The End is Now (27 page)

She couldn’t do this alone.

And as much as she hated to admit it, the mayor could help her. The mayor could make sure Will delivered his prophecy on the
right stage — a stage where everyone could clearly hear what he had to say. And who really cared if the mayor didn’t believe
Will? Didn’t God work in mysterious ways? Hadn’t He used Jezebel and Pilate and Herod and all sorts of other people in His
master plan? Maybe God was just going to use this faithless mayor in the same way. So when he called and said he could not
only help, but he also had food, Amy knew she had no choice but to invite him over.

“I just love fried chicken,” the mayor said.

“I can see that,” Amy answered.

The mayor wiped the gravy off his fingers and then threw his napkin on the plate in the midst of the chicken bones. “Your
boy caused quite a stink at the grocery store today.”

“With all due respect, Mr. Mayor, the grocery store was already in a stink.”

“I’m not saying it was your son’s fault,” the mayor said, looking at Will’s plate probably because Will hadn’t even touched
his chicken, “I’m just saying the town’s clearly panicked. We’ve had to create a whole new police force just to keep things
under control. This isn’t a game anymore. I need your boy to tell me the final sign.”

“That’s just not going to happen,” Amy said.

“Then what are we doing here, Mrs. Hender — ”

“But what I can do is have Will give the final sign at the meeting tonight.”

“You
want
him to give it?” the mayor asked and then leaned back in his chair. It creaked and groaned under his weight. “Okay, I’d be
fine with that. It might even
be better
if he gave it.”

“He can give it on two conditions,” Amy said.

“I’m listening.”

“First, you must give him full credit for saving the lives in the elementary school. There are a lot of mixed feelings about
that event. And I think the town would look at him like a hero if you paint him as one.”

“He is a hero,” the mayor said.

“Good. Then the second condition is that I want police protection until the rapture comes.”

“I don’t think the city can afford to pay an officer to guard your house for that long.”

“It’s a lot closer than you think.”

“So you say. Where’s your husband anyway? Shouldn’t he be protecting you?”

“He’s not in the right mind to protect us or be here right now.”

“Dad doesn’t believe me,” Will chimed in. “He thinks Satan gave me the signs.”

“Will, the mayor and I are talking.”

“I was just going to explain about the face and the fact that it had a beard and that’s how I knew it was God and not the
devil and how Dad doesn’t understand that.”

Amy blushed. “That’s not the reason Jeff’s not here. He’s not here because… it doesn’t matter why he’s not here. The issue
is, we have a panicked town and some people could blame Will for what’s happened. But that would just be shooting the messenger.
He didn’t cause the storms or anything else to happen. If anything, he’s trying to save lives. So tonight I want you to paint
Will as a hero. After that, then you will give us police protection until the rapture happens or until you can get this town
under control. Whichever happens first.”

The mayor said he couldn’t give them police protection until the rapture, but he could give them police protection for the
next two weeks. Amy thought it was the same difference, but she didn’t say that to the mayor. She just told him they had a
deal. As soon as that happened, there were a bunch of aides on cell phones trying to get everything ready for the meeting
tonight. And within the hour Amy and Will were in a private limo driving to the rodeo stadium in Goodland.

Amy had never been in a limo before. And not only was she in a limo, but she was in a stretch limo with the mayor and other
important people, while everyone else had to walk through the bitter cold up to the stadium. Amy tried to feel bad for all
of those other people, but how can you feel bad when you’re being treated like Cinderella? Inside the limo it was perfect.
The heater was blowing a constant stream of warm air against her hands and face.

This is what it’s like walking in God’s best, Amy thought. When you’re walking in God’s steps he treats you like a princess.
She wondered what other things she’d missed out on by not walking in God’s will.

