LLOYD, PAUL R. (20 page)

Barbara flew over the back of her
chair as Micah’s “sword” smacked her on the head. “Help!”

“The power of that sword was
amazing.” Micah swung his pretend sword again. “I bashed in a door with one
swing. I vanquished Ahlman, at least for the time being, with a single thrust.
All the while, I could feel the power of God surge through me.”

“What did it feel like having God
surge through you?” Pastor Fromritz crossed his arms on his chest while also
crossing his legs.

“I could feel his anger, but it
wasn’t an angry anger. I can’t describe it. It wasn’t like anything I’ve ever known.
It was like God was angry at Ahlman and Ahlman deserved God’s anger. Don’t ever
make God angry at you. His power is awesome.”

“Usually we describe God as having
a righteous anger when we sin,” said Pastor Fromritz.

Barbara threw her empty coffee mug
into the air. “You’re both about to feel my righteous anger if somebody doesn’t
help me. I’m wearing hot coffee down here and I don’t believe this short skirt
was meant to be worn with my feet up in the air.”

Micah grabbed the cup as it began
its downward trajectory towards Barbara’s head. “God’s anger was righteous all
right. But there was more.”

“What else?” Pastor Fromritz threw
his hands up.

Micah helped Barbara stand up. “I
could feel God’s love for me. I can’t explain this either, but the emotion was
intense. Like nothing I ever experienced. My father loved me dearly. His love
kept me alive through fifteen years of prison, so I know about a father’s love.
This was far more intense. It was a fatherly love, just more so. A lot more so.”

“Was that everything?” Pastor
Fromritz took a sip of coffee.

“It’s all for me.” Barbara headed
for the door.

“It’s down the hall, my dear,”
Pastor Fromritz said.

Micah began pacing. “You may not believe
this, but it was like God became excited about what I did. He was happy for me
because I chose to obey him.”

“That was a lot to experience in a brief
time,” said Pastor Fromritz.

Micah stopped pacing and lifted Barbara’s
chair back into position. “When the anger and the intense love and the
excitement passed, I was left with the intense feeling of being loved.” Micah
slid back into his chair. “It was like God gave me a gift of love or of loving
someone. It’s a new experience. I mean I could always love. I loved my parents.
I loved Peevy in high school. It’s like a new kind of love. No, it’s more like…
oh, I don’t know… “

“Don’t know what?” Barbara entered
the office. She used paper towels in a vain attempt to cover a large wet spot
on her blouse. She reached over a chair and picked up her purse.

Micah stood again and took
Barbara’s hand, the one holding the purse. “I … ever since then, gosh, Barbara,
I haven’t said this to you yet… but, honey, I love you so much…” Micah bowed
his head and wept.

Barbara placed her arms around
Micah and drew him awkwardly to herself.

Pastor Fromritz cleared his throat.
“Isn’t it better to pray to a God you are not sure about but who shows you he
loves you, then to continue to ignore God?”

Micah raised his head. “I’ve come
to the same conclusion, Pastor Fromritz. That’s one reason why we’re here.”

“Why me?” Pastor Fromritz crossed
his arms again.

Barbara turned her head to face
Pastor Fromritz while hugging Micah. “Bob was our expert on God. Now, Micah doesn’t
have anyone to guide him. You were kind enough to visit us so we thought you
might be available to sign on for the war.”

“I don’t know that I’d call it a
war, Barbara.” Pastor Fromritz made a palms up motion with his hands.

“If it’s called spiritual warfare,
doesn’t that make it a war?” Barbara smiled.

“And if people try to kill you, wouldn’t
you call it a war?” Micah asked.

“I see both your points. Let me
pray on this. It’s not that I don’t believe you. I do. But our church isn’t
into spiritual warfare and manifestations of the spirit. We’re more about the
study of scripture and the great Christian thinkers throughout the ages. We
pray and serve God’s people through the giving of our time and talents. There
are churches where all they talk about is spiritual warfare. You may be better
off contacting one of them.”

“Then you won’t help us, Pastor
Fromritz?” Barbara asked.

“I didn’t say that. The Lord has
led you to my door for a reason. Let’s pray on this now, and then let me pray
and think so I can be sure of the Lord’s leading. It’s not something I want to
rush into blindly.”

“It’s a struggle for us because we’re
not true believers,” said Micah. “This whole religion thing is new to us. I
think we’d both prefer if God would stay in heaven and leave us alone.”

