The Journal: A Prophecy, A President & Death

by Parker, W. Leland

  Watson replies, “No, not really.”

  “Okay, you could have simply said no, but you had to add the not really there, so you’ve got my curiosity.”

  “Boy, you remind me of a cop I know?” He lowers his voice and says, “There’s a case, it was years ago, I wasn’t …” he points at his uniform, “you know, the shift commander yet. Well, there was this church fire that the kid knew more about than what he was telling.”

  “Really? So what’s his story, he’s got a problem with fire?”

  “I’m not saying that; I’m just answering your question. This would have been about seven, maybe eight years ago and– You remember what Karen was telling you back at the diner right?”

  “Remember! I can’t wait to hear the rest of it!”

  Watson continues, “Well, this was one of the events. Actually, it was THE event; the one that got everything going. It was one of my first cases that I was the lead on and– I have a file on it.

  Hinton, determined not to show interest beyond that of an insurance man, says, “I’d like to see that file, it could be important when it comes to verifying their claim.”

  “Certainly, let’s just … Hmm.”

  “Let’s just what?”

  “Hmm, seems we’ve um …” He looks both ways down the street.

  Hinton, impatiently, “We’ve what?”

  “We’ve … you know, lost our ride!” says Watson, motioning to point out there’re no cars and no drivers on the street, “

  Looking and realizing that his ride with the policeman is long gone, and seeing that the fire team has left, Hinton says with great disappointment, “O-kaaaaay.” Then, seeming to appreciate the absurdity, he begins shaking his head in disbelief and says, “Just like in the movies.”

  World’s Colliding

  It’s 5:30 a.m.. Back at Maryland University, James Market is already awake. He peers out of his dorm window to see if he’s had any takers on his request for an emergency ride. He can see almost all of them from his vantage point, and they appear to be intact, meaning, no one had pulled any of the little tabs off that list his contact info. Restless, he decides to get up and go check them all; after all, one of them did have one tab removed last night.

  It’s chilly out, and walking down the street with the remaining four flyers he printed, he notices one of his flyers, the farthest, has been torn down. He proceeds to replace it as a lone jogger comes running up the street. It’s a girl, strong, slender, but curvy. Though she’s well covered James can’t help but notice her attractive physique. As she gets closer, close enough to see, it becomes apparent that she’s actually quite beautiful. James is very impressed, but determined not to be rude and stare. He turns away, mumbling under his breath to himself, “Helloooo, Rachel!”

  She jogs by, seemingly oblivious to him, and about a block away turns at the corner. He tacks up the replacement flyer, and heads back towards the dorm. Just before entering the building he decides walk up the block to verify that the flyer that had a tab taken last night was as he thought, and not just a wishful hallucination from the early morning. As he reaches the corner, off in the distance he sees the jogger coming again!

  “Okay,” he thinks to himself, “I want to be a gentleman, but I also want see if this is the most beautiful woman in the world!” He quickly walks to a point where the light is best and tries to figure out a way to look in her direction without being too obvious. He hasn’t much time ’cause she’s coming up fast. He doesn’t want to appear as a stalker, he thinks, “I need to be doing something, but what?”

  The jogging beauty is now just half a block away; it’s hard to tell if she’s noticed his antics, but something has caught her eye because from this distance she appears to be looking right at James. Desperate he decides to act like he’s checking the position of the setting moon; he looks up, and then looks at his watch, then jots a note on the back of one of his three remaining flyers.

  The jogger, just about three car lengths away, notices his actions and glances over her shoulder to see what he’s documenting. James backs up quickly to be on the side that will be lit best by the early morning sun. But this is just where she had directed her path while looking back, and consequently, when she turns back around, WHAM! The young lady, in full stride, catches James while back-pedaling, knocking him off balance backwards! As he struggles mightily to get his feet back under him he reaches out his hand to grab something; which she instinctively grabs as a reflex, and while barely regaining her balance she manages to keep him from a painful date with the concrete and a parked car!

  Her much smaller frame is tugged forward by the weight of James and it nearly causes her to fall on top of him! But somehow she is able to support him and recollect her balance.

