The Kingdom Land (21 page)

“
I'm sorry” Laura said. “I wasn't
looking. I should have been looking. It's all my fault.” Laura saw
the mother's expression move from shock to a look of
forgiveness.

“
That fine. I didn't see you
either.”

The baby quit crying with the change of events and
looked directly at Laura. The baby girl had a bow tied to the small
amount of hair on her head. She was held to her mother's side, but
a smile quickly formed as she looked at the stranger. Her eyes were
big and brown and beautiful. She wore a lace filled dress that
appeared hand-made, and as Laura had reached to prevent a fall, the
baby reached her arms back to her. Her hand touched Laura's bare
arms, and Laura saw what her baby would have looked like.

The three walked to the foyer. Laura couldn't take
her eyes off the baby. The mother shifted the child to her other
hip and went right when Laura went left. She glanced back to make
sure Laura wasn't following.

Laura recognized the look of fear in the mother's
eyes. She had to get out of there. She fled out the front door and
went to the back corner of the building and vomited.

 

 

 

Chapter
Seventeen

 

 

I
n summer
on the Northern Great Plains the sun raises so early it usually
meets even the earliest riser. It's the best part of the day with
fresh coolness making a person forget the coming heat, and quiet
allowing thoughts to run without interruption. For the last few
mornings, that quiet met Erik as he left the bunkhouse before the
sun arose with only the slight hint of color beginning to form on
the horizon.

On the two previous days his early rising was
rewarded with time to think. Later in the day his mind would be
filled with the work of the day, and problems that needed to be
fixed. For years the evening hours had been times of daydreaming.
Now his mornings were the time to think clearly of the present.

This day he got up early to avoid going to church. He
knew that Uncle Henry would come to the bunkhouse to get him. He'd
have to have an excuse, so he would be busy with work that he'd
claim couldn't be stopped. It was now one week since he had first
met his Lord. It only made sense and was expected for him to go to
church with his aunt and uncle, or at least go by himself to the
New Life Chapel.

I'll go next week. I'm just afraid people will make
too big a deal of me being saved. It is a big deal, but I don't
want people telling me so.

Earlier in the week, Uncle Henry had come to the
bunkhouse carrying a Remington 30/06 hunting rifle. “If you aren't
too busy you might do me a favor and sight-in this rifle for me. I
hear the mule deer have gathered in the few green ravines of the
Sweet Grass Hills. I thought if you were so inclined we could both
go up there and get some venison steaks and jerky. If they've been
feeding off the grass of those ravines their meat'll taste more
like beef than venison.”

Erik appreciated the gesture. His uncle hadn't been
hunting in years and the rifle would have to be carefully cleaned
before it could be trusted to shoot. He knew neither he nor his
uncle would ever have the time to go hunting, since the hunting
season was in the midst of harvest, but Henry had come to give Erik
something to do rather than lay in his room and that was
appreciated.

“
Your aunt and I will be leaving
for church at eight on Sunday. Can we give you a ride?”

“
Thanks, but I need some time to
think before I do anything.”

“
That's you choice. The offer stands
any time you want it.”

“
And I will take that offer, just
not yet.” Erik immediately went back into the bunkhouse. Later he
found some oil that worked to clear the muzzle and shine the stock,
and then he put the rifle away until it was needed.

That Sunday the rifle was needed for a distraction to
the day. Stopping by the shop he found an old, discarded and rusted
baby moon hubcap from an old Chevy. It was an ideal target.

The ideal place to make a firing range was the coulee
behind the farmhouse. He set the hubcap on the opposite ridge of
the ravine, slightly below the level he would sit once he returned
to his spot. In this manner he had created the distance and the
position where he could most likely find a buck deer in the
Sweetgrass Hills. He knew they would get busy and never go to the
hills, but at least this day he could prepare as if they would.

Erik ran hard back to the spot he had chosen for his
blind. He'd be breathing hard when he took a real shot so he needed
to be winded now. If there really was a buck across the way, his
heart would be pounding much faster than normal.

As he squeezed the trigger for the first shot, it was
obvious either his shooting skills or the sights of the rifle had
become rusty. He fired off three other quick shots to see if a
pattern was created for him to adjust the sights. The dirt flying
from each bullet's impact were all high, but one was high right,
one high left, and one high to the middle. He adjusted the front V
of the sight a hair lower, and laughed at his own inaccuracy.

“
Well, at least I can blame part of
this on the old gun. The rest I can blame on the wind, which there
is none, or not eating breakfast, or me being out of shape. It
couldn't be that I'm just a lousy shot.” Erik talked to himself a
lot on the farm. There was no one else to talk to, so he talked to
himself, and even laughed at his own jokes from time to time. The
game of sighting in the rifle made his conversation with himself
almost natural, as if someone else was there.

Erik put four more shells in the chamber. There was
something about the simple pleasure of doing something different
from the usual chores that allowed Erik to relax. After every shot
he would make comments aloud to no one. The backfire of the light
rifle was light to Erik's shoulder. The sensation was enough to
make Erik feel he was at a hunt with others. He freely talked and
laughed and joked to himself.

“
I bet there isn't a hubcap in the
county that isn't holding tight to the wheel not wanting to face
Black Bart, formerly know as Erik Winter.

“
On second thought, maybe the safest
thing to be in the county is a hubcap. Their small enough I'll
never hit them anyway. Everything else in a ten yard radius better
worry though, cause that's about how close I'll be.”

Erik was refreshed with the chance
to forget everything and simply shoot the gun.
It would be nice to have someone to shoot with and enjoy my
witty personality. If only they won't put in with asking all their
questions
.