“Yes, but he doesn’t do that, does
he?” Pastor Fromritz asked.

“Apparently not.” Micah shook his
head.

“And neither does the other side.”
Pastor Fromritz said.

“That much is certain.” Micah took
Barbara’s hand.

Pastor Fromritz rubbed his chin. “And
you know the other side will strike again, don’t you?”

Micah couldn’t remember how long he
had been staring at the clouds, or if he was dreaming of clouds, or if they
were real. He yawned.

“He’s waking up,” Glory said.

“Micah…” Ginny sang into his ear.

“Hey, Micah, check this place out,”
said Bob.

Micah sat up. “Bob?”

He was in the meadow of his dreams.
The teenage girls gathered around Bob.

“Micah.” Bob smiled.

“You’re... you’re…” Micah shook his
head while feeling the joy radiating from his eyes.

“Short?” Bob turned his hands palm
up.

“Dead.”

“Yeah, that, too.”

Micah hugged Bob. “And why are you
still short? Shouldn’t you have a new body?”

“God made me one of his shorter
people, Micah. I wasn’t a dwarf. I was a person of diminutive stature. I was at
the bottom of the normal range for male height. Somebody had to be. God blessed
me with the ability to go eyeball-to-eyeball with the shorter ladies.” Bob stepped
back and put an arm around Glory.

A round of giggles ensued.

“So why am I back here in the
meadow?”

The girls faded away.

“You haven’t been praying very
hard.” Bob patted Micah’s arm.

“Barbara and I visited Pastor
Fromritz.”

Bob turned his back to Micah and
took a few steps. “Yes, that’s fine. Keep up the prayer. It will activate your
armor, shield and sword.”

“So this God thing is for real,
isn’t it?”

Bob faced Micah. “Ye-es. Thought
you figured that out by now.”

“So Bob, who killed you anyway?”

“Focus on the battle, Micah.”

“What battle?”

“It begins
now.” Bob clapped his hands and Micah found himself in a deep, dark place.

***

 Micah opened his eyes and
stretched. He was home in Oak Brook.

“Micah, come out and play, old boy.
Open the window and buzz around with me. I’ll hold you up, take you for ride.”

Micah rolled over and looked out
the window. “Don’t your powers diminish the farther you travel from Naperville?”

“My powers? They’re nothing
compared to the strength of the one who empowers me. Lord Satan rules the
entire earth, not just Naperville.” Ahlman folded his arms across his chest.

“Go away.” Micah buried his face in
his hands.

“You’d rather I visited Barbara?”

“What do you want?” Micah rose from
the bed and glared at Ahlman through the window.

“I told you. Come out and play with
me. I’ll give you a ride with my gossamer wings. It’ll be fun. We’ll get to
know each other better.”

“Aren’t you the demon who tried to
kill me?”

“I prefer to think of myself as a
faerie. It’s so much more fun, don’t you agree?”

“If you don’t leave, I’ll pray for
God’s armor, sword and shield to come on me again. And I’ll smite you.”

“Smite me? What have you been
reading? A bad translation of the Bible?”

“Whatever God’s sword is capable of
doing to you, I’ll make sure it happens.”

“You don’t have God’s armor. Who do
you think you are, the Pope?”

“Did damage with God’s sword the
last time we met, as I recall.”

“Wasn’t God’s sword, old chap. It
was Beelowabob’s.”

“Who’s Beelowabob?”

“Even demons, I mean faeries, have
enemies.”

“No, really?”

“Beelowabob took possession of you.
It’s why so much power surged through you. It was his sword and shield that
saved you.”

“Glory handed me the sword and
shield. She is no friend of yours.”

“Beelowabob can take any form he
chooses.”

“And you think this Beelowabob
character beat the crap out of you?”

“He didn’t harm me! He’s an
inferior runt of a demon. I smote him good, I mean a bad one, later. He’s back
in the master’s retreat waiting for his wounds to burn off. Now, I’m free to
return and play with you.”

Micah rolled his eyes. “How long
must I put up with this nonsense, oh God? Send your angels to smite this demon
or faerie or whatever he is.”

Ahlman flew back from Micah’s
window, cowered and peaked up at the sky and around the yard. Then he
straightened up, smiled and flew back to Micah’s window. “They didn’t come.”

