The Valley of Dry Bones (11 page)

“That's what He told me,” Zeke said.

“I don't know what more you need than that, love,” Alexis said.

“I don't either, Dad, and I don't even understand all that.”

“One thing I feel certain about, but I don't know if it's of God or just personal preference,” Zeke said.

“This is no time for secrets,” Alexis said.

“That's just it,” Zeke said. “What I feel so strongly about is that I'd like to keep this calling just between us, unless the Lord tells me otherwise. Of course, Pastor, you can tell Jennie.”

“What?” Sasha said. “My dad's called to be a prophet to the nations and I can't tell anybody?”

Pastor Bob smiled at her. “Welcome to responsibility, young lady.”

A
LEXIS TOLD
S
ASHA
to say her good-nights, and when Pastor Bob rose to give her a hug, he said, “I'd better be going too.”

Zeke said, “Could you possibly stay a little longer?”

The pastor nodded. “I suppose. I won't be getting many more of these times with you.”

“You sure Jennie's okay?” Alexis said, rising to leave with Sasha.

Pastor Bob chuckled and reached into his pocket, producing a plastic box. “Remember the ancient beepers?”

“Vaguely,” Alexis said, “from the Dark Ages.”

“Jennie found 'em in a box of junk, and Raoul somehow got them working again. They don't reach far, but Jennie can get me if she needs me.”

“Lexi,” Zeke said, “let me put Sasha down tonight.”

Zeke and Alexis had been able to carve out a modicum of privacy for Sasha, though there was little room for anything in her space but a single bed, a chest of drawers, and a rod jutting from the wall that served as a closet. They were intentional about spending time with their daughter every day, knowing that otherwise the sheer busyness of survivalist living could cost them any hint of normalcy. One of them spent at least a half hour with her at bedtime every night talking, singing, praying, or helping her memorize Scripture.

The older Sasha got, Zeke realized, fewer would be the nights left for this. For now, she liked having her long-legged dad lying on his back next to her in the darkness, hands behind his head, nearly crowding her off her pillow. He knew the day would come when a teenager wouldn't want that anymore.

That night she lay on her side, facing him. “Does all the stuff scare you, Dad?”

“I was about to ask you the same thing.”

“It kinda does. Mostly I just wonder what it's gonna be like. Pastor makes it sound like you're going to have some big audience, but I don't see how.”

“I don't either,” Zeke said. “Biggest group I've ever spoken to has been about fifty in that tribe up by Santa Cruz. And I didn't need any supernatural courage. They welcomed us, remember?”

“Yeah.”

“We'll have to see what God has in mind. I just want to make sure you're all right with all of it.”

“What if I wasn't?”

“Well, you are our top priority, you know that.”

“I better not be, Dad. What if I was totally against this? What then? Say God's telling you to do it and I'm telling you not to. Would I still be your top priority?”

“Hmm . . .”

“See? Gotcha.”

“What would you have me do in that case, Sash?”

“You'd have no choice. You'd have to tell me to take a hike and do what God tells you to do.”

“Wow. You must've been raised well.”

“Yep.”

“You know Mom and I are proud of you and love you, don't you?”

“Uh-huh.”

“But we feel guilty.”

“How come?”

“'Cause it's not like you had a choice. We drag you out here to the middle of nowhere before you're old enough to know what's going on, and we make our mission your life. I know you get the magazines and the letters and all that from your cousins and you know what you're missing: TV, movies, Internet, fashions, parties, friends your own age—”

“They think I'm brainwashed.”

“They do, eh?”

“I mean, they're Christians and everything, go to church and stuff, but they say not everything can be about God. ‘You gotta live,' they say.”

Zeke was glad Sasha couldn't see his face in the darkness. This was what he and Alexis agonized about. Should they expose Sasha to the real world, let her make up her own mind, come to her own conclusions about how she wanted to live, what she believed? He could identify with people in cults, communes, extreme denominations. How must Amish parents feel when they allow their kids a year of freedom, wondering if they will ever return to the fold, to the faith?

“What do
you
say?”

Sasha didn't respond right away, which both thrilled and scared him. He liked that she was a thinker, not impulsive. But what was she thinking? Finally she said, “There's lotsa stuff I'm curious about. They seem to have fun. But how much fun can you have? Who do they help? Seems like as long as there are people who need stuff, you ought to be looking for them every day. Okay, have a party, go to a movie, have a good time. But if someone's hungry or poor or needs anything—and I can't believe you have to come to California to find people like that—it seems like there'd be somebody to help every day. I don't think I'd feel too good about myself if I went a whole day without trying to help somebody, even if it just meant telling them about God.”

“That's some pretty good thinking, sweetheart,” Zeke said, trying to hide the emotion in his voice. He sat up. “I'd better get back to our guest. Should we be thinking about letting you spend a few months with your cousins sometime?”

“What? Months? No!”

“No?”

“I don't think so, Dad. Don't you need me here?”

“Well, sure, but—”

“And with this new thing happening to you? Mom's gonna need me. Plus, I wanna see what it's all about. Anyway, my cousins are kinda shallow, you know? All they talk about is their own stuff, never about anybody else. It's just not how I think I wanna be.”

“You getting too old to hug your old man?”

“Sorry that took so long,” Zeke said as he emerged, but he stopped short when he noticed Pastor Bob wiping his eyes.

“Oh, I'm all right,” he said. “Just one long Sunday, I guess. Lots of stress.”

