On the Edge

by Parker Hudson

  Oh, there it was again. He suddenly sensed another passing. Two in one week! Superb! But, on the other hand, one had to watch out. Too many deaths in a short time caused people to think. And that could become a problem.

  But, at any rate, he saw as he rose above the rooftops, it was old Mrs. Hall. Her mortal body was dead at last! It was great to be finally rid of her: one less of the ever diminishing voices which prayed regularly. One less light in the ever spreading darkness.

  But speaking of light, he could see that the blasted angel had already almost arrived. He must have been in the area. Why?

  Mrs. Hall's spirit, like all of them, was momentarily confused by the transition out of her mortal body. In a matter of a few moments, her spirit had gone through the trauma of death and into the incredible confirmation of immortality, suddenly free of all the earthly aches and pains that had racked her body for so many years. It was a great deal, Nepravel knew, to experience in such a brief moment.

  He took his position next to Jean Hall, just as he had done three days earlier with Hugh McEver. As with McEver—as with all of them really—there was again the involuntary turning to face him, as the closeness of his stench pierced through the dazzling effect of the angel's luminescence.

  There was again the shock and the natural concern for her spirit, so close to so much evil and such obvious hate. But Nepravel could see in her eyes that there was not the fear. Blast! He sensed that it would go badly for them at the judgment seat. She was definitely questioning, looking back and forth between him and the angel. But—and he hated it—he could see her quiet confidence as well.

  As the three of them flew off to their appointed rendezvous, Nepravel knew he would have to downplay this death at the midnight meeting. With the prayer breakfast already on Balzor's nerves, Nepravel would be afraid to linger too long on losing another soul, even if it was an old lady. Nothing stirred up the demons more than a soul being allowed to pass into heaven, being atoned for by the death of Jesus, because heaven was the one place to which they could never go again.

  Down deep inside, what made the most fearsome demons hate even the most insignificant humans was jealousy. It was jealousy that fueled their bitter struggle and gave them the energy to work incessantly to utterly confuse humans about the Truth. They almost never talked about it, but what they hated more than anything else was the thought of any lowly human spirit going to where they once had been, but had lost forever. And only because they had wanted a share of the power. It was so unfair! Nepravel, like all the demons, was determined that no more human souls would slip through, inheriting what was rightly his! “Curse them all! And curse that Jesus who made it possible!” he seethed.

  SATURDAY, APRIL 22 – Saturday brought broken clouds racing across the sky from northwest to southeast, signaling that the front had passed and that the sun would soon be allowed to do its warming work on the damp and cool ground below. Completely unknown to Janet, as she worked on their late breakfast, the events that would occur in their children's lives that day would change their family forever.

  Tommy packed his overnight bag to take to their baseball game so that he could spend the night at Brent's home. Susan and Amy were seated at the breakfast room table, looking through the latest magazines and comparing notes on the latest spring fashions.

  Tommy's game was to be late in the afternoon, so he and Brent spent the morning on their bikes, bouncing between their homes, the nearby commercial area, and the city park, located at the midpoint of Devon Drive. On one turn through the park later that morning, they ran into their classmates, the twins Patrick and Becky Thornton, watching and helping their younger brother, Jeff, who was trying to fly a kite. Becky's best friend, Anna, was also there, sitting on a park table with the Thorntons. All of them wore sweaters against the chilly wind.

  As Tommy and Brent pedaled up the sidewalk toward them on their sleek racers, Becky waved. “You know Tommy is kind of cute,” Becky said to Anna, before the boys were within hearing range. “It's too bad he's not a little older. I've always just thought of him as somebody who was ‘there,’ as Patrick's teammate. But in class lately he has really had some interesting things to say. He's not bad.”

  The boys stopped their bikes and everyone said hello. For a few minutes they helped Patrick teach his younger brother the finer subtleties of flying a kite. Then they walked back over to Becky and Anna. “Will you be at the game?” asked Tommy, smiling at Becky.

  “I don't know. I'd like to, but the game is so late today. Ian is picking me up early and we're going to a movie, so I'll just have to see.”

  There it is, thought Tommy. The wall. Subtle but nevertheless very real. Becky's parents already let her date the older boys who could drive, and that was a gulf that he would not cross for eighteen more months. With that one statement she had reminded him that although they might be almost the same age, he was still relegated to childhood, while she was moving on.

  “Oh, well. Yeah, I understand. But if you do decide to come, it ought to be a good game. Both of our teams are undefeated,” added Tommy, trying to increase her interest.

  The four of them talked for a while, soon joined by Patrick, once Jeff's kite was securely hovering in the blue, clearing sky. After a while Brent said, “Well, Tommy and I have to go buy some things at the store for my mom. We'll see you guys later. See you at the game, Patrick.” And the two of them left, waving a thumbs up sign to the young pilot of the kite.

  “You two sure are getting dressed up just go to out to dinner,” quipped Janet, as Susan and Amy collected their coats and purses near the Sullivans’ back door, leading out to their garage.

  “Well, we may go to a movie afterward,” smiled Amy, “and you never know who you're going to run into!”

