Intervention

by Rob Mclean

  “I’m sure she is,” John said. “So, what’s your theory on the alien now?”

  “I think it’s an explorer. You know, like Columbus or Cook. It’ll probably establish diplomatic relations, and then try to buy the Pyramids for some colourful beads or something.”

  “Bit of a change from yesterday morning.”

  “Don’t get me wrong,” said Jarred. “It’s still the most massively important thing ever, and it’s probably our ticket off this planet and to the stars and all, but…”

  “But what?”

  “Well, it’s kind of disappointing, don’t you think? I don’t want to go flying about the galaxy courtesy of some alien as their guests or pets. I’d rather that we humans had worked it out ourselves, you know?”

  “I think we should be grateful if that were the case. Thankful firstly that they didn’t destroy our sorry carcasses straight away and grateful for any sort of help they might give us. God knows, we need all the help we can get,” John said.

  “Yeah, but it sort of takes away all the incentives to try ourselves if they have all the answers already.”

  “I can see what you’re getting at, but I don’t think the college will take that as an excuse if you fail your exams.”

  “Worth a try though, don’t you think?” Jarred grinned.

  John just smiled and shook his head. “I’ve got a call to make.”

  Angela answered on the fourth ring.

  “God’s glove puppet here,” John said.

  “Very funny - not.”

  “Hey, you left your number and told me to ring.”

  “Yeah, well I was going to ask you if you wanted to come with me to church tonight.”

  “Funny sort of first date,” John said.

  “It sorts out the sheep from the goats, as Pastor Greg would say.”

  “Your friend Zeke, is he a sheep or a goat?” John asked.

  “He’s a Christian, if that’s what you mean,” Angela said, “at least he says he is.”

  “Actions speak louder than words, you know.”

  “Well, he knows how to talk the talk when he needs to…”

  “But he doesn’t walk the walk, does he?”

  “Yeah, well, he’s got issues.” Angela replied.

  “How about yourself? Have you got ‘issues’ too?”

  “Who hasn’t?”

  “So, are you a walker or just a talker?”

  “I try to walk, but it’s not easy, you know.”

  “Wasn’t there something about a narrow path?”

  “So you’ve read the Bible then?”

  “Who hasn’t?”

  “Look, do you want to come tonight or not? Pastor Greg will be talking about the alien thing.”

  “Yeah, as interesting as your Pastor’s opinion might be, I’m not a big fan of God and church and religion and all that, so I’ll give your outreach program a miss.”

  “Your loss. Well, gotta go now.”

  “No, wait, I can’t go tonight. My folks are having their anniversary dinner tonight, and I have to go to that. Could we maybe meet for a coffee or something some other time?”

  “What’s the ‘or something’?”

  “I don’t know. Dinner, a movie, anything you want.”

  “You mean like a date?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  “With a Godless, heathen, atheist like you?”

  “Hey, I didn’t say I don’t believe in God…”

  “No?”

  “He just hasn’t done a lot for me lately,” John said.

  “Miracles happen every day. You just have to know how to look for them.”

  “They happen for you?” he asked

  “Just the other night.”

  “Oh, yeah. I guess you could see it that way,” he conceded. “But I don’t need to bother God to look after me. I look after myself.”

  “And you have everything you need,” Angela finished.

  “Pretty much.”

  “Except a girlfriend?”

  There was a pause on the line before John eventually said, “Had one once. Your God took her away.”

  “Oh, gosh, I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. It’s not your problem.”

  “Look, if you need someone to talk to about it…”

  There was a long pause. There was only the sound of his husky breathing.

  “Are you alright?” she asked.

  “I’m fine. Look, I thought I was ready to do this, but…”

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” she asked.

  “I’ve got to go.” He hung up and to his surprise he found that his throat was tight. He found himself blinking hard before taking a deep, jagged breath and letting out a long sigh.

