The Broad Way (The Two Gates)

by Barbara Henderson

  How to get even with Alice was the main focus of Ann’s every thought. She went over everything she knew about Alice over and over. Finally, she remembered that during an English class she had overheard some of the girls talking about Alice’s graduation trip. Alice had been given a weekend shopping trip to a larger town nearby as a graduation present. She was going to shop for her prom dress, and a summer wardrobe.

  "Alice is in the city this weekend!" Ann thought to herself. "She said she was going shopping for a prom dress. But in addition to prom dresses, the city also offers abortion on demand at three different clinics."

  Ann knew this because it had been clearly covered in her sex education class at school. Ann suddenly knew what to do.

  She quickly went to her computer and typed an entirely fabricated description of Alice's visit to the abortionist over the coming weekend. She gave the city, the date, and 3 possible locations, with the most likely location being closest to the largest shopping mall in the city. She ended the article with a vague description of the prom dress Alice had chosen after the visit to the imaginary abortionist. It wasn't that hard. Alice favored the color green. Her eyes were brown with flecks of green so she thought she looked good in green. It was spring so the shade of green would be pastel. Most prom dresses were somewhat low cut. And the style this year seemed to be long. So Ann described the dress as pale green, low cut, and long. That was really a no brainer. And, Ann was correct. Alice was in the city buying just such a prom dress.

  Ann, having seen a number of old detective movies, quickly put on some driving gloves so as to leave no finger prints. She didn't know if that was really necessary, but it was sort of fun. She printed an envelope with the school newspaper address, placed the printed version of the rumor in the envelope, stamped it, and deleted everything from her computer. She would mail the envelope from the mailbox near school. Ann knew the rumor would not be printed in the newspaper, but that it would be read by several students on the staff. And that was all the beginning a rumor needed.

  Ann left the house happily with Fredrick. She was really excited about everything. Her world had just made a quantum change for the better.

  *****

  An unsuspecting Alice Wilson shopped happily for a prom dress while in the city. She had gone alone. He mother had planned to go along, but was not feeling well at the last moment. It was too late to get a school friend to go, so Alice had gone alone. She enjoyed shopping alone anyway. She had a sense of style that really did not need any validation from friends. And her budget would allow almost anything she wanted in a dress. Alice hoped to get both the shoes and the dress in one trip. Walking happily through the mall she saw prom dresses displayed in at least half the store windows. She almost missed the one she actually bought. She had walked slowly by a window looking at dresses in that window, completely missing the pale green gown on the other side of the mall. Then something seemed to almost speak to her, telling her to look over her shoulder at THAT dress. Alice turned, saw the pale green floor length gown, and fell in love with it. It was little lower cut in the front (and in the back) than Alice actually had in mind. But when she tried it on the image in the mirror was stunning. So Alice bought the dress without even trying on anything else. She was actually considering wearing it to try on shoes, but of course that couldn't actually be done.

  ********

  Andrew Wilson felt uneasy for some reason. He could not put his finger on the problem. As far as he knew there was nothing that should be worrying him. His business was doing quite well. His finances were in good shape. He was getting along with his wife for a change. And his daughter was as popular as he never had been in school. He shrugged off the feeling of uneasiness and decided to go for a swim to clear his head. "A swim and then a long soak in the hot tub. That should do the trick," Andrew thought to himself.

  Malachi

  Mal drove home Saturday morning. He had meant to go Friday night, but he had been studying Bible prophecy and time had just flown by. It had been midnight before he realized he had missed supper. Mal had to admit he was at least fascinated. And he was hungry to learn more about it. It was a strange feeling. Mal usually picked up the basics of a subject, whatever he needed to get a passing grade for the class, or whatever might be useful to him. And that was the end of his study on the subject. But the Bible prophecy subject just seemed too big to grasp quickly. He wondered if anyone ever fully understood everything in the Bible. Mal had to admit it. He was hooked. Mal had followed the links from the Prophecy web site. He had read about the pages on prophecy already fulfilled. He was overwhelmed by the accuracy of the prophecies in the book of Daniel especially. The number of prophecies fulfilled with the life of Christ. The pinpoint accuracy was more than anything a human could manipulate in one generation, much less over all the generations before Jesus had been born in Bethlehem. The signs of the second coming were there as well. And one particular web site had stuck in his mind as though applied with super glue. It was the plan of salvation for dummies. It had said by grace are you saved through faith. In other words, all he had to do was believe it and he would be an insider. He would have an eternal destination called heaven. To believe it he only had to have the faith of a child. Could he do it? He hoped so. It sounded like a way to peace with God. Of course, prior to a couple of days ago Mal admitted he had no idea he wasn't at peace with God. He hadn't even considered the possibility that God was real, much less wanted to make peace with Malachi Jones. Anyway, he was considering it now; he was leaning toward believing it. He was going to talk about it at home tonight. His mom would listen thoughtfully because she respected his opinion. His dad would get mad because he didn't respect anyone's opinion or anyone for that matter. Ann would just disengage from the conversation and let her imagination take her some place else.

