by Rob Mclean
“Anyway, isn’t all that a bit redundant now?” Jarred asked, “you know, with the Alien turning up. Bit of a game changer, isn’t it?”
“No. That’s just what the AntiChrist wants you to think,” Angela said. “Now, more than ever, it’s important to be with Christ.”
“Or else, what?” John asked.
“What do you mean?” Angela asked. It would be perfectly straightforward to anyone raised with a decent Christian upbringing, but these two hadn’t, so she knew she had to explain it all to them. “Without Christ, you don’t get eternal life.”
“No, I mean, what about us? If I don’t do the Christ thing, where does that leave us?”
“That’s an incredibly self-centred way of looking at this.” Angela was astounded. “There are bigger issues at stake here.”
“I don’t know,” Jarred said. “A vague promise of Eternal life versus the pretty girl, here and now…” he pretended to weigh up the choices, balancing his hands like a set of scales. “It’s a tough call.”
“Call me selfish, but I’m more worried about you than any AntiChrist alien thing.” John said.
His expression was so earnest and sincere that she had to remind herself that she was supposed to be just seeing John to make Zeke change his attitude. She could hardly blame him for being selfish, as she was essentially doing the same thing. She wished again that she could be a bit more detached about it and not feel so attracted to him. The way he was so openly focused on her didn’t help, but his horrid mother did.
“That’s sweet, but your relationship with Jesus is your choice. What you decide doesn’t affect our relationship.” Angela inwardly cringed. It wasn’t exactly a lie. If she was sticking to her mother’s plan and Zeke came good, then it didn’t matter what John did. She would go back to Zeke. If Zeke didn’t call, and she stayed with John–and she could see that happening very easily, despite what her mother would say–then it could be a problem, so she added, “At the moment.”
“Spoken like a lawyer,” John said.
“What I mean,” Angela added, getting flustered, “is that your mother, and mine as well, are probably right in the long run. Coming from different worlds and being of different beliefs will make it harder for us,” she smiled as a concerned frown appeared on his brow. “For anyone,” she added.
“Only if you want it to be,” John said.
Angela moved across to the seat Maddie had been sitting on, to be closer to John. “I don’t want it to be.” She squeezed his hand, hoping to reassure him.
“So, no pressure then?”
“Not from me,” Angela smiled. “Like I said, it’s between you and God.”
Jarred’s phone chirped, a Dr Who theme ring tone that made everyone jump. He excused himself as he headed outside to answer it.
“Sorry about my mom being so rude,” John said. “She gets a bit opinionated sometimes.”
“Do you think so?” Angela smiled.
“I knew she wasn’t exactly a regular church-goer, but I didn’t realize she was so anti-religion.”
“No, well, I’m sorry for reading her the whole religious riot act thing…”
“What do you mean?”
“You know, the bit about only getting Eternal life through Jesus.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” John said, “I don’t think she’ll take any notice of it.”
“Yes, that’s what I’m sorry about.”
“I don’t get it.”
“Well, it’s one thing to be ignorant, but if you have been shown the way, been offered Salvation and knowingly rejected it…” she shrugged sadly. “Oh and it goes for you and Jarred as well, since you both heard the news. Sorry.”
“What’s to be sorry about? I don’t think Jarred will be losing sleep about it either.”
Angela shook her head in disappointment.
“Hey wait, I get it,” Johns said suddenly. “If you give someone the ultimatum, knowing that they aren’t going to go for it, then you’re effectively condemning them to Hell.”
“That’s right, except that I wouldn’t call it an ultimatum. It’s offering them Salvation, because they’re already on the road to Hell without it.”
“But it comes down to ‘accept this deal or go to Hell,’ isn’t it?” John leaned back in his chair and took an appraising look at Angela. “You really come from another planet, don’t you?”
“But, I come in peace,” she smiled, however she could see, by his scrutiny that John was beginning to get an idea of the differences in their lives.
“Look, I can see that we’re poles apart in lots of ways, but I think that’s what makes you so different from other girls…”
“You sound quite the expert,” Angela cut in. No doubt he had ‘had’ lots of women. She made a mental note that she’d have to have him thoroughly tested for all those nasty venereal diseases if they ever happened to get serious.
“Not me,” he sounded surprised and a bit offended by her insinuation. She said nothing but arched a querying eyebrow. “No, I’ve had a couple of girlfriends before,” he said it dismissively, as though it was a given, “but only one that I thought was serious.”
“And she’s… passed over?”
“Yep, killed in an auto accident.” He sounded bitter about it, as though he’d been cheated.
“I’m sorry,” Angela said automatically, putting her hand on his. She watched as he swallowed down a painful memory.
“Thanks, but shit happens and life goes on.”
“How long ago was it?” She hoped it wasn’t last month. She could understand that it would be still be very raw if it was. ‘At least she’s not around to steal him away,’ she thought, then chided herself for such a selfish thought.
“I guess it’s been about a year now…”
“Year?” Angela repeated. Shouldn’t he be over it all by now? She must have been special to him. How can I ever compete with an idolized dead woman? She shook her head to clear her mind of all these self-centred thoughts.
