The Valley of Dry Bones (29 page)

“And anything on the ground. Just give it a half hour. I hope to wrap up this meeting by lunchtime, then I'll monitor the news until dark before deciding if any of us should go to Gaho's burial service.”

“Seriously, Z? That's still on the table?”

“Only if God gives me peace about it.”

“Well, I have no peace about Sasha going, and I won't go without her.”

“I understand.”

Back in the Commons, Benita was praying as Zeke sat next to Jennie Gill. Jennie touched his arm and whispered, “Everyone else has prayed, so when she finishes you ought to bring everyone up to speed.”

Benita was always emotional in her prayers and had a habit of finishing in Spanish. She said, “So God, we're askin' You to work in the heart of
our brother to show him Your love through us, and we ask this
en el nombre de Jesús
.”

“Thank you, Benita,” Zeke said. “Now if we could just get you to develop a little enthusiasm . . .”

“Don't tease me,” she said.

“I just hope the Lord has translators up there.”

She waved him off. “You're gonna find out Spanish is the language of heaven. What's the deal with the choppers?”

Zeke told them everything Sasha had reported, which led to more questions. “I know no more than you do,” he said. “I can't imagine it has anything to do with us. If it does, it's overkill, but when we're all back together, we'll talk strategy and monitor the news feeds and see if we can determine what's got the military so interested in California.”

“There must be some real threat,” Katashi said. “Otherwise why bother? Half a dozen choppers alone—”

“Maybe more,” Zeke said.

“That's a lot of money and manpower, especially if they're as big as you say. Where are they putting all that personnel, how are they feeding them, supplying them water, all that?”

Zeke's walkie-talkie crackled. He turned away from the group. “Zeke, go.”

“Z,” Alexis said, “get where you can hear me alone.”

“Roger.”

He jogged into the corridor. “Go, Lexi.”

“I'm seeing tanks.”

“You've got to be kidding me. How many?”

“A dozen. Accompanied by at least two covered trucks. Sasha confirms.”

“Direction?”

“Coming from the northeast. They're going to come right past us, maybe right over us. We fortified for that?”

“Roger, but it's not ideal. How close?”

“Guessing half a mile.”

“ETA?”

“Wish I knew, Z. Not a huge dust cloud, so maybe thirty miles an hour, so—”

“Maybe a minute. We're gonna feel it and hear it. I'll tell 'em here. Stay dark, send Sasha here. You run and tell Bob and the Xaviers.”

“Roger.”

In the Commons the news caused most to stand and mill about. Raoul, still hovering behind Mahir, said, “What's goin' on, man? They fightin' some kinda invasion? Terrorists or somebody comin' from the Pacific? What else could it be?”

“All we can do is hunker down,” Katashi said.

About ninety seconds later the vibrations began, and then at least one of the monsters rumbled directly overhead. Lights flickered and ceiling tiles separated. Someone whispered a question about load-bearing capacity and others fiercely shushed them.

Alexis had arrived by then, and Zeke saw more terrified faces than he'd seen in all the time they'd been in the desert.

“Everyone sit again, please,” he said.

As he sat before them he again felt every eye and knew they would have accepted anything from him just then, even a lie. If he even pretended to know this was some training exercise or a false alarm, that it was already over and the soldiers were heading home and no more were coming, the people in his charge would swear to believe him on the lives of their sainted grandparents.

Instead he turned the attention to Alexis. “Did you get to Pastor Bob and the Xaviers in time to give them a heads-up?”

“I did,” she said. “And I was able to reassure them. I'm also happy to say it appears they've made some real progress. Gabi wanted me to tell you that the kids didn't really understand what happened, except that their dad lost the vote, so she'd appreciate it if no one talked to them about it. I've sent Sasha down there to keep them occupied in another room, so she's asking if we would not involve the kids in all this.”

“We can do that, can't we?” Zeke said. “That sounds positive and easily accomplished—something we can do for Doc and Gabi. Should we break awhile? I don't want Jennie to speak without them here, especially without Bob.”

