Chapter Fourteen
Old Memories
The next day saw me driving again. We reached our destination around ten o’clock. It was a small town nestled in the hills. It appeared to be a rather quaint little town that had gone unscathed by the ravages affecting the larger society.
Evette directed me down the back streets of the town, but we still gathered some unwanted attention from passerby’s on the streets.
Their unkind and suspicious gazes seemed to linger on us as we passed. I’d only been here for a few minutes and I didn’t care for it already. I could only imagine how Evette felt about coming back to her old home. I asked as much of her.
“It used to be nice, but it changed. Or I should I say its people have changed, for the worse.”
I couldn’t disagree with her on that one. The town of Loch Lynn Heights appeared to be an unhappy one at best, with a more adequate description of it falling in somewhere between unhappy and menacing.
I didn’t care for it or its people and I was eager to get the Bible and then get out and head home.
This entire trip had been a stressful ordeal and I was eager to put it behind me and wake back up in my own bed, with the only pressing concern being to survive my daily sparring match with Rolf unscathed.
Evette broke into my daydream by directing me towards a white building that sat up on a hill by itself.
I glanced over at Evette to see her sitting there tensely. She was as tense as tense could get. She had surprised all of us this morning, when she had come out of the room that they called a bathroom.
Somehow she had washed the red dye from her hair bringing back the natural brunette color of her hair. Her natural hair color was much more becoming and less harsh than the intenseness of the red color her hair had been.
I was pretty certain that Larc had liked the change too; going by the way he had eaten her up with his eyes. She had simply smiled shyly at the intenseness of his gaze on her and asked if there was anything to eat.
Larc didn’t know it yet, but she had him wrapped around her little finger. I wasn’t sure I wanted that in a relationship with my future woman.
Would I have a choice?
Larc looked happy enough though, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
I drew up the SUV in front of the building that I recognized as a church. Excitement began to course through me at the prospect of the near success of our mission.
Evette was the last to get out of the vehicle.
Thanic and Orhanin stayed with the children, while Talaric drew off a ways to hold watch. There were only two other vessels parked in front of the white church building.
Larc started up the stairs followed by Evette and I trailed along behind. As we neared the top of the stairs a woman with what looked like cleaning supplies bustled out of the two big doors. She seemed surprised to see us and dropped the stuff she was holding.
She gave Evette a particularly sharp look and then with a last glance at us she hurried on down the steps past us and after throwing her stuff into one of the vessels she drove away.
Larc looked at Evette, “Did she recognize you?”
“I don’t see how she could have. I was only twelve when I ran away from here.”
We continued on and into the church. It had a musty old smell to it. The cleaning lady could have done a better job I thought to myself.
After a short entrance area the building opened up to a larger elongated room with a vaulted ceiling. There were rows of seats to either side of a central isle, with a raised stage area at the far end of the room.
We moved further into the church down the central isle. I felt nothing of the presence of God in the place, just emptiness. I saw the form of a gray headed man sitting on the front row of the benches near the stage on the left side.
Evette stopped when she saw the man and Larc stayed beside her, as I advanced to the front of the church to confront the man. He was an older man, but he looked older than I doubted that he was.
The air of defeat and the troublesome issues of life seemed to wear heavily on the man’s face and countenance. It appeared, as if he was tired of living life itself.
He raised time wearied eyes up to look at me, “Can I help you with something?” He asked tiredly in a tone of voice that signified that he meant the opposite of what he had offered.
I disregarded his insincerity of statement and went to the crux of the matter, “I’m looking for a Bible. Do you have any that I could take with me?”
The man snorted slightly and shook his head with a sad look to his eyes, “You’re too late my friend. If you had come, but two years ago you would have found a Bible in every pew and even more of them stacked up in the supply closet. There all gone now though.”
I looked at him somewhat harshly not trusting him, “You’re saying all the Bible’s are gone? None are left?”
Somewhat taken aback by my intensity he quickly responded, “The only Bible left in Loch Lynn Heights, to my knowledge is held by the Baron.”
“Who is he and why is he the only one that possesses a Bible?”
The man seemed surprised, “You don’t know who the Baron is?”
At my threatening look he hastily said, “The Baron’s family founded this town a long time ago and they’ve been in control of it ever since. About fifteen years ago there were some private investors, who tried to take control of the town over from the Baron’s family. They succeeded to some degree. When the disaster occurred, the upheaval and disorder that followed caused the Baron to step back into the town’s picture once more. He either bought out or forced out and some even say killed all those who had opposed him. Since then he has had complete control over the town in the absence of any outside control. He felt that the town needed to go in a different direction spiritually. He felt that he should shepherd the new spiritual movement. He holds services here every Saturday night, which is tomorrow. He may bring the Bible with him, he doesn’t always though. In any event I wouldn’t recommend that you come. He doesn’t like strangers to come or stay in his town.”
“What does he preach from, if not from the Bible?” I asked derisively.
The man had the grace to look away in shame as he muttered out, “He uses selected texts from other religions and commentaries by various authors, as well as his own opinions, which he uses to reinterpret the Bible with. Attendance of his sermons is mandatory and before you ask about it, don’t! He won’t give you the only surviving Bible left in the town for any price, primarily because it helps him to reinforce his position of control over the town. He isn’t the kind of man to lose anything of his and if he does he exerts a terrible retribution on any that he can find responsible. He’s a hard man.”
“Is that what happened to you Papa, when I left?” Evette asked her voice ringing out in the quiet church.
The older man moved off of his seat faster than I thought he was capable of and turned to face the voice that had spoken.
