Merry's Marauders (Book #2 ~ Scenic Route to Paradise, refreshed 2016 edition)

by Andrea Aarons

  Hmm, God seems to be working fast, thought Merry. In earnest, she said, “Mac haven’t you ever wondered about creation or eternity or why you are here?” Merry hadn’t really wondered about these issues herself but she knew she would have if she hadn’t been taught about them from a young age. For Merry, conversion came when she realized as a pre-teen that even brought up knowing distinctly right from wrong, she sometimes chose wrong. One day, hearing a sermon on God’s love and His willingness to give His Son to pay for our sin... her sin, it clicked. The Holy Spirit came conspicuously near her and nudged her conscience revealing her need for confession, forgiveness and a faith in the Savior.

  “Yes, I have wondered but then, I go on about my business of living. What else can a person do? Apparently, even the scientists have not understood these deep things,” he replied. “We have a religion on D’Almata. It is interesting and our culture is interwoven with it but it is culture and not about the future. When I was still a boy I realized this religion is about our history but not about the larger questions of destiny or eternity. I say that now, but as a child it was more of a math solution without the formula... Wait! What am I saying? Does this make sense?” Mac wondered out loud. “I am speaking rubbish.”

  He looked genuinely perturbed and Merry wondered at his sudden mood change. He seemed to want to talk about salvation but then once started down the road, he found it annoying. Merry thought this odd, very odd.

  Mac peered over the parapet rim. “Ah, these guys do not want to have any fun with me. They are too lazy to try the big doors.”

  Merry pulled herself up and brushed off her jeans. She said, “Well Mac, I am going to go in. I suggest that if you really want to hear about atonement you ask God to open your heart - your mind to His words of life. Patsy has been doing a Bible Study each afternoon too. Why don’t you come? It’s just before dinner.”

  Mac had heard Patsy playing guitar and some singing and he had seen them gathered. The women mostly but Junior sat in at one or two studies also. They assembled in the patio room just before sunset.

  Merry could see he was casting about in his mind for the correct words to rationalize why he could not attend. Nipping his excuse in the bud, she said, “I’ll come find you and we can go together. I have a Bible. We can share it.”

  Mac’s face lit up. He said, “Yes, come find me. I don’t have a Bible. I had one in college but I can share yours. That is a good idea. I like that.”

  Chapter 15 Bad Habits

  Kelsey lifted her hand, squinting against the setting sun which streamed through the patio doors. In another few minutes the sun would fall behind the adobe wall and then, 20 minutes more and only the pink western sky and the purple Sangre de Christos would be lit.

  After Patsy gave her a nod, Kelsey said, “I don’t mean to always cause an argument or be disagreeable but it seems like we are living in the Tribulation already!” The others weren’t really sure if Kelsey wasn’t always intending to be divisive but she did have a point. They had been studying from Romans all week but tonight someone brought up the Second Coming of Christ.

  Patsy had been a Christian for well over 30 years. Kelsey was right about what they were experiencing... Their personal world was imploding. Since the dawn of history people experienced wars and natural disasters, including plagues and famines and yet the difference was that during the Tribulation years there would be more than just pockets of hardship. The Biblical Tribulation would be world-wide and continuous according to scripture.

  “Kelsey and all of you,” Patsy began. “From what we understand, specifically the USA has been targeted. That means that yeah, the whole world is affected by our troubles but they are affected only indirectly.” She looked around. “For example, Mac here is from D’Almata. Is his country falling apart like we see our city falling apart? I would say, no.” She flipped through her Bible. “Listen to this,” she said and began reading from 1st Thessalonians chapter 5.

  But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ...

  The women began nodding one to another. Apparently, the birth pangs of pregnancy and getting drunk at night hit home with just about everyone. Only Mac was scratching his head. This was his fifth time to sit in on Patsy’s Bible study and he knew to bring a pen and paper for notes or questions he would undoubtedly have. He scrawled on a paper and then tore it from the pad, handing the scrap to Merry: “What is the connection...? I get the part about a thief!”