“I know, they say I should be moving on by now,” John said poking his thumb over his shoulder in the general direction of his family in the living room. “But I don’t really want to talk about it now.”
“Okay, I can see it’s something you’re sensitive about, but sometime you should.” She searched his face for understanding. “And if you ever do want someone to talk about it with…”
He met her eyes and gave a small nod. Angela felt good that he had opened up a bit to her. It was something Zeke would never have done, being too cool and macho to admit any sort of emotional vulnerability.
John dug into the front pocket of his jeans and with a quick look around the room, brought out a small, felt draw-string bag. He placed it in her hands. “I got this for you.”
She recognized the WWS logo printed on the bag. It was from the bookshop she worked at. A jolt of concern ran through her mind, tinged with curiosity as she opened it.
“It’s just a little…” he began to say as two bands fell out of the bag into her palm.
“Purity rings,” she gasped. She knew exactly which rack the rings had come from and how much they had cost. “You got these from my shop.”
“Yeah, this morning, on the way over to your place. I thought I’d shop local, you know support the place that supports you.”
“That’s so thoughtful,” she said, but in her mind, she was trying to remember who was supposed to be rostered to work this morning. She knew it wouldn’t be Chelsea; as the owner she gets to roster herself off weekends.
John took the larger ring from her open palm. “It has the inscription ‘True Love Waits’ on both of them.”
“Is that what this is, true love?” she asked, her eyes wide with the sudden feeling that he was being way more serious about their relationship than she had ever dreamt. She worried that he might be an obsessive stalker type.
“Who knows? One day it might be,” he said. A hopeful, wistful smile crossed his face. “I hope so.”
Angela didn’t know what to say. Part of her felt cross that he was rushing things too quickly. She was only just getting to know him, and already he was making a claim on her. It irked her that he assumed that she would feel the same way about him so soon.
But then, another part of her found it all so heart-achingly sweet, that he would be prepared to make this sort of commitment to her and let the entire world know about it.
“Besides, the other ones had some verse from the Bible on it, and since I didn’t know the verse, I thought it safer to get these ones.”
“That would be 1 Thessalonians, verse 4,” Angela said, still playing with the ring in her palm. She had heard it quoted to her often enough from her mother to know it by heart.
“And there was some other one that said ‘I will wait,’” he continued, “but that sounded so lame, like I was waiting for a bus or something. Look, if you don’t like them, you can take them back.”
“Yes, I know all about my shops refund policy, thank you,” she smiled, inspecting the inscription, “but how did you know my size?”
“The very helpful assistant told me your size.”
“But how would she know?”
“Well, she’s your goth-emo friend, Chelsea,” John said with simple male logic. “She should know, shouldn’t she?”
Angela’s breath caught in her throat. She could just image what Chelsea would be thinking as she helped John pick out the ring. She’d be asking all sorts of innocent questions as she fawned over him. Then the moment he was out the door, she would waste no time letting everyone, including Zeke, know all about Angela’s new boyfriend.
“Anyway,” John said, slipping his ring on his finger, “I’ll wear mine. You can do what you want with yours.” He sounded both miffed and annoyed. His gift hadn’t gone down as well as he had hoped.
“No,” Angela suddenly said, snapping out of her dark thoughts about Chelsea and Zeke. If they haven’t called, then they couldn’t care too much.
She took the ring and slid it onto her finger. Her first ring from a man. She examined her outstretched hand with her splayed fingers and saw that Chelsea had gotten her size right, as it fitted perfectly.
“I will be happy to wear your ring, John Hunter,” she said. She moved over to his chair and sat sideways on his lap. She took his face firmly between her hands and tilting his head back, kissed him hard and fully on the lips. She added silently, ‘and to Hell with what they think.’
His muscular body felt so hard, but his lips were deliciously soft as he kissed her back. She felt his hands tremble as he tentatively held her shoulders.
She expected, from experience, his hands to wander and explore her body, touching her in places she wanted to be touched, but they stayed firmly grasping her upper arms. She slid her hand behind his neck and ran the other over his t-shirt, across his broad chest.
He broke the kiss, gasping as he pushed her back. She looked down into his eyes and saw a blazing passion reaching out to consume her. But, as he calmed his breathing, she saw him wrestle it back under control. She traced a line along his jaw, and grinned a sly lop-sided smile at him as she too pulled back her desires. “We’ll have to be careful,” she teased.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t want to waste all the money I spent on those rings so soon.” They both smirked.
She smoothed her hands over his chest and arms, marvelling at their solidity and size. With a hand on each of his shoulders, her fingers curiously kneaded his taut muscles, feeling their ropey bulk. Then leaning back, she could appreciate just how broad his shoulders were and how they outlined his V-shaped chest.
“Whatcha doing?” he asked. “Is there something wrong?”
“No, just looking at you.” Comparing him with Zeke, who had a wiry, lean physique, he felt at least twice as big and so much more powerful. Angela was certain she would have had a good chance at beating Zeke in an arm-wrestle, but with this monstrous beast, she could be dominated with ease. She smiled at the exhilarating thought that such a potentially wild animal could be hers to have. It both thrilled her and made her feel safe at the same time.
