by Mark Goodwin
“Antifa isn’t strong enough to pull that off in Austin, are they?” Sue looked nervous.
“Austin is only thirty-six percent Republican. I’m not saying the other sixty-four percent are all radical communists, but they’re unlikely to put their neck on the line if they see a Republican getting the snot kicked out of him by a gang of Social Justice Warriors clothed in black with red bandanas.”
“Charity and I took the course to get our concealed-handgun license last Sunday.” Ava was beginning to see just how fast things could go south.
“That’s a good start. Did you get a gun?” Hodge asked.
“Yeah. A pistol.”
“You should get a shotgun also. A handgun is good for keeping with you, but you should have a long gun for home defense.”
“I’ll think about it.” Ava nodded. “What kinds of food should we stock up on?”
“Since you live in an apartment and can’t really go outside to cook without being noticed, you should stick to mostly canned goods that are ready to eat. Canned soup, canned meats, canned pasta. Anything you don’t have to cook.”
“What about things like crackers, pop tarts, granola bars? They keep for a long time and don’t need to be cooked.” Sue looked up from her phone. Like Ava, she’d been jotting down some notes from Dr. Hodge’s presentation.
“Absolutely,” the doctor said. “Peanut butter, jelly, anything that will keep without refrigeration and doesn’t have to be cooked before being consumed.”
Dr. Hodge turned back to Ava. “And what you said about keeping some money out of the bank, that’s a very good idea.”
“Yeah, but my apartment was just broken into. Fortunately, they didn’t find my cash, but who’s to say it won’t happen again?” Ava swiveled around in the chair.
“You should get a small safe, at the very least,” Hodge said.
“But a thief can take the safe with him and worry about opening it when he gets home,” she contested.
“Not if you mount it to the wall. All you need is a stud finder and a screw gun.”
“I don’t have any tools and I wouldn’t know how to use them if I did.”
“You don’t have anyone that you could ask to help you with that?”
She thought about Foley but quickly dismissed the notion. “No.”
Hodge thought for a moment. “Get a small safe and I’ll come help you put it in. Let’s shoot for next Saturday. Will that work for you?”
“I can probably find one today. Are you available tomorrow?”
“Sure. How’s ten o’clock?”
“Perfect. I’ll send you a text once I’ve got the safe; and I’ll include my address.”
“Sounds good.”
Ava felt happy that her boss thought enough of her to assist her with such a project. “That would be fantastic! Thank you so much.”
The doctor looked at the other women. “Linda and Sue, same goes for you two. If you need help, I can come by after I give Ava a hand. It should only take a half an hour or so.”
Both thanked him for the offer but said it wouldn’t be necessary.
“When you say to keep a little extra cash around the house, how much are you talking about?” Linda inquired.
“That answer is going to be different for everyone. But keep in mind, when Cyprus had their banking crisis in 2012, the banks were closed for two weeks. Then, when they reopened, depositors were restricted to withdrawing 300 Euros per day. But even so, no one can say the banks would have enough paper currency to give everyone $300 a day if we were to experience a similar crisis. And no one can say the banks would reopen in two weeks.
“Keep in mind what happened to Ava. Even a safe isn’t a hundred percent fail-proof against a dedicated burglar. So, the answer probably isn’t all your money, and it probably isn’t none of your money. Personally, I wouldn’t feel comfortable with less than $5,000 in cash.”
“Wow! I don’t even think we have that much in savings,” Sue said.
Dr. Hodge nodded. “Then you should probably take a closer look at your budget—see what you can cut out, so you can increase your savings, especially with everything we’re facing.”
“Maybe we could eat out once a month instead of every weekend. We don’t watch most of the channels we pay for on cable. It’s not much, but it’s something.” Sue turned to Linda.
“Yeah, and shop the sales at the grocery store.” Linda tapped in more notes on her phone. “I’m going to stop off at the grocery on my way home. If I see anything on Dr. Hodge’s list is buy-one-get-one-free this week, I’ll buy a ton of it.”
“Really good idea,” Ava said. “Anything else, Dr. Hodge?”
“If you do all of that, you’ll be in better shape than you are now. And remember, you don’t have to buy cases of half-liter water bottles. Buy the gallons of distilled water or spring water. The store brand is probably only a dollar or so.” Dr. Hodge turned to walk out. “I’ll see you girls on Monday. Ava, I’ll see you at ten o’clock in the morning. My wife will be with me. After we leave you, we’ll be double checking our list and shopping for anything we might need to see us through any possible disruptions.”
“Great. I look forward to seeing Mrs. Hodge.” Ava stood up and gathered her things to leave.
“Have a good weekend.” The doctor waved on his way out.
CHAPTER 10
And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea, And entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them. And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew.
So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid. But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid. Then they willingly received him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.
John 6:16-21
Ava scrolled through her notes on her phone and relayed Dr. Hodge’s presentation to Charity while they waited for the church service to begin Sunday morning.
“So you’re taking all of this pretty seriously. You bought food, water, all that stuff?” Charity wrote down a few of the recommendations on the back of the church bulletin.