  Susan was glad that Amy had answered. She was not used to lying to her mother, and Amy clearly seemed better at it. So Susan just smiled in silence.

  “I know, I know. I was young once, too, as hard as that is for you to believe,” added Janet, putting her hands on both girls’ shoulders. “Just have a good time, and don't do anything I wouldn't do.”

  Susan gulped. It suddenly occurred to her that her mother had seemed a little happier the last two days; but she could not figure out why. Is it because Dad is gone? she suddenly thought, with a sinking feeling. Well, now was not the time to think or to talk about her parents’ relationship.

  “I'll expect you home by 11:30, no matter what you do. And I would appreciate it if you'd call me from wherever you wind up, if you do go somewhere after dinner.”

  Both girls just smiled and gave Janet a wave as they went through the door. Richard had taken a taxi to the airport so that Susan could borrow his car when Amy spent the night. Susan drove them over to the parking lot in front of Austin's Restaurant.

  Tommy's game started on time but went to extra innings before Northpark finally won on an inside-the-park home run down the first base line by their star shortstop. Janet had dropped Tommy off with his overnight bag. Holding down a full-time job herself meant that there was not much time for shopping or other household chores. So her Saturdays were always very full. But today she had also attended the funeral for Hugh McEver, which had been packed with family, friends, and neighbors. The presence of the McEvers’ children had upset her. “Why did this happen?” she had asked herself. And after the funeral, she had been so rushed that she had not been able to stay for even a few innings of Tommy's game.

  After the game, Brent's parents drove them back to their home to clean up. Then they all went out for pizza. Actually there were six of them, because Brent's older brother, Zane, had a friend, Roger, from his eleventh-grade class, over to spend the night as well. And the great thing about Roger, as far as Tommy and Brent were concerned, was that his older brother attended the local university, and he had videos!

  As a cover for their real intentions, the boys rented a mindless teenage comedy from the video store in the same shopping center with the pizza restaurant. They were care
ful to pick a title that would interest neither of Brent's parents. This was all new to Tommy, but he quickly got caught up in the shared secret, and in the camaraderie with the older boys.

  Upon returning to Brent's home, the four teenage boys spent a few moments with Brent's parents in the den so as not to seem in too big a hurry. Finally, Zane suggested, “Let's go see that movie,” and the four of them retired to the basement, where Brent's family had a television and a VCR.

  Once downstairs, Zane took the one rented video out of its case and fast forwarded it for a few minutes, in case they had to insert it on short notice, should they be interrupted unexpectedly. He then took that video out of the VCR and pulled out the three videos he and Roger had stashed in the basement before supper, offering their explicit covers to the two younger boys, as if they were trophies. “Which one do you want to watch first?” asked Zane. “Since this is your first time, Tommy, you can pick.”

  Tommy was almost bursting with anticipation. He pointed to Young Desires. They moved the armchairs up close to the television. While Roger inserted the video and turned down the volume, Zane turned off the lights. Nepravel, who had arrived shortly after their return from the restaurant, sat invisibly on top of the TV and cheered them on. He knew that no voices would be needed here, with the visual images that were about to overwhelm them.

  The rendezvous between Susan, Amy, Billy, and his college classmate, Jay Stembler, happened as Amy and Billy had planned. Billy gave Amy a knowing hug, which seemed more familiar to Susan than the casual relationship Amy had so far represented to her. Billy introduced Jay and then suggested that they all four go in his car, leaving Susan's father's car in the parking lot, since the fraternity party was just beginning over at the university.

  Soon the four of them were driving off to the east, and the two boys offered Amy and Susan paper cups with ice, filled with an unknown liquid.

  “We thought you two rising seniors would like a little grapefruit juice and vodka,” smiled Billy, as he handed a cup to Amy. She took a quick gulp and then settled back in her seat, smiling, with a little toast in Billy's direction.

  This was Susan's first experience with college boys on a date. She had decided earlier that day that she would follow Amy's lead. But as Jay handed her a cup as well, she became uncertain of herself. She quickly decided that it would be rude to refuse the offer, but she also decided that she would only take small sips. Whatever “fun” Amy had advertised as being in store for them this evening, she knew inside that getting drunk in the back of a car with a boy she did not know was simply not her definition of fun.

  In the Holcombes’ basement, the visual images had been going on for over an hour. For the first fifteen minutes, Tommy's eyes had almost popped out of his head. Then he settled back into his chair and watched with full attention while the video simply overwhelmed his senses, short circuiting his brain with pictures he could never have imagined only an hour before.

  With the end of the first video, Brent chose Slippery When Wet, and they hardly missed a beat between the two. Pressure was building and building in Tommy. He felt like a teapot on high heat, about to boil over. Nepravel, who had left for a while to check on the rest of the neighborhood that Saturday evening, returned to the basement for the grand finale.

  Billy's fraternity house, like the others on fraternity row that Saturday evening, was jammed with college students, letting loose after a demanding week of classes, swaying to the beat from the disc jockey's extensive library of new and old tunes. They found a spot to park not too far from the cul-de-sac. As they walked up the sidewalk, Amy managed to squeeze Susan's hand and whisper, “Let's have a great time tonight.” Susan, who had never been to a fraternity party before, smiled and nodded her head.