  Before Merry could whisper a response, Patsy said, “Hang on... quiet up!” The murmuring ceased. “The reason I read that specific scripture is because in the very next book, called 2nd Thessalonians, Paul reminds the church... the Christians of Thessalonica what he had already told them. He told them that the Day of the Lord which triggers the Tribulation is going to come unexpectedly... Paul reminds them that as Christians they should not be surprised.” Patsy looked around smiling. “God knows how to take care of His own. I quote, ‘God did not appoint us to wrath.’ Are there Christians dying right now, today? Sure! Lots of Christians have been dying for 2000 years but we’ll talk about that tomorrow... same time, same channel.”

  Everyone knew it was time to break up because not only had the sun set but the generator shut off a few minutes before Kelsey asked her question.

  The generator went back on every night before sunset to warm dinner and to heat the water heater, but also to chill the refrigerator and deep freeze for the night. The pattern for the generator was two or three hours in the morning and two hours or fewer in the late afternoon. There were very few places around Santa Fe city that had the provisions and security set-up that the Hacienda had. Mac planned the generator use accordingly, knowing these times were the best to deflect unnecessary attention from their insulated situation.

  Patsy closed in prayer and the women said in unison, “Amen!” That was Mac’s favorite part of the Bible study, Merry decided as he always smiled at this simplistic conclusion.

  Pointing to his paper with his question Merry said, “You can asked Patsy after dinner or wait until tomorrow, I suppose. It sounds like she is going to go into detail about that scripture. You could offer suggestions about the thief analogy...” She laughed.

  The others were stacking the chairs in the fading light as Merry stood, handing her Bible to Mac. She was going to stack her own chair with the rest but he asked, “You don’t know what it means? You can’t explain it?”

  Her eyebrows went up. “Well, yes but... its better to do it in a forum while we’re all praying and the Holy Spirit is... you know leading and all that.”

  “Oh. Is it really that complicated?” he asked further.

  “Well, no but here... Patsy!” called Merry. The others were filing through the short hallway into the kitchen and Patsy had hesitated not wanting to leave Mac alone with Merry. She came over.

  Merry explained Mac’s question. She said, “I told Mrs. Ortiz I would help tonight. See you in the kitchen in a few.” She left them there, Mac sitting holding her Bible and Patsy standing next to Merry’s vacated chair.

  Patsy sat. Mac asked his question and because the light was failing, she pulled up the scriptures from memory rather than from the Bible.

  She concluded, “Jesus warned that plenty of horrib
le things would be taking place and with greater frequency as the Day of His Coming approaches. For the Christians He told them to keep watch, specifically to look up for Him as signs foretell His Coming. You, Mac have a watch set up on the roof to keep the thieves from overrunning us but most people in Santa Fe probably don’t or can’t take these precautions, and so they get broken into. Jesus said His gathering up of His people, Merry, me and all the genuine believers in Christ - will happen like a thief snatching us away. Jesus is that thief!”

  “Hmm, I have never heard of this although I took world religion at University,” Mac said rubbing his five o’clock shadow in thought. They stood and he stacked the chairs. “Tell me this Auntie Patsy,” Mac said and used the name Merry frequently used in addressing Patsy Sena. “How does the ‘peace and safety’ quote apply? Look, there has been ever increasing saber-rattling until now. The sabers have been pulled from their scabbards and are presently engaged in battle. Peace and safety? I would have to say it is just the opposite... What say you?”

  Patsy perceived Mac was truly interested so as they started toward the kitchen she stopped him as they entered the hallway. Taking his arm she said, “Eeeh, that is a very good question! Let’s see, the quote doesn’t say that there will be ‘peace and safety’ but it indicates that people will be talking about it... Why would the world be talking about peace and safety specifically unless that was something desirable to have? Maybe, because it has been lost by say bombing a major world player like the United States?”