When they got to the stadium, two large metal doors were opened so they could pull inside. Once the limo was parked, a gentleman
wearing a black suit, sunglasses, and with a squiggly wire coming out of his ear opened the door for her. He took her hand
and escorted her into one of the holding pens where all the bulls and horses were kept during the rodeo. But inside it didn’t
feel like a holding pen. There were space heaters, bottled water, Perrier, fresh fruits and cheeses, and plush couches and
chairs. They hung out in there for the next half hour or so. Amy relaxed on one of the leather couches while Will was snacking
on strawberries and Swiss cheese.

After a while, Amy thought she should get up and peek through the fence to see how many people had gathered in the stadium.
More than she’d imagined. It seemed like everyone she’d ever known was there, as well as hundreds, maybe thousands, of people
she’d never seen. Goodland’s a small town, she thought. How can there be this many people I’ve never met?

As Amy continued to look around the stadium, she saw Jeff. He was alone and shivering. And he was scanning the stadium with
a cell phone pressed to his ear. Everyone else had families and friends they were talking to, but Jeff was completely alone,
looking so helpless and frazzled. Amy watched as he kept dialing his phone and scanning the stadium. He’s looking for me,
Amy thought. And her heart almost broke. She should run up there and save him; she should bring him down here and he could
stand by Will’s side as he delivered the prophecy. He was probably ready for that now.

Amy might have gone to him if she hadn’t heard a familiar voice say, “Mom.”

“Emily,” Amy answered. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m with Curtis.”

“Curtis?”

“I went to his house after the grocery store. He’s taking me to homecoming. I guess his dad is someone important,” Emily said
as she gestured to some official governmental-looking folks. Amy recognized one of them. He was the man who was wearing a
charcoal suit and asking all those uncomfortable questions the first time the mayor visited. And now Emily was dating a government
man’s son? Amy suddenly remembered Pastor Colby saying that sometimes it was difficult to walk in God’s best plan because
of the decisions that your parents made. That was called a generational curse. Sometimes our parents can make a decision before
we are even born that can affect us. That always made Amy mad at her parents. How could they be so insensitive as to go around
sinning before she was even born? But now she had done this to her own daughter. Amy had dated a heathen like Jeff. Jeff found
God eventually, but when she first started dating him, he was a heathen. Of course Emily would want to date someone godless
as well.

It was in her genes.

Amy looked over again at the man who was always with the mayor. She said, “Curtis’ dad, he’s with the — ”

“ — mayor. Yeah, he’s been at our house before,” Emily said. “His name’s Mr. Clayton. I guess he’s one of the mayor’s right-hand
men.”

“And you’re dating his son?”

“He’s really cute.”

“Emily, do you really think you should be — ”

“Mrs. Henderson,” the man with the black sunglasses said, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but it’s time.”

“Oh,” Amy said and followed the man with sunglasses out on to the stadium floor. Even more people had arrived while she was
talking with Emily. As Amy walked out behind the mayor and all of the other dignitaries, she looked up at Jeff and smiled
at him. She wanted her smile to say
Everything’s okay. I still love you.

Then the mayor started to speak. He said the government was doing everything they could to protect them. He acknowledged Will
as a hero. Amy could only stare at the floor. When the mayor called Will up to give his final prophecy, Amy couldn’t help
but peek up and look at her husband as confusion and rage and hopelessness crawled across his face. She couldn’t blame him
for those feelings. Surely Jeff still had mixed feelings as to why his son was up there delivering his prophecy. But once
he again saw how many lives Will saved and what good he was doing, even Jeff wouldn’t be able to deny what was going on any
longer.

Amy was so lost in her thoughts about her husband that she missed much of what Will said at the town meeting. She refocused
and listened as her son said, “And I don’t know what that means exactly. I wish the face would have been more specific — ”
Amy smiled. He was doing such a great job. He wasn’t just telling people what was going to happen, he was saying things with
such charm and charisma that there would be no way everyone could ignore the message. This was the first prophecy that wasn’t
coming to them secondhand. It was coming straight from the messenger. And maybe now that everyone could hear it, they would
stop second-guessing his motives, but rather listen to the message and get themselves ready.

