Facing the Future

by Jerry B. Jenkins

“Do you have any idea what happened with your brother and LeRoy today?”

  “All I know is what they told me here, that they were busted in a sting operation and they’re at Cook County Jail.”

  “And everything went OK with the sting and all that?”

  “Well, it didn’t go OK with Connie and LeRoy, did it?”

  “I mean, nobody was hurt or shot or anything.”

  “Not that I know of. Why? What’d you hear? You hear somethin’ different? How’d you know about this, anyway?”

  Lionel guessed there would be no harm in telling her now. “Two of my friends were there. We helped set them up.”

  Someone said something to Talia about her time being up. “I gotta go, Lionel, but you have to tell me. Did they get the idea for this because I said LeRoy and Connie were tryin’ to see about insurance money?”

  Lionel’s silence apparently told her what she needed to know. “Ooh,” she whined, as she was hanging up. “I’m a dead woman.”

  “Still busy,” Vicki said in Judd’s car, after redialing Judd’s home phone for the tenth time.

  “Humph,” Judd grunted. “You’d think they’d stay off the phone to wait for our call.”

  “We should have called them before we went out and celebrated with the cops,” Vicki said. “Lionel probably got worried and is calling around to see if anyone knows what happened.”

  “Who would he call? He doesn’t know any other cops that I know of. And Talia won’t be reachable. Well, we’ll be home soon enough. You know who you should call? Josey Fogarty.”

  “Why?”

  “Invite them to my house.”

  “For when?”

  “Tonight.”

  “Why not? You still have Fogarty’s home number?”

  Judd dug it from his wallet.

  Lionel sat by the phone for five minutes after he had hung up from Talia. Finally he located Judd’s car phone number and punched it in. Busy. He shook his head and called Bruce. He knew he wasn’t supposed to tell anyone outside the case about what had happened, so he just asked for advice on what to say to Talia and how to say it.

  “Mrs. Fogarty?” Vicki began. “You don’t know me, but my name is Vicki Byrne and—”

  “I know who you are, hon,” came the friendly, husky voice. “I surely do. Tom just called to tell me everything went down fine and you kids were great. He thinks we ought to meet, you guys and me.”

  “We were thinking the same thing. How about tonight at Judd Thompson’s house?”

  “Tom’s been there, right?”

  “Right.”

  “I think tonight’s wide open, Vicki.”

  When Vicki hung up she turned to Judd. “What a neat-sounding lady,” she said.

  When Judd got back into Mount Prospect, he went to the other end of town first and cruised slowly past Lionel’s house. Two police paddy wagons were there, and a half-dozen or so uniformed cops were loading them with stuff from the house. Judd had no idea how they were going to tell what belonged to LeRoy’s gang and what belonged to Lionel’s family. Clearly, though, they were gathering evidence and trying to put the house back the way LeRoy and his cohorts had found it.

  As Judd was finally pulling into his own driveway, the car phone rang. It was Lionel. “Where are you guys?” he demanded.

  “Look out the window in the driveway,” Judd said. “Be in in a minute.”

  When Judd traded stories with Lionel, he was as amazed as Lionel seemed. “So, you’re going to see Talia at the jail tonight?”

  Lionel nodded. “I’ll see if Bruce can take me. He wants to meet with all of us sometime tomorrow, by the way. Big news. He said that guy my mom knew from the magazine, the one who called me once looking for her, has interviewed that United Nations guy.”

  “Carpathia? The one who was president of Romania?”

  “Yeah, I think.”

  “What’s the deal with him?”

  “Bruce wants to tell us all together.”

  “What’s the news guy’s name?

  “Cameron Williams,” Lionel said.

  “Really? That was the Global Weekly guy I saw on the plane. But he’s not from here. I wonder how he knows Bruce. He must know Captain Steele.”

  Lionel shrugged. “So, anyway, I won’t be here when the cop and his wife come. I’ll have to meet her some other time.”

  Lionel overheard Judd call Bruce later and fill him in on everything that had happened that day. Bruce stopped by to pick up Lionel about half an hour before the Fogartys were to arrive and asked if he could talk to the four of them briefly.