  Mal arrived home well before noon and knocked on the back door. He knew his mother would be in that part of the house and he wanted to surprise her first. He also wanted to avoid talking to dad or Ann immediately. He wanted to fill Shelly in on what was going on in his life first and get her reaction. That had been the way he had approached his parents about anything from the time he could first remember. Mom was always the first one to hear what was on his mind. If Shelly was ok with something, then he would push ahead and run it by dad. And he had tried to help his mother with Ann, but Ann was her own person from the start. She was a loner like he had never seen. He had even thought that she might be a true narcissist at times. She really did respond to only what affected her. If it was to her hurt or advantage somehow, you could get her to do something and otherwise she did not care if someone was murdered in front of her. She would take no action, and she would not react either positively or negatively.

  Shelly Jones, sitting alone at the table, looking out over the backyard pool, was in a strange mood. She was not happy with several things. Notably with Frederick and Ann. Their behavior with the current yearbook situation was simply unacceptable. But Shelly had no idea of how to stop them from embarking on ruining the lives of other people. Shelly knew that vengeance was not supposed to be their job. They could leave it to a higher power and just live their own lives in a way that didn't hurt people.

  The second thing on her mind was that she was accepting that her marriage was over. It was at least over the way it had been up to now. She had tried appeasing and pleasing Fredrick for close to thirty years and all it had earned her was contempt. So she thought she could explain to Frederick that either there would be some changes or there would be a divorce. Her trust fund was plenty for her to live on very comfortably. And it was hers alone. It was set up so Frederick could not get any of it. She was pretty sure if it came to divorce he would not contest anything if she just left him with his business. She would have to make up her mind about the house. But that was getting ahead of herself. She had to give him a chance to change first. Shelly's thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the back door. Surprised, Shelly got up to answer. That usually meant a friend
who knew she was at the back of the house at that time of day. Anticipating a pleasant surprise, Shelly opened the door and was greeted with a big hug from her son.

  "Oh Mal, am I glad to see you, extra glad. You simply won't believe what has happened.

  Mal, although wanting to tell his mom all about his two new interests, Belle and Bible Prophecy, politely let Shelly tell him her news first. Shelly quickly gave him a rundown on what had happened to Ann with the yearbook, and how Ann and Frederick were planning on handling the situation.

  She finished by saying, "Really Mal, you should have seen Ann when she left for the salon yesterday and when she came back home. She had spent a little over $3000 on hair, makeup, and clothes. And you really could not tell a nickels worth of difference. The real difference was she was frowning when she left and smiling when she came back. It is scary."

  Mal didn't exactly know what to say. He had had real problems with both Ann and his father in the past. His father was vindictive, even to his own son. Ann was indifferent to anything that didn't directly concern her. Their behavior was not surprising to him. But then he had not been living in the house with them for over 6 years.

  "Well, mom, I don't know what to say. I can see you are pretty much wiped out by this. I don't know what I can do. "

  "I don't know what to do either. But you said you had something to tell me. Why not tell me and see if it will take my mind off this. You know, let’s talk a while and then go out to eat someplace nice. Ann and Frederick are shopping for Ann a new car. I think they will wind up going to the city. Frederick usually does that when he is car shopping.

  "Good idea mom," Mal said. I don't know where to start. I guess I will start by telling you about Belle, because she was my first news, and she is the reason for my second news."

  Mal started at the beginning. "This may take a while mom. You may need a very stiff cup of tea before I get finished. Let’s go ahead and go to a nice place to eat. Are you hungry for anything in particular?’

  “Actually, I would like to try a new seafood place near hear. They are supposed to have delicious hushpuppies and catfish.’

  ‘OK mom, that sounds great,’ Mal said. ‘Are you up to a ride in my truck or do we need to take your car?”

  ‘The truck is fine. I don’t feel like driving,’ Shelly answered.

  4th Demension

  stratigic operations

  Cabiri was simultaneously cursing and blessing the internet. Blessing it for all the ways it allowed people a very easy and gradual introduction to all sorts of unwholesome activities. Pornography was about his favorite. It certainly was one of the most useful recruiting methods. The internet also provided an easy introduction to the occult. There were web sites for beginning occultists, and advanced. Cabiri loved those sites. He had helped design some of them, from the shadow of the mind of the human designer of course. But never the less, Cabiri saw many of those sites as his personal handy work.

  But he also cursed the internet because of the easy access it allowed to anyone who wanted to study something about the Bible or the creator God. And now he was really steamed about Malachi. He knew Mal was going to convert. The signs were all there. He couldn't stop it at this point. But he did want to stop Mal from having any influence on Ann, Frederick, and maybe even Shelly.

