by Liam Fialkov
“It’s getting dark,” she whispered. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 31
Michael tried to go to Olympia about every two weeks. He usually got a ride with Ron, who went to Olympia regularly to take care of the group’s tasks. Michael’s reasons for those trips, as far as the community was concerned, were errands that he had to take care of, like renewing his passport, shopping for clothes and shoes, or sending a gift to his little daughter.
However, the main reason for those trips were meetings with Rachel, in which he delivered his recordings of Bishop, and communicated information to and from McPherson.
They held the meetings in the back of a small café that Rachel picked. She was sure that it was a discrete location and that there were no cameras where they sat.
Michael liked his meetings with Rachel, who was a cheerful young lady.
“Sounds like your cult is obsessed with the temple,” she said in one of their meetings. “In that respect, they are no different than my sister in Jerusalem.”
“You have a sister in Jerusalem?” Michael was surprised.
“She lives in the Jewish quarter of the old city as an orthodox Jew.”
“I didn’t know you came from a Jewish family.”
“I’m not!” she said. “My family is Protestant, and I am a complete atheist, especially after my older sister, Charlotte, married a Jewish man and decided to convert. She even changed her name to Hadassah. I think it’s completely crazy.”
“Charles told me,” Michael said, “that they don’t plan to blow up the Dome of the Rock, and they would rather build the temple right next to it.”
“And do you believe him?”
Her question surprised him, as he never questioned Charles’ truthfulness. “I believe him,” he said. “There are many things that you could say about Charles Bishop; you could say that he is obsessed with Newton and the temple in Jerusalem, you could even say that he’s crazy, but I’m certain he is not a liar.”
Rachel examined him. “It sounds suspicious to me,” She said. “And building the temple right next to the Islamic structure is a recipe for disaster.”
“Rachel,” Michael said. “I have to be honest with you, and of course, with Stewart; at this point, I’m not so sure what is my role.”
“Michael,” she replied, “I’ll bring this to Stewart; however, I have no question as to what is your role.”
“Enlighten me, please,” he said to the young lady.
“You are a spy, Michael, you collect information on what might turn out to be a most volatile situation.”
He looked at her with appreciation. “I guess you’re right,” he said. “It’s just that these people are so sincere; they could get me confused.”
“Don’t let them get to you,” she said. “As I see it, you are doing a crucial job and one day we’ll all have to thank you.”
“Tell me,” he said. Why does McPherson need the recordings of Bishop’s discourses?”
“His wife Irene, who is a computer genius, is working on an algorithm.” Rachel said with a serious facial expression.
“An algorithm?” Michael smiled.
“Okay,” she said, “I don’t really know what’s an algorithm, but I still understand that they want to create a large pool or Charles’ words. Then, they will hack into the group’s system and Stewart will be able to talk in Bishop’s voice.”
“Sounds complicated,” Michael said.
“Stewart hired one guy to help her on this project.”
“You know, Rachel,” Michael said, “I’ll be going with the group to Jerusalem, I wonder how I would communicate with Stewart from there.”
“In the same way that you’re communicating here,” she said.
“Through you?”
“Yep, it will be my chance to visit my nutty sister.”
Chapter 32
Charles Bishop and his wife Mary were the only residents of God’s Land who didn’t eat their meals in the dining room. Michael thought it was probably because of Bishop’s disability, and not due to a need to maintain a distance from his people. However, when Bishop and Mary did attend a meal, they had a special place reserved for them.
It was a rainy evening, and the cold wind signaled that the summer was over. Michael saw Bishop entering the dining room on his wheelchair, and thought that there must be a reason for him to leave his home and join the group on such a rough day.
Indeed, at the end of the meal, Bishop asked to say a few words, and everyone stopped their conversations and curiously waited to hear their revered leader.
“People, friends,” Bishop said. “In a couple of days, I’m sending most of you to Jerusalem. The time has arrived, all preparations have been completed, and the day has been set.”
Michael felt tingling throughout his body.
“Here, on the land,” Bishop continued, “Only a handful of people will remain, to take care of the most necessary tasks. I believe that after our undertaking is successfully completed, most people will return right away, so, in about twelve days, this place will thrive again.” Bishop looked at his people and sensed the excitement. “Just for the record, I am staying here, although I would love to be with my people in Jerusalem at the auspicious time. With me, there will be a small staff that will include Mary, of course. From here, I’ll control the operation in Jerusalem, and I’ve asked David to help me at the helm.
“I have also asked Susan and Judy to stay and continue to take care of the kids. As far as other tasks, I can assure you that if we can’t manage all the affairs of the land, then we’ll hire temporary help from Olympia; so, you have nothing to worry about. Does anyone have a question?”
Ron raised his hand.
“Yes, Ron,” Charles nodded in his direction.
“So, when is the big day?” Ron asked.
