could accomplish more with this woman by my side than I ever had just by myself. God had granted my private desires, but ultimately He’d satisfied my spiritual ones.
I was a better person with her than without her and I hadn’t lost my soul in the pursuit of something forbidden to me in order to attain her. Instead what I had desired had been gifted to me and I was the better for it.
“Did you see something Elon?”
“I did.”
A private joy opened up within me at the realization that I finally had someone that I could talk and relate to. Someone I could trust.
“I have visions sometimes that show me paths to take and what I am to do. Sometimes it’s as simple as giving a word of encouragement or a warning to someone. Sometimes it’s been to save humanity itself from some calamity of its own creation or from the dark powers that be.”
“What did you see this time?”
“A mutual friend of ours and his family are in grave danger. We must go to them for we have been empowered by the Holy Spirit of God to intercede on behalf of them.”
I watched Maria’s face quiver slightly as we both felt the ripple and awareness of the power of the Holy Spirit course through us.
“What are we up against?” She asked bravely and I told it to her straight.
“Whatever power of darkness that hell throws against us.”
I saw fear in her eyes, but I also saw determination for the fight. I reached over and patted the outline of the sawed off shotgun in her pack, “The shotguns going to have to sit this one out I’m afraid. Such weapons will do us no good in the coming struggle.”
She swallowed expressively before asking, “What do we fight with then?”
“The promises of God given to us through His Holy Scripture and prayer. Lots of prayer.”
I stood up and I extended my hand down to Maria and smiled as I asked, “Ready to join me on our first adventure together?”
She looked scared and excited all at the same time, but her hand reached up to mine and enclosed with it and we were both immediately caught away by the Holy Spirit of God.