Choosing Soul Wars Trilogy Book One
Page 15
Chapter 11
Ann (AJ)
AJ was full of excitement the next morning. And Zisa had been correct when she had told her (AJ) that she would wake up feeling like she had just had the best night's sleep of her life. AJ was full of energy. She wanted to do something. She wanted life to hurry up and get to the good stuff.
"I should have asked her when I would be powerful and wealthy." AJ thought remorsefully. "Oh well, I can do that tonight. But I wonder if I will talk to her tonight? What if she doesn't come every night? "
AJ decided to take it one step at a time. "Hmmm," she mused. "What is a good way to spend the rest of the summer? What is going to be useful to me in the future? It sounds pretty boring, but I suppose I could do something volunteer in a place that would get me noticed by some of the more influential people in town. Thankfully that rules out volunteering with underprivileged children or anything like that. The hospital is pretty bad too. I would probably get assigned to really sick people or something. I think something in administration somewhere would be ok. Something legal or political. I'll have to think about that."
AJ's thoughts were interrupted by her mother's voice.
"Ann," Shelly called. "Mal is coming for supper, and he is bringing someone he wants us to meet."
Shelly thought it best to just let Mal tell everyone else that he was now a Christian and planned to actually get baptized. He might get side tracked when he introduced Belle to the family. Maybe the other would just go away.
"Oh, Great," AJ thought silently. "That's nice mom," she said aloud. "I'll be right down. I have to tell you something important."
AJ went down stairs still in her pajamas and robe. It was quite elegant, and AJ liked to wear the set, so she was getting dressed about two hours later than she had before her wardrobe had been updated. She got right to the point with her mother.
"Mom, who's idea was it to name me 'Ann'? Yours or dad's?"
"I really don't remember honey," Shelly answered. "Why? Does it matter now?"
"I guess not, but it is a very plain and common name. So I am not going to use it anymore."
"Well, won't that be a little hard, since you don't have a middle name to go by?" Shelly asked.
"No, because I am going by my initials. AJ is what I want you and everyone else to call me now. Initials are cool and it uncommon to go by them."
"Fine dear, whatever you say. If it will make you happy, that's fine with me. Have you told your father?"
"No, but dad will understand. Is he in the den or has he already left for his golf game?"
"He's still here. I think he has a 10:30 appointment. You can catch him if you hurry."
Frederick just as he was leaving. She quickly told him about her decision to have people call her AJ instead of Ann. He was fine with it, just as she knew he would be.
Frederick left the house quickly. His golf game was his main interest at the moment. Nothing, including Ann's sudden interest in a being called AJ was going to distract him. And Malachi bringing home a girl friend wasn't that big of a deal. He would probably bring home a lot more before he actually settled down.
Malachi
Mal was as close to nervous as he ever got. His personality was pretty laid back, calm, and most of the time he was unexcitable. These qualities coupled with his good sense of humor, and warm smile, had made him a very likeable person. Life was usually easy for Mal. But he knew how temperamental his father could be. And Mal had two major things to tell him. He just didn't know really what to expect.
He picked Belle up just after lunch and headed for his parent’s home.
Shelly was ready for company. She had prepared a very nice meal, suitable for summer weather, but still filling. She had paid particular attention to her hair, makeup and clothes. Shelly was pretty excited. Meeting Mal's girlfriend was something she was looking forward too. Her concern was how Frederick would react to the news about Mal becoming a Christian. And it was a small worry about he would react to Belle. After all, the girl was not anyone they had ever heard of. Maybe she would have money. That would make it ok with Frederick. He thought marriage should 'bring something to the table' besides love and good looks. That meant he wanted both their children to marry either money or position, and he was hoping for both.
Malachi arrived a little early. He and Belle went in through the back door, hoping to find his mother first. Shelly was in the dining room putting a few finishing touches on the table setting.
"Mom, this is Belle," Mal said happily.
Angels of Darkness
The Jones home was a place where angels of darkness were comfortable. It wasn’t that the Joneses were really bigger sinners than anyone else. It was simply that without a godly person in the home, angels of light had a small presence in the home. Zisa and Cabiri lurked in the home as often as they could. They often thought about the day coming when people could see them, but they knew this was not the right time to make their presence known except to a select few. Then they usually appeared as angels of light. After all, their true appearance would terrify people. Now there were waiting to see what sort of woman Mal was bringing home to meet his family.
Observing the introduction when Mal and Belle arrived, both Zisa and Cabiri immediately projected an atmosphere of tension into the house. Mal and Belle were their eternal enemies now, and they wanted to be sure the rest of the family came down on against them.
Angels of Light
Raphael, seeing the aggressive behavior of Cabiri and Zisa stepped in to prevent any actual contact. Raphael knew he would eventually be on the winning side of the war between good and evil, but he did not know the outcome of the battle before him now. He hoped the three undecided family members would come into the fold. He would do what he could to see that they were undistracted by the presence of the evil ones.