by Mike Donati
The Divinely Chosen
David Jensen
Copyright 2016 by David Jensen
This novel is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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1.
Paulus was most definitely the schools worst off child. It was the simple and plain truth! So skinny, with absolutely no muscle mass at all, he would’ve faded into the woodwork at the Oncology Hospice downtown. And the proverbial `icing on the cake´, as one could tell from his name, was the fact that he was the son of the Preacher! Unfortunate for him though, they were not from the normal Status Quo community church, but the ultra-religious group which had drifted into town a few years ago. His father had the tendency to preach to him regardless of: a) what Paulus was currently doing at the time, b) the time of day, or c) if the subject was even of importance to the immediate task. And he expected the full attention of his son during his prolonged sermons. Daydreaming, (Not a smart thing to do!) or even getting drowsy and closing the eyes while listening, (Even dumber!) was not allowed! To Paulus, it seemed that his father always had a bible in his hand, and the thought came to him once in the kitchen during a short sermon at the breakfast table: “Has he got the bible in his hand while taking a shower, or during sex?” His luck was that he was just drinking some milk and he blew the milk straight out of his nose, which changed his hysterical laugh into a gut wrenching coughing spell! Thank you whoever, for the great timing! To start laughing at his father during one of his sermons would be proceeded with a “Bible Beating” to the head. Maybe he preferred the book to the belt, but it hurt all the same.
His only escape was to go wandering up into the hills behind the house, though the woods and brier patches, to get to the small meadow he considered his own spot. A little clearing in the wooded hillside surrounded by Spruce and Pine trees. The grassy area was not much bigger than the length of a city bus. Still, it was his place of solitude where he could enjoy the warmth of the sun without wind, and revel at the sounds of insects and wildlife, and still, how silent and peaceful the woods could be. The most calming part was, there were no bullies from school to constantly pick on him and (best of all), no bible totting father trying to physically impress the Lords word into his skull. He was simply alone, and that’s how he liked it. To daydream as he pleased. He was often submerged in one of his many fantasy worlds, playing the part of some super hero, with lots of muscles, because nobody messed with Superman or Batman! And at times simply standing with his arms stretched out as if in flight, eyes closed and pretending to lift off to fly to wonderful peaceful places unseen. And so it was, that one day, while daydreaming and arms outstretched, he started to believe that he was going schizophrenic. He had heard faint whispers which seemed to ride on the breezes through the trees saying; “You can Paulus, you can.” Shocked and somewhat scared, he hurriedly dropped his arms and ran as fast as possible back to the house. Where he immediately bumped straight into his father while entering the garage. “What's wrong with you boy?” He asked. You look like the ghost of the devil just ran into you on the street!” “Nothing, just seeing how fast I can run. That's all”. He had answered. 'Do not lie Paulus.'
2.
Oh Lord help me! He had heard the voice as loud as if it was just coming straight from his father! “Actually, I heard voices in the woods trying to talk to me,” Paulus said. “So I ran home.” He seriously didn't have the intention of a confessional with his father in the garage, but for some reason he trusted the voice, so now, looking in his fathers eyes as they bulged out, looking like some ancient Neanderthal, he awaited the consequences! “People hear voices all the time in the woods boy!” He suddenly said calmly. (Although the words he spoke didn't fit the look on his face!) “It's the wind through the trees and branches rubbing together, nothing else!” “Okay!” Paulus readily agreed as he started to walk away. “Don't you forget that we want to paint the garage today, and sometime next week we'll do the inside of it.” His father called after him as he went into the kitchen.
The next few days were filled with crystalline blue skies, the warmth of spring in his face and his Sixteenth birthday. Upon coming into the kitchen, his mother quickly planted a kiss on his forehead and whispered so his father couldn't hear; “Happy birthday!” His brain locked up immediately and his gut suddenly cramped out of fear as he turned to see if his father was in the hallway! For to even mention Christmas or Birthdays was reason to get a serious long sermon put upon you, and as a special bonus, a cerebellar cremating Bible Bashing to the back of the head. (Where it left no bruises!) Those days are for all the nonreligious Pagans to celebrate. His fathers church had other astounding beliefs and rules and it all added up to “No Fun in life”! Turning back to face his mother, who now had the normal blank face of an obedient Christian housewife, he proudly stated; “Today I'm going to finally get my drivers license after school!” “You may have a license”, she started. “But Hell will freeze over before your father even contemplates letting you drive the car! So what good does it do you to even give out hard-earned money for something you will never need?” Upon hearing his father singing his version of 'Amazing Grace' out on the back lawn, Paulus said; “Mom! You don't seriously believe that I'm staying here any longer than I have to! Not in the same town as our “Godly Holy Roller” out there!”
