Chapter 7 – The seeker

"Sin had left a crimson stain; he washed it white as snow." – Jesus Paid It All by Kristian Stanfill

For the first time in what seemed to be ages, Gus Holiday pulled his chariot into the garage with a smile on his face and feeling blithe of spirit. He never dreamed that something as simple as an invitation to somebody's home would reignite the excitement he used to feel when he, as a child would be invited for a day of fun and food at an amusement park! Had his old friends been absent for so long that he had forgotten what it was to be accepted among his peers? Though he was an amiable man who managed to secure enough votes to have tied for first place for Father Of The Year only eleven months ago, he had lost his close circle of friends when they all had to move away or become too busy with demanding jobs to fellowship with him at the bowling alley or on the golf course. There was no guarantee that these new men would share his interest in these sports; however, the mere fact that they, his age mates, welcomed him with neither reservation nor rue filled him with joy he hadn't known for longer than he could remember!

After settling Bear, the chariot horse into his stall, Gus strode over to the mailbox to retrieve whatever scrolls lay within and drew a heavy sigh when he discovered the hospital bill among the junk fliers.

"I guess I couldn't avoid it forever," he groaned as he scaled the stairs and approached his front door, ready to enter his little sanctuary and sit down to dinner with his family. "I'm home, everybody! Boy will I be glad to sink my teeth into that pot roast you got out this morning, Laurie." He dropped his lunchbox on the floor in the entryway by the front closet, flopped into his favorite chair and rested his tired feet upon the ottoman. Though he was relieved of heavy lifting until given permission from the doctor, it was still murder on his feet to have to remain standing all day while supervising his nemeses.

"Well, I'm afraid dinner's going to be about fifteen minutes late, dear, the range is acting up again; I can't seem to get it to heat up properly," Mrs. Holiday sighed as she emerged from the kitchen and plunked down on the left hand end of the couch. "I ran into Mr. Evictus downstairs and asked him when he was going to come by and fix it, but he only told me he would be up here when he can get around to it and walked away from me without another word."

"That figures," Gus mumbled, tossing the mail scrolls onto the floor beside the chair except for the one he knew he had better open with no further procrastination. As his eyes fell upon the amount printed at the bottom of the hospital bill, his face drained of all color! "Oh no! After insurance, the hospital still expects me to cough up eight hundred and seventy-three dinars!" Slamming the parchment into his lap, he grumped, "OK, someone pass the phone over here; I'll call and see if Ignasius needs a night shift dishwasher again."

"Don't bother," Precocia, who was perched in her mother's rocker, murmured, her head hung low and her hands folded into her empty lap, for she had set aside her almost complete blue toga upon hearing the news that would free her dad from night work, but assure her a boring summer.

"What's going on here, why the long faces, kids?" the patriarch wanted to know, observing Happius also carried disappointment upon his countenance.

"you see, Pop, the good news is you don't have to work nights to pay off the hospital bill; the bad news is we know how we can pay it off in one fell swoop," Hap laid aside his Rolling Columns Magazine and met his father's eyes.

"Sweetheart, remember that wind storm where you had gotten hurt?" Laurie began.

"How can I forget?" Gus shot back facetiously, indicating his headband and waving the bill before his wife.

"It turns out that in the same storm, Kootenay Creek Camp sustained such severe damage, they had to close down for repairs, and it's not likely they will finish in time for this summer's sessions, meaning no summer camp for Precocia, no band camp for Happy, and no men's fishing retreat for you. They called this afternoon and said they would wire us the money we sent in for the three sessions … eight hundred twenty dinars, which should take care of most of that bill."

"Aarrrgh, that's awful! I realize it would help with the bill, but I was hoping it wouldn't have to be at the expense of the kids' camp; they've been looking forward to it since we sent in the applications last month."

