Sacrifices

by Alan D Jones

  Chapter 7 - Tipping Point

  September, 1963

  The fruit we bear today is rooted in the blood sacrifice, of those who came before.

  Sometimes things are clear only in our most desperate moments. So it was for Hosea. As soon as he hung up the phone with Paul, Hosea knew what must be done. Turning, he called out to Ms. Elizabeth, “We’re going to need to hide the girls.”

  Elizabeth replied, “I thought you said that Paul had worked out a deal for their protection?”

  Hosea answered back, “A deal with a demon isn’t worth the breath with which it is spoken. I don’t trust any of it. Yet, I know as sure as the Sun does set that the Evil One will orchestrate something foul to lay in our path. It is who he is.”

  Elizabeth said in just above a whisper to Hosea, “What does he want with Elisa?”

  Hosea shook his head, “I don’t know but it can’t be good. All I know is that in Matasis’ mind he’s getting the better of the deal.”

  Elizabeth nodded, “True. So, it seems that he sees that he is getting a sure thing in Elisa in exchange for possibility of whatever threat the girls might someday be to him or a dream box which might or might not actually exist.”

  “That’s right,” Hosea said.

  Elizabeth asked, “So, what are you going to do?”

  “I have a plan but it starts with their cousin Rob. He’s always maintained that I could ask him anything. So, we’re going to see exactly what that means.”

  After returning home and leaving the girls in Elizabeth’s care, Hosea headed off to Rob’s house. As he stepped onto Rob’s street, a stiff wind nearly knocked his fedora from his head.

  Cousin Rob’s house was just around the corner from Hosea’s in Atlanta’s historic West End. Rob was a Special Forces operative. On paper, that’s what he was. He really was something so far off the books that even some sitting presidents were unaware of his existence or of that of his team, Team Omega. They were a team of Marines all of whom had special talents. None of his teammate’s gifts rivaled Rob’s for he was able to summon the elements: fire, earth, water and wind. Each member of the team did possess a paranormal ability any of which would dislodge the world of the ordinary Joe or Josephine from its axis. Rob was their leader. Due to his country’s call, Rob was seldom at home. His home was not like Hosea’s which had a level of protection over it from the prayers of saints, but it did have protection of another sort. One of Rob’s teammates, Louis, had established a psychic link to the property so that he always knew when someone came to the door and what they wanted. Louis could also tell you the history of an object simply by touching it. So, of course, he was into archeology.

  All that Hosea had to do was to go to Rob’s home and knock on the door which he did. Hosea didn’t know when Rob would contact him but he knew that he would. Rob wasn’t always around but he was always faithful to his family and his country. More importantly, Rob knew that Hosea would reach out to him only when necessary. And, truth be told, on more than one occasion Rob had reached out to Hosea for assistance as well. In the very small circle of those who knew about such things as exorcisms and things paranormal, Hosea was very well respected.

  After inspecting the shrubs in Rob’s yard, Hosea turned to make the short trek back to his own house. As he reached the sidewalk, a stiff breeze came rushing towards him. He walked up the street towards the corner, but once he turned the corner, he found himself back on Rob’s street. He looked to the left and then to the right to see spaced out around him seven masked men dressed in long black robes. At the end of each street or alleyway, they stood like onyx statues. Hosea attempted to cross the street but again found himself back on Rob’s side of the street.

  Hosea realized that his predicament was the doing of Zi the Sorceress, who always rode upon the wind. He knew that if he trusted his own senses, he would be killed or he’d be lost forever. So, he closed his eyes and stilled himself so that he might hear the spirit within. Hosea paid no attention to sight, sound, smell, or touch He stood still for long moments with his eyes closed quietly waiting. Hosea let go of the world and the path became clear to him. He took his first step, then another, and then a third.

  Hosea made his way past the black clad guardians and back to life as he knew it. Hosea was sure that this was done just to intimidate him. They wanted to make him go home, pack his bags, and leave. Hosea knew what they were doing and he didn’t like it. Like any man, he had is pride. But, even his pride was nothing compared to his love of his children.

  Back at the house, Miss Elizabeth and Deborah prepared Saturday dinner while the other girls napped. Cil had fallen into a deep sleep on the bed she shared with Deborah each night. When she awoke, she saw an angel standing at the foot of the bed. The angel was bronze and glowing. Its wings were so bright that Cil could hardly look at them.

  The angel of the Lord called to her, “Cil, you have been chosen to bear this burden for your generation.”

  Cil, still in her church clothes, sat straight up, leaned slightly towards the angel, and whispered, “Me?”

  The angel smiled at her and proclaimed, “So it is written, so it is. Look up, Lucille, and gaze upon that which few of the living have ever seen.”

  Cil looked up towards the ceiling but there was no ceiling, no plaster, no mortar and no roof. There was only heaven filled with the heavenly host. She stared in amazement at what she saw. It was nothing like she’d read or dreamed it would be. It was so much more. A smile washed over her face. Then, a stream of tears flowed from her eyes causing her brown cheeks to glisten. Just as suddenly as the tears had come she felt herself floating and free.

  The angel of the Lord whispered into her ear, “No, not yet.”