“You're attitude is one of simple anger Paulus, and that is really not good for the soul!” His mother said standing up from the table, coffee untouched. “No mom”, he answered. “I'm not angered, but scared. And what's worse is that I feel sorry for him!” With that said, he got up and took a walk to his sacred spot in the woods. To be simply alone.
3.
Paulus was so obsessed about the voices that it first occurred to him at the end of the week that the school bully’s had stopped their continual ragging on him. Great and thank you for small favors! But he was also perplexed as why. The thought ran through him as he approached the clearing, and upon entering, pushed the perplexing question to the back burner and gave himself up completely to his fantasies. Arms outstretched, slowly walking forwards, he shut his eyes and hopped into the air. A child and his dreams, which were suddenly shattered with the knowledge that he hadn't landed with his feet in the soft grass. Upon opening his eyes and looking down, he heard the whispers again as he saw that he was floating just above the ground! In his fright, he covered his ears to block the voices, and immediately fell face first onto the ground. Maybe his father was right all the time, there is a devil in this world!
A long time he sat, reflecting on what had happened, and then he decided to try it again. But this time he kept his eyes open and stared at a single tree at the end of the clearing. He spread his arms out, and he started to float about six inches above the grass below. “Wow, cool!” He said to no one. Then, the thought that somebody might see and tell the Holy Roller, made him quickly drop his arms and he fell again to the ground. His legs seemed useless when he came down again and that was really the killer! “Superman flies like a speeding bullet but lands on his face!” He said. “Just great!” To be on the safe side, he carefully made his way home on wobbly legs and stayed away from the clearing on Saturday.
His father, seeing him idle, naturally started to recite from his black book. Idle hands are tools of the Devil, this and th
at verse, and toil in the soil till you boil.....Blah, Blah, Blah! So, to escape the finale of preaching, (which ended mostly being beaned on the head with the book), he went to the garage. Seeing his son grabbing the paint brush and starting to paint the inside walls, his fathers only comment from the doorway was; “I guess you still do have a little bit of Gods faith in you!” Then he simply walked into the kitchen again. Standing with brush in hand, he stared at his retreating Holy Roller father. Paulus started murmuring to himself; “Thanks Paul! You're a good son Paul! Shall we do it together Paul?” Turning towards the garage wall, he murmured again; “Why don't you do us both a favor and die?”
4.
“No!” The voice was so loud in his head that he promtly dropped the brush onto his sneaker, smearing whitewash paint over the toe. Now he realized that he wasn't going off the deep end, for the voice was now a loud commanding tone, and an answer to his question. “Who are you, and what do you want?” He asked the wall quietly. He now heard and somehow seen, whispering incomprehensible words, like small diamonds glittering and floating between his ears. A cacophonous merry-go-round of little lights and meanings. And when it stopped, it all boiled down to; “Love all, respect all, forgive all, all are all.” As he stared at the wall and let it play over and over in his head, he suddenly felt love, and a very strange oneness with everything which lived. Looking out of the garage window, he could swear he was in contact with the scraggly grass of the lawn. He looked at his mothers flower garden and faint whispery sounds like songs were to be heard from the flowers. And he felt like a Billion Dollars, or more! Engrossed deep in his observations, he hadn't heard his father come in. But when his father cried out; “Jesus, save my soul!”, Paulus had a split second to realize what must be happening and looked down at his feet.
He had approximately one second to realize, before the “Bible Beating” started, that his feet were about two inches off the dirt floor. Paint was dripping onto the dirt floor in slow little droplets from his sneaker. And although he caught the front cover hard against the back of his head, he only wavered. He was still in his euphoria of love for all, when he slowly sank to his feet and his father raging loud enough for the Pope in Rome to hear. “The Devils voice has spoken and you Paulus, have obeyed his calling!” His father screamed in rage. “Look at me boy and ask forgiveness for your sins from the Almighty!” Paulus started slowly to turn, with warmth and love painted across his face, only to catch the next hit directly in the face, which sent him to his knees. Blood dripping from his nose and mouth, looking up, he smiled at his father, at peace and filled with love, which drove his father to further beat Satan out of his soul. Once and for all!
He laid, blood coming now from his ear as well as his nose and mouth, and smiled up at his father. Towering over him with sweat pouring from him as if in the heat of summer, he could swing the heavy Bible no more. He screamed down at Paulus; “God help me rid my boy of Satan. He who smiles and laughs at your power Oh Lord” Turning, he walked slowly towards the door and Paulus spit blood on the garage floor calling after him; I love you father!” Paulus seen his mother standing in the kitchen, crying but not daring to interfere with the religious upbringing her husband had administered.
On Sunday, miraculously he was allowed to stay home from church service. Looking in the mirror, his face was swelled and a mixture of bruises. And he told his mirror image it was just fine. For all are all. Love. The next day, Monday at school, would be the turning point in his life.
5.