"I told Hap and Precocia we could spend some of the summer at Mark's farm if he doesn't mind having us for a week or two. It may not be the same as being able to meet up with camp friends or fishing buddies, but the kids could find lots of things to do with their cousins, and you can always fish with your brother. Maybe when the long distance rates go down this weekend, you can call Mark and talk to him about it," Laurie suggested before her gaze shifted to the bundle of light blue fabric that rested on the table instead of in Precocia's lap. "Precocia, I know you were making that toga so your camp mates could see you in it, but I think you should finish it anyway; in fact, I think you're due for a few more. You're growing so fast that there's nothing left of the hems of the ones you already have for me to let down."

"Yeah, you don't want to go around looking like a heron, do you, sis?" Happy couldn't resist offering his advice without slipping in a brotherly jibe.

"Very funny," Precocia commented before sticking her tongue out at her sibling in a cheeky gesture and retrieving her sewing project. Perhaps she was outgrowing her togas, but it wouldn't be as much fun to model her new clothes for her relatives as it would have been to do so for her bunkmates at camp.

"There's a one day only Sunday sale at Demetrius Downtown Discounts … buy one get one half price. We can get some really lovely fabric and make you some nice new outfits, honey." Laurie paused for a moment, ran her hand along her own clothes and continued, "Now that I think of it, we're all due for one or two new togas. That beige one you have should be demoted to work clothes, Gus; it's getting so worn out, I don't think I can mend it anymore. And Happy, if you're going to be graduating in another few weeks and enroll in college this fall, you'll need to start wearing young men's togas. We can all go down Sunday morning and select the material we would like." When she turned to face her husband to see if this idea would at least meet with some semblance of approval, she noticed a look upon his features that clearly denoted he neither now nor ever planned to spend his Sunday in a store purchasing fabric for new raiment. "Is something wrong, dear? Are you worried about the money it would cost? This is why I want to go Sunday, so we can get material at a price we can afford."

"It's not that, honey, I … kind of made plans thinking we'd be able to make it with no problem. I was talking to some guys during my lunch hour, and one of them invited all of us to his brother's house to kind of get to know each other better and eat a pot luck lunch on Sunday."

"Someone call the news scrolls," Hap blurted out with an exaggerated wave of the hand, "Pop's co-workers finally got a brain and stopped acting like a bunch of jerks who think their *$# doesn't' stink!" Needless to say, he risked parental wrath when he uttered a word that he shouldn't have in front of his mother and younger sister, one that rhymed with bit.

"Happius Holiday," Laurie scolded, shooting her son a dirty look for making such a remark involving a four letter word when the word doo-doo would have sufficed.

"Oops, sorry, mom," Hap blushed sheepishly, for it was embarrassing for him, a youth only a few short months away from beginning college, to still find himself in trouble with his parents. "I just couldn't believe those co-workers of Dad's would suddenly start acting nice to him after all that time they spent putting him down like he was a dog or something."

"I wish," Gus snorted at the very thought of spending one more nanosecond with those prideful men than he truly had to. "I got so fed up with those yo-yos that I walked off the grounds and ate in the park with a bunch of the friendliest fellows I'd seen in a long time. One minute, we were talking a blue streak, the next, one of them up and invited all of us to spend the day at his brother's house. I told him we'd be there, not knowing you were planning a family shopping trip. Guess I had better call and say we can't make it; I can't have my family walking around in outgrown or tattered togas."

"Oh, you'll do no such thing, Augustus Holiday!" Laurie insisted her better half not martyr himself for want of fabric. "You haven't' had a close circle of friends in months, and this will do you a world of good to have other men to spend time with."

"Laurie, this guys' house is on the other side of town, and we have only one chariot, remember?" Gus pointed out to his wife that it couldn't be a matter of some of the family going to one place while the rest go somewhere else.

