A Warrior's Return (9 page)

Talaric had pulled my hair back, as I
vomited. He had even rubbed my back throughout the painful ordeal.
I was sobbing and crying hysterically, when Talaric pulled me back
from the edge of the bed. With his help I rolled onto my back.

He brought a cool wet rag out from somewhere
and started wiping my face off. He laid another across my forehead
and turned the light off. The room stank and I hated the smell of
my vomit.

“I’m so sorry!” I said over and over.

I felt his big hands frame around my face
and his head drew close to mine, “Would you please stop saying that
Evangelina!”

I started to respond, but he kissed me
deeply for a moment. Shocked out of my crying I stared up at him in
amazement.

“That had to be gross!” I wailed out softly
in mortification.

“Yes, it was actually, but that’s not the
point. The point is that I don’t care! I’ve come to care for you
deeply and I don’t mind the unglamorous aspects of life that are
inherent to simply living in a fallen world. You can be real with
me, as at some point I will no doubt be real with you, in some
unglamorous way. Now you need to calm down and let your body heal!
I’ll get this cleaned up and be back in a bit, okay?”

I nodded and he was off the bed and gone
with the basin.

I shook my head softly in the dark. I did
not deserve any of this, but I was soaking up every minute and
savoring it. My eyes closed and the next time I opened them it was
broad daylight outside and I felt better. I looked around the room,
but Talaric wasn’t there. I didn’t hear Talaric or Rafael in the
other room either.

Was something wrong?

I should get up. It didn’t take but a moment
to realize that getting up was still beyond my capabilities at the
moment. I heard the door of the apartment open and then voices
sounded out. Rafael sounded excited. Really excited, but I couldn’t
make out what he was saying. Talaric peeked into the room and I
looked up at him.

“Feel better?” He asked and I nodded
yes.

“Good!”

He disappeared again and I waited for him to
come back. I noticed something then. The pillows, except for the
ones under my head, were all gone. Maybe he had used them for
Rafael’s bed in the other room.

Talaric came back into the room with a
blanket and I looked up at him curiously. The room was warm, why
the blanket?

He spread it out over me and then simply
said, “I’m leaving.”

My heart stopped. I felt one arm slide under
the back of my thighs and the other the middle of my back as he
gently picked me up.

“And you’re coming with me.”

My eyes flew up to his and I started to
breathe again. I had died on his first statement and come back to
life on his second one. He stepped into the other room with me and
there was Rafael. He was practically jumping up and down in
excitement, which was how I felt inside.

“We’re going to ride in an SUV!” Rafael
said, practically shouting it out in his ecstatic state.

I didn’t care what we rode in. My joy was
that we were leaving this dump of a city and that we were leaving
it with Talaric.

“Is there anything you want to bring with
you Evangelina?” Talaric asked.

I looked around, but there was nothing.
Anything I had of value I had sold long ago.

Absently I said, “Other than some clothes,
no.”

“I packed you and Rafael some clothes and
I’ll buy new ones along the way.”

Along the way to where I wondered, but I
didn’t ask the question. I really didn’t care.

“You’re not a drug runner are you?” I asked
hurriedly upon seeing the shiny SUV parked along the street.

“No!” He said chuckling.

“I assure you all of my business dealings
are above board, from my perspective anyway. Others might have a
differing opinion depending on who you asked.”

I didn’t understand what he meant, but I
trusted him and that was enough. Rafael opened the back door of the
SUV and I saw where all my pillows had gotten too. He had lined the
seat with them and piled the one side up with them as a back
support. Twisting he lifted me up and onto the seat. I lay
comfortably back against the built up pillows.

“I know it’s going to be uncomfortable for
you, but I’ll try to avoid the bumps.” Talaric said sounding
apologetic.

“I’ll be fine!” I hurriedly said.

Rafael insisted on riding in the passenger
seat across from Talaric. We started out into the busy traffic of
the city.

It was slow going as we had to wait for
people to clear out of the way. Vehicles were scarce these days and
many people stared at us curiously as we passed by. Talaric would
glance back at me from time to time and I would always smile back
at him. I think my smile got even brighter when the outskirts of
the city fell behind us completely. I was never going back!

I could tell from Rafael’s vocal sounds and
the way his seat moved energetically that every moment was his next
best moment in life. It was the same way for me.

Talaric gripped the steering wheel tightly.
Not because the road conditions demanded it, but rather it was an
attempt on his part to keep from turning and looking back at his
alluring backseat occupant.

The first time he had glanced back to check
up on her she had given him a smile. A real smile. A beautiful
smile. The kind that he had wanted to inspire her to have, but it
was hard to prepare for their effect upon him and even harder to
look away from them. He’d swerved off the road several times
distracted by her smiling face.

Oh what the heck! He glanced back again, but
she was asleep. The look of complete peace written all over her
sleeping features was almost as good as a smile though.

He glanced over at Rafael and grinned. It
had all been too much for the little boy, who was fast asleep,
slumped against the side of his door. He studied them both for a
moment and had the distinct feeling that he was doing and being
used to accomplish something very special, but instead of feeling a
healthy burst of self pride he instead felt humbled at the enormity
of what had been given to him.

He had given not quite sure why at first,
but now he was being given back more than he had ever given in the
first place. He just hoped that he could keep both of them safe.
They were tough from the threadbare lives they had led and that was
good, because toughness would probably be required of them before
all this was over.

I smelled something. It was a delicious
aroma. It got stronger. Oh I was so hungry!

I opened my eyes to see Talaric standing
there with a big grin, as he held a plate of food under my nose. I
sat up some stiffly and took the plate from him, as I looked
around.

We were pulled off from the road a good ways
and parked in a grove of trees. The sun was disappearing over the
horizon.

