The Seventh Messenger

by Carol Costa

  After dinner, Mary once again returned to her sitting room. She placed the note she had received from Coy inside the pages of her Bible, turned off the lamp and sat in the dark room alone.

  It was close to midnight, when there was a sharp knock on her door. Thinking it was Benjamin, Mary reached over and turned on the lamp.

  “You may enter,” she called out.

  The door opened and Jacob stepped cautiously inside and closed the door behind him. “I"m sorry to disturb you,” he said softly.

  “My sorrow will not allow me sleep this night,” Mary replied. “What is the trouble now?”

  Jacob remained standing before her. “I have just come from Benjamin. He asked me to bring a message to you.”

  Mary sighed. “What is it?”

  “Benjamin fell into a trance shortly after you left him. That is why he did not partake of the evening meal. At dawn he will tell the colony what has been revealed to him by the other six angels. Word has already gone out to all the members to gather on the lawn outside Benjamin"s balcony to hear his revelation. He requests that you and I stand beside him when he speaks.”

  “I will pray that Benjamin"s revelation will not divide this colony,” Mary said.

  “Mary, you must have faith in Benjamin.”

  “Jacob, do you remember Joanna Brown?”

  “Of course, but what…”

  Mary interrupted him. “I have been sitting here in the dark and an important revelation has come to me. Evelyn Warren is Benjamin"s Joanna Brown.”

  “No,” Jacob"s voice mirrored his distress. “Benjamin is the true messenger. No mortal woman can destroy his kingdom.”

  “We will see,” Mary said nodding her head slowly. “We will see.”

  Mary remained her sitting room until the first rays of the morning sun began to appear on the horizon. She rose from her chair and put a shawl around her shoulders. Jacob and Benjamin were waiting for her and the three of them stepped out onto Benjamin"s balcony together.

  Jacob looked drawn and tired. Mary surmised that like her he had not slept since speaking to her at midnight. Benjamin, on the other hand, looked refreshed and vibrant. He was dressed in a flowing white robe, his hair and beard immaculately groomed.

  The grassy area beneath Benjamin"s balcony was filled with colonists eager to hear the words of their King. He delivered his message in a loud, ringing voice.

  “As the sun rises in the east, I proclaim the revelation of the Lord. I have once again been transported by the Spirit and He has revealed His power to me. A miracle has been given to us. The Spirit of the Lord has touched one of us and from her a new life shall spring forth. A child begotten by the Spirit, a child of sunshine and light, who shall dwell among us and bring us much happiness.”

  Benjamin turned from the crowd and looked back through the open doors into his sitting room. He extended his hand and Mary turned to look although she already knew who would appear in the doorway.

  Evelyn Warren stepped out onto the balcony dressed in a white robe much like Benjamin"s. She looked very demure and humble as Benjamin led her forward to smile down at the trusting colonists.

  After a moment of silence, the crowd cheered the virgin mother of the sunshine child.

  *** The sunshine child looked at Mary Purnell who had stopped talking again.

  Naomi took a deep breath and sat back in her chair. “And so the lie began,” she said softly.

  “Yes. When you were born, there was a great celebration. Ironically, it was on the very day that I received word that Coy had lost his life in a boating accident in Australia.”

  “Australia? Coy went to Australia?”

  “Yes. He went to live in the colony there. Being familiar with the way Benjamin operated, I believe he may have gone there thinking that your mother would be sent there to have her child.”

  “How you must have hated me,” Naomi said sadly. She rose to her feet and began to pace thoughtfully.

  “I refused to look upon you. I hated you and your mother. I hated Benjamin and most of all I hated myself for staying with him. I became a shrew, but Benjamin couldn"t send me away. I was his wife, a symbol of honor and respect among his followers. I began to exercise my power in various ways. I banished you and your mother from the Diamond House.”

  “We lived very nicely at Bethlehem,” Naomi said smiling at the memory. “I was happy there with the other women and children. Of course my mother regarded me as a nuisance, and only paid attention to me on the rare occasions when Benjamin was around.”

  “Poor Evelyn, she lived in her own world of bitterness. She thought she could manipulate herself into a special place in Benjamin"s life. When Benjamin sent her to live at Bethlehem she was hurt and angry. Maybe if she had left the colony then, she could have regained her self-respect, but she stayed on hoping that Benjamin would change his mind and call her back to him.”

  “After we left the House of David, my mother often told me that I was just like Benjamin, selfish and destructive. I guess I made a real effort to live up to her image of me. After two broken marriages, I woke up one day all alone, clinging to an empty whiskey bottle. I realized then that I had to change my ways or die.”

  “It would seem that you did change your life,” Mary said kindly.

  “I have a good job, a nice home, and a man who says he loves me. I don"t know if that"s the best life has to offer, but I think I can settle for it.”

  “Then why did you come back here, Naomi? The story I am telling you can only cause you pain?”

  “I told you that my mother is in a nursing home in Chicago. What I didn"t tell you is that she is close to death. I want to make my peace with her. In order to do that, I have to know the truth. We had a good life here. I have to know what possessed my mother to throw it all away and destroy my childhood.”