  The din would have been louder had it not been absorbed by all of the bodies. Billy motioned for Jay to turn to the right, into the living room and toward the bar. In a matter of moments Susan and Jay had lost Billy and Amy in the crowd.

  Jay had grown up in Memphis, and he and Susan had talked in the back seat about his impressions of Susan's city, where he was finishing his first year as a freshman at the university. He was a nice enough boy, Susan thought. Too many college boys were so impressed with themselves. Jay seemed to be the exception. When she confessed to him that this was her first fraternity party, he seemed genuinely surprised and told her that he would do whatever she wanted to make their evening a success. Then he asked her what she wanted to drink.

  “I think I'll just take a Coke, thanks,” Susan answered.

  “Aw, come on,” he suggested. “How about some vodka and grapefruit juice?”

  “No, thank you. Let me just edge into this a bit, OK? A Coke will be just fine,” she found the strength to say.

  “OK. That's fine with me. Whatever you want.” And he seemed to mean it.

  Drinks in hand, they pushed back towards the source of the music, and Jay introduced Susan to several of his classmates and fraternity brothers. Susan recognized a few girls from the senior class at her high school, and it suddenly struck her that Amy's plan for the evening had not allowed for the daughter of one of her mother's friends seeing them at this party. That thought threw her, and she began to worry. She would have to find Amy and ask her for an answer to that one.

  Soon she and Jay were dancing, and the evening flew by. She enjoyed the party enormously. She and Jay took breaks to get away from the noise and to talk every now and then. She stuck to her nonalcoholic drinks, which Jay respected. Just to be friendly, she accepted a few sips from his vodka and tonic.

  Before she realized it, she looked at her watch to discover that it was 11:00! She could not remember seeing Amy or Billy for what seemed like the whole evening. If she and Amy were going to be home by 11:30, they had to leave quickly to retrieve her father's car from the restaurant parking lot. She pointed out the time to Jay and yelled in his ear over the music that they had to find Amy and Billy, and then leave as quickly as possible. Jay nodded, and they started their search through the fraternity house.

  Janet used the rare Saturday night alone at home to catch up on several small domestic projects and to bake another casserole for Betty McEver. Betty had so much family in town and so many new problems to work through that Janet and several of Betty's other friends were keeping her refrigerator well stocked.

  After the girls had left that evening, the earlier feeling of being surrounded by unanswered questions returned to buffet Janet. She felt no better equipped to answer the questions which the death of their neighbor thrust upon her than did those three precious children, the backs of whose heads she had focused on during most of the funeral. As she prepared the ingredients for the casserole, unusual questions broke through in her mind, touched off by the funeral, and too strong to be suppressed by the routine voices of busyness that usually did so. Janet did not know the answers, and pride and busyness had always kept her from asking anyone else who might be able to help. But maybe, just maybe, the questions would linger long enough, like seeds in the earth, to be triggered into life and growth with the right stimuli and care.

  Finally, later than she had originally hoped, Janet took a long bath and climbed into bed to read, waiting for the return of the girls. It was only then that it occurred to her with some surprise that Susan had never called all evening.

  * * *

  The visual images were searing Tommy's young mind. It was almost as if the screen of the television were aflame and he could feel the heat in his eyes. His mind had long since gone into overload. The pressure had built inside him to the point where he felt that he was going to jump out of his skin.

  Something had to give. They either had to stop watching these videos, which he was not going to suggest, or…

  It was then he realized that the quiet whistles, catcalls and guffaws of the past hour had now stopped in the dark basement. Only when he started to turn his head back to see Roger and Zane, sitting behind him, did he realize that the other boys in the room were al
ready relieving themselves sexually.

  “Go ahead,” whispered Roger to him in a low, guttural voice. “It's the only way to fly.”

  Tommy thought about it, and for just a moment, he felt stupid. But the visual images and the pressure were just too great, and everybody was doing it. So he followed Roger's advice.

  Susan and Jay had started at one end of the fraternity house and pushed their way through to the other, without seeing either Amy or Billy. It was only after Jay had returned from a fruitless search upstairs that Susan suggested they go find Billy's car. Jay told her that Billy would not leave without telling them, and so he was as surprised as Susan to find that Billy's car was, in fact, gone.

  Susan's initial annoyance because of the late hour had already changed into mild apprehension, and now it was headed toward serious panic. Where could Amy be? How could she have left without telling Susan? Did she leave voluntarily? Was she all right? And what would Susan tell her mother?

  It was fast approaching 11:30, and she had no idea what her mother would do if she were very late. It had never happened before, but she knew it would not be good. She sensed that whatever else happened, her best course of action was to go home. Even though her mother would be terribly upset and disappointed, she could then help Susan deal with what to do about finding Amy.

  “Jay, I have just got to get home,” said Susan, in a voice filled with anxiety. “Do you have a car? Can you get me back to my dad's car in the parking lot? If Amy comes back, can you call me and be sure she gets home safely?”