THE QUEST
Chapter 2 Step 1
"Wow," admired Joan as they drove alongside the main walls of the campus. "It's like a medieval castle. Or Hogwarts."
"Stands to reason," remarked Adam, who had studied some architecture in this term's art classes. "Probably both Princeton and the school in the movie were modeled on medieval universities like Oxford or Cambridge.
Driving alongside and admiring the view was fine, but they needed to get inside. There seemed to be few entrances, and when they finally found one, a friendly guard explained that only a few vehicles were allowed on campus. Fortunately there was a shopping area adjoining the campus; the couple found a place to park their car, found a guidebook, and proceeded onto campus on foot.
God had not given them any clue about where to look for their mission on campus. Adam, looking at the campus map with his artist's eye – it looked like a jumble to Joan - noticed that there seemed to be a prominent walkway across the main campus, connecting the university store on the west end to the college chapel on the east end, passing behind the administration building. Joan agreed to try it.
Adam's instincts were good: the walkway was more dazzling in its reality than it looked on the map. Overlooking the store was a high tower, which the map called Blair Arch. About 5 minutes into their walk they passed two buildings which looked like Greek temples, and apparently given the odd names of Wig and Cleo. (When she looked at the guidebook they were spelled Whig and Clio, which seemed a little more dignified). Another five minutes brought them to the chapel, which looked like a medieval cathedral.
The towering building triggered some thoughts in Joan's mind. Her sister-in-law Lily was a former nun, and still worked at the local Catholic church in Arcadia. Her Mom attended services there, though without formally becoming a member there. But the pair made no attempt to bring in the rest of the family, and Joan, in spite of three years acquaintance with the Deity, felt no drive to attend the church. God could talk to Joan anywhere, in any form, whenever He liked, and indeed it sometimes happened more frequently than Joan would like.
After the chapel, the path crossed a street and turned into a more conventional suburban lane. Joan wandered whether to continue that way or double back. Adam voted to turn back, and though she thought he was mainly motivated by the desire to see more of the medieval architecture, she went along with the idea.
They were passing the Greek temples again when Joan stopped. "Wait, Adam. See that girl sitting on that bench?"
"Yeah. Did you spot something odd about her?"
"Not directly. But she was sitting there when we came by the other way. She's not reading, and she doesn't seem to be looking for somebody. And she's not dressed warmly enough for this weather."
"I see what you mean. Very pre-occupied. Maybe worried about something. Do you think she's the one we're supposed to help?"
"We can give it a try." Joan walked up, wondering how to strike up a conversation with a perfect stranger. "Um, can we help you?"
"No," said the girl. "Go away."
Which seemed to be an indication that there WAS something wrong. Joan tried to sound non-chalant. "Okay. But it's getting cold, and you might want to step inside somewhere, or you'll catch your death of pneumonia."
"If I die, fine. At least that'll solve most of my problems," the girl mumbled.
Ugh. But it least that depressed remark gave them an opening. "Maybe we can solve them in a less drastic way," Joan suggested.
The girl stared at her. "Why do you care? Who are you guys anyway? I haven't seen you around."
"My name's Joan Girardi-Rove, and this is my husband Adam. We're from a small Pennsylvania school, Baconia University" It occurred to Joan a minute later that it might have been better to give fake names, particularly if the girl started thinking Joan was crazy, which frequently happened. But the names were already out and couldn't be taken back. "We're, um, thinking of transferring here, and thought we'd have a look at the campus. We were worried, seeing you sit in the cold like that. But if you'd prefer us to leave you alone—"
"Wait," said the girl. She stared at the couple again, but in a different way. "I think I can trust you two. Nobody else noticed anything wrong, but you guys were concerned about a total stranger."
Joan wondered if she and Adam would have been as alert to suffering if they hadn't gotten a warning from God. She's like to think so – and anyway, it seemed useful to let the girl believe it. "I'd like to hear the story, but can we talk about it someplace warmer?"
