― J.K. Franko
Calling Down Fire
Here I was out on my land hoeing my vegetable garden in order to grow enough food for the three of us to survive the winter. But I wasn't bitter―I saw this trial as an opportunity to grow and become stronger.
I needed to slow down and have a season of just becoming. I needed the slow rhythm of nature and the natural cycle of seed time and harvest. I needed to get back to the land because only that would endure after the abomination the cabal was inflicting upon the world.
I wasn't ignoring the Beast or the supernatural aspect of the emergency, I just refused to call it an Apocalypse, the way some call the Holocaust a Catastrophe.
Was I quibbling over words? Perhaps, or maybe I was stubbornly refusing to admit the obvious, that this period of solar flares and subsequent plagues was supernatural in origin and the work of the Devil.
And maybe it wasn't a coincidence that Ben Church assigned me the task of interviewing Angelica, a clairvoyant. Perhaps Fate or the powers that be wanted me to see a supernatural aspect of life as well as the natural.
And possibly, just possibly I was called to expose the works of darkness.
Okay, I have to stop in mid-thought and berate myself for entertaining delusions of grandeur. I'm no prophet sent by God like Elijah in the Old Testament who confronted the prophets of Baal (ironically, the Sun God).
I'm just a simple journalist investigating the cabal's motives for manipulating solar flares to serve their own nefarious purposes.
Now take Elijah―he was a wonder-worker, who called down fire from heaven so intense it not only burned up the sacrifice drenched with water, but totally consumed the stones of the altar itself and licked up the remaining water in the trench.
Mind you later when Jezebel threatened his life he escaped the city and hid in the wilderness.
Well, maybe that part was more like me.
Whatever, I was no hero―just a hack writer who happened to be in the right place at a very tumultuous time and inherited Tom Faraday's research on the cabal. I was not anointed, Faraday's mantle wasn't passed down to me. I simply was available and he picked me. It was that simple.
"You're hoeing up a storm today, Zach―taking out your frustrations on the soil?"
Brooke was smirking at me and I suppose I had been subconsciously transferring my intensity into feverishly hacking at weeds.
I coloured with embarrassment. "Well, we have to get a good yield from this crop or we'll starve through the long, cold winter."
"If you worked as hard at being cooperative, things would go a lot smoother around here."
She smiled sweetly, but it was plain she was being sarcastic.
I felt my blood boil but said nothing. Last thing I needed was to get into a domestic with Brooke as if we were married.
Yeah, as if I needed that complication in my life.
"Hello, neighbours!" a man's friendly voice called out. I looked up to see an older couple standing at the edge of the garden.
"I'm Frank Clifford and this is Helen," he said, gesturing toward his wife standing beside him. "I hope you got our note about taking some of your produce. We dropped by in order to repay you for what we took."
I stopped and leaned on my hoe. "Pleased to meet you both, but there's no need for you to pay us―actually, we want to thank you for taking care of the plot while we were away."
Angelica came out of the house at that moment carrying a tray with glasses and a jug of lemonade. "Hi, I'm Angelica, We were about to take a break―won't you please join us?"
"Thank you, that's very neighbourly," Helen said.
Brooke and I put down our tools and we all sat out on the deck.
Frank seemed pleased we were here . "I'm glad to see you folks faring well despite this emergency. I know you've come from the city―how are things there?"
"It's rough in the city," Brooke replied, "There's a plague spreading and everyone is quarantining and wearing masks. I saw some of the plague victims and they were covered with sores. It reminded me of the Black Plague, it was so disgusting and horrifying."
"Have you heard about the sea turning red from the number of fish dying because of the sun scorching the Earth?"
"Oh my God," Brooke gasped, her eyes wide with fright. "No, we deliberately chose not to bring cell phones, so I guess we've been out of the loop."
"Ha ha, out of the loop? Well, I know all about that―I'm a retired university professor and it's just the two of us up here―everyone else pretty well keeps to themselves."
"Well, you're both welcome here anytime," Angelica offered, "and you're welcome to help out in the garden if you like and share in the produce."
"You folks are very generous," Frank said, obviously touched by Angelica's hospitality.
Frank and Helen seemed very nice and I was glad Angelica offered to help but part of me was wary. Fact was, the more people who knew us, the greater opportunity for the cabal to track us.
Still, I was glad she reached out. Fear was no reason to abandon basic humanity.
Besides, maybe we could barter with the Cliffords for other needs. I was desperate too and certainly no Elijah―that prophet caused a widow's food supply to miraculously continue and went without food himself for forty days.
Yup, definitely, not me. But like Elijah, I was willing to expose evil if I saw it... and that was what got me into trouble.