  He thinks, “Man, she IS strong!” and finishes his recovery, using her hand and the parked car to get his feet firmly back beneath him; pulling himself up and never taking his eyes off of this impressive girl. He apologizes for stepping in the way. “I am soo sorry, Miss! I tried to back out of your path, and–”

  The jogger, Agent Lauren Coles, who is catching her breath, removes her iPod earbuds and says to him, “No, I’m sorry it’s me who wasn’t looking. Are you alright?”

  Trying not to stare, and fighting back a smile, James answers, “Yes, I’m fine. Really. Thanks by the way, for catching me.”

  “Well, I slammed into you full stride, it was the least I could do!”

  Laughing, James replies, “Thanks anyway.”

  Coles, preparing to leave says, “What were you looking at anyway?”

  “What?”

  “When I was heading this way, I noticed you checking something and making a note. What was it?”

  “Oh, uh, nothing really.”

  She insists, “C’mon, I saw you looking that way. That’s what caused me to look back and lose track of where you were standing.”

  James, who is caught with no escape, has to either come clean or make something up. He says, “I was kind of, um …” He shrugs his shoulders and dons an embarrassed goofy smile, “ummmm, faking.”

  After a brief pause Lauren Coles lets him off easy. She begins to laugh and says, “Busted! So why were you faking like you were looking up at something?”

  “Well,” with a deep sigh like someone about to confess a crime, “I was kind of trying to get a better look at you.”

  Lauren is impressed by his honesty, and is more than a little flattered. Maintaining her composure she asks, “Wait a minute; you’re the guy that’s putting up the anti-woman flyers.”

  In shock James replies, “What? The anti-what? I am not–”

  “Doesn’t your flyer say that you don’t want to drive with a woman?”

  “Noooo. That’s not what it says; just that I prefer to ride with a guy.” Then, attempting to be playful says, “and, um … weren’t you running somewhere?” But it does not communicate.

  “Yes, I’m afraid I must, so on that sorry note may I say it was not quite so nice to meet you Mr. Market!” And she puts her earbuds back in and begins to head off.

  “Wait!” says James, reaching out and tapping her on the shoulder. “How do you know my name?”

  Out from the pocket of her running suit she pulls a folded piece paper and hands it to him and proceeds to jog away down the street. James quickly unfolds it to discover that it’s one of his flyers, the missing one in fact! Written on the back is a note that says, “Going to wedding north of New York City. Leaving at 9:00 a.m.. I can give you a lift if you can get past your chauvinistic issues!” It is followed by her first name, Lauren, and her phone number.

  James is completely and utterly stunned! He stands there pondering what he should do for a full ten minutes.

  • • •

  Back in New York, Robert is up and out early, looking at the house. He quietly comes back into the Phelps home and finds his wife in the kitchen making coffee. He snuggles up behind her and in hushed tones says, “Good morning beautiful, you’re up ear
ly.”

  She smiles and turns to give him a tight hug. Speaking softly she says, “I know, but I wanted to surprise everyone with fresh coffee. I should have known you’d already be up. How did you sleep?”

  “Pretty good, but not a real restful sleep, you know?”

  “Maybe you can catch a nap later. Were you looking at our poor house?”

  Robert shrugs, “It’s not so bad, the fire guy, Watson, said he didn’t think it would cost more than five K.”

  Shocked, Joanna drops the whisper a moment, “FIVE THOUSAND! What?”

  Robert, matter of factly, “Yep. These things always cost more than they appear, and we’ll have to replace the front door too.”

  “Doesn’t the fire department pay for that?

  Robert, calmly, stirring his coffee and referring to his wife by one of his favorite nick names, “No, Glory, the insurance will pay for all of it, and it’s not the firemen’s fault that we didn’t open the door for them.”

  Joanna doesn’t much like the sound of that, and with minor irritation she replies, “Well, honey, I’m sorry, but I didn’t think to go get my house keys when I was fleeing for my life. So, uh … okay!”

  “Okay.”

  Joanna adds for good measure, “Okay.”

  “I didn’t mean to upset you; I was just covering the costs.”

  Joanna, Calming down, says, “I know, it’s just that I thought you’d be proud that I called in the fire and got us out without even smoke annihilation”

  “Yes, Glory, I am very proud.” He gives her a big hug. “And it’s smoke inhalation.”

