A Deal With God: The Power of One (27 page)

Randy’s two friends were Larry Jones and Mark Samuels. He sent text messages to his two friends saying he needed a little help Monday morning. Neither boy returned Randy’s message which angered him even more.

He put the three weapons inside a big duffle bag and locked the bag inside the cab of his truck. Monday morning he would wreak havoc at Morrison High School. In Randy’s mind, it would all be Mr. McAfee’s fault.

Just after 7am, April 20, 2020 Deana parked her car on the other side of the shopping mall where the car rental business was located. Last Friday, Deana had verbally reserved a minivan over the phone using Darla Robertson’s name. Deana made an excuse saying she left her credit card at her office and the dealer allowed her to make a verbal reservation.

Deana put on the wig to make herself look like Darla Robertson’s driver’s license picture. She had put on the dress gloves to not leave any fingerprints. She used Mrs. Robertson’s driver’s license, credit card and proof of car insurance to procure the minivan. Deana asked the dealer to not run the credit card because she was paying cash when she brought the van back in a few hours. Deana then left a large cash deposit.

“I should be back before lunchtime. I’m just running up the street for a little while to help my daughter move to a bigger apartment.”

Deana didn’t believe she would be back in a couple of hours. She didn’t think she would be back at all. Nonetheless, she had to be prepared for anything. Deana was confident she had planned well and had every base covered.

Deana drove the minivan to the other side of the mall where the Stratus was parked. She transferred the janitor’s big cleaning pail on wheels, a mop, the airtight container with the ether soaked rag, one gallon of water, dish detergent, the jumpsuit, other wig, mustache, and a second pair of see–through tight latex gloves to the van.

She was wearing a pair of see through gloves now underneath the dress gloves, to not leave fingerprints. Deana wanted extra protection in case she’d have to handle the ether soaked rag later so she took off the dress gloves and put on the second pair of clear latex protective cleaning gloves. She wanted two layers of latex to keep the ether away from her skin. She was confident the fact she wore dress gloves at the car rental business did not send up any red flags.

When Deana had gotten into her car earlier she had prepared a stamp addressed envelope to Mrs. Robertson. If Deana made it back later today, she’d slip the driver’s license, the proof of car insurance and the debit card in the envelope so she could mail them back to Mrs. Robertson. Deana would pay cash so Mrs. Robertson would not be billed.

Deana switched wigs. She put on the mustache and jumpsuit. She had worn her hair in a ponytail so she could put it inside the back of the jumpsuit so no one could see her hair. She had done this earlier at the car rental store. She had worn a high neck blouse and she tucked her hair down the back, inside of the blouse.

It was after eight o’clock when Deana drove the rented van into the parking lot of Morrison High School. Both days last week, the janitor started at 7am in building 1A. At 7:30 he moved to building 2B. At 8am he worked in 3C and finished 4D between 8:30 and 9am. First period started at 9am.

Matthew was a senior; Deana knew his locker was in 4D. Mark was a junior; his locker was in 3C. Randy Mullin’s locker had to be in 3C. Just before 8:30, Deana watched the janitor leave building 3C and enter 4D.

Deana got out of the van. She took out the big cleaning pail on wheels, the mop and the container with the ether soaked rag. She put a gallon of water in the pail with dish detergent. Only one gallon of water made the pail light in weight, a lot of dish detergent made the pail look full due to all the bubbles.

She rolled the big cleaning pail into building 3C and pretended to clean very close to where Mark’s locker was. Deana’s anticipated that Randy would wait until as close to 9am as possible. That would allow him to maximize the damage because more students would be at school at 8:55 versus 8:25.

If Randy had gotten to school early, Deana would have seen his truck. It was now 8:40am; there was no sign of Randy or his truck.

Deana pretended to clean as time dragged on. If the real janitor doubled back or someone in administration realized there was a janitor at school that didn’t belong, she would be unable to stop Randy.

At 8:49 Deana saw Randy Mullin walk through the doors of building 3C and walk right past her. She moved the mop pail out of his way. Randy looked very aggravated. He went to what was obviously his locker and opened it.

Deana got out her container with the ether soaked rag in it. Randy unzipped the duffle bag. Deana saw the outline of the rifle as he started to pull the AK47 out of his bag.

