Garden of Evil (23 page)

‘That is
so
gross,' said Hunni Robards. ‘You must have barfed.'

‘Do they know who done it?' asked Rudy Cascarelli. ‘Must be like some serial psycho.'

Jim said, ‘The police are looking into it, obviously, but right now I don't know any more about it than anything that you've seen on the TV. Less, probably.'

‘It seems to me like you are having a run of very bad luck, Mr Rook,' said Joe Chang. ‘But not such bad luck as some of the people close to you.'

‘Let's change the subject, if you don't mind,' said Jim. ‘I wouldn't have come into college at all today if I hadn't needed urgently to talk to you about
this.
'

He went to the blackboard, picked up a stub of red chalk, and wrote, in large letters, PARADISE. Then he turned back to his class, smacking his hands together.

He didn't say anything for nearly fifteen seconds. Gradually, his students began to settle. Kyle Baxter loudly blew his nose but nobody laughed or made any ribald comments like they usually would have done.

Jim looked from one student to the next, and said, ‘You were all here in the middle of the night last night, with Simon. Ever since Simon joined this class, there's been a lot of talk about Paradise, and everybody getting what they want for themselves.

‘I'm not sure if getting everything you want for yourself is a great thing, or a good thing, or a bad thing. It could turn out to be a truly evil thing. Maybe you've heard that saying that “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” From the way you guys have been talking, I'm beginning to think that you could say the same thing for Paradise.'

‘But how can it be evil, sir, to get everything you ever dreamed of?' said Jesmeka Watson, with the colored beads shaking in her hair.

‘I don't know, Jesmeka,' Jim told her. ‘I'm just opening this up for discussion. But I'd like you to tell me what happened here last night, and what you expect to happen next.'

Rebecca Teitelbaum put up her hand, from the back row. Nudnik the bear was still sitting next to her, with a mournful expression on his face.

‘Simon said that it was no secret, sir, and that we should tell you all about it if you asked.'

‘I see. Go on, then. Please. Tell me.'

In her usual monotonous gabble, Rebecca said, ‘Today is September twenty-seventh which is the anniversary of the day when God told Adam's first partner Lilith to get out of the Garden of Eden and never come back. God was angry with her because she believed that she was equal to Adam, and not just put on this Earth to have Adam's children and do whatever Adam told her to do. Lilith also believed that she and Adam should be able to know everything there was to know, so that they could choose for themselves how they wanted to live their lives, and so that they could make their own decisions instead of God making all the decisions for them.'

‘And what do you think about that?' asked Jim.

‘I think good for her,' put in Hunni Robards, shifting her chewing gum from one side of her mouth to the other. ‘Even if wimpy Adam didn't stand up for himself, at least Lilith had the stones to do it.'

‘And you, Rudy, what's your opinion?'

Rudy Cascarelli gave a one-shouldered shrug. ‘It's OK by me, women being treated equal and everything. At least you can let them
think
they are. Where's the harm in that? They still got to do the cooking and the cleaning and have all the babies, don't they?'

‘Booo!' said Rebecca Teitelbaum.

Rudy Cascarelli shook his head and laughed. ‘Boo all you like, darling. Do you know any guys who can get themselves knocked up? Because I sure don't!'

Jim said, ‘You all said some prayers last night, right?'

‘That's right, sir, yes,' said Al Alvarez. ‘There was three prayers altogether. One about God, and one about Jesus, and one about the Holy Ghost. Simon read them line by line out of that book of his, and we had to say something back to him at the end of each line.'

‘You mean like responses? Like the priest says in church, “
the Lord be with you
” and everybody says “
and also with you
”.'

‘I guess so, yes. He said something like, “God took two handfuls of mud and squished them into, like, people.” Well, not exactly that but something that meant that. And we all had to say “OK” and a few other words in, like, Greek or something.'

‘Go on.'

‘That was about everything. He said the prayers would help his dad to change the world back the way it should have been, because his dad could raise up this special power.'