It hadn't been more than six months since the Holidays were forced to surrender their second chariot to Gus's brother, Mark, after Gus had suddenly collapsed from exhaustion due to his holding down two physically demanding jobs. It had been necessary for the head of the Holiday clan to work nights on a temporary basis after he amassed several debts because he bestowed expensive gifts upon his family and himself when he thought a buried treasure in the front yard would make him a millionaire. He had washed dishes at Ignasius' Restaurant long enough to pay off every one of his debts except for that involving the brand new chariot he bought. When Ignasius had to let him go for the sake of his health, Gus knew that the repo man would be along any day to take away his new "toy". Thankfully, that was around the same time Mark had phoned, bearing the tidings that he and his family were not going to be able to visit as planned, for their own rattle trap of a chariot had broken down and was beyond repair. They had gone for nearly five weeks without any transportation of their own, relying heavily upon neighbors to get them wherever they needed to gso because hard times made it impossible for the dairy farmer to afford to buy anything on the lot, even on timed payments, for the dealers where he lived were unwilling to bring their prices down to something he could handle. It was agreed that mark would take over responsibility for Gus's new chariot because he lived out in the country and needed something he could rely on for years to come, especially now that an aging Kara had moved in with him four years ago. Because of chronic pain in her knees and back troubles, she no longer felt safe climbing the stairs in the two story home that she and her husband had occupied since she had been thirteen weeks pregnant with Gus. When the chariot title was turned over, the payments were refinanced to accommodate the struggling farmer's means so repossession wouldn't be a constant worry.

"To be honest, mom, I wasn't planning on any shopping sprees either," Happy contributed to the conversation. "I made plans to go to Groovia's house and practice my drumming while her dad was outside doing the yard work."

"What if Mom and I drop Happy and Daddy off where they want to go; we go get the material; then we pick up Happy and go to Daddy's friend's house? Would that work?" Precocia suggested, taking a minute to look up from her project with what she hoped was the solution to the family's transportation problem.

"That would depend on how far away this house is; honey, did your friends give you a map?" Laurie stretched out her hand to accept the paper that Jubilus had given to Gus. "Looks like your idea could work, Precocia, that's if we're all willing to get up early so we can drop off the boys where they want to go and still make it to that sale. Then we can swing by Groovia's house, pick up Hap, and then Join Daddy and these new friends of his. Is that all right with everybody?"

"With only one chariot and four people wanting to go to three different places in one morning, it will have to be, honey," Gus shrugged his shoulders before reclining in his chair in anticipation of partaking of Laurie's scrumptious cooking and hoping Brutus wouldn't pace around the table begging for scraps or waiting for someone to drop a piece of food on the floor.

The rising sun greeted the early hours with its toasty golden beams, casting the sky in a shade of azure blue that no human artist could possibly capture in a portrait. The petunias that grew around the Venus De Milo Arms Apartments, where the Holiday family had resided for the last seven years, soaked in the sun's warmth and sat aglow under its brilliant morning light. The gentle breezes that softly kissed the landscape sent the sweet aroma of the flowers through the air, and it was a perfect day for a chariot ride! It took hardly any time at all to drop Happy off at his girlfriend's home with Brutus in tow so he could spend some time with her and also practice his drums. It was decided the family pet would accompany the teenager because he couldn't be trusted in the apartment unattended with all that food around. Gus was certain that with Laurie driving, they would not make good time, as he anticipated her asking directions every third block; however, she knew exactly where to go. It turned out that she had phoned the house while Gus was bathing and got her directions at that juncture so their journey would not be hampered.

Toting a large, red cookie tin full of goodies Laurie had prepared for the pot luck lunch, Gus slowly padded up the path of stepping stones that led to Elliquus' lovely two story home. Though he was unsure how well he would understand the content of the teaching the men spoke of in the park earlier in the week, this was not the reason for his tortislike traverse. Whenever he would visit someone's house for the first time, the contractor within him would admire the residence and imagine what it might be like to have the honor of renovating it. Since his family tragedy had forced him to give up the reality of becoming a general contractor, he always welcomed the opportunity to dream of what it would be like if he could have been one. He pressed his index finger into the doorbell button and waited patiently for the owner to open the door and usher him inside.

"Good morning, may I help you, sir?" a tall, large framed man with a plump belly cheerily greeted, a jolly smile curving his lips and causing his eyes to light up like the rarest of jewels.