Deana had practiced all weekend holding her breath as long as she could. She could easily hold her breath fifty seconds. She might have to go longer than that right now. Deana quickly took the ether drenched rag out of the container with her right hand. She bolted up behind Randy and forced her right hand and rag into Randy’s face as she used her left hand to pin the back of his head down so the rag would temporarily stay affixed to Randy’s mouth and nose.

Deana’s strength, a huge surge from her adrenal gland and a very strong ether mix dropped Randy to the floor as the AK47 escaped the duffel bag and fell to the floor in plain view of every one present.

A boy had gone to pull Deana off of Randy. He had Deana in his grasp. When he saw a teacher grabbing the rifle off the floor during all the commotion he was temporarily distracted. Deana elbowed him hard in the ribs. The boy let go of Deana as she pulled away with all her might. She spun loose and ran as fast as she could to the parking lot.

Deana jumped in the minivan and drove off of the Morrison High School grounds as fast as she could. She took off the gloves, mustache and wig as her van entered the main road. The police were coming in as she was going out.

Deana bee–lined to the car rental company. She was utterly shocked she made it out alive. She was proud of herself for taking down a young man as large as Randy Mullins. He had hit the floor like a ton of bricks and was knocked out cold by the ether. He would never, ever hurt anyone at Morrison High School. If he ever had the urge to hurt anyone again, it would be at the State or Federal Condo!

CHAPTER 22
A SECOND SURPRISE ENDING

Deana drove the minivan back to the mall to where her Stratus was parked. She put the janitor uniform, black wig and mustache, empty gallon jug, detergent, and used gloves into her Stratus with the stamped addressed envelope to Mrs. Robertson. She put the Mrs. Robertson wig and dress gloves back on.

Deana settled up with the car rental office and walked back to her Stratus. She put Mrs. Robertson’s license, insurance card, and debit card into the pre stamped and addressed envelope. Deana drove to the Post Office, mailed back the items, and drove home.

Last Friday, when no one was around, Deana had buried a large metal box in the backyard. When she got home from the post office the boys truck was still in the driveway. They must have gotten a ride to school because no one was around. Deana quickly got a shovel and unburied the box. She put the jumpsuit at the bottom of the box with all three pair of gloves. She put the two wigs and the mustache on top of the jumpsuit and gloves. She took two pounds of hamburger and put that on top. She drenched the inside of the box and all its contents with lighter fluid. Then Deana lit a match and ignited the contents of the box.

Minutes later, it was impossible to tell what had been in the box. The fire ruined everything except the hamburger and some of the wig and mustache fibers. The hamburger would draw maggots. If anyone in the future were to discover the box, it would look like the remains of a dead animal or pet.

Deana covered the box and the hole. As she put the shovel back in the carport, she heard Mr. Vito’s car driving up the road. When Matthew and Mark couldn’t get the truck started, they called him to take them to school.

Mark ran up to Deana. “Why haven’t you answered your cell phone? You’ll never believe what happened at school today. Some mystery janitor stopped Randy Mullins from smoking half the school.”

“Crap, I forgot to turn my cell back on after my doctor’s appointment.” Deana acted surprised at the news. “That is incredible! I want to hear all about it. I guess you boys are getting the day off from school today.”

“Yes ma’am,” Matthew replied. “It’s a good thing because we need to go into town to get a new key made for the truck. The original key was a piece of garbage.”

Later that evening, Deana went to the restaurant and talked to Mr. Vito.

“Mr. Vito, first of all, thank you for taking the boys to school today. It was very sweet of you. Second, I have some sad news I need to share with you. I’ve worked here close to eight years and except for the passing of Mr. Wilson, I’ve never had more than four days off in a row. I’m tired and I feel stressed out. I have to…”

Mr. Vito cut Deana off in mid sentence. “What did the doctor say this morning?”

Deana had temporarily forgotten about her fictional visit to the doctor’s office, but she recovered quickly. “He said I’m run down and need to retire.”

It was not the answer Mr. Vito wanted to hear. “Are you saying I need to replace you?”

“Yes sir. It breaks my heart to leave you, but my time is up.”

Mr. Vito was stunned.

