Inside the church, Stephanie went to each of her friends and hugged them. Meanwhile Sportacus was talking to Mr. Jenkins.
"Thank you for helping us, but I have to ask how will barring the doors make us safe?"
"It won't. At least not for long. I imagine that as we speak, Father Allen has helped the police chief gather more men, and even your fellow hero has likely joined them. I'm sure Stephanie's parents are also there, and pretty soon we'll begin to hear the sound of a ram bearing down on the doors. Once they start that, I would think even those strong oak beams will not hold out for more than a few minutes, depending on how strong that hero is, and the other men wielding the ram."
"Wait, Ziggy said you had a plan, some way you can help. Please tell me what it is that you can do for us!"
"Not yet. I must wait to see what everyone involved will do at the very end, and give those that have made poor choices a last chance return to the light from the dark places their heart's dwell in."
Mr. Jenkins then would say no more, no matter what Sportacus tried to do to get him to explain further.
Pixel, Stingy, Trixie and Stephanie sat on a pew near the door along with Ziggy. Sportacus came over to them and looked grim.
"I'm sorry everyone, I have no idea what will happen. For all I can tell, Mr. Jenkins might not even be thinking about this entirely rationally. Sometimes old people get like that. I'm truly sorry I got all of you into this, especially you Stephanie."
Sportacus sat down next to her and they held hands.
Almost as soon as he did, they heard and felt the first one.
DUUMM
The whole church shook with the force of the impact from whatever was being used to hit the main doors with. Dust floated down from the roof and the windows shook in their holdings.
Everyone huddled a bit closer.
DUUMM
Sportacus stood up and looked to old man Jenkins. "Please, I'm asking, no I'm begging you, do whatever it is you going to do, or tell me whatever it is you know that will help us, if indeed there is anything at all."
DUUMM
Old man Jenkins stood silent.
DUUMM
Trixie began to cry and Stingy held her closer to him. Pixel looked about like a creature caught in a trap it can't escape. And even Ziggy, who up until then had been so sure of himself, began to fall into doubt. It seemed what Sportacus had said might be true. Perhaps Mr. Jenkins really was just not in his right mind. Which meant that everything they had done and gone through would make the end just that much worse. Worse for him, his friends, and much, much worse for Sportacus. Ziggy began to have a sick feeling in his stomach. The feeling of knowing a terrible, dreadful ordeal is coming. Worse than going to any doctor or dentist could ever be.
Sportacus walked over beside Stephanie, tears in his eyes. She stood up and hugged him, her own eyes were already crying.
DUUMM
"Everyone, lets move to the back of the church, I don't want you to be hurt when the doors break." said Sportacus.
They all began to get up and move to the back except for Ziggy.
DUUMM
"Come on Ziggy." Trixie pleaded, "Its not safe where you are."
But Ziggy wouldn't, couldn't move. His heart was just too heavy. The deep and dark depression was growing too great in his mind.
Mr. Jenkins old voice sounded far and distant when he spoke. "Leave Ziggy where he is. I assure you he is safe from harm."
DUUMM - crack
Stephanie and Trixie both gave out a squeak when the first tear in the wood began to show.
DUUMM - crack
Sportacus took Stephanie away from the rest of the kids, to right below the altar. There he got on his knees, as did Stephanie, and held her as tightly as Ziggy had ever seen him do before. He stroked her hair and rocked her back and forth.
DUUMM - crack
Seeing his friends, especially Stephanie and Sportacus, crying and scared, Ziggy himself began to cry. Hot tears flowed unhindered down his face.
DUUMM - crack, break
Now a splinter of wood fell from a beam near the center of the door, and with it, a single beam of sunlight entered. Ziggy turned his wet face up to the cross on the far side of the room.
"What's the point?" He cried. "Why have we even bothered becoming friends and more if it will all just be for nothing and taken away from us?"
"Must there always be a point?" replied Mr. Jenkins. "Is not the love you have for your friends enough?"
Ziggy looked back at the old man, then he put his head on top of the pew in front of him.
"Its not enough. I would have given up everything: my candy, my home, even my life to protect all my friends. But now I finally realize why other kids and people have made fun of me all my life"
DUUMM - crack, break
"Because in the end, all I am is one small fat kid, who can't even run for more than a minute without getting tired. I'm utterly useless."
DUMM - crack, break
More of the wood fell off, and now a great amount of light came in through a large rend in the wood around the center. In addition, the beam of wood barring the door began to crack.