  Chapter 15

  Geoff and Clarice White arrived early in order to avoid the crowds and to get a good seat. They expected the church to be full for this evening’s service, and it looked as though they wouldn’t be disappointed.

  They parked in the handicapped spot. Clarice, thin and frail, with her greying hair tied up in a bun atop her head, took the wheelchair from the boot and deftly unfolded it for her husband. She wheeled it to the passenger side, put the brakes on and helped him into it. Geoff, once a fearsome police sergeant, had been ravaged by the cancer that had spread throughout his body. Although he could still walk, he found it tired him quickly.

  “Is Angela here yet?” he asked.

  “No, dear. I’m sure she will be.”

  Once her husband was seated, Clarice pushed the wheelchair up the walkway towards the Church. Although Geoff had lost a lot of weight, she still struggled.

  “Let me help,” said a young man.

  “Why thank you,” she said. Then, seeing who it was, she changed her mind. “On second thoughts, I’ll do it myself. Thank you, Ezekiel.”

  “Don’t be silly,” said Zeke, smiling as he prized her hands from the wheelchair grips. “It’s the least I can do.”

  “Don’t make a scene, Clarice,” Geoff said. “I don’t want everyone to see this little bastard getting us riled up.

  “I will get riled up, after what this… -this animal was going to do to our daughter.”

  “That’s what I came to talk to you about.”

  “How dare you even show your face,” she said.

  “No, everyone’s gotten confused,” Zeke said, shaking his head with an understanding look and a patronizing tone.

  “Are you saying you didn’t drug our daughter?” Geoff lifted his face to give Zeke a baleful stare.

  “No, the guy I got the pills from, got the wrong ones.” Zeke shrugged. “I guess he thought all bets were off once the alien spaceship turned up. You know, end of the world, and everyman for himself.”

  Clarice nodded, and seemed to be satisfied, but Geoff kept a wary eye on the younger man.

  It was then Angela arrived. She was wearing jeans, a plain t-shirt, runners and a murderous expression.

  “Get your hands off the wheelchair, you creep,” she said, forcing her way in.

  “It’s all a misunderstanding,” he said without a trace of worry.

  Angela elbowed Zeke hard in the ribs. His pained expression brought a smile to her father’s face.

  “You‘ve got it all wrong,” Zeke pleaded. “Angie was drugged, that’s true. But it wasn’t me.”

  “You gave me the drink!”

  “Yes, but Blake must have spiked it beforehand. I didn’t know. Next thing you were out to it, and I had to try to look after you.”

  “I saw the footage. You and that Blake creep were marching me out the door as fast as you could. I was just lucky the security guy saw you.”

  “If you saw the footage, then you know it wasn’t me.”

  “Get out of here, asshole,” Geoff rumbled.

  “Language, dear,” Clarice said.

  “I wouldn’t do that to you. I love you.” Zeke gave her a winning smile.

  “That doesn’t work anymore.”

  “Hey, it wasn’t me, b
abe.”

  “Get lost!” Angela pushed the wheelchair vigorously up the driveway, leaving Zeke standing behind. Clarice hurried to catch up. When Angela looked behind, Zeke was miming a phone to his ear, letting her know that he’ll call her later.

  “Hey, slow down. I’m not wearing a seatbelt.”

  “Sorry, Dad,” she kissed him on the top of his head.

  “Are you alright, dear?” asked Clarice, having caught up.

  “I’m fine,” said Geoff, “just a little whiplash.”

  “Not you.”

  “I’m okay. It’s just that Zeke makes me so angry. I could kill him.”

  “Don’t say that, dear,” her father growled. “Someone might hear you.”

  “So what? I don’t care.”

  “It’s just that when I kill him, you might get the blame,” he gave her an uneven grin, “and we wouldn’t want that.”

  The women laughed, but Geoff said, “If I were half the man I once was, I would have sorted out that little runt.”

  “Don’t worry about it, dear,” Clarice said.

