“Are we afraid of the truth?” Zeke said.
“No!” Gabi said. “But apparently this woman—”
“Kineks.”
“Right, wouldn’t know the truth if it slapped her in the face. She got the authorities to come all the way from Parker, and—”
“Gabi, listen. She can say what she wants. Her own husband and her father-in-law, head of the tribe, will give the lie to her story. They’ll vouch for Doc, swear he never even met Gaho. Doc can tell them why he ordered the embalming fluid, show them Jennie’s chart if they need to see it. We have nothing to hide.”
“I’ll go if they want me to,” Doc said.
“Adam,” Gabrielle said, “I don’t know.”
“Zeke,” Bob said, “Raoul and Benita have to be in position by now.”
“Right,” Zeke said. “We’ll all be on the same page before we do anything, Gabi. You have my word.”
He pulled his walkie-talkie and gave Alexis a single click.
31
WILLARD
ZEKE DIDN’T KNOW till later that it was Benita who locked her walkie-talkie Send button on so he could monitor how the first-ever outsider was received into the compound.
First he heard Alexis’s footsteps as she moved from the periscope to the garage and the utility door, where Raoul was to be stationed on one side, Benita on the other. Then knocking, apparently by her. “Willard, you out there?”
“Yes’m, I surely am,” he said, voice muffled. “I kin hear ya in there an’ on my squawker. Smart! I assume yer Zeke’s wife?”
“Sir, when I open this door, I’ll have a Smith & Wesson M&P compact pointed at your face. If I don’t see both hands empty above your head, I’m going to put a forty-caliber bullet you’ll never see or hear right between your eyes. Are we clear?”
“Woo-hoo, yes, ma’am! My kinda woman! Cain’t wait to meet you, an’ I hope yer Zeke’s wife!”
Silence.
“Willard, if you think this is a joke, you’re going to make a mess on my garage floor.”
“I hear you, ma’am, and my hands are high.”
“What are you carrying?”
“I got a .357 Magnum on m’ right thigh that yer welcome to.”
“My associate will be taking that.”
“I b’lieve you, ma’am.”
“I’m opening the door, which pulls in. Don’t move.”
“Well, hello, purty lady.”
“Keep your hands where I can see them. Step in and stop.”
“I’ll take that,” Raoul said.
“I seen you before.”
“Where’s the other one?” Raoul said. “You don’ wanna surprise her, man.”
“Small o’ my back.”
“Got it,” Benita said.
“Bet the señorita b’longs to you, eh, amigo?”
“Face the wall, man,” Raoul said.
“Aw, if I gotta be frisked, let one o’ the ladies—”
“Quiet,” Raoul said. “Zeke trusts you, I don’t.”
“Jes’ joshin’, dude. We cool.”
Alexis told Benita to let Zeke know they were on their way, but Zeke cut in, “Copy. Welcome, Willard. Behave yourself.”
He met them outside the Thorppes’ quarters and gave Raoul and Benita their assignments.
“You know I’s jes’ foolin’ back there, ma’am,” Willard said. “Kin I know yer name?”
“I hope you were,” she said. “You can call me Mrs. Thorppe.”
“Well, okay then. Would you’ve really put one in me?”
“Without a second thought and then slept like a baby,” she said, and it was all Zeke could do to keep from bursting out laughing.
When Willard saw Bob, Danley, and Mahir, he said, “Hey, I seen all y’all before. How ya doin’?” Alexis slipped into the bathroom, and Zeke heard her retching. She rejoined him as he was passing out water bottles.
“We’ve got about half an hour before lunch, Willard, and we’d like you to join us—”
“Really? Hey!”
“But we need to get a few things on the table first. You and I have been through a lot together, but as you can imagine, your being here is a shock to everyone else.”
“Well, I—”
“We know some of what’s gone on between you and Mahir—”
“Frenchy? Oh, sorry, I’ll wait.”
“First I want to know how you found us.”
“Yer place here? Well, it wasn’t Frenchy or whatever you jes’ called him.”