  “Oh, my dear child,” Mary said with tears clouding her eyes. ”Believe one thing. The only person your mother wanted to destroy was Benjamin. Like me, she had to face the fact that Benjamin loved himself too much to care about anyone else. To Benjamin, people were conveniences that he used and then cast aside.”

  “But why did my mother wait ten years to try and get back at him? What drove her to take that final step?”

  Mary sat back and looked across at the young woman who was so eager to dredge up all the devastating events of the past.

  “You were a beautiful child, Naomi, and thanks to Benjamin"s angelic revelation, you and your mother were treated with consideration and respect by the other colonists. Evelyn was also a very clever woman and little by little she assumed an important place in the business affairs of the colony. Evelyn seemed resigned, if not happy.”

  “One of the worst things about leaving the colony was leaving Celia. She was the housekeeper at my friend, Anna"s house.”

  “Celia had once been a part of the Inner Circle. She was a favorite of Benjamin"s. After she had grown too old to remain in the Inner Circle, Benjamin let her choose her own assignments in the colony. Like Daisy, Celia loved children and always chose to care for them.”

  “My mother used to take me to Anna"s house to play and I became very attached to Celia. She loved Anna and me and we loved her. My mother was always too busy to give me the warmth and attention every child needs and deserves and Anna"s father pretty much ignored her too. Celia was the one person who was happy to be around us. One night when we were still in Benton Harbor, I was crying for Celia. My mother told me that Celia had left the colony and I would never see her again. I was heart broken.”

  “Yes. I do remember that you and Anna were friends and that Celia took care of both of you.”

  “Do you know what happened to her?”

  “Sit down, Naomi, and I will continue to tell you as much as I can.”

  Naomi nodded and sat down to listen again as Mary resumed her story.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Although Benjamin honored Mary"s wishes and did not allow Evelyn and Naomi to live in Diamond House, he
recognized Evelyn"s shrewd nature and intelligence as an asset to the colony. Little by little her importance in the business matters of the House of David grew.

  As Jacob advanced in years, Evelyn began to take over

  some of his responsibilities in the colony. Evelyn became the initial contact person for people who were interested in joining the House of David. Evelyn met with potential members, assessed their finances and the talents and abilities they could bring to the colony and reported back to Benjamin and the Board of Directors that had been formed as the wealth and prestige of the colony had increased.

  The basic appeal of the House of David colony for many people was the financial security it afforded. Often large families who had fallen on hard times joined the colony. They had no money or valuables to contribute to the commonwealth treasury, but they were honest, hard-working people. They made up for their deficiency in material goods with their willingness to follow the rules and do any menial job assigned to them.

  On the other end of the scale were a few well-to-do families that were willing to turn their funds over to the commonwealth in exchange for special consideration. Rather than living in the communal areas private housing was built on the House of David property for them to reside in. In addition, people from these families, chose the work they would do in the colony.

  One of the wealthier people that Evelyn interviewed was a widower named Frank Melicher. Mr. Melicher had two children, a twelve-year-old boy named Jonah and a daughter named Anna who was seven years old when her father asked admittance into the colony.

  Melicher"s wealth had been inherited, passed onto him when his parents were both killed in an auto accident. His father had run a very successful import business but Frank had never been interested in the business or in work in general. After his father"s untimely death Frank sold the business and used the proceeds to travel around the world with his wife and children.

  On one of their trips, his wife was taken ill and died. Since Frank had squandered much of his fortune by then, he was looking for a place where he and his two young children could live nicely on the funds that remained in his possession.

  “How did you learn of our colony?” Evelyn asked Frank Melicher at their first meeting. It was a routine question that she asked everyone.

  “I was visiting a friend in Michigan City last week and she told me about it.”

  “I see. And why are you interested in joining the House of David?”

  Melicher smiled at her. “You"re quite lovely,” he said. “Maybe I"d just like to get to know you better.”

  Other women might have been taken off-guard but even with the sheltered life she led in the colony Evelyn was used to men making advances and took it in stride. “I am the mother of a seven year old girl, a miracle birth as our colony members abstain from sexual intercourse.”

  Melicher"s smile grew broader. “I"d like to meet her sometime. She"s the same age as my daughter, Anna.”

  “I wasn"t aware that you had children,” Evelyn said.

  “I have two. Does that make a difference?”

  “No. We have many people come to the colony who have children. I recently interviewed a family with a dozen children.”

  “I"ll bet they were anxious to join.”

  Evelyn was beginning to get annoyed with his sarcasm. “Have you read King Benjamin"s sacred teachings?” Evelyn asked. “If not I can give you some of his books to study. They will help you in deciding whether or not you want to give up your current affluent lifestyle to join our colony.”

  “Ah,” Melicher said. “Lovely and intelligent.”

  Evelyn got up and walked over to a table in her office where Benjamin"s books were displayed. She picked up two of them and offered them to Melicher. “We"ll speak again after you"ve read these books,” she said sternly.

  “We"ll dispense with the books,” Melicher told her, refusing to take them from her hands. “I"ll tell you how much I can contribute to your commonwealth treasury. You will tell me what I will receive in return.”