He only had one box of shells so he would shoot a
few, readjust the sights, and rest in the renewed quiet of the
morning before he reloaded. There was no reason to leave the
coulee.

He had lingered longer than expected when he heard a
voice behind him.

“
Hey, did you shoot anything to
bring home for dinner?”

Erik flinched with surprise. He was embarrassed that
someone would know he was talking to himself, but he knew John's
voice even before he turned to see him.

“
If you want to eat sod, I've got a
lot of it this morning.” Erik said. “I've been trying to bag the
rare, silver humped cap animal all morning, but it's too crafty for
me. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in
church?”

“
Yes, I should, and I should be
there with you. Pack up your ammo, and if we get moving we'll only
be a few minutes late.”

“
Did my aunt and uncle rat on me
again?” Erik's voice made it clear he wouldn't be mad if they had.
“Can't anyone just live without everyone caring about
them?”

“
I know a lot of people who aren't
cared for, but you aren't one of them. Now let's get going. I came
out on my own accord to give you a ride and here I find you killing
all those helpless blades of grass.”

“
They were dead before I got here. I
wasn't planning on going to church today. I thought I'd spend some
time in the Bible and have my own service in the temple of His
coulee. Say that wouldn't be a bad name for my new
church.”

“
Your church needs a few more
parishioners. I was planning on taking you, and my plans over-ride
your plans.”

Erik gave up without a fight. He knew John wouldn't
give up, and it might be good to be in church now that he knew whom
he was worshipping. The rifle and shells were quickly gathered.
Another few minutes in the bunkhouse and Erik came out dressed in
slacks and a dress shirt. He headed for John's car where John
waited for him.

“
How does it feel being His child
after one week?” John's blue Buick was freshly washed and the air
conditioning made it feel like a luxury car to Erik. He had on his
nicer cloths, but he was still afraid he might dirty the car by his
very presence. The gravel roads had just received a fresh sheet of
gravel and he would hate for John's car to get chip marks. If the
car's interior was stained or the paint chipped it would be Erik'
fault that John had to come to pick him up.

“
I've spent a lot of time talking to
Him the last week. If that's praying, it makes it a lot easier when
you know someone is listening.”

“
Where did you go when you left
Monday?”

“
I went to the Park. There's a great
hike to Chief Mountain that not many people know about. It gave me
time to think….”

John interrupted Erik before he could get into a
long, detailed story. “Great, but I'm not here to quiz you. I've
done enough of that this week. I just want to make sure you're
doing okay. I would like to get to be your friend, and it's hard to
be friends if every time you get together you're involved in a
heavy, deep discussion.”

“
I'm about as deep as the topsoil on
that hilltop. I do appreciate the thought, however. I know Aunt
Mary is going to sit me down pretty soon, but a whole lot has
happened in a week and I do need to sort it out,” Erik
explained.

“
Speaking about things happening,
the strangest thing happened on the way back on Monday night. You
know the waitress I tried to protect and got my jaw cracked for my
effort? I saw her at the Point. Turns out she is a Christian, got
fired because of the fight and is trying to move to
Fairfield.”

“
Got fired? Didn't you say you went
to the Mint to see her?”

“
Yeah, I did.”

“
Boy you know how to impress the
ladies; getting her fired from a job is a new approach.”

“
She said it wasn't my fault. The
boss wanted to fire her, and she wanted to get away from him and
that place, anyway. But it was kind of a shock. I thought I'd never
see her again, and it turns out she's a Christian. Sounds like she
had an experience like mine several years ago.”

“
How's she doing now?”

“
I don't really know. I asked her
about her, you know, life with Christ. She got real defensive, said
she'd walked away from Him. She sure has some problems with
something.”

Erik could tell by John's tone when he began speaking
that a warning was coming. “People go through a lot of things in
this world. Just because a person got saved several years ago
doesn't always indicate where they're at today.”

“
Well, she asked me where she could
find a good church so maybe she's trying. Like I say it was just
strange since my encounter with Christ started with going to see
her.”

“
God had it all planned out before
you were even born, Erik. Was there any significance that this girl
started the process? Who knows? I do know IF He started the process
through this girl that He uses all the tools He needs.”

Erik was done talking about Laura. He had thought
about her a lot in the last week, but he still hadn't decided what
to think of the situation. The rules had changed now. Laura had
become more than a daydream. Now she was real, and Christ was real,
and everything was different. He hadn't known Christ for a long
enough time to make sense out of all this. Besides he certainly
wouldn't know what to do with a girl friend if he had one. He
changed the subject. “How's the carpentry business? Doesn't seem
like there would be enough work in a small town like
Fairfield.”

The ride to town went quickly and quietly.

When they arrived in front of the church, the lot was
filled with cars. The doors remained wide open, but the greeters
were no longer present at its entranceway, indicating that the
services had already started. Erik said, “I want to make some
things clear before we go in. I'm here to listen and not to
talk.

“
I don't want you to say anything to
anyone about me. I want to sit and listen and see what it's like to
be in a service without wondering how come it lasted so long. I do
want to be here, but I don't want to be looked at as some type of
new specimen that needs to be examined.”

John nodded his head in agreement. “No problem. I
have the ground rules, now you just relax and listen. We're already
twenty minutes late so if there is a commotion you can blame it on
yourself.” He parked the car and they both got out and headed
towards the church. Movement from the corner facing them caught
Erik's attention. It was a girl moving to stand erect after having
been obviously bent at the waist. She moved one shaky hand to the
side of the church, supporting herself, while simultaneously
releasing her hair from her other hand where she had cupped the
long brown locks into a makeshift ponytail held back from her face.
It was Laura. Not only did he recognize her by her height, her
shape and the color of her long hair, but she wore the same dress
she wore to the Mint.