“My name’s Mahir, and I didn’t tell you where we were.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“I didn’t either, did I?” Zeke said.
“Not ’xactly, but you come closer. I kinda homed in on it by time I brought you close and then I sorta come over here by accident an’ was havin’ a smoke when you was tryin’ to raise yer people an’ I overheard ya. Then today I come lookin’ and got lucky.”
“So that’s on me,” Zeke said. “Anyone else know about it?”
“Don’t think so.”
“You’re not sure?”
“Well, you seen I come in one o’ the smaller rigs.”
“Right to the entrance, which wasn’t too bright.”
“It wasn’t, was it? Sorry. Anyways, the guy I traded with coulda follered, I guess, but I woulda knowed, and he had no reason. He don’t know what I’m up to. I honestly don’t think nobody else knows, no sir.”
“So, what are you up to, Willard?” Bob said.
“Well, it’s kinda private why I’m here, between me and Zeke.”
“We have no secrets here,” Bob said.
“But what if I do?”
Alexis cleared her throat. “You’re going to have to get over it. It’s just not how we do business. Zeke’s going to tell us anyway, so you might as well. But first we want to tell you something.”
“Tell me what?”
“Mahir?”
“Um, yeah, WatDoc, I made a terrible mistake, and I talked you into a terrible mistake. I believed this man’s wife here was a terrorist, all because I was brainless enough to not just ask a simple question.”
“What the heck was it?”
“That’s not important. What’s important is that I believed the worst about somebody that I know and care about, and I got it in my head she wasn’t who I knew her to be. I became so sure of it that I even tried to help you kill her. If we’d succeeded, I’d never be able to forgive myself. I still don’t know if I can.”
Willard sat shaking his head. “Man, that’s awful. You know I was jes’ tryin’ to help. I even told Zeke what I done ’cause he had rats in his camp. Now yer tellin’ me I didn’t have cause.”
“We didn’t,” Mahir said.
“I done a lotta bad things in my life, but usually I at least had a reason. Not always a good one, but at least somethin’. That makes me feel bad as you.”
“This man here, Danley, it was his wife, so he’s having a tough time with it and I can’t blame him. Can you?”
“’Course not. I mean, we kin tell him we’re sorry till we’re sick o’ hearin’ ourselves, but that don’t change nothin’. You prob’ly like to kill us, right?”
“In a way,” Danley said. “Cristelle’s my whole world. You got anybody who means that much to you?”
“Used to,” Willard said. “I know what it means to lose somebody like that.”
“I don’t want to find out,” Danley said.
“She could still lose her leg,” Mahir said.
“Yeah?”
“But she’s forgiven me.”
“She’s what? I don’ get that, man.”
“And I’ll get there,” Danley said. “I’m praying about it.”
“Prayin’ about fergivin’ us? That don’t make sense. But see, now we’re gettin’ to what I’m doin’ here.”
“What do you mean?” Bob said.
“First, I didn’t know I was gonna see y’all. I was hopin’ to jes’ talk to Zeke.” He turned
to Danley. “This is all a su’prise an’ I’m sorry ’bout yer wife and all, and if you thought she’d see me, I’d like to tell her I’m sorry. I don’t know if I’ve ever been fergiven of nothin’ before, sir, but I’m tellin’ ya the truth when I say I thought I was doin’ the right thing. Frenchy tells me she’s a traitor, I got no reason . . . Well, I’m not blamin’ him, an’ it’s not like I only do the right thing. You people know better’n most that that ain’t true.
“Anyway, I come here to tell Zeke to quit prayin’ fer me, and don’t tell me you ain’t, Zeke, ’cause I kin feel it. I ain’t been sleepin’ since we talked and you tol’ me Aunt Myrt’s been prayin’ fer me. I still want ya to try to let her know where I am and that I’m okay—she deserves that after all I put her through—but that’s it. I’ll leave y’all alone. We kin do bid’ness on water if ya want, and I’ll be fairer than I ever been, but that’s the end of it. Deal?”
“Sorry,” Zeke said. “No deal.”
