Times and Seasons (28 page)

Mark
was the first one in line for the telephone the next day. He dialed Steve’s phone number at work, the number that had been printed on office letterhead Steve had used to write him. He called collect, hoping no one would refuse the charges before the call was routed to Steve.

“Steve Bennett.”

Mark sighed with relief. “Steve,” Mark said, “it’s me, Mark.”

“Mark, is everything okay?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I just had a few minutes and a chance to use the telephone. I thought I’d call and tell you something.”

“Okay,” Steve said. “What is it?”

Mark hesitated for a moment. He looked around at the people standing near him, waiting to use the phone. Nobody was really paying attention.

“I just wanted to thank you. I mean for all the letters you’ve been writing and the Bible studies and all that.”

“Well, you’re welcome.”

“‘Cause I’ve been reading them and everything, you know,” Mark said, “and I’ve been thinking about a lot of it. And I sort of woke up in the middle of the night last night. I kept thinking about the Prodigal Son, and I felt like that kid who wound up wallowing with the pigs and then came home. You know how his father was waiting for him with that robe and that ring? That was all pretty cool.”

He could hear the emotion in Steve’s voice. “Yeah, it was, Mark.”

“I just sort of decided I was that kid coming home,” he said, his voice wobbling. “And I sort of ran to God, told him I was sorry.”

He heard Steve suck in a breath. “You did that?”

“Yeah. And, well, I realized what Jesus did for me and everything. And what a dope I’ve been, kind of throwing it back in his face the way I have. Running from it like there was something else I could get. I’m not gonna be like that anymore.”

Steve’s voice moved into a higher, emotional pitch. “Thank you for telling me, Mark. You don’t know what this means to me.”

“Well, I just thought you should know first,” he said, “since you had so much to do with it.”

“Are you going to tell your mom?”

“Yeah, the Bible says we’re supposed to say it out loud, aren’t we? Guess I need to do that. But I don’t get another phone call, and besides, I want to tell her face-to-face.”

“I’m going to let you tell her,” Steve said. “It’s the best thing you could give her, Mark. It’s even better than Annie going to the mission field.”

“No way,” Mark said on a laugh. “You think?”

“Hey, I know. You tell your mom this and the jail, the drugs, all the rest of the stuff, she’ll completely forget about it. She’ll be so thrilled to know that you’ve got Jesus.”

Mark swallowed the lump in his throat and blinked back the tears. “Well, I gotta go. There are people waiting to use the phone.”

“Tell her, okay, Mark?”

“I will, next time I see her.” He hung up the phone and stood there a moment, thinking of calling his mom right now, but those in line were growing impatient.

“Hey, man, move on. You’ve had your turn.”

He turned around and saw Beef, and he handed him the phone. “Go ahead, man. I’m finished.”

Beef grabbed the phone and pushed him out of the way, but Mark didn’t react. He just hurried to the cafeteria to get started on his day’s work.

Cathy
noticed a change in Mark as soon as he walked into the room for visitation Wednesday night. His eyes were brighter than she had seen them in months, and he smiled as if he had a secret that he couldn’t wait to share.

Pleasantly surprised by his new demeanor, she said, “You must have had a good day.”

“It’s been a good week,” he said. He leaned up with his chin on his palm, fixing his eyes on her. “So what’s going on with you? Have you heard from Annie?”

“I got a letter from her this week,” she said. “She’s doing really well, Mark. I’m so proud of her.”

“Me, too,” Mark said.

The words surprised Cathy, and she lifted her eyebrows.

“What about the house?” he asked. “How far have they gotten?”

“Well, they’ve got the frame up, and the wiring’s been done. They put the insulation in yesterday. They’re starting on the drywall tomorrow. Once that’s up, it shouldn’t be that much longer.”

“Three weeks? A month?”

“Maybe,” she said. “They’re working at it pretty hard. Steve got a good contractor, despite everything.”

Mark leaned back in his chair and kept his smiling eyes on his mother.
He has a secret
, she thought. “What is it, Mark?” she asked, finally. “There’s something going on.”

He nodded, and his face got serious. “Mom, the other night I woke up in the middle of the night and I started thinking about the things Steve has sent me.”

Her eyes widened, and she took his hand. “Really?”