I glanced back at him astonished, “I slept
the whole day away again?”

“You sure did and you needed to.”

My rumbling stomach overcame me and I
started devouring the food. There were some vegetables I
recognized, but the meat was so savory!

“What is this meat?” I asked.

Talaric was watching me eat with a soft
expression on his face.

His eyes twinkled as he said, “Let’s just
leave it with the fact that you like it.”

I shrugged and kept eating. Whatever it was
it was good!

The plate was empty before I knew it and I
started to hand it back, when he asked, “Would you like some
more?”

I quickly nodded my head, feeling like a
pig, but unable to stop myself.

He chuckled and walked away with the plate
and I took stock of things. I had never been so far from the city
in this direction before and I could hardly wait to be another
day’s journey even further away from it.

Later sitting up by the fire I watched the
flames flicker on the chunks of burning wood just happy to be
alive. Rafael was already down for the night in the cozy little
pile of blankets, but I was wide awake still.

“You look happy.” Came the deep reply from
across the fire at me.

I looked up from the fire smiling. I
realized that I had already been smiling and nodded my head in
acceptance of a fact. I felt a lot better too.

He set the book down that he had been
reading onto his chest. He’d been reading for close to an hour, but
now he watched me watch him with a slight smile of his own.

“What are you reading?” I asked.

“The Bible.” He said holding it up for me to
see and then he reached out to hand it to me.

I took it carefully from him, as the little
Bible was quite worn.

“Have you ever seen one before?” He asked
softly.

I held the little book in my hand as some of
my best memories of early childhood came back to me.

I looked up, “My mother had one even though
it wasn’t popular to have one. She used to read stories from it to
Maria and I. After she died I looked for it, but I couldn’t find
it. I think father threw it away.”

A moment passed and he asked, “What did you
think of what she read to you? What is it that you believe about
God Evangelina or do you even believe that He exists?”

I looked down at the little book in my hands
and then back up, “I don’t know? Do you believe there’s a God?”

“Yes, yes I do.” He responded quickly his
eyes serious.

I held a little book up slightly and asked
directly, “Is this belief in God why you’re such a good man?”

He took a moment to answer looking like he
was searching for the right words. “Yes, but let me explain a
little more than that.”

I nodded and he sat up, “It’s not enough to
believe just because I’m a good man in your eyes. Other men are
good too, who don’t believe as I do in the Creator. I’m far from
perfect and I have a lot to live with in terms of my past and even
things in the present, but what is important is that my faith in
God is real, because He is real. That’s been made clear to me
through countless ways. And as God is real, He can use me to be a
better man than I could ever be on my own merit. He’s given me the
purpose that I live my life by. I honor him in whatever way I can
each day, as I continually pursue a relationship with Him.”

He looked like he wanted to say more, but
stopped himself. I looked down at the flickering fire, as I
remembered my mother. How different things may have turned out, if
only she hadn’t died.

Maybe this was my second chance. I looked up
at Talaric. I could tell his belief in his God was heartfelt and
not a made-up emotion brought on by the need to believe in
something bigger than himself. God must really exist, but where did
that leave me?

“Do you mind if I read your Bible
Talaric?”

“Keep it as long as you want.” Came his
quick reply.

I looked at the dog eared little book in my
hands, “Where do I start?”

“All of God’s word is meaningful and useful
for learning. Start wherever you want to. Personally I’ve found
that the Creator ministers to me wherever I turn to in that
book.”

I kind of remembered the beginning part of
the book, so I turned the pages open ahead of the beginning some.
The book was called Psalms.

I was doing what I was for three reasons.
For one, I knew that Talaric really wanted me to share his belief
in his God and I wanted to please him. Secondly, I was simply
curious and thirdly I knew that the way my life had abruptly
changed was out of the ordinary course of events. Perhaps it was
because of this God I had never really known in my life. I
read.

I read for a long time.

A single tear leaked out of the corner of my
eye. I hadn’t expected this. It seemed like the writer of the book
had experienced some circumstances in life similar to the ups and
downs of my life. I wasn’t alone in how I felt or what I had
suffered through.

I finished the book of Psalms and kept
reading. All through the night Talaric would wake up like clockwork
to place sticks on the fire so that I would have light to read
by.

He never asked any questions. He just went
back to sleep for another hour or so. I decided to start the book
from the beginning out of a desire to gain a fresh and personal
perspective of the entire book from beginning to end.

I read till the light of dawn started to
peek up over the treetops. I stopped reading to make a simple
breakfast, which I surprised both Rafael and Talaric with. After
breakfast we got back in the SUV and then I fell asleep.

The days went by fast. They were the best
days of my life. A whole new world I hadn’t even known of opened up
to me in the form of God’s word and the example of the man who was
leading us into freedom.

One morning along the way, as I lay in the
backseat, I quietly confessed my belief in the Creator. He had sent
His Son to redeem me and I believed it was true.

The experience of life flowing into me with
that acknowledgement of faith was life altering. Everything
contained within this book was true and it was the framework by
which I was going to live my life by from now on.

I learned to laugh again and even play
practical jokes, of which Talaric was the victim. While he didn’t
seem to like my antics too well he seemed to enjoy my mirth at his
expense.

I shared what I had learned of faith in God
with Rafael, but I got the impression that while he believed
everything that I and Talaric told him to be true that he still
lacked the genuine experience that I had with the Creator. Rafael
would have to seek out his faith for his own one day, I couldn’t
make the choice for him.

Talaric seemed happy with our presence and
the spiritual transformation of my soul, but I detected an
underlying tension that there was a lot that he hadn’t told us.
Such as what he did, even though I wasn’t worried by what that
might be, because I trusted him. But still it was an unanswered
question between us.