Ziggy felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see the old man right behind him. Mr. Jenkins reached down and pulled a bible out from the back shelf of the pew in front. He flipped through and then laid the open book on Ziggy's lap.
DUMM - crack, break
"Ziggy, you see the chapter at the beginning of this page? I want you to read the whole chapter. I know some of the words are big, but take your time and sound them out. Say them clearly and with purpose. It needn't be loud, just enough so that your own ears can hear the words. You have been ever so brave up to this point, and by that, I mean from the very beginning, before Stephanie even came to town. You have always held your heart and pure spirit out as a beacon to others, to help lighten their own path, even when they did not know or appreciate the light you gave."
DUMM - crack, break, splinter
"Please do this one last brave thing. Do not stop reading, no matter what you hear, until the chapter is complete."
Having no idea what this was about, and frankly, being just too empty inside to care to think about it, Ziggy did as he was asked. He took hold of the heavy book in his little hands, and slowly, carefully, with enough volume so that he could hear the words over the sound of the reverberating wood, he began to read.
If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.
DUUMM - crack, break, splinter
Mr. Jenkins left Ziggy and walked down the center aisle to where Stephanie and Sportacus were hugging each other on their knees.
And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.
Sportacus looked up from the top of Stephanie's head at Mr. Jenkins, who stood between them and the main doors. Somehow, he seemed taller than normal. Maybe it was just because Sportacus was on his knees, and Mr. Jenkins was standing. He couldn't tell.
DUUMM - CRACK!
The beam barring the doors was now bulging greatly, and would clearly not hold out more than one or two more good hits.
"Are they coming?" asked Sportacus.
If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.
"Yes. Very soon they will be through the door and upon you." Mr. Jenkins replied in a dead voice.
"And there is nothing to be done?"
"There is always something to be done, always a way, as it were."
DUUMM - CRAAACK!!
Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, it is not pompous, it is not inflated,
Stephanie looked up at Sportacus, her face almost unrecognizable for all the crying.
"I won't go with them! I won't!! I would rather die than be taken away from you! I love you."
Sportacus held her face in his hands, and he said in the most loving voice he had ever used before, "And I will not let them take you away from me. Though I will die in the attempt. I would rather die than never be able to see you again. I love you with every last drop and fragment of my body, mind and soul."
it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
CRAAAACCCKKKKK!!!
The beam of wood that had valiantly held the blows finally broke, and soon the doors were kicked open, sunlight pouring into the cavernous dimness.
"So Sportacus," asked Mr. Jenkins, "you're telling me that you would rather die, here and now, for this one, small, barely ripened girl, rather than submitting yourself for a quick judgment by your enemies? You have harmed no one and therefore would not get much of a punishment. You could be free within a few years and have all this behind you."
A loud thud came from the open doors, when the men holding the ram dropped it.
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.
"Never."
"Well well well, isn't this a pretty sight." said the hero who had chased them in the air earlier. He was a big man, maybe even bigger than Sportacus. Except that his color scheme was red and his badge said '51' instead of '10'. He had walked into the very front of the room and stood looking at the assembled group up front. "Trying to get married are we? To make this all legit with the elders? Fat lot of good that will do I'm afraid."
"And you Stephanie," Mr. Jenkins said turning to her. "You would rather die here and now, rather than leave this one, old man, to go back home with your family and lead a normal life? If you don't put up any more resistance, you could play it off that you were being misled by Sportacus the whole time, just like they say you were. You would probably even be allowed to see your friends again within a few months."
"Thank you for the kind offer but I think I'll choose to stay here, fight and die instead."
It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Now Father Allen entered the church and walked up beside the new hero. "It isn't even a real wedding, if that's indeed what's going on. He's no ordained man of the cloth, just a janitor who's too old to know when to go home."
Father Allen heard Ziggy reading and looked over at him. "Bible passages at a time like this little boy? Hah! If you think you'll earn back my good graces after your performance earlier, just by catching up on some theological homework, you're as loony as the fools up there."
Mr. Jenkins closed his eyes, placed a hand on top of each of their heads and said "You have no more need for blessings, God has already given you the most powerful of all such."
Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.
Now Stephanie's mother and father entered the church. The mother was crying but she actually smiled when she saw her daughter was safe and sound. The father stepped ahead of her to stand next to Father Allen and the hero. "I told you once, Sportacus, come near my daughter again and I will hunt you down, and make your life hell. I'll even kill you if I have to."
