Desperate Times (45 page)

Julie had her eyes tightly closed and wore an
agonized expression. He longed to hold her in his arms. He
struggled against the bonds, but they were unforgiving.

The singing ended with the organ music. Jimmy
wondered how she had been able to build such a following, despite
her dreadful voice. The air was still and smelled of gas fumes.
Jimmy watched a pair of crows on the limb of a pine. They seemed to
be watching the scene below with great interest. They cocked their
heads and cawed back and forth to each other.

Sister Margaret held up her arms. “The time
has come, my friends. Who amongst you will step up and take the
ceremonial candle, the Lord God’s own flame, and send these
heathens on their way to hell? I can promise you: God will reward
you for this. Our own time is near, perhaps only moments away. Who
will do one final service in God’s name?”

Jimmy waited, but the crowd was silent.

“The Lord our God has instructed me to ask
one of you, to do this service. Who among you will stand at His
right hand and share in His glory?”

The only response was from the crows. Jimmy
felt a glimmer of hope. Might they all be spared?

“I need a volunteer, people!” Sister Margaret
shouted, the sanctity gone from her voice. “And I need one, now!
Who will spark the flame?”

Jimmy struggled into a sitting position. He
looked at the congregation and they all seemed to be looking at
him, at all of them. The spell seemed to be breaking. Julie sat up
next to him and they exchanged hopeful glances.

“The Lord commands one of you to do his
work!” shrieked Sister Margaret. “Who among you has the faith to
trust in his judgment? He’s calling you, right now!”

Again, the congregation was utterly silent.
Jimmy could see shaking heads in the crowd and saw that they had
lost their stomach for what she had planned. Jimmy could see Jerry
Jenkins and Glen Putnam standing idly by with their rifles, the two
men he’d surely felt would step up to do her bidding. The look on
their faces told the same story. They wanted no part of this.

“What Lord?” sang Sister Margaret, “You’re
asking me to do this? Thank you, dear God. Thank you!”

Jimmy turned his head to look into the insane
eyes of Sister Margaret. She held a long candle high above her
head, the flame flickering in the still air.

“God has instructed
me
to finish this
task! I want you all to bow your heads and pray for forgiveness!
Pray to God, all of you!”

Jimmy quickly turned his head and was shocked
to see every head in the congregation was lowered. Even Jenkins and
Putnam stood stock still, their chins tucked in. They wouldn’t do
it themselves, but they weren’t about to stop her. Jimmy’s heart
sank.

A woman began to shriek.

Jimmy returned his attention to Sister
Margaret and saw that the shrieking was coming from her. The sound
was like nothing he had ever heard. Jimmy shook his head, wondering
if the gas fumes were starting to get to him. Sister Margaret’s
hair seemed to be standing completely on end, as if she’d been hung
by her feet. Her eyes began to bulge and Jimmy saw fear in those
eyes. Her mouth opened at an impossible angle and her screech rose
to a glass-shattering pitch. Jimmy couldn’t take his eyes off her.
Sister Margaret’s wild hair began to smoke and quickly caught
flame. She still held the candle clenched in her right hand and
Jimmy wondered at the sight of it. She began to spasm and convulse;
then she was suddenly silent. She looked as if she’d just burnt
out, like a bad light bulb.

Jimmy watched in horror as Sister Margaret’s
eyes burst from their sockets. A gasp arose from the congregation
as she slowly tipped over. Jimmy looked at the grass where she lay.
She was dead. Jimmy was sure of it, except he had no idea as to how
or why. Could this be the miracle they were praying for? The green
grass around the pulpit suddenly turned a mid-August bronze. The
fried grass quickly spread from the pulpit like a brown stain.
Jenkins stood nearest to the pulpit and he was soon overtaken by
it. He fell over, his body flopping like a fish out of water.
Putnam was next and he convulsed in the same manner as Jenkins.
Jimmy couldn’t believe his eyes. What was happening? The grass
continued to wither in a great wave that rushed away from the house
with considerable speed. Jimmy watched as it overtook the
congregation; it knocked them over like bowling pins. Jimmy could
smell an overpowering ozone smell, the same unmistakable smell that
he had experienced at the lake. Could this be lightning? Jimmy
didn’t think so. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

Jimmy felt sick as he watched the brown wave
come their way. He closed his eyes and held his breath. Julie
screamed.