“Good idea,” Alexis said. “Cristelle, you look like you could use a nap, and—”

“No, I'm okay.”

“Elaine, we could start thinking about lunch, which should be in about ninety minutes, and I could take Jennie back to her quar—oh, hold that thought!”

Pastor Bob stood at the door with Gabrielle, beckoning Alexis. She hurried over and the three of them spoke quietly. Bob left and Alexis brought an obviously shaken Gabi back to the group. She sat in the midst of them, Alexis holding her hand.

Zeke started to say something, but Jennie Gill squeezed his arm and said, “Gabrielle, you are among friends who love you.”

Gabi broke down. Those within reach touched her and let her cry. Finally she wiped her face and took a breath. “I don't need to tell you Adam's qualities.”

Several spoke at once: “No, you don't.”

“He's brilliant.”

“Smart.”

“A great doctor.”

“He's deeply embarrassed,” she said. “Terribly sorry. Humiliated. He feels he's disqualified himself as an elder.”

Many protested. “No, no. Not if he's sorry, and—”

She held up a hand. “Adam is also, I don't have to tell you, extremely proud. That's no secret. What made him the brilliant doctor he is was confidence that grew into a cocky self-assurance that makes him difficult to live with.”

The protests became less enthusiastic, and Gabi said, “You can't argue. Everyone knows it, me most of all. I was taught as a child that
people were supposed to be humble, to not talk about themselves, that you were supposed to let others praise you. I was an honor student just as he was, but I learned early who was the star of our home.

“I put him through school and took care of two babies by myself so he could finish his residency and make a name for himself. I never questioned his faith or his morals, but imagine having no say, no opinion, never winning an argument even when you're right. I never stopped loving him or admiring his mind or his talent, but I was jealous of the patients he treated and wondered if I had to be sick to get the attention I was starved for.

“Adam had many qualities required of an elder, but pastor? No. That's why, when I consulted my conscience, I voted for Zeke. But let me tell you the good news. Pastor Bob has been walking us—actually, Adam—through this, and Bob is not so much a peacekeeper as a truth teller. Is that fair to say, Jennie?”

Jennie smiled. “That hits the nail right on the head.”

“He's been speaking some hard truth to a hard man, and I believe Adam is sorry not just for having been caught, but also because he realizes what he has become. Bob gave him both barrels and from the Scripture, a basic ‘Who do you think you are? And how could you possibly think God would allow you in a servanthood role when the last thing you want is to be subservient?' By the time Bob, the Word, and the Lord were finished with Adam, I believe he had come to the end of himself.”

“Had he?” Jennie said. “Or was he sorry he'd been exposed?”

“Both.”

The word came from Doc himself, next to Pastor Bob in the doorway. His voice was strong and clear, the tone Zeke knew so well, but the man looked different. As he approached his wife, all but Cristelle and Jennie rose, but this was no hero's welcome, and there was no strut to his step.

Doc truly looked beaten. He sat across from Gabrielle and took both her hands in his. “She spoke the truth,” he said, tears streaming. “All of it. And I am both ashamed and sorry. Ashamed of the man I became, and sorry for everything I've said and done to hurt the love of my life. All I can do is apologize to her and to all of you and beg your forgiveness. I
don't expect it overnight. I know I have to prove myself to you, to humble myself and become the man God wants me to be.

“I've asked for forgiveness from my former pastor, and I ask the same from my new pastor. I also pledge you my full support, Zeke. I don't feel worthy to remain an elder, but that's up to you and Katashi, and I submit myself to your authority.”

As the holdouts pressed in around Doc, Bob Gill laid a hand on his head and prayed, “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As it is written, ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.'”

“D
OC, IF
J
ENNIE
is up to speaking,” Zeke said, “we should give her the floor.”

“If she'll still have me as her doctor, I'm happy to check.”

