Dimensions of Genesis (11 page)

“Hey there!” David hollered to everyone. “Are
we ready for some fun or what?!”

The whole group glanced warily at one another
as they picked up their golf bags and started down the fairway.
Nurse Henderson, whose name tag shouted her name as
SARA, began whispering to another nurse.

As the group continued ahead, Dr. Maddox held
back to walk with David.

The sun dipped behind a mass of gray clouds,
creating a brief chill in the air. Dr. Maddox drew her white knit
sweater tightly around herself, hugging her sides in attempts to
retain heat. Her name tag, hidden beneath the thick sweater,
crinkled noisily.

“How are doing Dr. Blake, you don’t seem
yourself today.” She said cautiously, watching the sloshing drink
in his hand.

“Oh, I’m just peachy keen.” He stated
bitterly, a stony look on his face as his memory flashed back to
the letter.

Slamming back the last of his drink, David
felt his heart beat quicken. His vision blurred as his head started
to swim. With a sickening feeling, he realized he’d made a crucial
error in taking sedatives and mixing them with alcohol.

Not enough to hurt me though, I took such a
small dose, he thought, reasoning his actions, I shouldn’t be
feeling this rough.

“Are you alright, David?” Dr. Maddox probed.
“Do you need to talk?”

Rolling his eyes, thinking about the
situation, he responded sadly, “Thanks, but it’s not something I
feel like discussing right now.”

She sighed deeply, as though searching for
words. David glanced at her, she seemed sad.

Fighting to walk straight, his head felt
heavy, like it was full of water. Dropping his glass, David put
both hands on his head.

“David? Are you alright?” 

“Fine…fine” he slurred, “Just a little
dizzy…” and with that, he fell to his knees.

“David!” Dr. Maddox yelled as she checked the
pulse on his wrist.

On his knees, his whole torso suddenly locked
like a vice had slammed shut, crushing his ability to take in air.
David clutched at his chest and struggled to take a breath.

Falling to the ground, he felt many hands
flip him onto his back. Several of the hospital staff had noticed
him fall and rushed back to assist.

His eyes rolled in their sockets as he looked
up at the clouds whirling around in the summer sky.

Okay buddy, he told himself, this might be
it. Dirt nap time. Another wave of pain convulsed through his
chest. He moaned in agony. Unconsciousness taunted him as he
struggled for air.

His heart felt as though it was beating in
slow motion. He could almost feel the blood slowing within his
system.

A blur of faces swarmed around him. He
couldn’t focus on any one voice to understand what they were saying
to him. Occasionally, he heard words coming from the crowd as he
laid spread eagle on the fairway. He comprehended words like
‘cardiac arrest’ and ‘ambulance’.

His mind cleared briefly and he opened his
eyes to see Dr. Maddox hovering over him. She had removed her
sweater and was checking his vitals.

She’s very pretty. He thought.

Anxious voices from the crowd meshed together
as he struggled to remain conscious. In the midst of the chaos, he
heard Dr. Maddox say something very strange.

“I have to call Ellen.”

Focusing very hard, David fought against his
failing body and opened his watering eyes. As she grabbed her cell
phone from her pocket, she pushed one button and then waited for
the person to answer.

Speed dial? David thought questioningly.

“Hey, it’s me.” She declared to the person at
the other end. Continuing in a hushed tone, David couldn’t make out
what she was saying.

Confused, he wrestled against the
constrictive agony in his chest and pushed himself onto his side,
perching onto one elbow. Several people tried to press him down to
a laying position but he pushed them away with a clumsy arm.

Leaning over, he squinted to read Dr.
Maddox’s name tag, previously covered by her sweater. Opening his
eyes wide, he could see her name written in bold capital
letters.

ALEX.

Suddenly everything became clear. Lying back
onto the green, he let go. His body felt lighter, like he was
floating down a warm river. Drifting, drifting…

The crowd of people surrounding him started
to vanish from his sight. A tunnel vision blocked out his
peripheral leaving him to stare aimlessly into the sky.

That’s when he noticed the light...