“Next Wednesday!” Bishop asserted. To stay aligned with the prophecy, it will start on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Cheshvan, which is the second month of the Jewish calendar year. The time we’ll commence our operation will be zero hour, which is midnight. So, we have twenty-five and then two and then zero—twenty-five twenty.”
Bishop now looked in Michael’s direction. “After our creation is achieved, I’m calling everyone to return to the land as soon as possible. The one person I’m leaving in Jerusalem will be Michael, and he will be our representative and spokesperson over there. Michael will have to handle the all-important mission of explaining our objectives. He’ll have to convince people all over the world that we wish to have peace between the great religions. Over the summer, you all had the opportunity to meet Michael. You’ve seen how diligent and charming he is, and you met his courage and intelligence. Although he has been with us only a short time, I believe he’s the right man for the job.”
Michael felt how everyone was examining him and nodding favorably, and he was worried he was going to blush.
“Thank you, Bishop, and everyone for giving me this opportunity,” Michael muttered.
“Mary,” Bishop turned to his wife, attentively sitting next to him. “Please read aloud a short excerpt from the book of Zechariah in the Old Testament.”
Mary nodded, opened her bible to a marked location, and started to read:
“Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there my house will be rebuilt. And the measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem, declares the LORD Almighty.
“Thank you, Mary,” Charles smiled at her.
Michael enjoyed listening to her warm voice while looking at her beautiful and alluring face. He thought he could have listened to her, no matter what she read.
“It’s important to look at our mission as a continuation of our spiritual work and prayers.” Bishop said. “Praise be to God, and Good night.”
Chapter 33
The following day, Michael got a ride to Olympia with Ron, who went there regularly, as he was the group’s errands driver.
Michael said h
e needs to buy necessities for the road, like clothes, shoes, etc.
But the real reason for his journey was to meet with Rachel and deliver the recordings of Bishop’s discourses, that McPherson requested.
“Could you tell me about Charles Bishop?” Michael asked Ron as they were heading to Olympia. “I’d like to get a picture of the man, and any information might be useful when it is time to present our mission to the world.”
“Well,” Ron smiled, “you came to the right place. Nobody knows Charles as good as I do.” Ron paused, “except for Mary, of course,” he added.
“So, you know him for many years?”
“Yep, we come from the same town in Texas. I come from a poor neighborhood, and Charles was a rich boy, but still, we became good friends, and Charles was never arrogant toward me.”
“You knew his family?” Michael asked.
“I’ve seen them,” Ron answered. “But I wasn’t allowed in their house, and I didn’t like the place anyway, it was too tidy for me. His father was a decorated air force pilot who was married to a corporate lawyer who was a senior partner in a large law firm.
“The Bishops had two children, Charles and his older sister Angela. The parents held very high expectations of their son and daughter, although they were often absent and left raising their kids to paid nannies. The rules in their luxurious home were rigid.”
“So, you were not allowed because you were poor?”
“Obviously. The parents were also fervent protestants, who held contempt for other religions, primarily Catholics and Jews. The appearance was extremely important for the Bishops. Their house and their cars were always spotlessly clean, and their kids were well dressed and well behaved. I knew that Charles’ parents told him not to hang out with me, but he didn’t obey them on that one.
“Disaster stroke the Bishops twice. The first time was after teenaged Angela became pregnant. She didn’t know how to tell her parents, who were vocally opposed to abortion, and she didn’t have the strength to face their accusations about bringing shame to the family. So, she chose to end her life by running her car off the road and into a cliff, hoping it would look like an accident. Indeed, her bereaved parents didn’t want even to consider the possibility of suicide, and the only one in the family who knew the facts was her younger brother, Charles.”
“He never confronted his parents?”
“He probably didn’t think it would do any good. The second time disaster stroke the Bishops was when Charles, who wished to follow in his father’s footsteps, was kicked out of the air force while a cadet in a pilots’ course. The reason for his discharge was that he was accused of an armed robbery of a jewelry store in a town next to his army base.
“Due to his father’s status, he was given the option to leave the air force without a trial, without dishonor, and without jail time.”
“But,” Michael was perplexed, “if he was rich, why did he need to execute an armed robbery?”
“He didn’t!” Ron asserted. “It was me. I’d happened to serve in the same air force base, where I trained to be an aircraft mechanic. I needed money for a life saving medical procedure for my dad.”
“And you’ve let him take the blame?”
“He insisted! You see, Charles knew that his parents would bail him out, while me, I would have gone to jail for a long time, and my father would die.”
“And Charles stayed in the army, right?”
“He then opted to join the marines, where he had an impressive career. He had quickly advanced up the ranks and was promoted to serve as a Lieutenant-Colonel. His career ended with his serious injury in the battle where he nearly died, and where he demonstrated utmost bravery and composure under enemy fire.”
“A remarkable man,” Michael reflected.
“Remember I told you,” Ron said, “that there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him.”
“And Mary?”