‘And when is this supposed to happen?'

‘Before the end of today, that's what he told us. He said it was all explained in that book of his, what's going to happen.'

‘The Book of Paradise?'

‘That's right.'

Jim looked around the classroom. ‘So where is Simon now?'

‘He was here in class this morning, Mr Rook,' said Kyle Baxter. ‘But he said he had to take the book back to his dad's church because it's unique and it's the sole copy and it's the only one there is.'

‘He told you that his dad is going to change the world back to what it should have been, sometime before the end of today, but he didn't tell you exactly how his dad is proposing to do that?'

‘He said one thing,' Joe Chang put in. ‘He said we would know when it was starting to happen because everything would go real dark, like an eclipse, you know? But after a while everything would come back light again.'

‘That sounds pretty apocalyptic, don't you think? Aren't any of you
scared
?'

‘Not if it's going to be Paradise, sir,' said Jesmeka Watson.

‘So you do believe that it's actually going to happen?'

‘Why not? We'll soon see, won't we? If it doesn't, it doesn't, and we'll be stuck with the same old crap lives like always.'

‘But even if it does happen – when it gets light again – do you think it really
will
be Paradise?'

‘If we all get what we want, Mr Rook, then for sure.'

Jim thought:
Somehow, Simon Silence has convinced all of these kids that from sometime today the rest of their lives are going to be blissful. And they all believe him. Just like I believe in my heart of hearts that the Reverend John Silence can give me the power to bring Bethany and my father back to life. It's madness. It should be impossible. But I believe it.

Sometime today, September twenty-seventh, everything was going to lock into place, like the mechanism of a giant clock. Bethany's death, Santana's death, Ricky's death. His dead father appearing on the seashore, drowned and bewildered. The dark hooded figure, smoky at first, but appearing more and more solid every time that it appeared. The Reverend John Silence, vanishing from his bar stool. Simon Silence, always smiling, but whose face gradually appeared to be changing into something strange and cold.

All of these different parts were coming together, and they were coming together sometime today.

They flew, Jim. They fuckin' flew.

Jim checked his watch. Then he said, ‘I'm sorry, class. I have to be someplace. I'm going to hand out some worksheets on plurals. Once you've answered them, you can go.'

‘Oh, no, sir,' said Jesmeka Watson. ‘We're all going to stay here till Paradise comes.'

‘Right, OK, do whatever you like,' Jim told her. ‘Let's hope it doesn't come too late, and you have to wait up for it.'

He tugged a sheaf of test papers out of his briefcase and gave them to Kyle Baxter to distribute around the class. Then he hurried away along the corridor, down the stairs, and out of the front entrance.

He nearly collided with Sheila Colefax, who was coming up the steps.

‘Jim!' she exclaimed. ‘I heard what happened!'

But Jim said, breathlessly, ‘Can't stop!' and jogged across the parking lot until he reached his car. He opened the door, flung his briefcase into the passenger seat, climbed in, and started up the engine.

He pulled down the sun visor and stared at his face in the mirror. He looked wild and unkempt and he still hadn't shaved. But there was no time for that. He swerved out of the parking lot, down the driveway, and hung a howling left on to Sunset, provoking a barrage of protesting car horns.

He just hoped that he could make it to Lookout Mountain Avenue, and the Church of the Divine Conquest, before it grew prematurely dark, and it was time for the arrival of Paradise.

T
raffic on Sunset was down to its usual crawl, so by the time he had reached the intersection with Laurel Canyon Boulevard and driven the two miles up to Lookout Mountain Avenue, it was only five minutes shy of four p.m.

Lookout Mountain Avenue was narrow and bright and dusty, with some ramshackle houses and rickety home-built car shelters and overgrown front yards. Jim drove slowly, trying to pick out house numbers.

He was feeling calmer now, but even more determined to find out what the Silences were doing. More to the point, he wanted to find out who they were, or
what
they were. Had it really been them who had nailed Ricky to the ceiling, and how could they possibly fly? Or had Ricky simply been delirious?