"Well, uh … you don't know me my name's-" the Roman awkwardly began, for how could he explain his presence if Jubilus had forgotten to warn the homeowner of his arrival.

"Gus!" Macius' call rang out from inside the domicile, for though he was not sitting at an angle where he could see his pal on the porch, he did manage to recognize his distinctive voice. Though he hadn't known Mr. Holiday for even one week, he was certain that he could locate him in the noisiest of settings only by listening for him! "Elliquus, that's the guy I was telling you about … the one we met in the park and invited over!"

Ah, yes, so this is the newcomer whose soft spoken wife placed that mysterious phone call for directions to the house earlier this morning, Elliquus, always happy to fill his living room with folks he hoped would become long time friends, thought as he pieced two and two together. "So you're Gus Holiday? Macius and some of the other guys were telling me about you. Please come in." With that, the "gentle giant" as his companions entitled him, stepped back and motioned for the newcomer to enter and make himself comfortable wherever he could find to sit in the crowded living room that smelled of fresh coffee. "You didn't have to bring anything if you didn't want to."

"Laurie took it upon herself to bake a few dozen cookies for the pot luck. I think she made more than enough for the entire Roman Army!" Gus settled on a large ottoman that could comfortably seat two grown men and passed the tin, which was filled to capacity with homemade butter cookies of various shapes, into Elliquus' outstretched hands.

"That's for sure; these will keep us going for the next three weeks!" the host laughed as he beheld the weight of the container and slipped through the doorway so he could set the generous gift upon the countertop.

"Your family couldn't make it, Gus?" Macius, who sat in the swivel chair to Holiday's left, queried; scooping five white chocolate covered pretzels, three milk chocolate covered ones, and a handful of dark chocolate covered peanuts onto a napkin and passing it to him. "You want some coffee? I think all we have left is decaf now; Looks like Jubilus managed to get to the last goblet of regular."

"No thanks, Macius, I'm not all that fond of decaf. As for why I came alone … one of the drawbacks to being a one chariot family, Laurie and the kids had somewhere else they had to go. They didn't want me to back out of coming here, so they dropped me off and will join us later." Gus popped one of the salty/sweet treats into his mouth and grinned widely, for the taste had granted him a momentary euphoria that he hadn't known since Laurie started buying the low salt variety of snacks when the Roman was diagnosed as hypertensive.

"Your pretzels are a hit, Aimius, just look at his eyes roll back in his head!" Corticus praised his chum's choice in snack food and led all the men in a thunderous wave of raucous laughter that was soon lanced by the doorbell's tones!

"We're back!" a female voice rang out from the direction of the foyer, and Gus blinked in disbelief when he caught sight of the vaguely familiar face of a stout lady who entered with two pregnant friends, an elderly man, and a short, stocky woman who held the staff of a blind person following close behind. "Neddia, your usual place is ten paces to your left; ladies, you might have to squish together on the love seat over by Jubilus; and Erudus, there's still room on the hassock next to … Mr. Holiday? Is that you? I had no idea you were a …" Her exclamation had confirmed Gus's suspicions; this was Healthia, one of the nurses who had cared for him while he was in hospital.

The words escaping him, Gus, having popped another pretzel into his mouth, smiled awkwardly at the nurse. Again, he was met with the challenge of disclosing the truth of his not being a Christian without causing offence to the kindly lady.

"Gus is here for the first time, sweetheart," Jubilus smiled at the nurse before he motioned for her to join him on the couch. "What happened to Annia? Is she not coming today?" he asked, observing that there was one group member missing from the mix.

"Oh, she's not feeling well today; she's running a fever and says she hasn't held anything down to speak of since Friday afternoon. I was thinking we could pray for her just before the lesson."