His face as white as a sheet he whispered, “Evelyn?”
Evette who apparently was formerly known as Evelyn in this town started approaching the man, who apparently was her father. She must favor her mother in resemblance, because I couldn’t see any of her father reflected in her.
As Evette approached her hand snaked out and slipped a dagger out of my belt. She continued on past me.
The suddenness of her move had surprised me. I glanced at Larc to see if he wanted me to intervene on behalf of the man’s part, but he waived me off. I didn’t like the man anyway and was perfectly fine with letting Evette make mince meat out of him if she wished to.
The man backed up in a near panic, as Evette advanced on him with the knife blade up, where he could see it.
“Dear, dear, Papa did the Baron exact a terrible retribution upon you? Where are the scars? Why do you still have your legs or even your life for that matter?” She said the last, as she flicked the blade up to touch her father’s chest causing a pin prick of blood to stain his white shirt.
You better start talking fast buddy, I thought, as I viewed the scene as a spectator.
Her father held his hands up in a placating gesture, “Evelyn I regret two things in my life above all others. How I let your mother down and after her death what I let become of you!”
The point of the knife went deeper as Evette screamed, “You regret! Oh I’m sure you have regrets Papa, but me and mama aren’t one of them! For instance I’m sure you regret the absence of the golden temple that was to have been built on this very spot, from where you were going to lead a great revival, as you preached forth with great eloquence to the masses that came teeming to bask in the glow of your righteous zeal! The absence of that I’m sure you regret! Tell me papa why wasn’t it built? Was it because you let your little girl that you let be used as a common whore, escape? Is that the terrible retribution that you faced?”
Her father was fairly whimpering as he bleated out, “I’m sorry! I know what happened to you was unfair…”
“Unfair!” Evette screamed white with fury.
Her fury turned cold, as she brought the knife up to her father’s throat, she intoned savagely, “You look afraid. Why would a supposed man of God be afraid to meet his maker? Maybe it’s because you think you’re destined for hell rather than heaven, at least I think so. I have one thing to set right with you before I let you find out. You said unfair. Unfair is what you did to my mother! She worshipped the ground you walked on and you threw her under your feet and walked all over her every chance that you got! You broke her heart! She deserved better than you! But that’s not what I’m going to kill you for!”
Staring at him squarely in the eyes only inches apart she almost whispered her threat, “What I’m going to kill you for is when the fall after my mother died you began to drop me off after school at the Baron’s mansion and let me be played with by a monster, until I was lucky enough to escape on the eleventh time that I tried too! For three years you daily threw me into hell! I think it’s about time you tried it for yourself!”
She was really going to kill him and if she didn’t I’d volunteer to do it for her.
“Evette! Please stop darling!” Said Larc who had come closer unnoticed in the heavy drama taking place center stage.
With great difficulty Evette managed to take her impassioned gaze off of her father’s panic strickened eyes and glanced at Larc and uttered a monosyllablic cry of, “Why?”
She sounded more like an enraged little girl than the mature woman, who still held a knife to her father’s throat.
“Honey I’m not trying to tell you that you’re wrong to feel as you do about your father. There’s no question about it he deserves everything he gets, but what I ask of you is let God fulfill the judgment that your father deserves and not you. Don’t put this on your conscience give it to God! Please listen to me on this, I know. There won’t be any satisfaction gained by you killing him yourself, let God deal with him and heal your heart at the same time.”
Tears dripped steadily off of Evette’s face to the floor as she gazed at Larc. Slowly the hand that held the knife lowered until it was by her side. Her father moved to step away, but the knife was back threateningly in front of his nose.
“I’m not done with you! These men,” she gestured to me and Larc, as she turned back to her father and wiped the tears from off her face with her free hand, “have come a long way for an item that our people have for the most part either forsaken or corrupted. That item is the Bible, God’s word and nothing but! Tell them where they can find one now!”
“I wasn’t lying earlier! They came by surprise and took them all. They even wiped off all of my audio files and old sermons! They took everything!”
Evette tapped the tip of the knife several times off of his nose, “Now papa I know when you’re lying to me. Growing up I came to view it as your natural state of being. They didn’t take everything did they?”
The point of the knife pressed against his nose. He had been particularly vain about his nose she remembered, perhaps he still was. Evette deepened the pressure and the blade broke the skin.
“They overlooked two books!” He jabbered out looking pained as he did so.
“And what two books would those be?” Asked Evette.
“There dictionaries one’s in Greek and the others in Hebrew.”
Larc looked at Evette, “How does that help us?”
“When the Bible was written it was done in two parts in two different languages other than the one you speak and read. The translations of the Bible into our language don’t always capture the full meaning of the native languages that the Bible was first written in. It would be very helpful for your people to have those books to help them understand the full meaning of the Bible.” Evette said.
“Okay we’ll take them where are they?” Larc asked.
“There in an old baptistery room that I had sealed off years ago under the stage area. Move the pulpit and you’ll see a trapdoor, it’s the only way to access the room.” Her father finished somewhat resignedly.
Evette gestured towards the front pew with the knife, “Sit!” as Larc and I moved the pulpit to the side.
It was quite heavy. Sure enough there was a door under it. Pulling the door open Larc looked down into the darkness.
“There’s a switch that will turn on a light at the bottom of the ladder.” Her father added.
Larc turned to me and said, “Zevin I want you to take the SUV and get it filled up while I find these books. When you’re done come back for me and Evette and then we’ll see what can be done about getting that last Bible away from the Baron.”
Larc turned to Evette, “Are you okay up here Evette with him?” Larc asked indicating her father.
She nodded and I left for the SUV.