Jimmy opened his eyes. The stain had
completely surrounded them. Jimmy waited for the end.

And yet—nothing happened inside their
prison.

Nothing happened at all. Everything was
silent. Jimmy watched as the others struggled to sit up. Their
faces all conveyed the same expression of shock. Had they truly
experienced a miracle? Jimmy had no doubt that they had, but was it
a miracle from God? Had He spared them from Sister Margaret?
Suddenly, Jimmy was sure of it. The Lord truly worked in mysterious
ways and He had just proven that. Jimmy quickly bowed his head and
said a short prayer, thanking God that they were all still
alive.

The screen door on the house slapped shut and
the sound echoed across the lawn.

It was Bill Huggins.

“Holy crap!” he shouted. “It worked! I did
it! Yes!”

He ran toward them, leaping over the fallen
body of Sister Margaret like a chubby deer. He ran at them with a
long knife. Bill’s face was as bright as a five year-old child’s on
Christmas morning. He whooped in glee, charging the fence at full
speed.

Jimmy wanted to stand and cheer. He watched
speechlessly as Bill dropped the knife and tore at the wires that
held the cage together. He worked like a madman, oblivious to the
sharp wires that gashed his hands and fingers. He savagely ripped
open the fence and it groaned as it parted. Bill picked up the
knife and began to wade through the gasoline-soaked brush. He
charged toward Jimmy, but he didn’t stop. He didn’t even seem to
see him. Jimmy turned his head and watched as Bill crashed through
the tangled brush, straight for Cindy.

“I’m sorry, baby,” he said in a burst of
sobs. “I’m so sorry. Oh God, tell me that you’re okay? Please tell
me, honey? Oh Lord, let me get you out of here!”

Jimmy began to cry; he couldn’t help himself,
and one look at the others told him that he wasn’t alone. He
watched as Bill cut away Cindy’s bonds and the two embraced.

Jimmy turned his head up to the sky. The
crows were flying away.

Thirty
-
Nine

In 1946 the Hungarian National issued the
highest banknote ever created. Try to imagine a
100,000,000,000,000,000,000 dollar bill. As if that wasn’t bad
enough, the Hungarian National Bank had another banknote printed
but never issued. This note was ten times larger.

“Tell me, again,” said Ken, as they all stood
a safe distance away from their little prison. “What in God’s name
did you
do?
”

“Not much,” answered Bill. “I just hardwired
the capacitors on your generator and ran the juice up through your
two-twenty line from your welder. It really wasn’t too tough. I
thought they’d wonder why my extension cord to the CD player was as
thick as a rope. Nobody seemed to notice. They were all avoiding
me. I don’t know why… That did make it easy, though. Anyhow, I
wired a splitter to a slab of steel that I borrowed from your
table-saw and used that for the base of the pulpit. When she lifted
that candle, I hit the switch and gave her all it had. I didn’t
think it’d kill her, not like that… I’m sorry, Ken. I really made a
mess of your workshop. I think I toasted your generator.”

“Sorry?” Ken asked, and he wrapped his big
arms around Bill.

“It was no big deal,” Bill said. “Anyone
could’ve done it.”

Jimmy shook his head. Only Bill could’ve done
something so brilliant, and followed it up by uttering something so
foolish. He began to laugh; they all did.
Thank God for Bill
Huggins,
thought Jimmy.

“What about the others?” Ken asked, letting
Bill go.

“I really don’t know,” said Bill. “It must’ve
been the rain. I don’t get it. Look at the ground. The grass is all
burnt up except for the grass inside where you were. That’s
strange…”

They all looked and found Bill was right.
Grass, the color of wheat, completely encircled the cage. Under the
brush, the lawn was as green as a golf course fairway. They
exchanged odd looks and Jimmy shrugged his shoulders.