“Maybe God sent me to do his
smiting.”

“Just come out and play. If you put
on your silly armor, I’ll have to kill you.”

“Heavenly Father, this would be a fine
time to park your armor and stuff on me.”

Micah sat on the edge of the bed
waiting.

Ahlman smiled. “You seem to have a
bit of a problem, Micah. Your God is not here to save you today. I could come
in and smite you myself, but I want to have fun with you first. Won’t you come
out and play?”

“No. God, I could use your sword
and shield right about now.”

“Heh-heh-heh.” Ahlman tapped on the
window glass shattering it into tiny pieces that flew into Micah’s face and
covered his body with glass shards. Micah stood up and began to pull at the
glass forced into his skin but soon discovered he was not harmed by the glass.
He placed his fingers on his face, but there were no cuts.

“Thank you, Lord.”

“For what, old boy?”

“I’m wearing my armor, Ahlman.”

“No you’re not!”

“Your trick with the glass
backfired. It reminded me that the armor of God is spiritual. I don’t have to
see it to believe I’m wearing it.”

“I’ll cut you to pieces.” Ahlman
pulled a sword out of the air and flew through the window opening. Micah raised
his hand as though holding a sword. Ahlman’s swung. A loud clapping sound as of
thunder and a rain of sparks shook the air where Micah’s invisible sword met
Ahlman’s blade.

“I outmatch you no matter what
demon’s armor you put on, Micah.”

“God’s armor. Thank you, Lord. I
praise you, Lord. I love you, Lord. I call your righteous anger down upon this faerie
demon, Lord. Vanquish him, O Lord, and send him back through the gates of
hell.” With each word of prayer, Micah’s sword clashed against Ahlman’s weapon,
driving him back through the window. Micah’s final blow shattered Ahlman’s
sword and pierced his armor. Ahlman faded away like dust upon the wind.

“I lost my house!” The old woman
squawked as she picked up a piece of charred flooring with a withered and
knurled arthritic hand. Her face drooped in a pool of wrinkled skin. Moisture
dripped from her rheumy eyes.

“So buy another one, Denise.”
Ahlman wiggled a finger and a large chunk of broken plaster floated from its
location across the lot to the pile of debris by his feet.

“But it’s been in my family for almost
a hundred years.” The woman’s gray hair turned a shade darker as she dragged a
burned floor joist to the pile.

“You mean you lived here for almost
a century? Such a long time in one place.”

“I have a body to dispose of thanks
to you.” The woman’s face lost some of its wrinkles, her eyes brightened. The floor
joist seemed a bit lighter to carry. Her shoulders appeared less drooped; her
legs lost some of their varicose veins.

“That’s why you’re covering her
with so much debris. Don’t blame me that Micah found religion. It’s not my
fault.” Ahlman flapped his gossamer wings, stirring up a cloud of dust accompanied
by a loud buzzing noise.

“We’re bound to be seen.” The woman
dumped her floor joist on the pile and straightened her hunched back with a series
of cracking noises.

“Not if you hurry. It’s a perfect
spot under Micah Probert’s wreckage.” Ahlman floated higher to make less of a
disturbance.

“Lizzy may be foolish enough to test
me again. So will Micah. You’ve frightened me with that armor story. Why is he
so powerful? And where is Lizzy hiding? And why did I let the fool girl get
away when I burned the coven?” Denise’s flesh firmed into the figure of a
youth. She placed her hands on her hips as she stared up at Ahlman.

“My friend will take care of them
all.”

“Micah has not proven easy to
kill.” The young Denise Appleby swept a hand through her raven dark and silky
hair.

“He has much power for one who has
such little faith. The enemy has chosen well with him and upholds him. It will
take another human to dispatch him.”

“What about the priestess?” The
young Denise ran her fingers over her face to feel the fresh smoothness of her
skin.

“Lizzy? We’ll dispatch Liz Colera in
time. I believe I mentioned that. First we’ll have to find her. I don’t
understand the cloud covering her.”

“She has great powers and is not to
be underestimated. We’re not the only ones in Father Satan’s employ. But what
about the virgin?” The young woman unbuttoned the two top buttons on her black
blouse.

Ahlman rubbed his chin. “You don’t
suppose Micah’s girlfriend is a virgin, do you? They’re so hard to find these
days. We can’t sacrifice all the middle school girls in Naperville.”