  Cil awoke in the summer heat. She was still lying in her bed. She wiped the beaded sweat from her brow. When Deborah walked in, Cil was mumbling to herself, “It’s all energy – our thoughts, our time and our tears – all of it.”

  Deborah stopped at the edge of the bed. She was truly concerned about her big sister. “What’s wrong with you? You look like you’re the one who just walked out of a hot kitchen.”

  Cil looked at her sister and then out of the open window as she wept, “You wouldn’t believe me, if I told you.”

  Then, Cil heard her father returning home and leapt from her bed. She ran into the living room calling, “Daddy! Daddy!”

  She was fourteen-years-old yet she leapt into her father’s arms just as she did when she was three. Her white cotton blouse soaked up the summer sweat from his arms as she cried into his ear, “Daddy, I’ve seen everything. I’ve seen all that is to be for us. Oh, Daddy…,” she cried. She gripped him tighter and spoke into his ear as the angel had spoken into hers, “I know what is to become of us all.”

  Sensing something of what his daughter may have seen, Hosea lowered Cil to the floor and said to her, “Darling, we’re all going to die someday. Just as we are born to live, so too are we born to die.”

  Cil looked at her father. She still had tears in her eyes. Her face expressed all that she could not, would not say. She had seen the future often but, this time, it was different. After Cil’s encounter with the angel, she knew, in an instant, all that would be for those whom she loved and for herself. She knew all there was to know about time. She knew more than man would know for a thousand generations. Time had been revealed as the illusion it truly was, For Cil, there was no turning back. She knew this would be the first and last time that she would ever willingly share that she could indeed see the future. She would not even tell her sisters.

  Hosea took Cil’s hand and led her through the house, out to the back porch, and away from her sisters and Miss Elizabeth. The two of them sat on the porch swing facing the small, wall-lined backyard. Hosea listened as Cil recounted her dream.

  When she was done, he paused to gather his thoughts. Then, he said to her, “Darling, you’ve been called. You’ve been called to be a Gatekeeper. Do you know what that is?”r />
  Cil nodded her head, “I think so.”

  Hosea spoke softly to her, “People are called to do many things. Some people are called to do particular things,” Hosea paused in reference to himself before continuing, “and some particular people are called to a particular thing. In this case, that particular thing is being a Gatekeeper. And for you to understand what that means you must understand what the “gate” is that you’re minding. Consider first that there is the world we see and the worlds that we do not see. And some of these worlds that we do not see are not so nice. Often the not so nice residents of these worlds want to come to our world. As Gatekeeper, it will be your job to make sure that they don’t. But if they do make their way here, you are to send them back.”

  “How will I do that?” Cil asked.

  Hosea replied, “Stop and think on it for a moment.”

  Cil did think. Moments later, her eyes opened widely. “At Big Mama’s house there is an old staff buried in the backyard. It will be my key to the gate.”

  Big Mama was from the Atlanta branch of the Few family that grew out of the same plantation onto which Elisa’s mother was born. Big Mama’s house was in northwest Atlanta.

  Hosea took his daughter’s hand and asked her, “You understand that accepting this role will come at a price?”

  “Yes, Daddy, I understand,” Cil replied.

  Hosea also understood this call on Cil’s life. “Okay, we’ll go by there tomorrow. But, for now, let’s have prayer together.”

  Cil nodded and bowed her head as her father prayed over her. When they were done, Hosea smiled and kissed Cil on her cheek before extolling her, “Come on, go wash your face then, let’s make some beignets. We’ll show Miss Elizabeth how we do it!”

  Making beignets to celebrate family achievements was one thing that they brought from New Orleans to Atlanta.

  Before reentering the house, Cil grabbed her father by the arm, “Daddy, why do you stay married to Mama? She’s never here and you and Miss Elizabeth belong together.”

  Hosea stopped and took a deep breath before answering, “It’s complicated, darling. Repeatedly, I have asked God that He might release me from your mother but each time He tells me that I cannot go just yet. Besides, my romantic life is not my top priority right now.” Hosea gave his eldest daughter a knowing smile.

  Cil took her daddy’s hand and they both reentered the home. Cil’s little sisters came running down the hall past her. Her youngest sister, Sarah, stopped Cil in the hallway and said, “Mommy Cil, I made this for you.” Sarah pressed a handmade metal cross into Cil’s palm. She’d made it using her gift to heat metal to the point that she could easily bend it. Then, she strung it on a shoelace long enough for Cil to wear it around her neck.

  Cil knelt down to look Sarah in the eye. “Thank you, Sarah, but this is one of your shoelaces. How will you keep your shoes on without it?”

  Sarah simply smiled.

  Cil smiled back, “I’ll treasure it always.” She then placed Sarah’s gift around her neck, stuffed the cross beneath her blouse, and squeezed it there before rising.

  Cil looked around at her family soaking in the scene. Soon there would be powdered sugar everywhere and the night would end as they always did with Daddy’s feet propped up, his reading glasses hanging from his nose, and a book resting in his lap. The next day they would retrieve the staff Cil needed from Big Mama’s house. But, on that night, as Cil enjoyed her family she also realized what she must do and how those actions would cascade through the ages.

  THE BOOK OF

  DEBORAH