“Please do,” she said, reaching to him. “But I need to tell you something in front of your brothers and sisters, and I'm going to speak to you not as my doctor—”

“After the way your husband talked to me, you can treat me like the family dog and it'll be a relief.”

“Adam, I just want to say that in a lifetime of church work, you're not the first person I've seen humbled. If you want it to stick, don't go solo,” she said. “These people are here for you. Submit yourself before them and before the Lord, and
He
will lift you up.”

Doc teared up again. “Thank you, Jennie.”

“Now, Dr. Xavier,” she said, “clear me for takeoff, because I'm about to preach.”

He cupped her face and lifted each eyelid, asked when she had last taken her meds, and felt her pulse. He whispered which pills she should take and urged her to take more water than was required to get the medicine down. “How long do you expect to talk?”

“Just a few minutes.”

“And can you stay seated?”

“I need to.”

“Then you should be fine.”

Zeke said, “Can the kids join us?”

“Oh, sure,” Jennie said, and Alexis hurried to get them.

When they returned, Caleb and Kayla sat on the floor at their parents' feet, Sasha sat on Zeke's lap, and Alexis sat next to him atop one of the tables.

The holdouts gathered around their second oldest member, and as her husband dug her worn Bible from a bag and opened it before her, Doc made his way to Cristelle and made her comfortable before returning to sit with Gabi and their kids.

Jennie said, “As you know, I had hoped to speak briefly this evening before Bob and I left to move back home. Since Doc tells me that's no longer feasible, I just want to share two verses and say a word about what we learned from Zeke and Alexis's son.

“When I think of Junior, it strikes me that only half of us ever met or knew him. But what a legacy he left, and what an impact he has had on this group.

“As I face the end and look forward to seeing him again—he who was so confident of heaven, he said, ‘because of Jesus'—I love the Scriptures more every day. The story is told of the great Christian philosopher and apologist, Francis Schaeffer, who, near the end of his life, said he so loved his Bible that when he woke up in the morning and saw it on his bedside table, he would reach over and affectionately pat it. I can identify with that.

“I find it interesting that the verses that have been my favorites nearly all my life mean more to me today than they ever have. They come from that wonderful story in John 11 where Jesus is talking to Martha after she has scolded Him for being late to reach her and Mary when Lazarus was sick, and she tells Him that if He had gotten there sooner, Lazarus would not have died. He tells her that her brother will rise again, and she says she knows he will at the resurrection.

“And then Jesus says—and I have long believed this may be the most
beautiful paragraph ever translated into English—just listen to these words and let them sink in: ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.'”

Jennie paused, and it seemed to Zeke that no one moved or barely breathed, probably imagining as he did how poignant this was to Jennie now, already too weak to even endure a ride home to her family and not likely to survive another week.

“And then Jesus follows with the question that resounds through the ages, that I know you have all answered but I pray you will never stop asking others for as long as you have breath: ‘Do you believe this?'”

Jennie closed her Bible with a sigh, and everyone sat in silence until eight-year-old Kayla Xavier stood and said, “I do!”

Sasha slid off Zeke's lap and said, “I do too.”

Katashi rose. “So do I.”

Elaine Meeks and the Xaviers were up at the same time, saying in unison, “I do!”

Raoul said, “Me too!” as he rose, Benita following with, “
Sí!
Yes!”

Danley Muscadin's chair scraped the floor as he stood quickly and said, “I do.”

Bob Gill stood, one hand on Jennie's shoulder and the other covering his mouth as he wept and nodded.

Zeke and Alexis and little Caleb all stood at the same time, announcing their
I do's
over each other.

As people slowly sat, Mahir struggled to his feet and leaned forward, hands flat on the table before him. His arms shook and his face contorted. The room that had come alive with affirmations was suddenly still as a mausoleum. With a hard look back to Raoul, who had a hand on his sidearm, Zeke surreptitiously lifted his hand to indicate he should stay calm.