Deana thanked Mr. Vito and gave him a hug. She quickly walked out of the restaurant. If she would have stayed any longer she would have broken down and cried.

Deana went home and relaxed on the couch with Leon. She told Leon her decision about work. He was surprised, but not upset. Deana had a queasy feeling in her stomach she was hoping was caused by nerves. She prayed it would get better, but she was not very optimistic.

The next morning, on her way to church to practice for Sunday, Deana still felt sick to her stomach. She felt bad about missing practice yesterday, so she worked extra hard today. The song she chose was a slow sad song in contrast to the upbeat, fast tempo songs they usually played.

Deana got back home just after lunch. She went into the bedroom and got on her knees in front of the bed as she stared at a large cross mounted on the wall. Deana began to pray. As she did, tears filled her eyes. Then she began to talk to God.

“Oh Lord, I realize when I first came to Dothan I was unhappy here. When I first met Leon I thought he looked like a hillbilly and I misjudged him. I am so, so sorry. I love Dothan; the people here are wonderful friends and family. I love Leon and I love our boys. I don’t want to leave them. I know I’ve asked a lot from you over the years. This is my final request. I know we had a deal. But I’m begging you, once again, to let me stay.”

Tears streamed down her face. She repeated this prayer three more times. At the end she finished with, “Lord I’m begging you to let me stay. There’s more good I can do.”

Deana climbed onto her bed and meditated. When she was about to start dinner, she kneeled in the kitchen and prayed more until she heard the boys come home.

Every morning and afternoon, Deana prayed. She prayed for Luke. She apologized profusely for disliking Leon when she first met him. She admitted those terrible feelings were wrong. She swore she was madly in love with Leon because, in fact, she really was. She pleaded for God to show her mercy one last time.

Over the weekend, Deana and Leon discussed plans for Leon’s 40th birthday which would be on Wednesday. Leon told Deana he was having trouble getting the day off from work.

Deana asked Leon if next weekend they could go to Hilton Head Island to celebrate his birthday. Deana desperately wanted to go back to Hilton Head Island one last time. Since she wasn’t working, going over the weekend would be perfect.

Leon agreed. “I’ll get off work early on Friday and we can leave Dothan before rush hour. We can have a fun couple of days.”

Monday morning Deana got to church early. She wanted to have time to pray before Gary and Mrs. Jarvis arrived. She asked God for forgiveness and for mercy. Tears streamed down her face as she put her entire heart and soul into her prayers.

Unfortunately, every day that went by, Deana felt worse and worse. She felt sicker and sicker. Deana spent even more time in prayer; some days praying for five or six hours.

By the time Friday came around it was May 1st. Deana was nauseous and throwing up all day. However, she was not going to allow her sickness to ruin her opportunity to go to Hilton Head Island.

When Leon got home, Deana had her things packed for the weekend. Matthew was now an adult and he agreed to take care of Luke and keep an eye on Mark.

Deana took some medicine to try and settle her stomach. She was determined to tough the vacation out. The entire ride she was sick and felt awful.

When Deana and Leon got to their hotel room, they enjoyed the magnificent view of the Atlantic Ocean. Then Deana got sick again. She alternated between going to the bathroom and resting on the bed.

Saturday morning was the worst. She could not keep any food down and had a splitting headache. All she could do was rest in bed or sit in a big chair. Deana and Leon tried to watch a movie, but Deana spent most of the time in the bathroom.

Upon Deana’s fourth return to the bed, Leon asked an unusual question.

“Deana, honey, when was the last time you got your period?”

“It was between the first and second weeks of March.” Deana looked surprised at Leon’s question. “I’ve had an inconsistent cycle my entire life. I’ve been later than this before. It’s nothing to worry about.”

Leon tried not to laugh and Deana did not see his quick smile.

“Deana, I need to run to the store real quick. Is there anything you’d like for me to get you at the store?”

“Maybe some ginger ale, sometimes that helps settle my stomach.”

Leon went to the store to buy Deana a home pregnancy test. Leon had seen Rebeccah go through what Deana was experiencing.

Thirty five minutes later Leon walked back into their hotel room. Leon took the home pregnancy kit out of the box with the directions and told Deana to go in the bathroom and do the test.