Lost and Found

Looking out the window of the tree house,
Lily watched with anxiety as the billowing white clouds shaded to a
dusty gray. In the distance, she could see a veil of rain on the
horizon, edging its way toward the tree house.

Sighing, she rolled her eyes and cursed her
bad luck. Of all the things that could happen while she was out
here, a thunderstorm was the worst. She’d always been frozen with
fear from lightning storms. It bordered on a phobia, truth be
told.

Lighting a tall red candle, she shuddered and
wrapped a flannel blanket around herself. Wondering what Gabe was
doing at that moment, she watched anxiously as the darkness began
swallowing the light, leaving only a tiny circle of
illumination.

~

As he sped away from the horrible scenes he’d
witnessed, raindrops pelting his body, Gabe suddenly realized he
didn’t have a destination. His tiny apartment in the back of the
church didn’t appeal to him right now. He was too confused about
his profession to be placed face to face with it. All things
considered, he didn’t feel like he was doing a very good job being
a priest.

According to the Catholic rules, he was
probably well on his way to Hell.

Sighing heavily, he felt like a failure.

How could he have messed things up so badly?
If it was truly his calling, shouldn’t his dream come easy?

Was it even my dream to begin with? He
thought as resentment towards his father crept into his heart.

Why am I living a dead man’s dream? Why do I
feel responsible for my father’s secret sins? Gabe wondered as he
looked up to the sky. Maybe his father did something so horrible
that he isn’t looking down at Gabe from Heaven, but up from
somewhere very hot.

Shaking his head with regret, Gabe slowed to
a stop on the side of the road. Turning off his bike and taking off
his helmet, he raised his bronzed face to the sky, letting the tiny
droplets of rain cascade onto his face. His blue eyes watered with
the tears of a lost boy, one who desperately wanted to find his way
home...only, he didn’t have one.

Home. He thought pensively, Where is my
home? At the church? With my mother? In Greece? Nowhere ever felt
like home. Just a drifting star searching for its own galaxy.

Lily.

Whenever Lily was near him…that’s when Gabe
felt he was home. It wasn’t a town or a profession he sought, not
an apartment or a bungalow with a picket fence on a crowded
street...it was her. She and Gabe were destined to be together, he
always knew it deep down, but was too stubborn to admit it.

He had to find her.

Lily…where are you? Gabe wondered, his heart
full of worry.

Sarah mentioned Lily told her she was going
‘to the only place where no one would find her’.

“Think, Gabe, think!”

Overhead, a rumbling of thunder reverberated
through the impending twilight sky. Gabe cringed as he thought of
Lily, alone somewhere listening to the same storm, frightened.
She’d always been terribly afraid of thunder and lightning. He
recalled an evening where he and Lily sat huddled in the old tree
house waiting for a storm to pass over.

They’d been out fishing in the pond when a
storm rolled in very quickly. The grape-sized hail pelted their
skin as they ran for shelter. Even though her father had forbidden
the children to play in the tree house, Lily ran straight for it,
instructing Gabe to follow her.

It seemed like hours they waited for the
storm to blow over. Every time the sky lit up with electricity and
the thunder growled, she shivered with fear. Gabe held her as close
as he could, her head buried in his chest. She whimpered with each
crash in the sky. Cuddling together to stay warm, they ate old
raisins Lily had stashed there.

When he asked her why she kept food hidden
there, she confessed shyly, “I come here sometimes, when I want to
be alone…”

The words echoed clearly through Gabe’s mind
as he remembered that night.

“Hah!!” He yelled exuberantly, realizing
where Lily was. He hollered so loudly, he startled an elderly
couple walking their dog down the wet sidewalk. They looked at him,
concern clouded their expressions.

Looking down at himself, he realized he was
still wearing his ceremonial robes, white collar and all. He had
run from the exorcism so fast, he’d forgotten to change. It must
have been quite the sight for the old couple. A priest sitting on a
motorbike in the rain.

Gabe laughed as he quickly put on his helmet,
fired up his bike and hit the gas so hard his bike took off
sideways.

Elated, he set his sights on the acreage.