  Evelyn calmly placed the books on the desk and took her seat behind it again. “Very well. Let"s begin the negotiations.”

  A nice two-story house was built for Frank Melicher and his children. It was located on the other side of the road that accessed the Diamond House and the front yard which was beautifully landscaped could be viewed from the miniature train as the railroad tracks that led from one station to the other were laid adjacent to the road in that area.

  Frank Melicher was not interested in physical labor or in working in the amusement park. Therefore, based on the fact that he had been associated with an import business that bought a fair amount of artwork, he was put in charge of the House of David art studio. Frank supervised the workers and made sure that they had all the supplies needed to produce unique merchandise for the souvenir stands at the park.

  Mary didn"t especially like Melicher, but like Jacob, she too was relinquishing some of her duties to younger members, so she didn"t have much occasion to deal with the man.

  Like Evelyn, Celia Rosano had come to the House of David with her parents. She was a delicate child who matured into a petite energetic teenager. Benjamin had taken her into his Inner Circle when she was fourteen. Celia was one of those girls who was born with maternal instincts and she took care of all the new girls who were brought into the Inner Circle. For this reason, Celia became a favorite of Benjamin"s and he kept her in the Inner Circle much longer than any of the other girls.

  Finally, when Melicher joined the colony and needed someone to keep house for him and look after his children, Benjamin assigned Celia to him. Celia was delighted to live in the nice newly constructed house and take care of the Melicher children. From the beginning, it was obvious that she loved them dearly and they loved her in return.

  From her balcony at Diamond House Mary often saw Evelyn bring Naomi to the Melicher house and leave her there for days at a time when she traveled to other cities to speak to groups about the House of David colony. Before being assigned to the Melicher house Celia had lived at Bethlehem and had taken care of the young children while their parents worked at their assigned jobs. Given the fact that Evelyn worked a lot, Celia had spent a lot of time with Naomi and was happy to have her as playmate for little Anna.

  Jonah was older and spent his time at the art studio when he wasn"t in school and made friends with some of the other young boys in the colony. The two little girls spent many hours in the front yard of the Melicher house under Celia"s watchful eye.

  There was a wooden swing with four seats in the yard that the children liked to play on and whenever the train passed by, Naomi and Anna would run to the front of the yard and wave to the engineer and passengers.

  Initially, Mary wondered if there was a relationship forming between Evelyn and Frank Melicher, since she left her daughter at his house so much. They were about the same age and he was a handsome man. In some ways, he reminded Mary of Benjamin at that age, except Melicher"s personality was often anything but charming.

  Although many people thought that Melicher would not remain at the House of David long, three years passed and Frank showed no signs of discontent. He had a lovely house and a dependable young woman to take care of his home and his children.

  It was about that time, when Mary learned about Evelyn"s possible involvement with another man. Cora Mooney told her all about it when she came for lunch at the Diamond House one day.

  “Evelyn goes to Benton Harbor at least once a week. We were all beginning to wonder if she was meeting a man there.”

  “Perhaps it"s Frank Melicher,” Mary commented. “I frequently see Naomi at his house with little Anna.”

  “You forget that Celia is Frank"s live-in housekeeper and babysitter. Evelyn just takes advantage of the fact that their daughters are the same age and go to school together. It"s a good way to keep Naomi out of her way without relying too much on the women at Bethlehem to watch her. Celia says that Frank is always at home on the n
ights that Evelyn goes into town.”

  “I"m surprised that I have not heard any of this gossip,” Mary said.

  “You haven"t spent much time at the park since the weather"s been so warm,” Cora told her.

  Cora was right. It was summertime again and the days were long and hot. Mary preferred finding a cool spot on the grounds of the Diamond House than mingling with the crowds at the park that was filled to capacity every day. They had recently added a restaurant that served vegetarian food and it had become quite popular with the tourists that season.

  Louella, who had run the kitchen at Diamond House since it was built, had developed many of the recipes for the restaurant and had trained the cooks that worked there. Cora and Mary were enjoying Louella"s mock steak for lunch, a combination of mashed potatoes and seasonings with nuts thrown in to give it extra crunch and protein.

  They were having lunch in Mary"s sitting room. The doors to the balcony were open and the breeze that came into the room was cooled by the shade from the trees that had grown so tall and full over the years. In contrast, the dining room downstairs with its tiny block windows across the outside was stifling when the heat and humidity were high.

  “So who is this man?” Mary asked.

  “Nathan Sullivan.”

  Mary was so surprised she dropped her fork. “Martha Sullivan"s husband?”

  “Yes.”

  “Does Martha know about this?”

  “I"m sure she"s heard the gossip, but it doesn"t seem to bother her.”

  “I see. I know that Mr. Sullivan comes here to see his daughters on a regular basis. I"ve seen him in the park with them.”

  “That"s right. The day he showed up with the gun, he told Martha that he was going to get a job in Benton Harbor and stay in touch with his daughters. You have to give him credit. He loves those girls and has remained a big part of their lives.”

  “How did he get involved with Evelyn?”

  “I don"t know, and I don"t know how long it"s been going on, but a few weeks ago Samuel saw them together in Benton Harbor.”