The girl pointed to an odd-looking building nearby. "That's the Pub. Actually they can't serve alcohol to underage students, but we can order some Cokes and get warm."
"Okay."
They walked into the building which, like so much of the campus, looked faux-ye-olde-England. They seated themselves at an old-fashioned oaken table with the soft drinks.
"My name is Cathy Adams," said the girl. "I have an older brother named Darryl, and that's part of the problem. Darryl is 24, and he's running a successful Internet business with a friend, Lionel. SpeedofThought dot com. Not just selling things over the Internet, but USING the Internet in clever ways. When I graduate, they'll take me into the business. My sister too; she's studying accounting and can help keep the money straight so Darry and Lenny can concentrate on the computers."
"Sounds good," Adam said. "Lots of students have trouble getting jobs, just out of college."
"Yeah," said Cathy morosely. "Everything sounded great until about a week ago. That's when my brother disappeared. AND his girlfriend Lizzy. AND a lot of expensive new computer equipment."
"You think he took the stuff and eloped with his girl?" asked Adam.
"No, I don't! Darry is my brother, and I've known him all my life, and I don't think he'd do anything like this! But Lenny thinks so. He threatened to call the police about the theft of the equipment – but it's in both their names and apparently they hadn't set up formal rules about who could use it when. Lenny's still threatening to sue us." She sighed. "So that's that. I need to know where my brother is and what he's doing, if he's NOT cheating his partner. It's so unlike him to go off and not tell anybody, particularly in a situation like this. And I can't imagine him and Lizzy just having fun and letting the family worry."
"You need to have faith in your brother."
"I do. But faith is not going to straighten out my life again. My future is all screwed up, and my sister's. I need to know Darry's all right. And I like Lenny; it's painful to listen to him talk about how my family has cheated him."
"Well, uh, if we think of something we'll let you know." Another lame reply. Joan had thought her task was to help Cathy with her attitude, but Cathy had already thought through that well enough. Nor could Joan explicitly bring God into the conversation. She had to wait and discuss this with Adam in private.
"Yeah, thanks, well it isn't your problem. At least you listened and helped me get it off my chest." The dejected Cathy got up, clearly not expecting to encounter the Girardi-Roves again. But Joan knew better: this was an unfinished mission.
Shortly afterward they checked into a local hotel room. The desk clerk assured them that their reservation had been prepaid – that was God working behind the scenes. Joan wondered whether He actually had a human aide doing the financial stuff, or whether He just willed the money around, but that wasn't the big problem. Not to mention Joan knew she'd never get the answer to that question.
They had specified a room with a data port, and Joan plugged in her laptop. "SpeedofThought dot com. There it is. And they included their address in "Contact Us", it's in Brooklyn."
"So we COULD pay a visit," observed Adam.
"Yeah. But I want to go home! Not just because of the leisure time, but to be with the family, particularly if we're going to tell Dad about me."
"But you've never left a mission half done, Jane."
"No. I wish I knew where I screwed up."
Adam thought for a minute. Joan wondered later how much of it was actually marshalling his thoughts, and how much was building the nerve to make his next statement.
"Maybe we didn't screw up, Jane. Maybe we were meant all along to take a second step and go to Brooklyn. As for the family – well, maybe God doesn't WANT us to tell the secret to your Dad and Kevin."
"You think this is a huge diversionary maneuver? Why not just TELL me not to talk about it?"
"Mysterious ways and ripples, remember?"
Joan pondered, but shook her head. "No, I don't think He'd be that tricky. I think it's a genuine mission to help that family. Maybe we could have solved it in the Pub, maybe not. That's water under the bridge now. We'll go to Brooklyn."
"OK." Adam paused. "Now how do we break the news to your Mom?"
"Oh, God," Joan moaned at the thought. Then she looked up heavenward. "No please don't answer that—we're on it!"
TO BE CONTINUED