A Bullet For God

by Eben Le Roux

  Chapter 7

  Spending time with his father, was worth gold for Jason, and today was one of them. Troubled by the regular arguments in the house, he always got solace in his father’s company. He could feel his father’s love for him almost telepathically and wished he could by his side forever.

  The day was perfect, and the only interference the sunshine had, was the cool breeze in the air. Ray, holding a water hose, was chasing his son around while blasting him with water. His joy was so much; you could hear the boy’s laughter a block away. Unfortunately, the happiness was not to last very long. The cell phone started ringing on the chair next to the lawn and Ray had to drop the hose to get to it. The disappointment was instant on Jason’s face, as he knew these sudden phone calls were always calling his father away from home.

  ‘Hello!’ Ray shouted into the phone.

  ‘Ray, is that you?’ the voice on the other side replied.

  ‘Yes?’ Ray said with suspicion not knowing the voice.

  ‘Ray, its Bruce . . . Bruce Ashton from Live Entertainment. Listen, I want . . .’

  ‘What are you calling me for? I have no business with you,’ Ray sneered back.

  ‘Listen, Ray, I spoke to your dad. He agreed to stand in for Paul Simmons, and I need to see you urgently. I know it is short notice, but it is very important. Your father put it as one of his conditions that his family be part of the campaign.’

  ‘Listen to me, Mr Ashton. If it is your way of generating money for your company by making my father a fool on that show, I will stand by my promise to break your neck! Do you understand me?’

  ‘No, you listen carefully, Ray, as I am only going to say this once. You spent a lifetime with that man, and I, only a couple of minutes. If you did not notice the potential in him, then you are the fool, not I. So meet me in one hour at the city hall.’

  Ray had no time to challenge Bruce’s statement as he had cut the call almost immediately. Father and son looked at one another as if the saddest thing had just happened to them.

  ‘Listen, young man, I have to go.’

  ‘Why, Dad?’ Disappointment and sadness were clearly written on the boy’s face.

  ‘I am going to bring your granddad back.’

  Ray said that with so much confidence that he even believed himself. He had to take his eyes away from his son for him not to see the uncertainty, in case there was any. However, he was not prepared for the joy his words brought forward in his son.

  ‘Take me with you, Dad, please, please, please. I’ve got so much to tell Grandpa.’

  The boy had a big inviting smile on his face; his eyes were laughing and had big expectations glittering in them. Jason showed so much excitement that it was hurting Ray for lying to him. He pulled him close, gave him a tight hug, and said, ‘Let us not put too much pressure on him. I want him to make his own decision regarding this. Believe me, I will tell him everything about you. He will be so impressed that he will have no choice but to come and visit.’

  ‘What if he says no, Dad?’

  ‘Tell me, Jason, do you still remember your grandpa?’ Ray tried hard not to let his sadness come through his voice.

  ‘Yes . . .’

  ‘Do you still love him that much?’

  ‘Yes . . .’

  ‘Do you miss him as much as I do?’

  ‘More than you Dad, I love him much more than you.’

  For a moment, Ray looked at him in stillness.

  ‘Then go write him a note. I promise to make sure he reads it. Go now, and remember, keep it simple.’

  As his son ran into the house, clothes still wet, Ray walked towards the car. Many thoughts started rolling through his mind as he started thinking of his father. It was so many years since he had been gone and suddenly, there was so much drama around him. He thought about when he was still a kid, how his father would carry him across the road to the school bus every morning. How his father would attend to his playground wounds, his bicycle scars, and always tell him, ‘Young boys will always get hurt. That is only part of growing up.’

  He remembered telling Jason the same words, how Jason came home with marks without the tears, and he knew that his dad was a great teacher about everything. He was still pondering with a smile on his face when he heard Jason calling to him.

  ‘Here, Dad . . . my note for Grandpa.’

  ‘Can I read it?’

  ‘Yeah, read it.’

  He smiled at what is still an immature handwriting. It said, ‘Dear Grandpa. I have never forgotten you. Come back home, please. Do you still have stories for me? I have plenty for you – Jason’.

  ‘Great, I’ll make sure he reads it in front of me . . . Got to go. They’re waiting for me.’

  ‘Bye, Dad.’

  ‘Bye, son, and go dry up.’

  ‘Okay!’

  After turning off the water, Ray started the car and drove off.

  Security must have been informed of his arrival. He noticed that when one of them approached and asked, ‘Mr Johnson?’

  ‘Yes,’ he responded.

  ‘Follow this passage, sir. Mr Ashton is waiting for you,’ he said as he opened the door for him. ‘Right at the end of this passage is the door leading to the stage. You’ll find them there.’