  “You know, if you did see the footage,” began Geoff, “well…there isn’t any chance he could be telling the truth, is there?”

  “No Dad, no way.”

  “Good. He’s off my Christmas card list then.”

  “Angela, why don’t you give that security man a call, dear?” Clarice asked.

  “I invited him along here tonight. He couldn’t come.”

  “I was thinking it would be nice to invite him home for dinner, so we can thank him properly.”

  “I doubt he’ll come.”

  “Oh, why not?”

  “I think he’s got his own problems.”

  “Haven’t they all, dear?”

  *

  The White family made their way inside. Most of the congregation was well known to them, but there were noticeably many more new faces. In addition to the people who they usually only saw at Christmas and Easter, the numbers were swollen with many new faces, presumably to hear words of reassurance and faith.

  After meeting and greeting many of their regular friends, they saw Admiral Schwartz, technically a Rear-Admiral, but everyone just referred to him as ‘the Admiral.’ He and his wife, Elma, were church stalwarts.

  “Good evening, Clarice,” Elma said. “How are you Geoffrey?”

  “Been better. I thought you were on manoeuvres in the Gulf, Admiral?”

  “I was. Damned Iranians won’t stop prodding us. Every time there’s a bit of strife internally, they rattle their sabres at us to distract their own people. Now with this alien thing, I’ve been called back. Some damned fool contingency planning sessions and scenario work throughs, for all the good it’ll do.” A vein pulsed under the grey hair covering his temple.

  “We can only guess at what they could do,” Angela said. All four adults turned to look at her.

  “That’s right,” said the Admiral, his tone abrupt. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

  Angela blushed under the Admiral’s glare.

  “Sorry, Miss,” he said more gently. “I don’t mean that badly. It’s just that were all ignorant on that subject.”

  “That’s okay,” Angela smiled.

  The Admiral’s wife, Elma, turned to Clarice. She feigned a secretive whisper, but it was deliberately loud enough for all to hear. “You must be so proud of your girl. She has become such a beautiful and vivacious young woman.” Angela pretended not to hear and decided to ask the Admiral about his own daughter.

  “That little minx!” he snorted. “She has only gotten herself arrested at an anti-war rally.”

  Elma put her hand on her husband’s arm to quiet and calm him. “At least she didn’t let the media know who her father is.”

  “Well, there is that,” the Admiral agreed.

  “We bailed her last night, but we really don’t know what to do with her.”

  “Probably just a rebellious phase,” Geoff said. “Don’t they all go through that at some time?”

  “Oh, yes. I know I did,” Clarice said and laughed. They all stared at her; their disbelief was clear to see in their mirrored faces.

  Elma turned to Angela, “And how are you, dear?” Elma asked, trying to change the subject. “Are you still keeping company with young Zeke?”

  “Actually…” Angela started to say, but her mother cut her off. “No, not anymore.”

  “Oh, he is such a nice young man.”

  “Irreconcilable differences. Isn’t that what they call it nowadays?”

  “Such a shame.”

  “Young love, it’s so…mercurial,” said Clarice wistfully.

  “You know, Angela, dear, nice young Christian men like him are so difficult to find these days,” Elma said.

  “Hopefully that’s true,” Angela agreed with a smirk.

  “Oh look, Pastor Gregory is on stage,” Geoff said, hoping to distract the women. “We really must find our seats before he starts.”

  “You’re absolutely right, as usual, dear,” Clarice said, happy to move the conversation away from Angela’s problems with Zeke.

  “We must do lunch sometime,” Elma called as they made their escape.

  Clarice whispered to Angela, “I didn’t know Elma was such an expert on young men.”

  “Seems it’s her special subject.”

  *

  They found their seats at the front of the Church. It wasn’t long before Pastor Greg started his sermon.

  “Welcome, everybody.” His mild voice was amplified through a small microphone clipped to his shirt and connected wirelessly to the speakers. Everyone hushed in response until there were only the sounds of restless children.

