Part 32 (1/2)

All right, all right, one more time now, just to be sure. He walked-if he hurried, Angela might notice-into the den, strolled nonchalantly by the stereo, and gave it a tingly tap. Without his having to touch the on b.u.t.ton, it came to life and played beautifully out of both sides.

Don looked at his trembling hand. ”This is . . . this is incredible!” He looked around the room, counting all the gadgets. The implications were staggering.

”I can't lose!” he said. People were coming from miles around to have Brandon Nichols touch their bodies. Would they do the same for their gadgets and appliances? This could be the dawning of a new day for Anderson's Furniture and Appliance!

Angela came into the room, pleasantly surprised at the full stereo sound. She even had to speak loudly. ”You fixed it! You genius, you!”

”Yeah,” he said, awestruck at his new ability. ”Pretty impressive, huh?”

King of the gadgets, that was Don Anderson.

ADRIAN FOLSOM closed her eyes and listened for the voice of the angel Elkezar, her pen poised over a sheet of stationery. Sally Fordyce sat nearby, unconsciously wringing her hands in nervous antic.i.p.ation, waiting to hear a word from the Lord. Suddenly, Adrian smiled as if listening to a voice on a telephone, and began to write. ”Mm-hm. Mm-hm. Uh, what was that again? Mm-hm. Okay.”

Sally was in Adrian's home with Brandon's permission. ”Let Adrian tell you,” he said. ”Let her bear witness.”

Adrian finished writing, and turned toward Sally, the letter in her hand. ”You'll like this.”

Sally leaned forward, still nervous.

Adrian, her reading gla.s.ses on her nose, began to read. ”*This is a mystery of my true church, that all G.o.d's children should be one, with no sense of other. As my servant is in unity with the Christ, so you are in unity with him, and the oneness that you are in spirit, you portray in your bodies. Fear not to submit to him and let your body be his, for this is higher than flesh. This is spirit, and all that is spirit is one.'” Then Adrian grinned, antic.i.p.ating what she would read next. ” *Just as my servant is in unity with the Christ and you are in unity with him, so your friend Mary Donovan is in unity with the Virgin Mother, Michael Elliott is in unity with John the Baptizer, and you . . .'” Adrian smiled teasingly at Sally. ”* . . . are in unity with Mary Magdalene, whom the Christ loves as his own fles.h.!.+' ”

Sally was not so thrilled, and made a face. ”Mary Magdalene?”

Adrian glowed. ”Isn't that incredible?”

Sally only looked at the floor, her head quivering little nos. ”That's not incredible. It's crazy. I'm not Mary Magdalene.”

Adrian tried to explain. ”Well, remember how Jesus said that John the Baptist was Elijah? This is the same kind of thing.”

”Brandon yelled at me last night. That doesn't sound like Jesus loving Mary Magdalene.”

Adrian puzzled over that one a moment. ”That's possible. Even G.o.d got angry with Moses.”

Sally didn't buy that either. ”I was too tired to have s.e.x, Adrian. Brandon got all mad over a stupid thing like that. That doesn't sound like G.o.d or somebody at unity with the Christ or whatever he's supposed to be.”

Adrian gasped. ”Oh my . . .”

”What?”

”It's Elkezar. He's speaking again.” She turned to her table and started writing. ”Oh my. Oh my oh my.”

Sally looked over her shoulder. ”What? What's he saying?”

She could read Elkezar's words as Adrian wrote them: ”Remember the fate of Korah and Miriam.”

”Who's Korah?” she asked.

Adrian's voice was hushed with fear. ”Korah led a rebellion against Moses in the wilderness. The earth opened and swallowed him up, him and his followers.” Sally was about to back away, but Adrian grabbed her arm. ”Miriam stood against Moses and the Lord struck her with leprosy!”

Sally sank to her knees, weak with fear. ”I thought he loved me!”

”Brandon loves you! This threat is from G.o.d.”

Sally thought it over. It didn't take long. ”I'd better get back.” ”Brandon will receive you. You'll be safe there.”

Sally kissed Adrian on the cheek and hurried out the door.

Adrian stared at the paper before her with its cryptic message.

”Elkezar. I've never known you to be so harsh.”

She felt an icy breath of wind at her back, though the curtains at the window did not stir and the houseplants did not waver. She felt it again. Her skin crawled as she turned and saw nothing, but felt something there. ”Is that you?”

There was no answer.

”Elkezar? Is that you?”

He had never hidden from her before, never lurked like a prowler, but now she could feel him watching her, just out of sight. ”I gave her your message. She's going back to the Christ right now. You saw her go, didn't you?” She felt as if cold, heavy lead was filling her stomach. She began to tremble. ”Elkezar? Please, don't tease me now.”

It was the eerie stillness that scared her, the deadness in the air, the chilling cold. The waiting.

He stood there-somewhere-his presence like a poison, the pendulum on the wall clock swinging away the seconds, Adrian's short, frightened little breaths the only sound.

At last, without a word, he turned away. She could feel him retreating slowly, taking his own time, letting the effect linger as hideous terror seeped out of the rooms and hallways in small, agonizing degrees.

Several minutes later, only when she was sure it was safe to do so, she stirred, turning once again to the paper on her desk.

Now it read, ”So also for Adrian.”

JACK MCKINSTRY was having doubts, but neither he nor his wife Lindy dared say anything for fear of jinxing business. The Sooper Market was doing well. Mack's was still the prime location where the denizens of the Macon ranch got their groceries, and Michael the Prophet came through almost every day to post flyers and announcements of coming meetings. Brandon Nichols and his followers always plugged the store to the pilgrims coming through, just as they talked up the other businesses in town. It was best not to tamper with a good relations.h.i.+p, but just keep sacking up those groceries and filling the tills.

But how were they supposed to handle a visit from the Virgin Mary?

Sure, they knew who Mary Donovan was. She'd been a regular customer and they knew her by name. She was a friend of Dee Baylor. Since she was a young divorcee, it was safe to a.s.sume she wasn't a virgin. But here she was, decked out in a robe, shawl, and sandals, pus.h.i.+ng a cart up and down the aisles, grocery shopping for Mrs. Macon and . . . her son.

”Oh, he used to love this when he was little!” she exclaimed, taking a box of Cap'n Crunch off the shelf. Then she'd stroll past the bread and bakery shelves recalling, ”Oh, these are just like the ones he multiplied on the sh.o.r.es of Galilee! I was so proud!” She picked up a jar of tartar sauce. ”My son will provide the fis.h.!.+”

Jack had a good guess that, if she had a grocery list, she wasn't following it. Mrs. Macon wasn't going to be happy about this. He hurried to join Mary near the frozen vegetables. ”How you doin', uh, Mary?”

”My soul doth magnify the Lord,” she replied. ”And behold, these peas are on sale!”

He opened the freezer door to grab some. ”Yeah, they sure are. How many packages do you need?”

She giggled. ”Jesus can start with just one and take it from there.”

He put one package in her cart and then craned his neck to see her grocery list. ”You finding everything okay?”

”He leadeth me beside the still shelves and restoreth my memory.”

He could see the list-and the contents of the cart. ”Uh, you sure you need all these olives?”