Amy continued to smile in the way only a proud mother can as her son finished his message. “Honestly, I’m still trying to
understand what
the power is leaving
means.” And as Will finished speaking, Amy stopped smiling. Because right in front of her, the mayor had fallen down. He
was twitching and grabbing at his chest. He sounded like a man who was drowning, trying to draw in deep gasps of air to stay
alive. At that moment Will’s second prophecy flashed through her thoughts like neon lights on a billboard:
THE POWER IS LEAVING.

Amy realized that, right before their eyes, Will’s prophecy was coming to fruition. It was nothing like they thought it would
be. This was the power of God. Even when you think you know exactly what’s coming, you really have no idea. Everyone in town
was foolish for thinking they could understand exactly what the prophecy meant before it happened.

But everyone understood now. Amy watched with everyone else as all the mayor’s aides and attendants rushed around and tried
to save him. It occurred to Amy at that moment that this is what
had
to happen. In the span of ten minutes the whole town had heard one prophecy in person and now they had witnessed another
come to pass. She was amazed how people could keep hearing about miracles and prophecies and keep denying what they saw.

Even the mayor was arrogantly ignoring the reality of this situation as he said he was going to protect everyone. But perhaps
he’d just done something much greater than protect them. He’d shown them the truth. This was bigger than a power outage. This
was about eternity. This was life and death. And through the mayor’s death, he’d drawn a line and shown what exactly was at
stake. Now not a soul in Goodland would be able to deny the reality of what was about to happen to all of them.

Emily lay curled against Curtis on a giant teal green beanbag in the basement in his house. As she rested her head on her
new boyfriend/fiancé’s shoulder, she tuned out the MTV show about bratty, skankily dressed teenagers and instead imagined
what it would be like if she married Curtis and became Emily Clayton. She thought they’d have cute kids, and he came from
a well-to-do family, so they’d always have a nice house, and they’d probably be able to take really expensive vacations to
the Hamptons or wherever it is that rich people vacation.

It would be great. Life would be so different because she’d have a completely new family. A new worldview. For her whole life
it seemed that every conversation always became about something religious sooner or later. Maybe not about the rapture, exactly
(even though the fear of life ending like the snap of an index finger against a thumb was always there), but conversations
about God, morality, church, and all other things religious seemed ever-present in the Henderson household. Emily thought
it would be so nice to sit down at a Thanksgiving dinner and talk about normal things. Not that she knew exactly what normal
family things were, but she couldn’t wait to find out.

But then Emily realized something. Sure,
she
could hang in a normal conversation with a sophisticated family like the Clay-tons. But if they got married, their families
would get together for holidays. And before long her mom would start talking all about the rapture or something crazy like
that. She’d talk about it as if it were perfectly normal. As if everyone believed in it. And eventually when the Claytons
would say, “We don’t believe in the rapture” (or whatever other crazy faith thing her mom was talking about), it would get
really tense in the room. Insults would fly. It would get personal. Her mom would say something like, “Jeff, we’re leaving,”
and they’d storm out.

In the aftermath, Emily would help her new family do the dishes. And with her hands covered in soap she would have to say,
“I’m not like that. I’m nothing like my mother. I don’t believe any of that.” Then her new mother and father would wrap their
arms around her. Once she disowned her parents, she’d finally be in a family where she felt she belonged.

Emily buried her face against Curtis. She tried not to think of the distant future anymore. She’d just have to worry about
that day when it came. In the meantime there were plenty of other worries.

For instance, the whole town was on lockdown. She could understand why. She’d seen the way people were biting and clawing
and scratching over cans of soup and AAA batteries at the grocery store. And now she was trapped at Curtis’ house. Even if
she wanted to get home, she couldn’t. Things had gotten much worse since the grocery store this morning. Anyone out on the
streets for any reason would be arrested. At least that’s how Mr. Clayton had put it. He’d said, “If you are out on the streets
for any reason, you will be arrested.”