For we know partially and we prophesy partially,
The three looked at each other and began to walk forward, steadily and purposefully, to the altar where Stephanie, Sportacus, and Mr. Jenkins were.
but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
When they got about halfway down the aisle, old man Jenkins took his hands away from their heads and turned around. His gaze, as seen by those children paying attention, the onlookers standing at the broken doorway, and most especially to the three men coming toward him, was terrifying. Gone was the frailty in his stance, the pallid color in his skin, and the dullness in his old eyes. He raised one hand.
"STOP!"
The word from the old man echoed round and round the room, louder than any of the previous cries from the door and ram. Impossibly loud for such a small frame.
It surprised no one when the three men stopped instantly.
When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things.
Mr. Jenkins pointed his finger at the hero. "You come in ambition, hoping to gain favor with those you work for by destroying their love."
Then he moved his finger to Stephanie's dad. "You come in pride, not wanting anyone to see what you perceive to be an abomination on your name."
Finally he pointed at Father Allen. "You come in envy, seeing a pureness you have never felt yourself, despite being 'of the cloth' and therefore supposedly purer than others."
At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.
Father Allen's face contorted in rage. He spit out, "Their love isn't pure!. It IS an abomination! A blasphemy against God which should and will be wiped off the face of the Earth!" He turned to the police standing back in the doorway. "Chief, they are proving to be hostile, send your men in and have them shoot if they so much as raise one finger in resistance."
Stephanie's mother cried out at hearing that, but one of the police officers managed to grab hold of her before she had a chance to run into the church herself. Apparently, both the mayor and Robbie Rotten had also arrived, because they too had to be held back. Then the rest of the police entered and took up position around the back wall, so as to give them a clear shot around the three men.
Father Allen then turned back to Mr. Jenkins, smiling through his hateful anger, and slowly began to take another step forward.
So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
A wind rose up from outside. It was hot and dry, as if it came directly from the heart of a desert. Ziggy, having finally finished reading the whole chapter, looked up now that this unnatural wind assailed him. Everyone else was standing perfectly still. None of the people in the doorway were moving at all, as were none of the officers along the back of the church. Even the three men in the center were frozen, with Father Allen's foot hanging in mid-stride. Then Ziggy looked near the altar and found out why.
Mr. Jenkins had begun to shine. It started out as just a white lining around his body, but it quickly grew in intensity. Ziggy closed his eyes and then reopened them to make sure his senses weren't abandoning him. The old man began to radiate light from his whole body. His face melted into a furnace of liquid gold, and then beams of light burst forth from it as well. His features were now distinguished by shades of brighter and dimmer light, rather than worldly material textures. He also was growing taller and larger, until he was easily twice the height of Sportacus. At this point the already incredible amount of light he was producing doubled instantly as two giant wings, also apparently made of pure light, exploded from his shoulders.
He was so bright now that Ziggy knew he shone brighter than the sun. And yet, Ziggy found himself able to still look at him. His face was beautiful, and his wings were the definition of power and grace. It seemed to Ziggy that this church, which had once seemed large and giant to him, was now impossibly small. There was no way it could hold all this power, but then again, Ziggy thought even the whole Earth, in a way, wouldn't be large enough to contain the presence of Mr. Jenkins. No, of the angel; for unquestionably, that's what he had become, or was all along.
And yet the roof didn't explode, nor did the walls burst. The angel turned around back to Stephanie and Sportacus, who were still embracing each other while also looking very scarred at the great being standing in front of them. And then the angel spoke in a deep voice that sounded like it was coming from the other end of eternity. Infinitely loud, yet infinitely far away.
DO NOT BE FRIGHTENED. I WAITED UNTIL THE END, TO SEE IF YOUR LOVE WAS STRONG ENOUGH AND TRUE ENOUGH.
IT WAS.
I WAITED UNTIL THE END, TO SEE IF THOSE WHO WOULD DESTROY IT WERE FAR GONE ENOUGH FROM THEIR OWN SOUL'S LIGHT TO DO SO.
THEY WERE.
AND SO, BECAUSE YOUR LOVE IS TOO STRONG, TOO PURE FOR THIS WORLD, BECAUSE IT HAS ATTAINED THE STRENGTH NORMALY ONLY FOUND IN A HIGHER PLACE, I WILL TAKE YOU STRAIGHT FROM THIS WORLD TO THAT PLACE. WHERE YOUR LOVE WILL NEVER DIE OR BE CAST IN SHADOW OR THREATENED AGAIN.
