Soul at War Read Free

mugs
of coffee I was hit with the first bird songs.
    "Looks like they're up early too," I
said, setting a cup in front of Mark.
    "My congregation could do to learn
from their example."
    "And how is Jane? Recovered from the
party yet?" I asked, reaching over to close the lid on the coal
forge that was just starting to die out. "I heard it was a
shocker."
    "That's an understatement. My wife's
not a drinker John, as you know. But when I saw her bring in the
crate I knew it wasn't going to be just a quiet night in with the
girls."
    "I could have told you that one." I
took a sip from the treacle-black brew and shook off the bitter
taste. Americans loved their coffee and Mark in particular. I still
hadn't converted him to English tea bags but there was still
hope.
    "It was good to see them having fun
for a change, what with the news and all."
    “News? You've lost me. The last bit of
breaking news we had was that the roof tiles had come off the youth
centre.” I said.
    "Haven't you heard the latest, John? I
was going to bring it up in today’s service, try and get everybody
to pray a little for the people out there. As of yesterday, the
early warning beacons in the Zion group were alerted to a fleet of
'Man 'o' War' class ships on a course for the Prime world. I
thought given your history you would have..."
    "I'm sorry Mark, I try not to
keep up with the news outside of this village. In the army
we were the news.
It's nice to be in the middle of nowhere for a change.”
    "Well we have away teams on several of
those planets, members of our Church doing work out there. We can't
get through to them; the military has stopped all broadcasts for
security reasons. I suppose they could be intercepted or
something." My heart skipped a beat, and then returned to normal,
probably just a 'knee-jerk' response. Then I realised. "Mark, isn’t
your son out there?”
    I could see it in his face, the pain
hidden behind the mask he wore for the benefit of the congregation.
I'd seen it on the faces of every parent who had a child in a war
zone; it wasn't something you could hide very well. But he was
trying and doing a pretty good job of it too.
    "The Lord will protect him. We pray
everyday for his safe return and for those other unfortunate people
out there." I was stunned. I knew David; I'd watched him mature
from being a rebellious little teen to the devout Christian his
Father had hoped he'd become. But now it seemed it had become a
costly decision.
    “You don't sound so sure?” I said
giving him a minute to think about it. I don't know how anyone
could commit their child to an invisible force rather than take
action to save them from harm. Although Mark's ability to help
millions of miles away were limited; to simply commit his loved one
to a seemingly inactive being had to be a coping mechanism for his
own inability to act. I'd seen it in trenches when the fighting was
thickest, people dropping to the floor to pray when the odds were
stacked against them and there was nothing they could see to do to
change them. They made dangerous soldiers to their own
side.
    “What more can I do? I've sent
messages over and over and yet they all receive the same response.”
He looked at me with eyes begging for an answer that wasn't coming
from his book anymore.
    “I'll get in touch with the MOD. See
if I can help.” I offered knowing full well it would go nowhere. He
seemed momentarily satisfied and after finishing our coffees in
silence he left.
    *
    The following day I woke up later than
I usually would. I'd had a rough time trying to get to sleep; my
mind kept turning it over, forming images of the conflicts I'd seen
and adding David to the hundreds of dead that collected in piles on
the road. I imagined the orbital bombs flattening the Church he was
in, wiping him out. I saw him decapitated by the enemy, burned
alive...
    But by morning it was all pretty hazy
and the blazing heat from the sun lifted my spirits a little. I
made a mug of tea and