Maneuvering through the crowd in the school cafeteria with his food tray, he stumbled and knocked the tray over from one of his classmates. The whole cafeteria went dead still and nobody dared to move. Now, if it would have happened last month, he would have gotten an instantaneous case of Diarrhea. Which would be proceeded with a brutal ass beating, the likes of which, would make his father jealous. But this was the now, and he was changed. And he was filled with serenity and love for all and everything. So when Jimmie stood up, towering two heads over Paulus, with mashed potatoes and peas on his shirt and gravy dripping down his pants, Paulus said to him; “I love you, we love you and we love everything around us!” With Jimmie staring down at him, someone yelled; “Ten bucks says he's dead within a minute!”
Jimmy was aware of the situation since his birth, and the situation couldn't be worse. But it was still better than what had awaited him on Luna. At least he was alive, albeit captive in this baby's body. He had only love as an emotion since thousands of years, but he had let his old human emotions break through and had suddenly hurt one of them, one of 'The Keepers'. Instead of letting love and logic run it course, he had said they were wrong and had telepathically screamed to them; “Fuck you”. That was when one of the leaders touched his arm, and he had hit him with a left hook to the face. As it happened, he realized that he had sealed his fate. Having been born to the Egyptians during the building of the pyramid, as a child he had known things others couldn't have known because he was always hearing voices in his head. The day they arrived, slowly settling their ship over the top of the pyramid, he had went over and put his hand on one of the high stone archways. Which opened the portal for them to arrive. Since that time, he has lived many lives in many a place. And when his body became too old, they switched his soul into another young body, once even a woman who had been killed by her horse. He had lots of women before, but it was the first time he had his very own vagina! Ironic that he also learned how it is on the receiving end. But he as a she also came to pass.
Always serving The Keepers. For they cannot be in sunlight. But when they were discovered underground from the newly opened mineshaft, the brave soul who had marched forward into the anteroom, had attacked one of the Keepers. So they had decided to give him the punishment. He knew from bits and pieces of thoughts collected throughout the ages, that it was the only punishment they did for being wronged. And although his emotions came to surface, it didn't save the man. Because the man wouldn't join forces with the Keepers, he was, to put it lightly, disposed of!
Was it his faithfulness throughout the ages, his pleading for his life (after seeing the punishment), or both? They said they would give him one chance, to redeem himself in a new body, till they felt he was to be trustworthy again. He thanked them and thought; “I've done this so many times it's easy!” They were more than likely amused about where they transferred me.
So, I'm laying here getting my diaper changed. And my 'Mother', unaware that her own child's soul died in her womb, was just having a blast tickling my stomach and torturing me with; “my little Jimmie this and that. My knowledge of the world stuck in a Jimmie baby. Still better than the punishment, but now all I have to do is wait till I grow up! Maybe I'll do body building in this life, something different for a change.
6.
Staring down at the smiling face of Paulus, Jimmie quietly said; “Love all, respect all, forgive all, all are all!” Paulus, still face aglow with peacefulness said; “You're not as slow-dumb as the others say you are!” With that subject cleared, he walked away, leaving one dumbfounded Jimmie simply standing there dripping gravy and thinking; “I'm slow, you greenhorn?” To the utter dismay of the entire cafeteria, for everybody feared Jimmie due to his size, he apologized to those around him and followed Paulus out onto the lawn dividing the buildings. He had always intimidated people with his height and when needed, a mean face. But he never hurt anybody yet, and he had felt the Keepers when he had looked at Paulus. The first time since his new birth. Catching up to Paulus, Jimmie stated quietly; “And don't try levitation around others, I almost lost my head during the French revolution due to my carelessness.” Paulus, sitting now on a bench, wanted a few questions answered. In disregard of their surroundings, they sat and talked till late afternoon. And Jimmie helped him to find his own understanding of the situation.
“They sometimes look for new helpers, ones that already hav
e an inborn psychic ability and I'm not talking about all the Buddhist and Other-Dimension Energy weirdo’s!” “You my friend are one of the lucky ones. If you decide to accept your fate, you will be schooled by them.” Paulus looked and said; “I've been schooled enough from my fanatically religious father, as you can see from the many bruises!” Jimmie smiled and asked; “Have you ever read about the great Ramses in Egypt?” “I read that he was very brutal man to the slaves building his Pyramid!” Paulus commented. Jimmie was flattering with his eyelids, smiling he said; “And do you seriously think he treated his son any different?” Now Paulus stared and said; “You're his son? Oh shit!”
“So when do I die then?” Paulus asked. “Can't say for sure”, Jimmie said. “They took me in as a boy and when I was ready to serve them, I was already old. So they gave me a new body, or one that just died of course. When someone dies young, they replace their soul with yours, and life goes on!” “And who were you before you took over this young muscular body?” Paulus asked. Laughing, Jimmy just answered; “I was punished and transferred to a baby's body, and don't ask why or how that was!”