The luminous creature turned its brilliant face around and gazed at the people in the doorway.
BUT OF ALL THE PEOPLE HERE, I FEEL SORROW AND PITY FOR ONLY A FEW. FOR SOME OF YOU KNEW WHAT WAS HAPPENNING WAS WRONG ALL ALONG, BUT YOU DID NOTHING. THOUGH MANY TIMES YOU COULD HAVE PUT YOUR FOOT DOWN, YOU ALLOWED FEAR TO BETRAY JUSTICE. THOUGH MANY TIMES YOU COULD HAVE SPOKEN A WORD AGAINST IT, TO SHOW OTHERS WHERE YOU STOOD, YOU REMAINED SILENT. AND THOUGH MANY TIMES YOU COULD HAVE AT LEAST LIFTED A FINGER IN PROTEST, EVEN KNOWING IT WOULD ACCOMPLISH NOTHING MORE THAN PUTTING YOUR OWN SOUL AT PEACE, YOU DID NOTHING. YOU ALLOWED FEAR, GREED, AND PRIDE TO DOMINATE YOU.
YOU GREAT FOOLS ACTUALLY THOUGHT THAT BECAUSE THE WORLD OF MAN HAD IMPOSED LIMITS ON LOVE LIKE AGE, THAT LOVE WOULD OBEY YOUR SMALL MINDED LAWS? IF LOVE WAS NOT TO BE, THEN IT WOULND'T BE THERE. IF IT IS THERE, THEN IT IS BY GOD'S WILL, AND WHO ARE YOU TO IMAGINE YOURSELVES WISER THAN THE ALMIGHTY? THEIR LOVE COULD HAVE EXSISTED HERE ON EARTH, TO BRIGHTEN EVERYTHING, BUT LOVE SUCH AS THEIR'S IS NOT MEANT TO EVER FALL INTO DARKNESS. AND SO, AS IT IS MY DUTY, I WILL NOT LET IT.
The mighty angel looked back at Stephanie and Sportacus, and reached down his two hands, each one taking one of the hands of the two humans. Then his wings encircled them, and their bodies themselves began to glow. Their forms faded until there were only two small floating points of light, one pink and one blue. The angel held one in each of his hands. He raised his hands and brought them together, whereupon the two lights swirled around each other and merged into a single point of utterly clear white light, more beautiful and pure even than the light coming from the angel, although much smaller. Suddenly the back wall of the church where the cross was hanging also started to glow. It wavered and shimmered like a mirage, and then settled down into solid vertical plane of glowing milk. Or, at least, that's the only way Ziggy's 11 year old mind could describe it. The angel took a step forward, then Trixie called out, "Wait! Where are you taking them?"
The angel turned around, still holding the Stephanie/Sportacus light. He smiled at Trixie and it was like laughter and joy washing over the room.
I AM TAKING THEM DIRECTLY TO HEAVEN. NORMALLY, MORTALS MAY ONLY ENTER THROUGH DEATH, WHICH IS HANDLED BY ONE OF MY BROTHERS. BUT EVERY NOW AND THEN, WHETHER THROUGH GREAT FAITH OR HOPE OR LOVE, THEY MAY BE TAKEN STRIAGHT FROM THE MORTAL PLANE WHILE THEY STILL LIVE. BUT DO NOT BE SAD, FOR YOU WILL SEE THEM AGAIN. INDEED! YOUR'S IS THE MOST JOYOUS OF LIVES! FOR YOU HAVE SOMETHING VERY PRESCIOUS TO LOOK FORWARD TO. DEATH FOR YOU WILL BE A HAPPY EVENT, NOT A SAD ONE. THEREFORE, LEAD EACH DAY IN GOODNESS AND CHARITY. REMEMBER ALL OF COMMANDMENTS INCLUDING THE LAST AND GREATEST, WHICH IS TO LOVE. AND IN SO DOING, YOU WILL BE ALL REUNITED IN THE PLACE WHERE THE WORDS ZIGGY READ RING TRUE:
'LOVE NEVER FAILS'
The great angel faced back to the wall of milk and stepped through it. Once he was gone, the light in the room faded immensely, but more than that, it seemed as if the world felt less real when he was gone. Then the wall returned to its original state, and the dry, hot wind ceased. For a few moments nothing happened. Finally, Pixel stood up. He took hold of Stingy and Trixie's hands in each of his and pulled them up as well. Then he started to lead them to the ruined doors, and stopped when he reached Ziggy. "Come on," his friend said to him, "lets go home."