“She’s also quite remarkable,” Ron said. “You see, they were high school sweethearts, and still, I know for a fact that most girls would have abandoned him after his injury, but not Mary. She pretty much chose to sacrifice her life, and take care of him. It is quite possible that without her, Charles wouldn’t have survived the injury and continue with his life.”
“Thank you, Ron,” Michael said. “That’s an incredible story. Do other people know? I mean, about the armed robbery?”
“It is not a secret anymore,” Ron replied, “although I rarely talk about it, and Charles is sure not gonna discuss it. You wanted to get a picture of the man, and I gave it to you.”
Chapter 34
Jerusalem 1967 AD
Twelve-year-old Uri was scared. The news on the radio weren’t encouraging. The chance of avoiding the looming war seemed to decrease with every militant statement by the leaders of the Arab countries. Uri was a curious Israeli child who followed the events by reading the newspapers and listening to the radio.
He grew up in a divided Jerusalem, where his country people, the Israelis, ruled the western neighborhoods, and the Jordanians were in control of the eastern sections, including the old city and the Temple Mount. In between the two sides was a border with fields of barb-wired fences and land mines. That was the only reality that Uri and his friends had ever known, and they didn’t think it was ever going to change.
His family was secular, so they didn’t observe most of the Jewish religious practices. They didn’t eat kosher foods and had no problem driving on Saturday—the holy Sabbath. But Uri had friends that wore a kippah on their heads to signal their belief in God, and in the streets of Jerusalem, he often saw the orthodox Jews with their black outfits.
“Is there a God?” He remembered that when he was little, perhaps around five-year-old, he posed that question to his parents around the dinner table.
His father, who immigrated to Israel from the United States, took a spoon of rice from his plate and dispersed it on the table. “If there is a God,” he said, “let’s see him pick-up the rice and hold it in the air.”
Uri stared at the rice, which remained in its place.
“If there were a God,” his mother said, “then your grandparents would be sitting here with us and not killed in the holocaust.” She always had tears in her eyes when she talked about her family, who perished in the death camps. She was the only member of her family who survived because she had hidden in a Christian convent, where the nuns raised her as a Christian. They even changed her name from Dina to Christina.
When Uri was little, his parents used to tell him that when he grows up, he won’t have to go to the army, “by then we’ll have peace with our Arab neighbors,” they assured him. But they no longer mentioned that possibility because peace looked more and more like an unattainable vision. And now, three Arab countries, Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, were massing their armies around the borders of his small country, and their statements were clear and unmistakable, “we will conquer Palestine and throw the Jews to the Mediterranean Sea.”
Uri was an intelligent child. He knew that the Arabs significantly outnumbered the Israelis with their soldiers, tanks, airplanes, and money to buy more weapons; so, naturally, he was scared.
When the leader of Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser, announced that he’s closing the straits of Tiran to Israeli vessels, Uri’s father said in a somber tone of voice, “Now the war is unavoidable.” Shortly after that, he was called to his reserve army regiment, where he served as a tank commander in the southern, Egyptian front.
On the morning of June 5, Uri heard a strange announcement on the radio, “early this morning, the Egyptian forces started to move toward our border, our forces went to block them, and a fierce battle developed.” Uri knew that his country is at war and surrounded by hostile armies, advancing from the north, the east, and the south. The news on the radio, however, sounded encouraging, “Our forces are winning and are moving deeper into the Sinai Peninsula.” But Uri also tuned into the Egyptian radio that broadcasted in inarticulate Hebrew, “Our fo
rces are moving to Tel Aviv.”
Uri didn’t need the radio to know that fierce battles were raging in Jerusalem, as he heard the sounds of gunfire, explosions, and artillery bombardment that the Israelis and Jordanians fired at each other. He also saw Israeli airplanes attacking and bombarding the Jordanian positions.
The Israeli radio continued to announce unimaginable victories. “Most of the Sinai Desert is in our hands, and our forces are getting close to the Suez Canal.” And Uri could only think about his father.
God, please bring my father home unharmed. For the first time in his life, Uri Prayed.
On June 07, just two days since the start of the war, young Uri, who didn’t move away from the radio, heard the most astounding announcements by a radio reporter who was overcome by emotions, “I am at the Kotel, I’m touching the stones of the western wall.” A few hours later, a reporter interviewed an army colonel who proclaimed, “the Temple Mount is in our hands.”
It took another two days of fighting when the Israeli radio announced that the Israeli army had also conquered the Syrian Golan Heights. The Israeli victory was decisive, and the Arabs suffered a crushing and humiliating defeat.
Three weeks later, when Uri’s father returned home, Uri asked him, “Are you still saying that there’s no God?”
“I don’t know,” his father said, and warmly embraced his son.
Uri, along with his parents, went for a trip in the Arab section of Jerusalem—the area that was always on the other side of the border. They enjoyed discovering the colorful Arab market, and they walked in the Via Dolorosa. They also went to visit the Temple Mount, where they entered the Dome of the Rock and looked at the massive rock. A guide explained that on that very rock, Abraham was going to sacrifice Isaac.