  Mac responded with, “Ah, hah!” Then Patsy gave him a shove to again move him toward dinner.

  That night Annette disappeared. She abandoned ship. She abandoned her infant son, Manny too. After ten days of Hacienda living, Annette decided she wanted her old life back although she hadn’t fully realized at 15 years of age that her old life could not be duplicated. Life in the fast lane, in the party lane had deteriorated even further than before the national emergency. Prostitution to buy the very basics, and also abuse, starvation and death had become the currency of the party scene Americana.

  Unknown to anyone who truly cared for her, Annette died three weeks later after a severe beating. She was tossed into the Santa Fe River with the other 873 corpses.

  Initially, everyone was indignant when Manny was left but the anger turned to compassion for the baby as well as mourning for the missing mother. Every night looters, drunken brawls, shootings and horrific screams were unfolding in their own neighborhood.

  How much more in the densely populated parts of town? They wondered corporately, privately and prayerfully.

  All the women took turns caring for the child but Sarah Todd took it upon herself to oversee the care. Also, Kelsey with her brusque manner and multitude of threatening tattoos was a gentle giant with Manny.

  Commenting on this one morning in early May, after Kelsey and babe passed through the kitchen to sit in the morning sun during his feeding, Mrs. Ortiz said with a sigh, “Every woman longs to be a mother!”

  Merry was examining her second burrito as usual wondering whether or not to attempt eating it when Mac said, “Merry pass me the salt, please.” She picked it up and handed it to him but he held onto her hand and when she looked up in surprise, he winked. He let out a roar of laughter and Tom Biggs the only other occupant at the table, chuckled.

  Merry frowned as she had missed Mrs. Ortiz’s statement and wondered why she was the focal point of their amusement. She pulled her hand away but she looked at Tom and asked, “What?”

  Tom smiled and said, “It looks like we might have to have a wedding when we get to the ranch and the newlyweds can have the honeymoon suite!” Merry’s face reddened. Mac had been acting so brotherly, unlike the first few weeks that she had become smugly comfortable around him. This joke had caught her off guard.

  Mac said casually, “You’re getting married, Tom? And who is the lucky damsel? Don’t tell me you popped the question to my dear Mrs. Ortiz?”

  Mrs. Ortiz let out a guffaw. “Oh, you men are really silly this morning,” she said. But she brought the coffee pot over and poured heaters all the way around.

  When she got to Tom’s cup, he said with a glance at Mac but turning back to look at her, “I might ask Emily if I thought she would say yes, but I am allergic to rejection.”

  Merry had gotten up and out of the conversation by taking her plate to the sink, returning her untouched burrito to the common platter on the counter.

  Mac thumped his fist and said, “Say yes, Mrs. Ortiz and I’ll marry the two of you myself! Yes, I can! I’m not only the captain of this Hacienda Liner but I am officially a Captain in the D’Almata Royal Navy. It would be my pleasure.” He pointed back to his room. “I’ll be glad to give you the Captain’s cabin and I’ll take your place in the nurses’ quarters - if you will lend me a bathrobe!” He thought this was very funny and let out another burst of laughter. Merry turned to look at Mrs. Ortiz who was coming back to the counter with the coffee pot. Her face was pink and she shook her head disapprovingly but Merry wondered if there wasn’t something up with Tom Biggs and Emily Ortiz.

  Tom said her, “Honey, no response? Will you make me wait a week or two until we get to the ranch and I get down on one knee? Remember, I am highly allergic to rejection!” He was smiling at Mac across the table and Merry saw him wink at the younger man.

  “Don’t wait, my dear Mrs. Ortiz! My offer to officiate is about to expire,” Mac said with a nod toward Tom.

  His chair screeching against the tile floor, Tom scooted loudly away from the table, saying, “Now don’t start that idiocy again. Impossible! You are going even if I have to tie you up and throw you into the car trunk.”