He went on. “Mom, I called Steve the other morning, and I told him what had happened.”

“What?” Cathy asked. “What happened? He didn’t say anything.”

His smile faded, and his eyes grew serious. “I gave my life to Christ,” he said. “I finally got it about the Prodigal Son and that guy’s dad standing there watching for his son. I finally realized about the robe and the ring, and I decided I didn’t want to be going in the wrong direction anymore. I wanted to come home.”

It was the first time he had said the word
home
without a plea behind it, and she knew that this wasn’t another desperate attempt to make her get him out of here. Tears rushed into her eyes, and she covered her mouth.

“Mark, you’re not just telling me what I want to hear, are you?”

“No, Mom. It’s the truth.” Tears glistened in his eyes, and he wiped them away and reached into his pocket for a folded piece of paper. Slowly, he opened it and ironed it out with his hand. “I drew this yesterday, when I was thinking about the son being like the father. I kept getting hung up on Dad, you know, and the way he’s turned against me.”

“Mark, he hasn’t turned against you.”

“Mom, the best you can say is that he just doesn’t care one way or another. But that’s okay. It’s not so much about him. It’s about God. I’m
his
son, too. And I want to be like my Father.”

She looked down at the picture and saw the silhouette of a man, with a smaller silhouette of a boy just inside it.

“At first, this was Dad and me. We were both angry and disappointed. And then I realized it didn’t have to be Dad and me. It could be God and me. And God had gotten over the disappointment. He could see some hope for me.”

She reached out for her son and wept as he held her.

“I want you to have the picture, Mom,” he said as he pulled back. “It’s not great art or anything. But maybe it’ll remind you that I’m not a lost cause.”

She choked back her tears. “Thank you, Mark.” She pondered the picture again. “So you gave your life to Christ, and you called
Steve?
”

“Well, I wanted to tell you in person. He sent me all those letters, and I saved them up, you know, and kept reading them and studying them, and even talking to God about them. When I finally did it, it seemed like he should know.”

“And he didn’t tell me?”

“He wanted you to hear it from me. He’s a pretty good guy, Mom.”

Cathy wiped the tears on her face with the fingertips of both hands. “I know he is, Mark.”

“Then why won’t you marry him?”

Her mouth fell open. “Mark, I was waiting for you.”

“You don’t have to wait for me, Mom,” he said. “I think you need to go ahead and do it. I’m fine in here. And when I get out I’m going to need some stability in my life.”

She started to laugh through her tears. “Stability? You?”

“Yes,” he said. “You know, it’s not always so great to have everything stay the same. I think he’s going to be an improvement to our family. I can handle it. I’m a big boy.”

She couldn’t find words to answer him. Finally, she grabbed his hands and brought them both to her mouth. “Oh, Mark,” she whispered.

“So you’ll do it?” he asked. “You’ll marry him?”

“Of course I will,” she said. “I’ve been
wanting
to. But I thought it would be kind of a betrayal to you until you got out of here.”

“Hey, you can videotape it, okay?” he said.

She shook her head. “I don’t know what to say, Mark.”

“Just say you’ll do it,” he said. “I don’t have much to give you as a wedding gift, but you can take this.”

She smiled and wept some more as she let the gift from her son sink in.

Cathy
almost ran two red lights trying to get to Steve’s house when she left the prison that night. She left her car door open, bolted up the porch, and banged on the door. Tracy flung it open.

“Hi, Cathy,” she said in that voice so full of enthusiasm.

“Tracy!” Cathy grabbed the girl and swung her around.

Steve came running into the foyer. “Cathy! What is it?”

Cathy set Tracy down and threw her arms around him. “You didn’t tell me about Mark!”

He pulled back and looked down at her. “What did he tell you?”

“That heaven was having a celebration and I didn’t even know about it!”

Steve’s smile cut from ear to ear. “I wanted him to tell you himself. I figured if he did, that it must be true—not just something he felt for a few minutes.”

“No, he meant it!” she cried. “He was excited, and he told me. And you’ll never guess what else he said!”

“What?” Steve asked.

“He said we should go ahead and get married, that there was no point in waiting for him. He
wants
us to go ahead.”