  Lionel followed him inside and was reminded why they liked Bruce so much. He was so earnest, so focused, and busy as he was, he seemed to care about everybody. Bruce gathered them in the living room. “We need to thank God for Judd’s and Vicki’s safety today, for Judd’s chance to share his faith with the police officers, for Lionel’s opportunity with Talia this evening, and for the rest of you with the couple coming over.”

  The five of them huddled, arms around each other’s shoulders, as Bruce prayed. Lionel couldn’t hold back the tears. This reminded him of Sunday nights with his family after a week of school and work and play and a whole day of church. His parents would bring everyone home and they would have some sort of a snack. It might be ice cream or popcorn or some special concoction his mother came up with. Then, before bed, they would gather, just like this. His dad or his mom, sometimes both, would pray for everybody in the family.

  Even during the last few years, when Lionel kept to himself the terrible secret that he wasn’t a believer, he had to admit he liked those family huddles. He wasn’t rebelling against his parents, and he knew they cared for him. He had simply resisted God, and it had cost him everything. Thinking about that warm, loving family he would not see until he died or Christ set up his kingdom on Earth made him weep now.

  When Bruce finished praying, Lionel was relieved to see that everyone else was emotional too. Even Bruce, who clapped him on the back. “Let’s go, Lionel,” he said, and Bruce led the way out of the house.

  Vicki had a sudden thought as the kids were doing a quick cleanup before their company arrived. “Isn’t this going to be, like, dinnertime?” she asked Judd. “Do we have anything planned?”

  “Not unless they like TV dinners or fish sticks or something,” he said. “Maybe we should order out for pizza or Chinese.”

  “Yeah,” Ryan said. “Pizza!”

  “That sounds kind of tacky,” Vicki said. “Oops, too late. They’re pulling in.”

  Vicki was very nearly blown away by Josey Fogarty. The woman appeared to be in her late thirties, was of average height and trim. She had pale blue eyes that reminded Vicki of a summer sky, and she wore no makeup or even lipstick. Her face was pale and cutely freckled, her hair was a sandy blonde, and there was plenty of it. She had a huge, easy smile that couldn’t cover a certain sadness behind those eyes. But what got to Vicki most was Josey’s forceful personality. She didn’t hold back, but immediately took the initiative and took over, but in an appealing, inoffensive way.

  “Why look at you all,” she said, beaming. She took both of Judd’s hands in hers and held them up to her cheeks. “You must be Judd, the great brain.”

  Vicki was amused at Judd’s red face.

  “And here’s Vicki the redhead,” she said, embracing Vicki. “Tom always calls you that as if it’s one word.

  “This must be Ryan!” She took his face in her hands and bent down so she could speak to him on his level. “You’re only twelve? Why, you’ll be tall as me inside a year!”

  Vicki liked this woman already. “We, um, didn’t really plan anything for dinner,” Vicki said. “Did you already eat?”

  “No,” Tom said. “That’s all right.”

  “No! It isn’t!” Josey said. “We’re starving and we’re going to eat! What have you got around here?”

  Vicki turned to Judd. He shrugged. “We could order out. . . .”

  “No way!�
�� Josey said. “Come on, now, there must be something somewhere in this big ol’ place. You got a freezer?”

  “You mean a big one?”

  “’Course! We don’t want TV dinners and ice-cream sandwiches! C’mon, son, show me the big freezer. Where is it? In the garage? The basement? Where?”

  It had been a while since Vicki had seen Judd flustered. “Well, ah,” he said, “the big one’s in the utility room downstairs.”

  “Well, la-di-da!” Josey Fogarty sang out. “This here house has its own utility room. I’m just in from outer space, Judd. Take me to your freezer!”

  Vicki shook her head. Outer space was right. She was going to love this woman.

  FIVE

  New Truth

  LIONEL liked having Bruce to himself for a while. If there was one thing frustrating about living with the three other kids, it was that he didn’t get much time with Bruce, and when he did, it was usually shared with someone else.