“Whaddya mean?”
“Can’t do it.”
“Sure ya can.”
“No, Willard. What kind of a deal is it when there’s nothing in it for me?”
“What do you want? I know my guys and me been a pain to ya. We’ll leave you be. That’s a good deal.”
“Yeah, but if you think you’ve had it rough because I’ve been praying for you, imagine how hard it’s going to be for me if God won’t leave me alone. He’s the one who told me your aunt’s name, remember. He’s the one who’s been reminding me to pray for you. He’s got a message for you. If I don’t give it to you, He’s never going to let me hear the end of it. I can put up with the likes of you, but I don’t want to cross Him.”
“You’re puttin’ me on.”
“I’m not.”
“I tol’ you, man. I’m too far gone, I done too much. God don’t want no part o’ me.”
“That’s a funny thing, then, because you know what He told me? He gave me a message, saying—and these are His exact words—‘Tell the one who believes he is unworthy, the one who believes he is beyond My reach.’”
“Get outta here.”
“Call me a liar if you want to, but that’s what He said. If I were you, I’d at least hear the message.”
“I don’t know, man.”
“God wants to tell you something and you don’t want to hear it?”
“You gotta admit, that’s a little scary.”
“It’s a lot scary, but you’ve been swaggering around California for ten years like you’re afraid of nothing.”
“Yeah, but God?”
“So you do believe in Him?”
“My aunt sure does.”
“Bet she’d want you to listen.”
“I reckon.”
“Ready when you are, Willard.”
Bob slipped to his knees.
“What y’all doin’, old man?”
“Fixing to hear a message from God,” Bob said. “You can sit, stand, lie on the floor, or leave if you want. It won’t make any difference to Him. Just tell Zeke when you’re ready, because we’d like to hear it.”
“I don’t know if I do.”
“That’s up to you.”
Zeke sat with his head in his hands. Please, Lord.
“I am here.”
I know. But does he know?
“He knows.”
Zeke knelt and soon Mahir, Danley, and Alexis did too.
“I’m not gittin’ on my knees,” Willard said, rising and pacing.
“You don’t have to,” Zeke said. “God won’t force His message on you.”
“Where’s that Mexican with my guns?”
“I can have him meet us in the garage, if you want to go. Is that what you want?”
Willard was in the kitchen now, panting. “I don’t know what I want.” He sat heavily. “Go ahead. What’s He wanna tell me?”
“Okay, listen. God says He’s going to raise a Branch of righteousness, a King who will reign and prosper and bring judgment and righteousness on the earth.”
“That’s fer me? I don’t even know what that means.”
“He says that King will be called The Lord Our Righteousness. That means the Branch of Righteousness is Jesus. The Bible says that people who believe in Jesus, like your Aunt Myrtle, become new, like they’ve been re-created. Old things pass away and everything about them starts fresh.”
“Man, it’s too late for me to start fresh—”
“God told me to tell the one who believes he is unworthy, the one who believes he is beyond the reach of His love, that he does not have to be righteous or worthy because God made Jesus become that for all of us who believe in Him. The Bible calls it a mystery, and it may be hard to understand, but get this—Jesus, who was perfect and didn’t sin, became sin for us when He died on the cross in our place for our sins. He became sin for us, took our punishment, and became our righteousness.
“Willard, I know, we all know, what you mean when you say you’re too far gone, you’re not worthy, you’re not good enough, you’ve done too much, it’s too late. That’s true of all of us. None of us is good enough for God. That’s why we need Jesus to become our righteousness. That’s what God wanted me to tell you.”
The silence hung for several moments until Alex began humming, then they all sang:
Lord, I need You, oh, I need You
Every hour I need You
Willard’s voice was so soft Zeke had to strain to hear him. “God knows ever’thing, right?”
“Right.”
“Hard to b’lieve He knows all I done an’ can do that.”
“You want to know what else He says?”
“’Kay.”
“He says, ‘Your sins and iniquities I will remember no more.’”
“But all I’ve done, man. That’s a lot to ferget.”