“How did you get to be so big?” she asked.
“Ate all my vegetables…”
“Yeah, right, so did I, but I don’t look like Tarzan.”
“Thank goodness for that,” he grinned, “but I do work out.”
“Uh huh.” She hoped he wasn’t one of those narcissistic gym junkies, striving to be Mr Universe. She didn’t want him to get any bigger; it would be grotesque. He was just right as he was.
“Have to with my line of work.” Those big shoulders shrugged with the admission. “But you should meet the rest of my team. Some of those guys are massive.”
At that moment Jarred bustled back into the room, talking as he entered the room.
“That was a friend just then,” he said putting his phone back in his pocket. “She says the Chinese have wrecked the Apollo 11 site.”
Then he saw Angela sitting on John with her arms draped around his shoulders and his expression dropped.
“I do hope I’m interrupting something,” he said with what Angela thought was a tinge of jealousy.
John glowered, but Angela looked a little embarrassed.
“How did the Chinese get there?” Angela asked, hoping to change the subject as she hopped off John and primly straightened her skirt and blouse.
“The alien ambassador took them there as a reward for them joining the new UN,” Jarred said as though re-explaining common knowledge.
“She?” John asked, “You said ‘she.’ Who’s the ‘she?’”
“A friend,” Jarred said, quickly adding, “a friend-girl.” He put on a look of feigned indignation. “I do have friends that are girls you know.”
“Really? I thought it was just us himbos. What’s her name?”
Angela intervened, waving them both down. “You were saying something’s wrecked?” Angela asked “What do you mean by wrecked?”
“There was a retro-reflector array set up at the site…”
“No subtitles, remember,” John said as an aside to Angela.
“It’s basically a mirror. It can reflect a laser back to Earth and is used to measure the distance to the Moon.”
“Don’t we know that already?” John asked.
“Yes, but fluctuations in the distance help us to work out a heap of other related things.”
“So what did they do to wreck it? Did they step on the mirror thing and break it?” Angela asked.
“No, they didn’t have to. They moved it.”
“Is that all?” John asked. “They didn’t break it? It still works?”
Jarred rolled his eyes with exasperation. “Yes, but the measurements we take now will have a different frame of reference than before. The signal strength will be different. We will have to start a whole new lot of readings.”
“And that’s bad, right?” John asked, winking at Angela.
“Yes, duh,” Jarred leered angrily. “But it’s not a total loss though. The later Apollo 14 and 15 missions left other reflector arrays. The Apollo 15 one is three times as big and is used for most of the experiments. But it’s the principle. Don’t they have any respect?”
“Yeah, what were they thinking?” Angela said, considering it to be more evidence that it was the work of the AntiChrist.
“But worst yet, they also moved the Passive Seismic Experiment.” He paused, theatrically waiting for their reaction to the dire news, but he had the wrong audience.
“Seismic, that’s for earthquakes, isn’t it?” Angela asked.
“Moonquakes,” Jarred corrected her. Angela noted that he spoke to her in a gentler tone than he would have spoken to his brother. “They had a bit of trouble setting it up in the first place. It had to be level and there is a bubble indicator that they had to get right.”
“Okay…” Angela said, “with you so far.”
“Well, they must’ve moved that too and now it’s not level.”
/> “So it’s not working anymore?”
“No, it was so sensitive that it detected the other Apollo landings. It was used to discover that the Moon has a molten core, but now it’s totally useless.” Jarred pulled out his phone and started scrolling through his contacts. “Normally there’d be hell to pay, but I don’t think the government can really do much more than lodge a formal complaint.”
“But what was the alien guy thinking when he took them there?” John asked.
“Exactly,” Angela agreed. “Sounds to me like the work of the Devil, using the ungodly to destroy the work of the righteous.”
Jarred gave John a look of bemusement mixed with pity and amazement. John shrugged one of agreement and resignation.
“That certainly is one way of looking at it,” Jarred admitted, “but he was supposed to be rewarding them for joining the new UN. Apparently he sat inside his little spaceship the whole time.”
Jarred shrugged, stabbed his phone and put it to his ear. He walked outside again while he waited for the connection. “Who can work them out?” he said. Angela couldn’t tell if he was talking to them or someone on the phone. “They’re aliens for crying out loud.” His voice faded as he left the room.
Angela went back to admiring the ring on her finger. It felt heavy and cumbersome on her finger, but she was sure she’d get used to it in time. She didn’t think other people in her life would get used to it as quickly. Her thoughts then returned to the buying of the rings.
“So why was Chelsea working?” she wondered out aloud; then for John’s benefit, she added, “She doesn’t normally do weekends.”
“She said the regular girl had left.”
A stab of worry went through Angela’s mind. First Eric and now Danni, the weekend girl. Soon there wouldn’t be any Christians left.
John didn’t notice her concern as he glanced at his watch. “We had better get going if we’re going to make the movie.”
Angela didn’t think the movie sounded anything even remotely like something she’d be interested in; some conspiracy action thriller, it all seemed so pointless with bigger things happening at the moment, but she agreed to go along anyway. It might be a good escape for a while.