"Of course we can do that," Elliquus nodded in agreement before disappearing into the kitchen to alert the ladies in there that it would be time to commence with the teaching in about ten minutes. He then emerged with a tray holding a pitcher of tea, a small squeeze bottle of lime juice, and a bunch of plastic party goblets. "I'm sorry for not having brought out the tea before now, folks. I'll bet you non-coffee drinkers are getting mighty thirsty. Gloria says she will bring the ice water out in a minute. Gus, my wife, Gloria, tends to make the tea so sweet some of us say that one sip would have you so wired you could light up the Coliseum, so you can either have some with lime in it, or you can wait for the water."

"Are you kidding, Elliquus?" Healthia piped up with a mischievous grin crossing her features and the intension of some good natured teasing running through her mind. "The last thing this guy needs is something that would make him even more hyper than God made him in the first place. Trust me; one too many goblets of coffee, and it was all I could do to keep him in bed while he was in hospital!" She winked in her former patient's direction, her bubbly personality radiating throughout the whole room.

"Hey, I was bored and was still waiting for you to take me for that afternoon walk in the sunshine as you promised," Gus caught on to the woman's intension to goof on him in a friendly way, arming himself for the battle of wits that would ensue.

"Now hold on, you big silly, we did go on that afternoon walk in the sunshine," Healthia was determined to drag out this war of words until she was assured her rival ran out of ammunition.

"Actually, we went on an afternoon roll in the sunshine," Gus beamed, quite pleased with himself that he got off on the technicality of his having to be wheeled in the sun instead of walking on his own steam.

Slowly a grin crossed the nurse's features, and with a mischievous gleam in her eye, she retrieved one of the miniature powdered donuts that sat on the coffee table, reached over, and stuffed it into Gus's mouth, but not before getting in the last word. "Oh we went on a walk; for that to happen, at least one of the parties had to be walking; and since I didn't take you out there while on roller skates, I was walking. Therefore, we did go on an afternoon walk where you just happened to have been riding in a wheelchair! Ha-ha!" When she had thwarted any chance of rebuttal by transforming the pastry into an eatable gag, the entire room roared in laughter that rang out through the house!

"It looks like our new friend has completed one rite of passage already. If Healthia gets into a battle of wits with you and stops at nothing to get the last word, it's a sign she likes you and considers you a worthy opponent!" Jubilus declared after he had sufficiently recovered from his mirth. "Trust me, I've been married to her for thirty-eight years; I should know."

"Folks, I hate to interrupt our feast of fellowship, but I do think we should get started if we're going to pray for Annia before the lesson," Elliquus announced with a wave of his left hand as the remainder of the group quietly filed in and made themselves comfortable wherever they could find a place. Some dragged in chairs from the kitchen while others sat upon large pillows on the floor.

"Who's Annia?" Gus queried after swallowing the bite of donut that had gone passed his lips and between his teeth, a smudge of white powdered sugar resting on the left corner of his mouth.

"She's my roommate," Neddia answered after having gulped down some sweetened tea with a squirt of lime. If you could put the personality of the most friendly, laid back lap kitten into a human's body, that's what you would get; she is the type who would like to love everybody."

"If you decide to come over again next week, you might meet her; I've seen her get sick like this before, and she bounces back fast," Healthia commented before helping herself to some tea, minus the lime.

"Maybe while we're praying for her healing, we should pray for you again, Gus. I'm gathering that headband means the headaches are still bothering you?" Macius observed, pointing out that the roman was still relying on the cold compress to lessen the pain.

"You still are having headaches? Have you called Dr. Checkius about this?" healthia scolded mildly. "You should know head injuries are nothing to play with."

"Doc says I should be fine; everything seemed normal at my last appointment. My vision isn't blurry; I'm not puking my guts out; I'm not having any of those symptoms he told me to look out for. The pills might as well be sugar candy, and the only thing that helped was when the guys in the park asked God to heal me. Looks like the healing thing wore off. The way some of you guys talked, I didn't think this healing was like those batteries that run out and have to be recharged all the time." When the goblets of ice water were presented, Gus helped himself to one and added a dash of lime for flavor.