  ‘Them? Who is “them”?’ Ray asked, hoping his father could also be in there.

  ‘The crew are with him, sir. If you don’t mind . . .’ He gestured to him to proceed.

  ‘Oh, thank you,’ Ray said as he moved through the open door.

  That was his first time he entered the Royal Theatre, and was immediately impressed with the architecture. The place looked as if it was designed for kings by a team of angels. He opened the door and was even more stunned. In front of him was the biggest in-house seating he had ever seen. As he stood staring at the beauty of it, he felt regretful that he did not bring his son with him. It was beyond beautiful.

  ‘Amazing, isn’t it?’

  Ray was so taken away by the beauty of the place that the sudden voice surprised him so much, his body yanked from it.

  ‘What was that?’ It was all he could think of.

  ‘Sorry to creep up on you like that, but I am talking about this building. Did you know this was designed hundred-and-ninety years ago and only built forty years later? The architect’s grandson found the plan in his father’s garage and was so astounded by it that he persuaded his father to get finance and build it.’

  Bruce Ashton reached his hand out to him.

  ‘I am really glad you could make it Ray, how are you doing?’

  With a little hesitation, Ray took his hand. ‘Fine, very fine . . . and you?’

  He knew immediately he did not mean anything in asking him how he was. Ray was very sceptical about the man who had called his father a fool.

  ‘Where is he?’

  ‘You mean your father? Oh, we will be meeting him in an hour at Channel 91. My new boss wants to talk to us about the set-up of the venue and all the other technicalities . . . speaking of which . . .’

  His face and voice changed to a more serious mode, causing a little stir in Ray.

  ‘Ray, I want you to do the camera and sound set-up for this. Please do not say no. I know we started off on the wrong foot.’

  ‘Wait a minute there. What is this about Channel 91 and James? Is James Mathews your boss? Are you not supposed to work for Live Entertainment Corporation? What in heaven’s . . . ?’

  ‘I got fired two days ago, fired because I was protecting your father. I never thought that I would one day say these words, but I was defending God.’

  Ray was now paying more attention, and Bruce could see it in his facial expression.

  ‘Come. Let’s go sit in those chairs, so I can explain. It is a long story, but we have time.’

  They walked together and picked two seats next to one another in row G. For the second time in two days, Bruce had to tell what happened in the office of Shannon Buoys.

  ‘You think Channel 91 ha
s the capacity to cover this live? Last time, I heard they had financial troubles. I believe one of their reality shows fell through because of that.’

  ‘Ray, I have been in this business for a long time. I can convince many people to put money up front for advertising on Channel 91. You must remember that tickets for the theatre had been sold out two months before the miracle event was supposed to start.’

  ‘Yes, but did not Interstate pay Royal and have the hall booked for them. In fact, they booked all the venues in their name.’

  ‘The biggest favour Shannon could have done us was to cancel all the venues. James contacted them all this morning and he already made some payments up front. Why do you think these guys are setting up the stage?’ He pointed to the crew moving around the stage. ‘You will have only tomorrow to set up your stuff. To be honest, you do not even have the time to argue.’

  ‘Why me?’ Ray asked with suspicion. ‘You should know a million guys who would jump to work with you.’

  Bruch smiled honestly with him. ‘I was watching the video of The Macho Brothers two months ago and found your background lighting to be perfect and the sound was incredible. Besides that, your father insisted that I use you, and if I don’t, the event is off. Listen to me, Ray. When I have a feeling that something is going to be big, it always ends up big. You want your father to have his life back. Well, I don’t think there is a better start than this.’

  ‘Look, Bruce, I am not here because you want me to be here, but only because you mentioned my father’s name. Seeing that there is nothing I can do to stop him from doing this, I will stand behind him. I will have a very busy schedule at my company from next week, so do not expect me to be involved too much. However, I have a brother that is desperately looking for a job. I would appreciate it if you can get him involved for as long as this lasts.’

  ‘What type of work is he in?’ Bruce asked quickly to show his willingness to help.

  ‘His name is Ross, and he knows everything about steel structures. I don’t know if you or this programme can accommodate him, but I would rather see him involved than me.’

  ‘Well, he is in luck. We might have two stadiums in the schedule, and if he is as good as you say, we might just contract him to build the stages for us.’

  This came as a relief to Ray, and his face suddenly lightened up.

  ‘Just one more question, Bruce.’

  ‘What is it?’

  ‘What happens to my father after these events are over?’

  ‘That, Ray, depends on you, your father, and his family. Maybe he already has his own plans. If things go well and, like I said, it would, he will have some good money to start all over again. Now . . . let us get moving. I do not want to keep him waiting.’