“‘I will be merciful, and your sins I will remember no more.’”
“I learnt the Ten Commandments. I can’t ’member ’em all, but I bet I broke all of ’em and more times than—”
“‘I am He who blots out your transgressions, and I will not remember your sins. Your sins and transgressions I will remember no more.’”
Willard began to weep. “Too many, too many . . .”
“‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.’”
He was sobbing now, and Zeke went to him and put an arm around his shoulder. “‘Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.’”
Willard fell to his face on the floor. “Oh, God, I wanna be forgiven! I wanna be clean!”
“‘I have blotted out your sins like a thick cloud.’”
Willard struggled to his knees and wiped his face on his sleeve. “Man, oh, man,” he said.
“I feel like He done it!”
“God keeps His promises,” Zeke said.
“So am I like a b’liever, like one o’ y’all?”
“You tell us,” Bob said, as they returned to their chairs. “Jesus came so we could have abundant life, but our sin separates us from Him. And the wages of sin is death. So where does that leave us?”
“Dead, ’cept God fergive me!”
“So that’s good news.”
“Sure feels like it!”
“So are you a believer like we are?”
“I think I am!”
“What do you believe?”
“Wait. Don’t tell me. I b’lieve Jesus died for my sins so God fergive me.”
“Did you deserve that?”
“Not on yer life!”
“The Bible says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is the Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
“Then I b’lieve I’m saved.”
“So do I,” Bob said.
“I got a lot to learn.”
“You do,” Zeke said.
“Am I still invited to lunch? ’Cause I’m starvin’.”
“Me too,” Alexis said.
The
y headed toward the Commons. “Do I still hafta call ya Mrs. Thorppe?”
“No, sir. I’m your sister now. You can call me Alexis.”
“And I kin quit worryin’ ’bout you puttin’ one ’tween m’ eyes?”
“If you behave yourself.”
32
THE PLAN
HAVING FEARED WATDOC and the Hydro Mongers for years, the others at lunch were wary. Bob and Danley were absent, tending to their wives in the Gill quarters and the infirmary respectively. But Alexis had fetched the children, and by the time Zeke had told everyone what had just happened with Willard and they began to get to know him, Elaine suggested that Cristelle and Jennie would also probably like to meet him.
“I don’t wanna push nothin’,” Willard said, “but I’d like to meet them too. I’m gonna need all the friends I kin git. An’ I ’specially need the one lady’s fergiveness.”
“Cristelle Muscadin,” Elaine said. “What will you do now, Willard?”
“Don’t know, ’cept I gotta git outta the water bid’ness, and I owe it to my guys to tell ’em. That’s nothin’ but a rip-off. I don’t know how I’ll make a livin’, but it won’t be doin’ that. Maybe Zeke’ll find somethin’ I kin do fer him, but he don’t owe me.”
“You can’t see Mrs. Gill for a while,” Benita said, “’cause she gonna be sleepin’. But maybe you can meet Cristelle.”
“Make it fast,” Raoul said. “We gotta tell Zeke what we heard on the news.”
“What’s up, Raoul?” Zeke said.
“You’re not gonna believe it, man. You’re famous.”
“Me?”
“I’m tellin’ you, man. You and Doc? They’re comin’ for you. No way you want to go anywhere tonight. Huh-uh.”
Zeke left the table and signaled Raoul to follow him to a corner. “This had better be major, because I’m going to that burial service, and I know who I want there with me.”
“Not me, I hope.”
“Actually no.”
“Good.”
“You scared?”
“Not usually, you know that. But tonight I would be, and I’d be scared of you or anybody else goin’.”
“What in the world, man?”
“I’m tellin’ you, I heard your name and Doc’s name on the news and I’m not messin’ around.”
“All right, I’m going to see about taking Willard in to meet Cristelle. You round up Bob, Katashi, and Doc and tell ’em we’re meeting with you and Benita in a few minutes in my quarters. Bob might need you to find someone to stay with Jennie.”
The Valley of Dry Bones Page 25
