I’m given a few days to secretly rest with my family in Ogallala. Martha lets me stroll through the cemetery and along the river under the watchful eyes of Cindi and Albert. Dad comes along to “work off the pie” he ate at Easter, but mostly I think he wants to be around me and family after so many years spent secretly traveling the world. He’s even talking about finding a house in Colorado Springs to be close when the baby is born.
The day after Easter, Cameron joins my “security detail.” This is his hometown too; but I don’t think he’s really here to watch over me. He and Cindi have been spending a lot of time together and today, when they ran ahead to “scan the perimeter” I saw Cindi grab Cameron’s hand just as they turned a corner in the trail. Last month, I started a lecture series on Christian dating. I hope they were watching.
*****
As we exit the tube station in Colorado Springs, I look up at Cheyenne Mountain and can’t help but shudder. In the dark heart of that mountain, I was tortured nearly to death. My time in Ogallala was refreshing, but I can’t expect it to chase away all the demons. I wonder to myself if I’ll someday be able to visit that place - and my knees feel weak at the thought of it.
Martha sees where I’m looking. She takes my hand and wisely turns me away from the view.
“Not today,” is all she says.
*****
The President has been pushing for me to do an official public interview, and I’ve finally been given clearance by both the doctors and Martha. It seems anticlimactic, considering the number of lectures I’ve given from bed; but I’m happy to have another excuse to get out of the house. I wanted to at least travel to Denver, but instead Martha insisted that the interview be held in the familiar surroundings of my old teaching studio at the college.
“Will you wear the red tie?” Martha asks, as I get dressed. “I always loved it when you wore the red tie to teach. It seemed like it gave you an extra spark.”
“Then the red tie it is.”
I take it off the rack and tie it.
“How do I look?”
“Considering you almost died a few months ago, you look great.”
I swear Martha’s over-protective mothering instinct is already in full gear, and I’m bearing the brunt of it.
“I need to work out,” I say. “How about a light jog?”
“I don’t think so.”
“But I’m getting fat.”
I rub my belly.
“Oh, please!”
She rubs her gigantic abdomen, and we both laugh.
“Then I have the perfect plan. Let’s go,” I say and head for the back door.
“Where are you going? The car isn’t even here yet,” she calls after me, but I’m already out the door.
“I’m going for a walk through the park.”
I keep going, as I hear Martha announce over her com that I’ve altered the security plan. I watch as my cousins and other members of Four scramble, followed by members of the Secret Service. I may not get in a light jog, but they all do.
Martha comes up behind me, and I offer her my arm, which she takes - as if she needs to hold me up. There’s a light snow on the ground from a late spring storm; but the sweeper bots automatically cleared the walkways and park benches. I walk directly to the rosebush where I picked the first rose that I used to send a secret message to Martha. The leaves have all fallen from the bush, but there are still a couple of brown and dried-out flowers that are managing to cling to their petals.
I gently pick one and offer it to Martha.
“Does it have a secret message?” she asks.
“That’s is the message. It means I have no more secrets.”
*****
When we reach my old classroom, the studio is full. Martha hand-picked the audience, so it includes many members of Four and some of my old students; but I also see the Vice President of the United States, plus Brill and Austin, who traveled from Capon Springs to see me.
I freeze when I see Zip sitting behind the Vice President. She never made it out of McIntosh. She vowed to evacuate every last Christian and, in the end, was so weak from dehydration that a Four team had to sneak back into town with I.V. fluids. I want to tell her I’m sorry for letting her suffer when I could have revealed the water was safe for her to drink.
She must see it on my face, because she lowers her shirt from her neck and right shoulder, revealing a tattoo of the fractal pattern I drew years ago. She has truly forgiven me.
The next surprise is the woman who’s waiting to conduct the interview. I thought it would be some leading national news figure; but Martha has chosen a woman named Lauren who works as a news anchor right here in Colorado Springs. There are two things that are particularly remarkable about Lauren. The first is that, unlike other news people, she has no apparent enhancements. The second is that two years ago she was a student of mine in this very classroom.