  Trouble was, Lionel couldn’t think of much to say, now that they were on their way to Chicago to visit Talia in jail. All he did was fill Bruce in on the whole situation and tell him what Talia had said about her own spiritual life. “Her mother disappeared at the Rapture, and Talia says her mother tried to warn her. Now she thinks she has no chance because someone taught her that when Jesus raptured the church, the Holy Spirit was taken away.”

  “So she thinks no one can be saved now?”

  Lionel nodded.

  “We can counter that argument fairly easily, I think,” Bruce said. And they lapsed into silence again.

  Lionel wondered how Bruce found time to do everything he had to do. But he was afraid to ask. Lionel figured the answer would have something to do with Bruce’s not having a wife and kids anymore, and who would want to be reminded of that?

  Bruce found a parking place several blocks from the precinct station house. “If there’s any problem with your getting in to see her,” Bruce said, “let me try a few angles.”

  Josey Fogarty had impressed Judd, too. From several items she had found in a freezer, Josey had cooked up some sort of a ground beef casserole with noodles and vegetables and cheese and all kinds of other good things that everyone seemed to enjoy.

  Judd was also taken aback by Josey’s beauty. He had never seen someone so pretty who was dressed and made-up so plainly (or, he should say, not made-up at all). Mostly, though, Judd simply loved being in her presence. She was warm and friendly, interested in everyone. If she made the others feel as warm and special as she made him feel, he assumed they all felt the same about her as he did.

  “I’m here to see Talia Grey,” Lionel said at the desk of the station house.

  “She’s not up for bail yet, son. Anyway, how old are you?”

  “His age is not relevant,” Bruce interrupted. “He’s related to her former fiancé, who has died.”

  “I thought it was her former fiancé she was accused of murderin’,” the desk sergeant said.

  “She’s not been accused of murder,” Bruce said. “Now—”

  “He’d have to be accompanied by an adult. Would that be you, Mr. Attorney?”

  “I’m not an attorney. I’m clergy.”

  “Oh, why didn’t you tell me, Father?”

  “I’m not a pr—”

  “Right this way. You weren’t wearin’ your collar, so I didn’t even . . . I mean, you know. . . .”

  The desk sergeant asked someone to cover for him while he led Lionel and Bruce into the bowels of the tiny jailhouse. “I don’t know if you’ve been here before, Father, but we have only three men’s cells and two women’s.”

  “Thank you, Sergeant. So, is there a meeting room or . . . ?”

  “Nothing sophisticated like Plexiglas walls or nothin’, no. Just this little room over here, and we’ll have a guy hanging around outside the door if you need anything. Now, I’m sorry but I have to pat you down for weapons and contraband. Rules, you know.”

  As helpless and panicky as Talia sounded on the phone, Lionel was surprised to see that she had slipped back into her more normal sassy and sarcastic tones. As she was led out of her cell by the matron and delivered to the desk sergeant, who walked her down the hall to the interview room, she said, “You all won’t be seeing me much more in here, I’ll tell you that right now! I got my people coming to get me out!”

  The matron must have smiled or shook her head or something, because Talia immediately responded with, “Don’t you be looking at me that way now! You just watch me! I’ll be out of here soon!”

  The desk sergeant told her to watch her mouth and manners and to behave herself in front of her company. Talia just cackled. “You don’t have to be telling me what to do. Just mind your business.”

  Talia maintained her attitude until the desk sergeant left and someone else was assigned to stand in the hall. The door was shut behind her, and she quickly sat down and acted like a schoolgirl again. “I’m so glad you came,” she said. “I had no one else to call. And this here, who’s he?”

  “This is my pastor, Bruce Barnes,” Lionel said. “I think you should talk to him about your questions about heaven and all that.”

  “I already told you, Lionel, I don’t have any more questions about heaven.”

  “Why don’t we sit down, Lionel?” Bruce said.

  Once they were seated, Talia started right in again. “I’m going to need you to find me a lawyer, preacher man,” she said.

  “I’ll do what I can,” Bruce said, “but mostly I’m here to support Lionel and to answer any questions you might have.”

  “And what makes Lionel think I have questions?” she said.

  “You said you thought your mother was in heaven,” Lionel said. “But you were afraid you had no more hope for some reason.”