As creepy as they were, Jim had been forced to recognize that both of the Silences exerted a strong personal magnetism. Father and son seemed to be able to draw people toward them – not only because they offered them everything that they wanted most. The two of them had some other allure, too – an allure that was quite indefinable, like the sweet-and-sour taste of their Paradise apples.

Jim knew that he was very close to giving in to them.
You can bring back Bethany, and your father, and they can live out the rest of their lives as if nothing has happened to them. Who can it hurt?

But he was still nagged by his natural skepticism, and his principles, and his logic. His common sense told him that there can never be such a thing as a Paradise for all, because one person's Paradise always turns out to be another person's Hell. That was why he needed to ask the Silences one burning question before the darkness descended. What was this all going to cost, and who would be paying for it? Morally, spiritually, and every other way?

He came to a long, high wall on the right-hand side of the road. It was rendered with maroon-painted cement and overgrown with creepers. Halfway along the wall there was a pointed archway, with a cast-iron gate. Over the gate, raised yellow lettering said
Church of the Divine Conquest
.

He parked his car on the rough, weedy verge on the opposite side of the road, and climbed out. There was nobody in sight, and the only sounds were the ceaseless murmur of traffic, the
flacker-flacker-flacker
of a distant helicopter, and the chirruping of cicadas.

The cast-iron gate gave a groan of protest as he opened it. Once inside, Jim found himself in a brick-paved garden. It was quiet, and shady, but it was badly neglected. The urns and planters contained only shriveled-up weeds, and although there was an ornamental stone fountain of a nymph, dancing, the fountain was dry and the nymph herself was covered all over with scabs of yellow-and-black lichen.

He walked through the garden until he came to the church building itself. It was a pale, sun-faded pink, and looked as if it had once been the home of a minor movie star, or a moderately successful director. It was built in the Spanish style, with pantiled rooftops and shady colonnades all around it. The only sign of life was a cluster of quail, sitting on the ridge of the main building and occasionally letting out their squeaky-toy mating calls.

Jim went down a short flight of steps and then walked around the colonnades until he came to a pair of carved-oak doors, one of which was half open. He peered inside and saw a wide reception hall, with glossy brown floor tiles, and a curving staircase that led up to a galleried landing. An elaborate crystal chandelier hung down from the ceiling like a giant spider's web. He could faintly smell sandalwood incense.

On the far side of the hall there was another pair of doors, and both of these were wide open. Beyond was a bright, sunlit room, although the sunlight made it too blurry for Jim to be able to see if there was anybody inside it.

‘Hallo!' he called out. ‘Reverend Silence! Simon! Anybody home?'

He waited, but there was no response, so he called out again.

‘Reverend Silence! It's Jim Rook! I need to talk to you, sir!'

Still no response. He waited a little longer, and then he pushed the open door a little wider and stepped inside.

‘Reverend Silence!'

He walked across the hallway and into the room beyond. This was obviously the main room where the members of the Church of Divine Conquest congregated, because it was filled with at least ten rows of plain white chairs, with an aisle in between them. The room was so bright because three walls were floor-to-ceiling windows, covered in nothing but thin white muslin drapes. Facing the chairs was an altar, covered in a blood-red cloth. On top of the altar stood two blood-red candles, in silver candleholders, and in between them was a small silver figure of a man with his arms and his legs outstretched, inside a hoop, like Leonardo Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man.

In front of this figure lay an open book, and as Jim approached the altar he saw that it was the same book from which Simon Silence had been reading to the students of Special Class Two in the middle of the night – the white-bound Book of Paradise.

‘
You should read it some day
.'

Jim went right up to the altar. The Book of Paradise was quite slim. It looked as if it was probably no longer than Genesis or Numbers or Leviticus, or any of the other books in the Bible. The pages where it had been left open were marked with two blood-red strips of silk, embroidered with circular symbols like the silver figure of the outstretched man.