“We thought she’d converted you, Bill,” said
Patty. “How in God’s name did you fool her?”

“I knew she was trouble as soon as she
started giving her sermon out on the ball field,” said Bill. “I
just figured that we should have someone on the inside. Like a spy
or something. I would’ve said something to someone, but everything
just happened so fast.”

“That was brilliant, Bill… I don’t know how
we can ever thank you,” Patty said, taking Bill into her arms.

“A couple steaks and a cold beer would do
it,” answered Bill.

Patty nodded and once again the group was
overcome with laughter.

“Are they all dead?” asked Cindy.

Burt jogged over to Jenkins and bent over and
checked his neck. “He’s still got a pulse,” he said, reaching down
and pulling the rifle from underneath the fallen man. “They’re
probably all still alive. Hurry everyone! Gather up the
weapons!”

Jimmy picked up Putnam’s shotgun and raced
toward where the congregation lay in the dead brown grass. He
didn’t remember any of them carrying any guns, but he had to be
sure. He quickly began to pat them down. After he had finished, he
began to see those in the back of the crowd begin to stir.

“They’re coming out of it!” shouted Jimmy.
“What should we do?”

“March them down to the gate!” shouted Ken.
“I want them out of here, all of them!”

Jimmy took a position behind the group, Burt
stood at their flank. They held their guns at the ready. The
congregation slowly began to rise to their feet, each wearing the
same expression of shock, guilt, and shame. When they were all
standing and had regained some of their senses, Jimmy ordered them
toward the gate. He didn’t care where they went, as long as it was
far away from Ken’s.

Ken and Dr. Benson hefted the timber and set
it down next to the wall. Julie stared at the group with a grim
expression, holding a rifle on the group. Jimmy had no doubt that
she would shoot at the slightest provocation. Ken and Dr. Benson
pushed open the gate and were suddenly met by the blasting of a
police siren.

“What the hell?” said Jimmy, who stood at the
back of the line, ushering Sister Margaret’s clan toward the gate.
He watched as Ken walked cautiously outside. Jimmy felt helpless.
There were too many people between him and the open gate. “Hurry
up!” He shouted, angrily. “Get the hell out of here!”

Jimmy shot a look to Burt and found that he
shared the same concerned expression. Jimmy began to push on the
back of the last man in the group. “Get moving!” he ordered. He
watched as the throng began to file out of the gate and he cursed
their sluggishness. When had the police gone back to work? Jimmy
wondered, and why were they here? Jimmy couldn’t see this as being
good news. Once again they’d beaten the odds, and once again they
were about to be foiled.

A sound began to erupt from the gate, a
strange sound that Jimmy didn’t recognize at first. A moment later,
Jimmy finally figured out what it was. To Jimmy, it sounded as if
the home team had just scored in overtime. The people were
cheering.

Jimmy wondered in that. What could they be
cheering about? He was nearly to the gate and he gave Burt a
confused look. Burt returned it, shrugging his beefy shoulders. The
people were now picking up their pace, as the curiosity spread.
Jimmy raised his rifle, unsure of what awaited them once they
reached the other side. He began to hyperventilate and sweat oozed
from his pores. He joined Burt at the gate where they waited for
the last of the banished group to file through. They burst outside
together, holding their rifles at their shoulders.

Jimmy and Burt emerged into an excited
frenzy. Everyone was hugging and cheering, whooping joyfully at the
top of their lungs. He scanned the crowd and was puzzled to see Ken
and Patty embracing, their faces tear-streaked and full of pure
joy.

Julie ran to him, her rifle was gone. She
wrapped her arms around him. “It’s over, Jimmy! It’s all over!”

Jimmy dropped his rifle, wondering what she
meant by that. She kissed him deeply, holding him so tight that
Jimmy thought she would crack his ribs.

“What’s going on!” shouted Burt. “What do you
mean?”

Julie let go of Jimmy and turned to face them
both. “The Guard has let everyone go! Everyone’s going home!
Everything is back to normal and they’re already rebuilding! Oh my
God, I can’t believe it!”