Steve caught his breath, and Tracy began jumping up and down, whooping with delight. “You can do it, Daddy! You can marry her now. We can move into the house as soon as it’s finished, and…”

But Steve wasn’t listening to Tracy. His eyes were focused on Cathy, and he touched her face with both hands. “Will you, Cathy?” he asked. “Will you marry me?”

“Yes!” she said. “Yes, I will. Let’s set a date. How about…four weeks from now?”

He ran for a calendar and turned to September. “That would be the 26
^th
.”

“September 26,” Cathy said. “Our anniversary will be September 26.” She threw her arms around him, then embraced the bouncing girl. “Let’s go home right now and open all those presents.”

“Yeah!” Tracy said, and jumped even higher. “Come on, Daddy. Please, can we go?”

“Get in the car,” he said. “I’ll get my keys.”

And together they all headed to Cathy’s house to open the presents that had been sitting in her dining room for too long.

The
telephone connection between Breezewood and León, Nicaragua, seemed as close as if Annie was just in another house around the corner. “Mom, I checked into it, but I really don’t think I can come home for the wedding and still afford to come back here. Would it upset you if I missed it?”

There wasn’t much that could shake Cathy’s joy now. “Well, no, honey. I know it’s short notice.”

“I want to come and everything, but right now we’re so busy and I really don’t think Sylvia can do without me. I know she did before, but now she’s depending on me, you know?”

“I was hoping she could come, too.”

“Well, she can’t. We’re just swamped. Besides, it costs a lot of money and she doesn’t want to spend it on airfare when she could be spending that money on food. You know, they haven’t sold their house yet. And until they do, we’re just making it hand to mouth, giving the kids as much as we can each day. It’s really hard to spread the food out among all of them. So neither one of us can come, Mom. So much wouldn’t get done if I left.”

“Honey, that’s the best wedding gift you could give me. You just stay there and do your work. We’ll be okay. Rick is going to be the best man and Tracy will be my little maid of honor.”

“What about Mark?” Annie asked.

“Mark is great. In fact, I’m thinking about having the wedding in the chapel at River Ranch if I can work it out. That way Mark can be there.”

“That’s a great idea, Mom. And you have to videotape it, ‘cause I really want to see it. Do Tracy’s hair up real nice, with flowers in it and everything.” Her voice cracked. “I wish I could be there.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll send you pictures and tell you all about it. And I’ll even videotape the house before we move Steve and Tracy in just so you can see all the changes as they take place.”

“That’s what life’s about, Mom,” she said. “I’m finding out it’s all about change. You don’t have to worry about me coming back and having everything different. It might sting for a minute, but it’ll all be for the best. Won’t it?”

Cathy couldn’t swallow the tears down. “How’d you grow up into such a wonderful young lady, with a mother like me?”

“Mom, with a mother like you, how could I lose? You should see some of the kids here who don’t have moms. It really makes a difference. It just breaks my heart. I wish they could all have a Cathy Flaherty in their lives.”

Cathy wiped the tears from her face as she let those words seep into her heart.

September
flew by as Cathy took care of the wedding details, and when the 26
^th
finally came, the wedding was everything they had hoped. It was small and brief, but beautiful. The singles’ minister that Steve and Cathy had gotten to know at their church performed the wedding in the prison chapel, and Mark was allowed to attend.

When it was over, Cathy kissed her new husband, then his little girl, then turned to Rick and pulled him into a hug. Finally, she turned to Mark.

“Thank you, Mark,” she whispered, touching his face. “You’re turning into a very nice young man.”

He smiled, teary eyed. He hugged his mom, then turned to his new stepfather and gave him an awkward hug. “I’m sorry I’ve disgraced everybody the way I have, but some day I’ll make it up to you,” he said. “I’ll be even more useful than Annie. You’ll see. Some day I’ll make everybody proud of me. Even my dad.”

Steve made the silent vow to be everything he could to fill in the blanks for this boy. But he would need God to help him discern where his boundaries were.

Rick stayed in Knoxville with his dad while Cathy and Steve honeymooned in Gatlinburg. Steve’s parents kept Tracy, and the contractors had been given strict orders to finish the construction while they were gone.