"I've never heard a comparison such as that, but I do see where you would think the healing wore off on you, Gus. Often times we expect to be completely well right away, and we get impatient when we don't become instantly healthy or stripped of all vestiges of pain. Sometimes God grants a complete healing; sometimes He makes it gradual so we would come to Him and learn to trust Him to fulfill our needs no matter what they may be," Elliquus explained, suppressing a chortle at the battery remark that obviously displayed Gus's spiritual innocence. "This wouldn't be the first time someone has asked God to grant another healing touch for the same condition. With your permission, I'd like for us to pray for you while we pray for Annia and get the lesson under way."

Knowing now that prayers were not a form of witchery, Gus nodded his consent and laid his drink and snack food on the coffee table in front of him. Erudus laid a gentle fatherly hand upon Holiday's back while some of the men surrounded the perch on which he sat, settling their hands lightly on his back, shoulders and the crown of his bowed head. Those who did not make physical contact remained where they were, stretching their hands toward the afflicted newbie.

"our Father in Heaven, we love You, and we pray now that You look upon Gus and grant him a healing touch that will flush out these headaches with which he currently battles. Please sweep away any unwelcome impurities that may be causing the pain, and please restore a level of comfort to him that is even better than he had known prior to this injury he had apparently suffered. We lift him into Your capable and loving hands now. We also lift our sister Annia into Your hands, praying that You would purge all vestiges of illness from her body and restore her health to normal. We pray You restore her appetite and strength so she can be happy and return to us next week. Please touch her from crown to sole and cast this flu bug as far as the east is from the west! We thank You for what You are doing in these two very special people and that they will be right as rain once again. in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen!" Upon hearing the rest of the company echo their "Amen" Elliquus drew back, allowing Gus room to sit upright once more. The rest of the men who surrounded him looked to him expectantly, the expression in Gus's eyes telling them that God had heard and lovingly honored their request.

"This is … it's absolutely amazing. It's like it was before I got hit in that storm. Thank you." Gus wanted to say more, but he was so taken aback by the total removal of the pesky headaches that proper words escaped him. How could this be? How could he be healed by prayer when the doctor and medication did nothing for him? Acting on faith that he would no longer need it, Gus untied his bandanna and set it in his lap, his dependence on it finally having come to an end! When they beheld the wide smile that brightened their new friend's visage, the rest of the group members all rendered their praises and prayers of gratitude Heavenward. Then once everyone had settled down, Elliquus gathered up some scrolls and began his teaching.

"Now who remembers where we left off last week?" Elliquus inquired as he unraveled the scroll which had a number one written on the outer corner.

"We had left off on the importance of embracing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior," one of the women Gus had not yet met cheerily chirped her response.

"That's right. If you folks will bear with me, I will backtrack a little for Gus's benefit since he's new and we're unsure how much he knows about God and Jesus. Gus, I hope I don't make you feel like you're on the spot, but I want to be sure how much you understand before I get into the meat of the lesson. It can be confusing for someone who is unfamiliar with God. I'll start by asking, do you know what a sin nature is?

"I think it's to do with when those two people … what were their names … listened to a talking snake, ate some fruit God told them they weren't supposed to have, and picked up some hereditary tendency to rebel against Him."

Keeping a subtle eye on Gus's facial expressions or other indications of understanding or confusion, Elliquus continued, "That's right! Because Adam and Eve, the first two people who lived on this Earth disobeyed God who created them, they passed down a terrible thing through the bloodlines called a sin nature, which causes us all to do things that make us fall short of God's glory. Because of this nature, God, who loves us very much, has to turn His face away from us, for He is so perfect He cannot look at sin. It's kind of like getting ignored by someone whose love you want desperately." Upon noticing the change in the reflection upon Gus's countenance from comprehension to perplexity, he paused to allow for any further questions.

"If God's some kind of giant parent like some of you guys have told me before, something's wrong here. What kid hasn't gotten into trouble with a parent? Still, the parents don't just throw them away like this. If God's so loving, why turn away from us; it doesn't make sense."