“Yeah, Dr. Hodge and his wife stopped by yesterday morning to help me secure my new safe to the studs in my wall.”
“James could have gotten you a discount on a safe from his work.”
“I know, but I wanted to get it right away so I’d have it to use now. I hate the thought of walking into my apartment and having a thief pointing that big old pistol at me.”
“Yeah, that wouldn’t be good.” Charity glanced into Ava’s purse. “You’re carrying your Glock? Did you get your license?”
“I’m carrying it to church. But no, still no license.”
“Wow! That’s risky!”
“Austin hardly has any cops since the pension bankruptcy. I think the bigger risk is getting assaulted by another swarm of Antifa thugs and being unarmed.”
“I guess you’ve got a point there.” Charity glanced past Ava. “You’ll never guess who just sat down at the other end of the row.”
Ava knew exactly who’d sat down at the end of the row. “You’re trying to make me look over there. It’s not going to work.”
Charity waved at the someone who had to be Foley, then resumed the conversation with Ava. “So how much food did you buy?”
“I bought about a month’s worth of stuff. Mostly the things I buy anyway. Except the canned pasta. It was on sale, so I bought a bunch of that. I’ll probably never eat it, but I’m sure Buckley will.”
“And you bought dog food?”
“Yeah. I stocked up on the stuff that was on sale. It’s not his favorite brand, but if things get tight, I’m sure he won’t complain.”
“What about all that water? Where will you store it?”
“Under my mom’s bed. I bought some of those shallow plastic storage totes. It makes it easy t
o slide stuff under the bed and pull it back out. I’m going to clean out all of her clothes and donate them next weekend. So I’ll have more storage space once that’s finished.”
“Let me know if you need some help with that. I don’t want you to be alone when you do it. It might be tough.”
Ava nodded sadly. “It’ll be hard to handle, but it has to be done. Buckley will be there, so I won’t be alone. I’m not sure I want anyone else around. Some of her stuff, I’ll have to hang on to for keepsakes. I know there will be pieces of clothing or a particular pair of shoes that trigger special memories. I want to allow myself some space to cry and remember. If you were there, I’d be more focused on the task. So thanks for the offer, but I think it should be just me for this job.”
“Sure. If you change your mind, let me know. I’m always here for you.”
“I know you are.” Ava leaned in for a hug. “So what kind of car did you end up getting? You never told me?”
“We decided to pay cash for a used car. It’s six years old, but low miles. A Nissan Altima; real good condition.”
Music began playing. Faith Chapel’s worship leader walked out on the stage and said, “Please stand with me this beautiful morning as we sing praises to our King!”
“I’ll tell you all about the car after church.” Charity stood to her feet.
Ava stood also, taking a quick glance over to see Foley at the other end of the aisle.
After the music was finished, they sat back down.
Bob Burnes, the pastor who ran Faith Chapel’s at-risk teen home, walked out on the stage. “Good morning, Faith Chapel. Pastor Rob couldn’t be here this morning, so I was asked to fill in.”
Ava whispered to Charity, “He usually only speaks on Father’s Day. What’s up?”
Charity picked up her Bible from the seat beside her. “Who knows? Pastor Rob is probably traveling.”
Bob Burnes said, “Open your Bibles to John 6, starting with verse 16. We’re going to look at an experience the disciples had to endure to grow their faith. Jesus has just fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread and two small fish.
“Jesus sends the disciples across the sea by themselves to Capernaum. It’s dark, the wind kicks up and the next thing you know, the waves of the sea start to rise up. It’s one thing to be out on rough seas when it’s daylight, but at night, it’s a whole different animal. And what’s more, Jesus isn’t in the boat with them this time. What do you do when circumstances get tough; when darkness is all around you and it seems like Jesus is nowhere to be found?
“We’re going to talk about that today. But spoiler alert—in the end, Jesus walks on the water to get to these guys and take them safely to the other side.”
“Good timing for this message,” Ava whispered.
“Yeah, Bob Burnes is good. He always has a good word for us.” Charity sat up straight with her Bible.
Thirty minutes later, Bob Burnes finished his sermon, closed in prayer, then issued a closing announcement. “We’re having a special service tonight at 6:00 PM. Well, actually it’s more of a family chat. It’s been a while since we had one so it’s time. If you consider Faith Chapel your home church, it would be good for you to be here tonight. Otherwise, you can probably skip it. We’re going to discuss the direction of Faith Chapel going forward. So, if you consider this to be home, I’ll see you tonight at six. Otherwise, have a great week.”
The worship team came back onto the stage for a closing song, then church was dismissed.
Without thinking, Ava let her eyes shift toward Foley before leaving her seat. She quickly looked away before he saw her. “What do you think the meeting is about?”
“Security procedures, probably. They have to figure out something to keep another attack from happening. Look at the sanctuary. It’s nearly half empty. Before the attack, it was filled to overflowing, and people were watching the service from the cafeteria.”
Ava looked around at the vast selection of vacant seats. “I bet you’re right. Are you coming?”
“I suppose. Are you?”
