agree the destination is worth the journey.
"Because there are so many of you, we will need to organise ourselves a little differently.
For now I must ask you to wait a little while longer..." There was a predictable uproar at this to which he raised mollifying hands. "Please don't worry, time is ours to control, you will all get to walk our streets. Just not all at the same time. We will need to take you a party at a time."
Again this caused dissent but he held up his arms for quiet and got it. After all, as argumentative as the crowd certainly was, it takes a greater confidence than was to be found here to pick a fight with an emissary from God. "Patience. You have waited this long, another hour won't hurt."
And with that, he turned on his heels and walked away again, leaving several hundred people utterly bemused. A couple made to follow before finding that they were unable to pass from the plain into the streets of the town itself. It was as if there were an invisible barrier lying at a defined point between one world and the next. Those attempting to cross it ended up falling back into the dust, embarrassed and angered even further.
The air was filled with questions: "But it's only supposed to be here for twenty-four hours anyway! We're wasting the precious time we have!"
"Since when did Heaven get so small it couldn't accommodate a crowd of a few hundred people?"
"Maybe they're not going to let us in after all..." They were all good questions and many like them passed through my own head. For the most part, though, I was unsurprised. The dominant feeling I had was that of being part of some one else's plan. I had been manipulated to this place and now the plan continued to unfold.
The mistake you are all making, I thought, as I pushed my way through the crowd in search of a familiar face, is the assumption that you were ever in control of this situation. This was not a cheat. This was not you getting one over on Creation. This was the plan from the beginning and now we'll see how it plays out. What God wants he gets.
Or maybe I'm just being wise after the fact, we writers are terribly prone to that sort of thing.
4.
I HAD BEEN hoping to find the rest of my party but the familiar faces I stumbled upon first were those belonging to Elwyn Wallace and his aged companion.
"Well," he said, "I won't lie, I was hoping for more than that."
"You'll get it," said the old man, staring over my shoulder at Wormwood.
I told them my thoughts, my suspicion that all of this was pre-ordained and part of a bigger plan. The old man said nothing but gave a small nod. Trying to talk to him was as productive as discourse with a rock. He looked like one too. A particularly ugly piece of granite that had been left in too many rainstorms.
"I guess God moves in mysterious ways, huh?" said Elwyn.
The old man gave a gruff laugh at that. It sounded like an engine driver shovelling coal.
"Well," the young man continued, ignoring his friend, "I didn't even know I was coming here so what do I care if I have to wait another hour?"
5.
I FOUND E LISABETH Forset and Billy shortly after. They had moved away from the main crowd, sitting down on some rocks a little distance away.
"Welcome to Heaven," said Billy, "join the line and wait to be seen. Who knew the after life would be like visiting the dentist?"
"I hope it works out to be a little less painful," I replied, sitting down next to them. "Did you recognise Alonzo?"
"Nope," said Billy, looking to Elisabeth, "you?"
"Never seen him before," she replied.
"When I was a child," I said, "my grandfather built me a puppet theatre. It was the most wonderful thing. Florid proscenium arch, real velvet curtains. Beautiful. The puppets were designed after Punch," I looked to Billy. "Do you have Punch and Judy over here?"
"Never heard of it."
"It's a puppet show about a psychotic wife beater who kills his baby."
"Sounds charming."
"In our country we think of it as a comedy for
"Because there are so many of you, we will need to organise ourselves a little differently.
For now I must ask you to wait a little while longer..." There was a predictable uproar at this to which he raised mollifying hands. "Please don't worry, time is ours to control, you will all get to walk our streets. Just not all at the same time. We will need to take you a party at a time."
Again this caused dissent but he held up his arms for quiet and got it. After all, as argumentative as the crowd certainly was, it takes a greater confidence than was to be found here to pick a fight with an emissary from God. "Patience. You have waited this long, another hour won't hurt."
And with that, he turned on his heels and walked away again, leaving several hundred people utterly bemused. A couple made to follow before finding that they were unable to pass from the plain into the streets of the town itself. It was as if there were an invisible barrier lying at a defined point between one world and the next. Those attempting to cross it ended up falling back into the dust, embarrassed and angered even further.
The air was filled with questions: "But it's only supposed to be here for twenty-four hours anyway! We're wasting the precious time we have!"
"Since when did Heaven get so small it couldn't accommodate a crowd of a few hundred people?"
"Maybe they're not going to let us in after all..." They were all good questions and many like them passed through my own head. For the most part, though, I was unsurprised. The dominant feeling I had was that of being part of some one else's plan. I had been manipulated to this place and now the plan continued to unfold.
The mistake you are all making, I thought, as I pushed my way through the crowd in search of a familiar face, is the assumption that you were ever in control of this situation. This was not a cheat. This was not you getting one over on Creation. This was the plan from the beginning and now we'll see how it plays out. What God wants he gets.
Or maybe I'm just being wise after the fact, we writers are terribly prone to that sort of thing.
4.
I HAD BEEN hoping to find the rest of my party but the familiar faces I stumbled upon first were those belonging to Elwyn Wallace and his aged companion.
"Well," he said, "I won't lie, I was hoping for more than that."
"You'll get it," said the old man, staring over my shoulder at Wormwood.
I told them my thoughts, my suspicion that all of this was pre-ordained and part of a bigger plan. The old man said nothing but gave a small nod. Trying to talk to him was as productive as discourse with a rock. He looked like one too. A particularly ugly piece of granite that had been left in too many rainstorms.
"I guess God moves in mysterious ways, huh?" said Elwyn.
The old man gave a gruff laugh at that. It sounded like an engine driver shovelling coal.
"Well," the young man continued, ignoring his friend, "I didn't even know I was coming here so what do I care if I have to wait another hour?"
5.
I FOUND E LISABETH Forset and Billy shortly after. They had moved away from the main crowd, sitting down on some rocks a little distance away.
"Welcome to Heaven," said Billy, "join the line and wait to be seen. Who knew the after life would be like visiting the dentist?"
"I hope it works out to be a little less painful," I replied, sitting down next to them. "Did you recognise Alonzo?"
"Nope," said Billy, looking to Elisabeth, "you?"
"Never seen him before," she replied.
"When I was a child," I said, "my grandfather built me a puppet theatre. It was the most wonderful thing. Florid proscenium arch, real velvet curtains. Beautiful. The puppets were designed after Punch," I looked to Billy. "Do you have Punch and Judy over here?"
"Never heard of it."
"It's a puppet show about a psychotic wife beater who kills his baby."
"Sounds charming."
"In our country we think of it as a comedy for
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