“Lauren. It’s nice to have you back in my classroom,” I say, before the cameras come on.
“You remember me?”
“Of course I remember you,” I say. “You had a reporter’s instinct to uncover the truth back then too. I take it you found the Truth?”
She doesn’t get a chance to reply before the stage manager calls us to places, but her smile tells me all I need to know.
The interview begins with the Vice President joining us to announce that - when I’m ready - I’ve been nominated to chair a Presidential commission for religious privacy and freedom. The agreement was that the Vice President wasn’t going to take questions, but new puzzles are forming in my head, so when I ask to speak, it’s plain he has no choice but to make an exception for me.
“Mr. Vice President. I’m honored to accept the chairmanship of the new commission; but the first step can be done without me. Article Five of the United States Constitution contains a mechanism by which the people can quickly make change happen. If enough people call for an immediate Constitutional Convention through their state legislatures, we could have the Thirty-Fifth Amendment repealed and the original First Amendment restored before a Presidential Commission is even done discussing the seating arrangement at the table.”
The Vice President stammers some unintelligible politician’s response, and makes a hasty retreat to his seat. It doesn’t matter. Article Five will be the hottest topic on the net within minutes.
The interview moves to all of the expected exchanges, with Lauren asks about my health and about the baby. I tell the story about how the baby named herself ‘Jocie,’ as we traveled through time. The audience coos … but I’ve opened the door to discussing the original Jocie.
“Cephas, enhancement removal is the hottest trend in medicine right now, and all the major movie studios are seeking the natural look. It’s no secret that you’re not a fan of enhancements. What do you think Jocie would say, if she were here right now? Would she argue with you over the subject?” Lauren asks.
I sit there, frozen by my thoughts and memories. Martha gets a concerned look on her face, and I feel a tear roll down my cheek. Martha stands.
“Cephas? I’m sorry if Jocie is still too painful a subject for you. Let’s move on,” Lauren says.
I raise my hand to stop her.
“The old Jocie - the Jocie that the world knew - would have argued, and quite possibly have slapped me across the face again.”
The audience remains silent, as my tears continue to fall.
“The Jocie that only I knew - the Jocie who loved Christ - that Jocie understood how she had allowed the beauty she’d obtained on the outside to make her ugly on the inside.”
Lauren doesn’t know what to say or do next. Her training as a reporter is telling her one thing, but there’s something on her heart that she’d rather ask.
“Cephas, even if you haven’t, everyone else in the world has seen the videos. We saw the whippings and the beatings. We saw your blood, and even your very life, draining out of you before our eyes. But all that time, you knew that Four had been quietly vaccinating people for over ten years. So I have ask: Why did you do it? Why did you stand there and willingly accept a beating that was so unnecessary?”
“I was never there to save people from the toxin. I was there to wake them up by giving them just a small glimpse of what He did for us on the cross. What I did was minor. I simply absorbed the wrath of one man. Christ absorbed the wrath of God that was meant for all mankind. But even being tortured and nailed to a cross was nothing compared to the pain I saw Him feeling in His soul. He hung on a cross just a foot off the ground, and I was able to look Him in the eyes while He felt - for the first time - the pain of being separated from God. That’s what sin does to us: it separates us from God and causes us pain in our souls. Even if we don’t understand why, we feel that pain every day of our lives. It was simply my job to remind everyone of the cause of our pain.”
“So you watched Him pour out His blood and pour out His love for us, at the same time?” Lauren observes.
“That’s an excellent way to wrap it up,” I say. “My part in His great puzzle has ended.”
“Wrap it up? How can that wrap it up, when there’s so much left to do? The world is seeking God again. How will people learn what they need to know?” Lauren asks.
I laugh.
“Jesus told us everything we need to know. Love the Lord with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself,” I reply.
“But how will we be organized?”
“When two or more gather in His name, He will be with them.”
“But if not you, who’s going to be in charge?”
“Isn’t it obvious? The one in charge is the One who’s always been in charge of this entire puzzle we call life on earth.”
“HE IS.”