  Mac watched him go to the counter for another helping. Wiping his mouth, Mac looked over at Merry. She feigned sorting the silverware that was displayed next to the food. Tom turned around as he was saying, “You foreigners get fool notions in your head and...” He trailed off when he saw Mac’s threatening brow. Merry turned away not wanting Mac’s attention to land on her next.

  Too late.

  “Merry, don’t you have roof watch this morning?” he asked but his words sounded more like an order to Merry.

  “Yes, that is why I am up so early. I have it at eight,” she answered.

  “Tom let me see your watch,” Mac said motioning to Tom who was heading for his chair. Tom veered toward Mac and Mac looked at Tom’s watch. “Time to go up. Put a sweater on. It will be chilly.”

  “Aarg, and aye aye, Cap’n,” Merry said with a mock salute and a click of her heels. She left down the hall to get her shoes and a jacket. Tom let out a laugh behind her.

  The shower was running in the nurses’ bathroom and Sarah’s bed was now empty but made up. Merry sat on her own bed as she put on sneakers. She knew it wasn’t 8am yet but Mac wanted her out of the kitchen for some reason. She had gotten lost in the conversation at the very beginning after Kelsey passed through with the baby.

  The rioting and looting went from an intense and heated peak a week ago, to only simmering now, so their plans to head north to the Biggs’ ranch were under serious discussion everyday. The cars remained intact across the street and Lenny was negotiating for two more vehicles using money and whiskey. Patsy’s old car hidden in the arroyo was discovered and torched but Mac’s only response was, “C’est la vie.”

  Back in the kitchen, Mac waited until Mrs. Ortiz left to check on Kelsey and Manny in the patio room. Then he said, “Tom, hold your tongue! I want everyone on board about going to your ranch... You need these people and they need you. You’ve got a good group here. We’ve trained them although they’re still rough as cobs but all recruits start that way... Surely, you know that!”

  Nikki poked her head through the kitchen skylight. “Mac, you might be interested in this. There is military traffic on the highway heading south.”

  “Thanks. I’ll be up,” Mac told her. To Tom he said, “I meant it when I said I would officiate for you and Emily. Let me know.”
Mac climbed the ladder leaving Tom mulling over his offer.

  Merry returned to the kitchen to find Nikki and Luz filling their plates. She was supposed to relieve them for the morning watch.

  “Yes,” Luz told her when she asked. “Mac came up to check out the military convoy, as he called it going down the highway. He said you were on your way up so we could come down.”

  “Boring after last week,” Nikki told Merry. “And hot!” she added.

  Merry slung her jacket over her shoulder, not wanting to go again to her room and replace it with the sweater Mac had suggested. Pushing through the skylight, she thought, He is bossy but he is usually right.

  Mac glanced over as the skylight closed with a click. For more than a minute, Merry was watching while he stood with binoculars to his eyes looking south. He was slim and tall, and Merry was sure he had brought just two pairs of slacks with him from D’Almata; both bluejeans. He wore black leather loafers around the Hacienda which he had on the day she picked him up from the airport. Merry thought they were very expensive and comfortable. Mac was wearing them now without socks. His shirt was collared - a blue and white long-sleeved oxford type which was certainly confiscated during one of his goods gathering events. He had left the shirt un-tucked. The sleeves rolled up at his forearm.

  The highway was a mile or more in the distance. Periodically, the watch observed a vehicle going north; if anyone went south no one on the roof had seen it; except now this convoy. As she had watched unnoticed, Merry wondered why she was both attracted to Mac and repulsed, simultaneously. Merry realized it was his ruthless approach to life. She grew used to men - young men treating her like a princess. Those that seriously pursued her had always put a best foot forward, bought her gifts and almost immediately began orbiting around her, arranging their own lives about her. At 21, she had never seen anything wrong with that behavior. Now in this abnormal circumstance that she found herself in and interacting with a man who followed his own path in spite of the spiraling atmosphere around him... Merry understood.