  “I was always told that after the church got raptured, the Holy Ghost would be gone. No Holy Ghost, no salvation.”

  Bruce pulled a small New Testament from his pocket and opened it on the table before them. “Did you ever hear of a teaching from Revelation that says that during the time of the seven-year Tribulation God would raise up 144,000 witnesses who would go about the world evangelizing?”

  “Yes,” Talia said, “I think I did hear something about that somewhere along the line. Yes.”

  “Let me ask you something, Talia. What need would there be for evangelizing during the Tribulation if no one could come to Christ?”

  Talia looked up and raised her eyebrows. “I never thought of that,” she said. “How do these people get saved if the Holy Spirit is no longer here?”

  “I’m not sure I agree that the Holy Spirit is gone,” Bruce said. “I don’t see that in Scripture, but even if it’s true, apparently God finds another way to bring men and women to salvation, doesn’t he? Otherwise, those 144,000 witnesses are out of business, aren’t they?”

  “I guess they are!” Talia said.

  Bruce stood. “I’ll tell you what, Talia,” he said, “I know we don’t have much time here, so I’m going to leave you and Lionel alone for a few minutes. Lionel, as you already know, is a new believer after growing up in a Christian home. It sounds to me like you are in a similar position to where he was not that long ago. It’s important for Lionel to learn to tell others about his faith and how to come to Christ. I don’t know how interested you are right now, but even if you are not, you would be doing Lionel a great service to simply listen to him and maybe even critique his approach. Perhaps you could help him learn to do this better. Could you do that for us?”

  “Sure,” Talia said.

  Vicki was amused to see that even when they were finished with dinner at Judd’s house, Josey Fogarty was still in charge. While her husband sat seeming bored or at least not surprised at her outgoing nature, Mrs. Fogarty began clearing the table and barking assignments. As usual, she was not in the least offensive. She had Ryan organizing the dishes, Vicki washing, and Judd drying, while she wiped everything down and even had her husband sweep the kitchen floor. “Make
yourself useful, Tom,” she said, smiling.

  Vicki got the feeling that Josey was on a mission, had something to accomplish, something she wanted to do. That soon became clear. When the dishes were done and the place was spotless, she said, “So what do you want to do now, talk? That’s what I want to do, talk. Where can we do that?”

  “OK, Josey,” Tom Fogarty said. “We can talk anywhere. Just slow up and sit down. We’re not going anywhere until you get off your chest whatever it is you want to talk about.”

  For the first time, Josey looked slightly embarrassed. “Your friends thought I would enjoy talking to these kids, that’s all,” she said. “And I think I just might.”

  Vicki caught Ryan’s eye and nodded toward a chair in the living room. Judd seemed to have already caught on that this woman was not going to be happy until she had nothing else to do but talk to everyone. Tom sat in an easy chair, Vicki in a wing chair, Judd and Ryan on the couch. Josey slid the footstool over from in front of her husband and sat on it, facing everyone.

  “So you kids think the disappearances were what, something God did?”

  Vicki blinked. Now there was an example of getting to the point! Vicki looked at Judd, who appeared at least temporarily speechless. He had been the one doing the talking to Sergeant Fogarty’s coworkers after the sting. Vicki figured it was her turn now.

  “That’s exactly what we think,” Vicki said. “Everybody we know and loved who disappeared had told us about this and warned us. It happened just like they said it would, in a split second. They were gone, and we were left.”

  “But where are all the children?” Josey said. “The little ones, I mean. The babies, the toddlers, the . . . the . . .” She broke down and couldn’t continue. She didn’t hide her face or cover her eyes. She simply sat there open-faced, those beautiful blue eyes streaming.

  Vicki glanced at Judd again, wishing Bruce was there. Judd appeared content to let Vicki have the floor. “We don’t totally understand that either,” she said. “Bruce Barnes, that’s our pastor, says it has to do with something called the age of accountability. He says no one knows for sure about this, but it seems that God holds people accountable for what they know about him only if they’re old enough to understand. We don’t know how young a kid could be and still be held accountable, but, like you, we haven’t seen too many kids left behind who are younger than Ryan.”