“No worries,” Zeke said. “Don't feel obligated to stay. We can talk anoth—”

“No, Zeke,” Alexis said. “He needs to tell you what he told me. Or I can tell him, Pastor.” At that, Bob Gill broke down again and gestured that Alexis should go ahead. She said, “I was just telling him how much he and Jennie meant to us and how much we'd miss them, and I think the enormity of everything just got to him.”

“I sure get that,” Zeke said.

“They've been married as long as we've been alive. And it's starting to hit him that he won't be in ministry for the first time since graduating from seminary.”

“That's a long, long time, Zeke,” Pastor Bob said. “I'm prepared to care for Jennie around the clock. Fact is, I'm looking forward to it. That in-sickness-and-health vow is one I've really never had the privilege of fulfilling until now—she's been that healthy all these years. But being out of the ministry scares me. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself. Jennie will be my full-time ministry, I hope for a long time, but after that I'll be looking for work. And I'm a realist. There won't be much for a guy my age.”

“There'll always be work here.”

“Well, thanks, but who knows where you'll be by then? It's obvious God has bigger things planned for you.”

“That's really why I asked you to stay longer. You up to talking about it?”

“Absolutely.”

“I'm slowly getting used to the idea that God is calling me to something, but what? He's told me I should be bold, should trust in Him, and should be ready to speak to people in authority. I'm willing, but I need a mentor, even long-distance. If I promise to respect your time and especially Jennie as your immediate priority—”

“Yes. Say no more. I'd be honored.”

“Then we start right now. What's my next step? What do I do?”

Pastor Bob leaned forward and held up both hands.

After a moment, Zeke said, “Am I supposed to know what that means?”

Pastor Bob raised a brow and merely gestured slightly with his upraised hands, as if to indicate that Zeke should be quiet, say nothing, do nothing.

Zeke nodded.

The pastor glanced at Alexis and pointed to the Bible Sasha had brought him, which lay on the table. Alexis handed it to him and he leafed through it. He said quietly, “Galatians 1:10 says, ‘For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.'”

Zeke covered his face with both hands. “Yes. Let me be a bondservant of Christ.” He heard pages turning.

Pastor Bob said, “From Deuteronomy 8: ‘You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you. Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land . . . When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.

“‘Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping
His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God who . . . led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; . . . who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end.'”

“God is speaking to me,” Zeke said.

“What's He saying?” Alexis said.

Zeke shuddered and waited. She moved next to him and took his hand. He remained silent until God finally gave him the words:

“Be clothed with humility, for I resist the proud but give grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourself under My mighty hand, that I may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Me, for I care for you.

“Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith.”

Zeke felt as if he had run a marathon. “I need sleep.”

“I'll bet you do,” Pastor Bob said, rising. “But we should tell Alexis about the discovery, shouldn't we?”

Zeke stood but hesitated.

“Well, you have to now,” she said, following them to the door.

“Sorry, Zeke,” the pastor said. “Had you not planned to?”

Zeke shrugged. “It's going to get around. You know Gabrielle is going to tell Doc. It won't be beyond him to start interrogating people.”

“We need an elders' meeting tomorrow. That's when we can urge him not to do that.”

“What, what?” Alexis said.

Zeke told her of the Xavier kids' discovery.

“You don't think—you're not saying . . . That's all we need.”

“We don't know what to think,” Pastor Bob said.

“How can you select a new elder if there might be a traitor among us?”

“Well, look at the logical elder candidates,” Zeke said. “Katashi, Raoul, and Mahir. Do you really suspect any one of them?”

“Oh. My. Word.” Alexis said. “We all just thought of the same person at the same time, didn't we?”

“Who?” Zeke said.

“Don't do that,” Alexis said. “I don't want to influence either of you, and I don't want you to influence me. But you each thought of one among those three, didn't you? You're not sure, you're not accusing him, but there's one you're not sure of, one you wouldn't want to unhesitatingly make an elder. Am I right?”

Zeke nodded as did Pastor Bob.

Alexis grabbed a sheet of paper and tore it into three pieces. “Let's each write the one name that gave us pause. Fold 'em and hand 'em to me and we'll all look at the same time.”

Alexis unfolded the three facedown on the table, then flipped them over. It was unanimous.

“See?” she said. “We've known him forever. We love him. Sweet guy. But you can't say he hasn't been quiet and moody lately. He doesn't seem engaged, has lost the joy. Broods, can't be amused. We're not saying it's him, not saying it isn't. But we'd better make sure he doesn't get nominated for elder, don't you think?”

“I can't vote, because I'm not going to be here,” Pastor Bob said. “And your two votes can't block anything. How many votes will there be without Jennie and me? Adults only, of course.”

Alexis made hash marks on another scrap of paper as she squinted at the ceiling and recited, “Us two, Doc and Gabi, the Muscadins, Mahir, Elaine, the Gutierrezes, and Katashi. Eleven. You're right. We can't stop anything.”

“You may have to do a little politicking,” Pastor Bob said. “Talk with the Xaviers and Mrs. Meeks—one more gives you a majority.”

“Seriously?” Zeke said. “I've got God speaking audibly to me and I
can't depend on Him to make an elder vote go the way He wants it?”

“Well, there is that,” the pastor said. “You might want to rethink me as your spiritual mentor.”

“One thing's sure. We can talk about this at our elders' meeting anyway, because Gabrielle will have told Doc by then. We don't have to tell him we have a suspect.”