Renewed Vows

Shivering in a corner of the tree house, the
storm raging overhead, Lily wished she were anywhere but here. Her
stubborn nature, however, would not let her surrender herself to
her parent’s home only minutes away.

The rain beat down on the roof like millions
of tiny drums. Wind pushed the old oak tree so hard, the tree house
rocked; making Lily imagine all sorts of terrible predicaments.

Sure, with my luck, the whole tree will fall
over, taking the tree house with it!

Lily stared into the flickering flame, her
only source of light. The red candle had withered away to half its
length. Wax pooled at the base of the holder making it look like a
tiny volcano had erupted. The hardened red wax resembled lava that
had cooled itself into wavy puddles.

Sighing, Lily laid down, curling herself into
a little ball. She was exhausted from the day and desired sleep.
Just as she closed her eyes, she heard a noise from outside the
trap door.

She swore she heard someone coming up the
ladder, but after listening for a moment; she shook off her
paranoia and closed her eyes again.

BANG!

Lily’s eyes flew open. Sitting up straight,
she stared at the trap door, terrified at who, or what, might be on
the other side.

The trap door was designed to lift on a
hinge, but after years of neglect; the hinges were rusty. The door
was quite difficult to open and close. When she’d arrived earlier
that day, she had to use her shoulder to give it a good shove.

BANG!

Oh god how I wish there was some way to latch
it closed! She thought, panicked. Calm down, Lily, it’s probably
just Daddy. He saw the light from the candle and he’s
investigating. Yah, that’s it, relax. She tried to calm herself.
Then she realized what kind of trouble she’d be in for lying and
hiding away in the tree house.

Nervously, she watched as the door finally
gave way, lifting open slowly.

She quickly blew out the candle; darkness
embraced every corner in the tree house. Using her blanket to
shield herself, only her wide green eyes showing, she watched as a
dark shadow lifted itself up through the trap door.

“Lily?” A soft, deep voice whispered.

Lily’s heart melted like a snow flake landing
on hot skin.

“Gabe?” She whispered back, breathless.

She fumbled for her matches and lit the
candle. As the light painted the walls brighter, she saw his face.
Light blue eyes stared at her intensely. His saturated hair hung in
curly waves, a few tendrils dripped onto his face making his dark
skin glisten. His robe, soaking wet, clung to his body.

“Lily…I’m so sorry.” Gabe’s eyes filled with
tears.

Composing herself, Lily stared at him, her
face still bearing the hurt she’d endured at the church. Her
stomach did flip flops as she looked at his sad, handsome face.

Gabe inched closer to her, crawling on hands
and knees as the ceiling of the tree house was too low for him now.
At fifteen, when he was only 5’5, he could hunch over to
accommodate himself. Now, at 6’1, he could only fit if he was on
his knees.

He made his way across the floor to her. Now
only inches away from her, he reached out and took her tiny hands
in his.

“I’m so sorry.” He looked deep into her
eyes.

Tears of relief swam in Lily’s eyes; they
sparkled from the light of the candle as they glided down her
cheeks.

Gabe gently wiped them, his fingers brushing
lightly against her skin. He shivered slightly as his black robes
cooled in the night air.

“Do you forgive me, my Lily?” Gabe asked, his
eyes searching her face.

Elated, she tried to smother the smile that
wanted to explode across her face.

“Well,” she said haughtily, pretending
to still be angry, “I’ll think about it…”

A momentary look of angst crossed his face.
Lily broke out into a giggle. He breathed a loud sigh of relief,
reached over to grab her and pretended to strangle her.

Both laughing, they suddenly found themselves
face to face. The flicker of the candle danced across their
expressions, both uncertain.

Lily felt the instance in the church was
enough for her to know his true feelings. He was dedicated to the
church, she understood that now. Pulling away from him, she knew
she could never have Gabe the way she wanted. Respecting him was
the best gift she could give him right now.

As she attempted to move away, however, Gabe
suddenly pulled her face to his. He kissed her passionately on the
mouth. Startled, she tried to push away, but the devotion in his
kiss caused her reluctance to subside quickly.