"It's because, unlike us, God is absolutely perfect in every way. Not only can't He look at us in a sin state; it would kill us to see him like that as well. We just wouldn't be able to handle beholding Him in all his indescribable glory and splendor. In order for us to have God look upon us again, there is only one way to be cleansed of the sin nature. We must accept that Jesus Christ, the perfect, sinless son of God, came to Earth to live as a man and take upon his totally innocent back the sins and their attendant punishment that should go to us."

"How is it Jesus was perfect when the rest of us aren't?"

"Jesus is the Son of God, not having been born from a man and wife as we were, and he didn't inherit the sin nature. Because of this, he was the only one who could atone for all of us; he not only endured physical punishment by being nailed to a cross around thirty-one years ago after stirring up the Pharisees by proclaiming he was the son of god …"

Thirty-one years ago? Again Gus found his mind wandering to that boyhood flashback where he had overheard the discourse concerning the radio article that vexed his parents to the point of his mom's breaking into tears and his dad's quickly dismissing the subject twice. Hoping Elliquus' oration might provide some semblance of clarity; he held his tongue and listened attentively.

"It wasn't bad enough Jesus, who was simply teaching the people about the Kingdom of Heaven had to suffer crucifixion as if he was the worst of villains, he had to experience God's turning His face away from him and sending him to a place called hell for 3 days after he died." A quick glance from the corner of Elliquus' eye revealed that Gus immediately stopped drinking his ice water and set the goblet down while a most puzzled facial expression showed the teacher just how green the newcomer truly was. "Hell is a very bad place where all your worse fears and most horrible nightmares play out forever with no rest or stopping. You see across a chasm what you could have had in a world where you would never have known unhappiness again and could have lived in permanent joy. The echoes of your own crying would ring forever, and there is no God to comfort or guide you. The only way to avoid going there upon your death is to accept that Jesus Christ died for you and bore your sins upon his back so you could begin and enjoy a relationship with God in Heaven." Mr. Holiday's incredulous demeanor sent the silent signal for him to stop for a moment.

"Wait a second, when you're dead, all you do is go into the ground; I was at my father's funeral, and they just lowered him in and covered him up with dirt. Nobody said anything about him going to any places called Heaven or Hell," the bewildered gentleman posed his question when Elliquus cast a prompting wink his way.

"That's right; our bodies do go into the ground, but we are made up of more than just the physical bodies you see around you every day. We are made up of a body, soul, and spirit. Our soul is comprised of our knowledge, emotions, and actions, and it's what makes us the unique people we are. Our spirit is what fills us with life itself and is to do with our relationship with God. It is only our bodies that die and eventually break down into dust over time; our spirit and soul live forever and have to go somewhere after the physical body dies. Heaven or Hell are these places. If you have made it right with God by accepting His son, you get to live forever in Heaven, a place where you would never again worry that you cannot provide for your family and yourself or experience anything bad. You'd be healthy forever, and you'd have a job you love so much it won't even feel like work! You'd be so happy you'd not be able to contain yourself at all! I know Heaven and Hell are a lot to grasp, but it's important to know that people will live forever in one or the other after their bodies pass away. This will happen to everyone, and only after we die will we finally, in soul and spirit, encounter God face to face the way we see each other now. Until then, we just have to go on faith that He is with us."

Could this be so? Gus pondered the pearls of wisdom as he took another sip of his water. When he had laid eyes on his deceased father's body prior to burial, he knew that form with Cicero Holiday's face was no longer his pop, just an empty, nonresponsive body that couldn't love his wife and sons anymore. If this was true, where did Cicero actually go? If everybody goes to either Heaven or Hell, in which one did he end up? Did the fallen blacksmith/armor bearer get cleansed of the sin nature somehow before he died so he could be in Heaven, or was it too late for him, thus forcing him to remain forever in Hell, a place of torment that sounded like it was extracted right from a horror film? The very thought of his father's possibly being trapped in a permanent torturous place such as Hell caused Gus's hand to tremble so violently, he dropped his still half full goblet of ice water into his lap!