  “Some of you may have heard about the arrival of the alien spaceship?” he asked. A few chuckles and good natured murmuring passed around in the congregation.

  “I thought I had better say something about it, as it is undoubtedly on your minds.” He paused, looked around the congregation. He saw a mixture of expressions. Some radiated unshakeable confidence and belief. Others of anxiety mixed with what he thought might be hope and expectation of what he was about to say. He prayed that he could deliver.

  “Up until last night I did not believe in aliens.” Nods of agreement bobbed throughout the crowd. “I believed that God had created the entire universe for His unique creation, Mankind. The more we pushed the limits of our understanding of the universe, the greater we found the glory of God to be. I had no time for UFOs. I thought they were made up by loonies and cranks. Since there had been no solid proof of UFOs, I thought this whole alien anomaly would turn out to be some elaborate hoax.” More nods.

  “I was wrong.”

  He let his words hang. There was a heavy silence.

  “You may be interested to know that there is nothing in the Bible about aliens or extraterrestrial life. I know, because I have looked long and hard, which is probably why I look so tired this evening.” He paused again and Angela couldn’t help but agree that he did look more tired than usual. She hoped that she wasn’t the only cause of it.

  “However, one should not say that the Bible must be wrong because it doesn’t mention aliens. There is also nothing about blu-ray DVDs or the planet Pluto either.” Murmurs of agreement rippled around Angela.

  “But the discovery of those things didn’t challenge our faith at all. Not like the arrival of this alien has.” He bowed his head in thought as he took slow, measured steps across the stage.

  “The arrival of an alien intelligence has certainly caused some soul searching amongst the faithful. It puts into question the unique relationship we thought we had with God. We always believed that humans were the most important creation in God’s universe. Although we haven’t had any contact with the aliens as yet, simply their presence is enough to tell us that we are not God’s only creation.

  “But that should not surprise us. God has blessed this Earth with an abundance of life. Life springs forth at every opportunity, from the depths of t
he oceans to the icy polar caps. There is no reason to think that it wouldn’t be similarly abundant wherever conditions are right throughout the entire universe.

  “In Genesis, the Bible tells us that we, man, were created in God’s image. What if our visiting alien turns out to be a green, seven-legged spider? Have they too been created in God’s image? Then what does that say about Genesis? But also, what if they turn out to be humanoid?”

  Angela was a bit confused and judging by the faces around her, so were some of the other members of the congregation.

  “I’ll digress here for a moment to tell you about a Texan preacher in the 1890’s. When he was told of the cost of translating the Bible into Spanish for the Mexican converts, he was quoted as saying, ‘If English was good enough for Jesus, it’ll be good enough for them too.’

  Outbursts of laughter erupted. He met them with a sardonic grin. “Now, I’m guessing he would have been surprised to learn that Jesus wasn’t a Texan either.” More of good-natured laughter followed.

  After the crowd had settled down, he held up a pointed finger to make a point. “Now some might think that Texan to be a bit racist, but we might similarly be bigoted if we too think that our seven-legged, green alien is different spiritually. Just as God put the spirit of man into a darker skin when he lived in the hot tropics and a paler skin when he lived in colder climates, so too he put his spiritual creation into a skin that would suit the world they were put on.”

  Angela could see the logic in his reasoning. All intelligent life was inspired by God’s spirit, just housed in an appropriate body.

  Pastor Greg continued, “For they too are a creation of God, and I say to you that in 2 Peter 3:9, God does not want anyone to perish. In Galatians 3:26-29, Paul tells us that ‘there is neither Greek nor Jew, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Jesus Christ.’ Should that not also extend to all intelligent creatures, to our seven-legged green alien spider as well?” No answer came from the silent audience.

  “We have and have always had a cultural bias towards thinking that we are the most important, that we are the centre of the universe. The arrival of another intelligent life form tells us that our notions must change.”

  He paused to take a sip of water. The people took a moment to quietly meditate on what they had just heard.