  Stellar Dominion Outpost

  Command Center

  Raphael was delighted with the progress Malachi was making with his study of Bible prophecy. He was delighted with his relationship with Belle. Belle had been a concern for Raphael since her parents had been killed by the drunk driver. She had been a delight in that she had never been angry at God for allowing the tragedy. She had never blamed God. From the center of her grief, she had just poured out her heart to God, thanked Him that she and her sister had survived, and asked for help to get through the tragedy. She was a delight.

  Shelly was the main concern at the moment. God alone knew who would turn to him and who would reject him. But Shelly did have a good relationship with her son. And Shelly was definitely ready for a change in her life. Raphael hoped she would follow her son's lead. That was good very good.

  Chapter 5

  Ann

  "Car shopping with dad was a lot fun," thought Ann as they drove home from the city. "Dad is so much more my kind of person than mom. Dad understands that it is natural to consider things from the point of how the affect me. Mom is just so silly, always thinking of others and always wanting me to do the same thing. Good grief, mom deserves the life she has. If she doesn't stand up for herself, then that is her problem.'

  Ann really did not feel any remorse for how she had treated her mother, but rather anger that Shelly was not completely on her side in setting up Alice Wilson. Ann knew that Shelly could have been a big help in spreading the rumor if she would do it. But Ann didn't ask her because she knew the answer would be no. Ann felt betrayed. Her own mother, and she knew she could get no help from her.

  But car shopping had gone well. Her dad had decided to just go ahead and order the car. It was a nice foreign made sports car. They had decided against a convertible. Just a nice two door hard top convertible in white was the perfect choice. The hard top was of course removable, and much better than a rag top. A stick shift had been ruled out almost immediately because Frederick was sure women would never be able to drive a manual transmission with any level of safety. Ann really didn't care. It was a really flashy car, expensive, and sure to attract attention. She had decided that while the recent attention she had received at school was not good, that attention in general was good. She wanted more of it. But in the future, she wanted to personally attract the attention instead of having some idiot like Alice shove unwanted attention on her.

  Ann's thoughts were interrupted as they pulled in the driveway at home. They were surprised to see her brother Mal's Z-71 pick up in the yard. That was a ridiculous vehicle for Mal to drive, as he never drove in bad weather, and he certainly never drove off road. Furthermore, it was 8 years old now. Shelly had insisted that he be allowed to pick a car for high school graduation and that was what he had picked. He was still driving it.

  Shelly and Mal had only arrived home minutes earlier. They had had a very interesting afternoon. Shelly had filled Mal in on the situation with Ann. Mal had filled Shelly in on the situation with Belle and his new found interest in the Bible in general and Bible prophecy specifically.

  Ann and Frederick got out of the car and walked in through the garage. The family greeted each other politely and sat down to chat.

  Politely, Shelly asked how the car shopping went. She was very tense. Shelly knew Mal was going to tell them about his new interest, and she knew it would go over well with either of them. From Shelly's view point, it had been very interesting. Mal had talked and talked and talked about prophecy. He hadn't made her understand any of it. But she was delighted to see him so interested in something. Mal was exceptionally bright, but sparking his interest in anything had always been an extreme challenge. Things came very easily to him, and then he was immediately bored with it. She wondered if this interest would last. She almost hoped it would.

  Sitting down, Frederick suggested Shelly fix them all something to drink. Shelly surprised herself by saying, "Of course, Ann, why don't you come help me. It will only take a minute."

  The look of surprise on Ann's face was priceless. Mal managed to keep his face straight, but he was howling with laughter on the inside. Ann never had to do anything. Before Ann could reply Mal quickly said, "Here, let me help you mom. I'm good at fixing buckets of ice tea or coffee. Now if I could just learn to cook."

  Malachi

  Mal helped his mother with both tea and coffee. He guessed he was just stalling in talking to his father about religion. He also wasn't to sure about how much he wanted to say about Belle. He had told his mother that it had been Belle's idea for him to give the study of Bible prophecy a chance. But he really didn't want to prejudice his father against Belle before he even met her.
>
  "Well dad, what's up with you?" Mal opened the conversation as he handed Frederick a mug of black coffee.

  "Well," began Frederick, "I guess your mother told you about Ann's situation.

  Mal nodded.

  "We, at least Ann and I, are taking steps to change the situation to Ann's favor. We have been planning how to go about it today. It is actually going to be very interesting. I think it will even be fun. By the way, did you notice Ann's new look? It will go quite well with the new car we ordered today. I know you had to wait until your senior year for the new car, but it is different with girls. They just need everything right now. It seems Ann has been neglected recently and perhaps this will make up for it."

  When Frederick said "neglected" he gave Shelly a withering look. Shelly knew he was blaming her for the current situation. Shelly was somewhat amazed to note that her usual cringe when Frederick blamed her for something did not occur.