Rick’s visit with his dad was awkward, for Rick hadn’t gotten over the fact that his dad had refused to communicate with Mark. But it was time to mend fences, he told himself, and if he could help mend fences between Mark and their dad, then it was worth the time.

Rick waited until Jerry was feeling good about a golf game with one of his partners. Jerry stood at the grill in his backyard while the steaks sizzled, describing the shot he’d made at the fourteenth hole that morning. Rick listened and pretended to be interested.

“It was beautiful,” Jerry was saying. “You shoulda been there. I’m telling you, ESPN would have loved this.”

“Too bad we don’t have it on video,” Rick said. “Mark would love it, too.”

His dad got quiet and opened the grill and seemed to concentrate on moving the steaks off of the flames.

“You know, Dad, he’s changed a lot since he’s been in jail.”

Jerry didn’t look up.

“No kidding. He’s a different person. You wouldn’t believe it. He’s made all these promises about when he gets out. He doesn’t want to ever go near drugs again.”

“You like T-bones, don’t you?” Jerry asked. “Sandra’s been marinating them. Smell.”

Rick slid his hands into his pockets and went to stand beside his dad. “Dad, he’s become a Christian. He’s been doing a Bible study and praying a lot, and I think he’s able to look at his future now and see some hope.”

He got a reaction then. Jerry closed the grill and stared at the top of it for a long moment. “Well, that’s
something.
”

“Yeah, I thought so,” Rick said. “I know you’re not big on religion and stuff but, you know, it’s really changed him. Oh, and I have some pictures of him at Mom’s wedding.”

Jerry rolled his eyes, as if the last thing he wanted to see was pictures of his ex-wife’s wedding, but Rick pulled them out and showed him the ones of just Mark. “See how tall he’s getting? And his hair’s growing out a little. Did you know they shaved his head when he first got in there? But I think he looks pretty good right now. You wouldn’t know him. He looks clean-cut, like he could actually get a job or something.”

Jerry took the pictures and looked down at them, as if he didn’t recognize his son. “They let him go to the wedding?”

“Well, Mom and Steve got married at the prison chapel. You know, it was actually Mark’s idea that they go ahead and get married. They were holding off, waiting for him to get out, but that meant a whole year, and Mark didn’t think they should do that. I thought it was pretty mature of him.”

Jerry looked up at him, pensive, and Rick wondered what was going through his mind. The fact that his dad even acknowledged what Rick was saying was a good sign.

“Dad, he’d really love to have a visit from you. I think every visitation on Wednesdays and Sundays he secretly hopes you’re going to come.”

Jerry opened the grill again, letting a puff of smoke escape. “I don’t have any experience with this, Rick,” he said. “Visiting my child in prison, knowing how to act toward somebody who’s disgraced the family this way…”

“Well, it seems to me that it’s Mom he’s disgraced more than anybody,” Rick said quietly. “I mean, the policeman came to tell
her
about it when she was at her own wedding shower. All the people who know him mostly are from Breezewood instead of Knoxville. A lot of people don’t even know he has anything to do with you. But Mom hasn’t turned her back on him.”

Jerry turned around and gazed at Rick. “So what’s it like in there? What are the other prisoners like? Are they a bunch of hoods from the ghetto or something?”

“Actually they’re all pretty straight right now,” Rick said. “When they’re not on drugs they’re pretty decent people. They all look clean-cut right now, except for those silly suits they make them wear. I think the whole experience has made Mark stronger. He’s found out there are consequences to his actions and that those consequences can change his life. And he’s learned about people of all different kinds and how to get along with them. Plus he’s working in the cafeteria and studying, because they have classes during the day.”

Jerry flipped the steaks over and stared down at them for a moment. Rick thought he was going to ask more about the prison, or maybe even about Mark. Instead, he said, “Go in and ask Sandra for the pepper, would you?”

Let down, Rick took that as a dismissal of the conversation, and he knew his father wasn’t going to engage any more. Well, Rick had said his piece, given his dad all the information he needed, even made a plea for Jerry to go visit Mark. But there was nothing more that he could do without straining his own relationship with his dad, and he wasn’t sure that would accomplish anything.

“Yeah,” he said, finally. “I’ll get it.” And as he did, he said a silent prayer that God would take care of the rest.