“I don’t think so. Seems like something they could have spent a few minutes on before service instead of a whole meeting. Plus, Sunday night is usually movie night for me and Buckley. He’ll be alone all day for the rest of the week, so I try to put in some quality time on Sundays.”
“Okay, I’ll call you later. I’m going to pick up something to eat and take it to James’ work for lunch.”
“Bye.” Ava waved as she and Charity went their separate ways.
Later that afternoon, Ava’s phone rang while she sat on the couch with Buckley. “Charity, what’s up?”
“My friend, Sheila, who works in the office at Faith Chapel just called me. She says the meeting is something big.”
“How big?”
“She won’t say, but she said it changes everything, and that I should go tonight.”
“So, are you going?”
“Yeah. Come with me.”
“Okay.” Ava looked at Buckley. “Do you think they’re closing the church?”
“No way. That would be backing down to Antifa. Pastor Rob would never do that.”
“I’ll meet you there at a quarter ‘til six.”
“See you then.”
Ava put her phone down. “I’ll make it up to you Buckley. It’s just this once.” She kissed her dog on the head and got up to start getting ready for the big meeting.
Ava was first to their seats Sunday evening, so she put her Bible in the seat where Charity usually sat.
Charity arrived a few minutes later. “Thanks for saving my spot.”
“Sure. How was lunch?”
“Great. James couldn’t leave, but we sat in his office and ate together. I showed him all the notes you gave me from Hodge’s pow wow.”
“What did he think?”
“He thought it made sense. He sent me to the grocery to stock up on some stuff.”
“You took it to your house?”
“Yeah. If something goes down, I guess he’ll come to my place. But if so, we’ll have to get married at the courthouse, like Linda said. We won’t last one night sleeping under the same roof.”
“At least you know your limitations.”
The music started and the two girls stood up to sing. The worship team played only two songs before Pastor Neil came out onto the stage. “Thank you all so much for coming. Let’s open with a word of prayer.”
Pastor Neil’s prayer reflected Bob Burnes’ message from that morning, asking God to help Faith Chapel through a dark and stormy period, and asking that Jesus would come quickly to help the church to the other side.
Ava thought the prayer was curious.
Pastor Neil was quiet for a moment, then said, “I wish I weren’t telling you what I’m about to say.”
“They’re closing Faith Chapel!” Charity whispered with a look of absolute distress.
Pastor Neil continued. “Pastor Rob Cody has . . . had some moral failures in his life recently. He’s no longer going to be with us at Faith Chapel. He is undergoing counseling, but the nature of the moral failures are such that it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to continue as the senior pastor nor as a member of the staff.
“Rob Cody’s family is also receiving counseling since this is an issue that they are going to have to deal with as well. And while Rob won’t be on staff, Faith Chapel is going to provide the Cody family with a one-year severance package. Rob has agreed to find temporary housing and leave the house to Dianna and the kids so they can all seek God independently during this time. It’s going to be a long period of healing for the Cody family, so do remember them in your prayers.”
Whispering and murmuring broke out amongst the congregation.
Ava turned to Charity. “Moral failing? What the heck does that mean? Is he getting a little heavy-handed with the chocolate syrup on his ice cream or is he molesting children? Why don’t they just come out and tell us what he did?”
Charity shook
her head. “Maybe Pastor Neil will get around to it.”
He never did. Instead, Pastor Neil talked for another twenty minutes about the new direction of Faith Chapel and invited Pastor Jon Ravis, the overseer of Faith House, to the stage to announce that he would be acting as senior pastor for the time being.
Ava checked her phone. She had a text from Raquel. Heard your pastor got caught having an affair. Ava showed the text to Charity.
Charity read the message. “That’s just a rumor. We don’t know for sure.”
“If the church won’t tell us, who else are we supposed to turn to for information besides the rumor mill?” Ava waited for her reply, but didn’t get one. “Moral failing? What else could it be? Your wife doesn’t kick you out for putting too much syrup on your ice cream and if he was hurting little kids, he’d be in jail. It has to be an affair.”
Charity began crying. Nervously, she pulled her engagement ring off her finger, twirled it around and stuck it back on. She sobbed as she whispered, “But if Pastor Rob can do that, anyone can.”
Ava watched the little dance Charity did with her ring. She felt sorry for the girl, but it was better for her to learn now than ten years later. Ava glared at Foley with her jaw tight, daring him to look up at her. She had a good mind to march right over there and tell him exactly what she thought of him, Pastor Rob, Lee, her ex-fiancé, her biological father, and all the rest of them. For a moment, she even considered giving Buckley the boot. But, he was a different species, so she’d give him a pass—for now. Ava stood up before Pastor Neil’s vague announcement was finished. She didn’t even have the whole story, yet she’d heard enough. “I’ll see you at work. I’m leaving.”
Charity got up, also. “I’m not staying.” Her makeup ran down her face as she was sniffling.
While Charity seemed heartbroken, Ava was angry; very, very angry.
“I can’t believe I fell for this.” Ava shook her head in disgust as she made her way toward the back door. “I should have known, should have seen it coming.”