  With her face in his shoulder she says muffled, “Whatever.”

  Robert, with pride, “So, you followed our fire-preparedness plan did you?”

  Joanna, with some embarrassment, buries her face back into his chest and very muffled says, “More or less.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Pulling her face out to be heard she adds, “I may have gotten some of the sequence out of order.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Well, I may have called too soon.”

  “It’s never too soon; it’s the first thing you do when you get outta the house.”

  Joanna, taking a deep sigh, like someone who’s about to confess a crime, “Yeah.”

  “Joanna, don’t tell me that you called from inside, WITH the fire.”

  “Okay, I won’t.”

  Robert, still embracing her, but pulling her out so he can see her face, says in an angry whisper, “But that’s what you did! Dammit, Joanna it’s the first thing on the list!”

  Joanna, shocked that he’s so upset, demonstratively whispers, “I was frazzled Robert!”

  Robert releases her from his hug, but holding both of her hands retorts, “My Glory, that’s why we have a plan, and that’s why we rehearse it, so that when you’re frazzled you don’t forget to get EVERONE out BEFORE you do anything else! Did you call before you got to Joe?”

  Joanna, pulling her hands free from his says, “I’m not even going to answer you, acting like that!”

  Robert, also demonstrative, “Acting like what? A husband who just found out that his wife put her life and their son’s in danger?”

  Joanna really angry drops the whisper. “Robert, I’m NOT YOU! I can’t think of everything and be calm as a bomb squad expert under pressure! THAT’S YOUR ROLE! YOU are that person, but you weren’t here, were you?” Her raised voice wakes Joseph, who smells the coffee and begins to get up.

  Robert in a very agitated whisper, but still mindful the hour and location says, “So, what, I can’t leave the house? I can’t trust you to do as we all agreed, unless I’m here? What! If I go to get a haircut, or I’m at the auto mechanic, you–you just drop all responsibility? Between you and Joe, nobody can remember we have a hide-a-key in the front yard?”

  Joanna, almost out of control, “Oh, my God! Are you still obsessing over that stupid da–door?”

  “Watch it.”

  “ME! You’re the one cursing.”

  “I am not!”

  “You certainly did! And I really think at this point you need to go look at your beloved door before you cause me to say something!”

  Robert barks, “With pleasure!” He snatches up his coffee cup nearly spilling it, and heads out of the Phelps back door.”

  Moments later Joseph enters and looks at his mom. She looks at him and then drops her head.

  Joseph, with a light heart says, “Sooooo? How’d Dad take the news about breaking the fire rules thingy?”

  Joanna, unable to recover from the emotion enough to speak, motions with her hand for her son to come to her and she gives him a big tight hug.

  Muffled he says, “The Band-Aid method didn’t work?”

  Tears roll down her cheeks as she just manages to say, “No.”

  Giving himself room to see his mom’s face, he says, “I’m sorry, Mom, I’m sure it will be fine.”

  She smiles a little and says, “Well, thank you. What are you doing up so early anyway? What are you, filling in for Jimbo?”

  He looks at the floor and begins to say, “I just–”

  She interrupts to ask, “Joey, how much did you hear?”

  “Not too much.” He shrugs his shoulders, then says, “Enough.”

  Robert, who actually does go back across the street to their home, looks back at the Phelps home. He shakes his head in disbelief at what just happened. He’s confused and looks sick. He feels sick! The last thing he’d ever guessed might happen when he got home was having an argument with the most important woman in the world to him, and what’s worse is that she’s probably crying. He can’t live with that! As he heads back over to apologize, Mr. Hinton pulls up with the fire inspector, not directly in front of him, but close enough to impede him going back over to see Joanna. He stops, and his disappointment reveals itself in a deep sigh and drop of his shoulders.

  Carrying a note pad and crow-bar-like tool, fire inspector Greg Marshall walks up and introduces himself. Using Hinton’s diagrams he shows Robert where Commander Watson indicated the fire had started, but he is only half listening.

  The two men proceed inside where the fire inspector begins to make notes of his own on everything he sees and uses the crow bar to prod and poke the damaged areas.

  At that moment, Bruce Watson arrives. He sees Mr. Market standing alone with despondent body language and says, “Good morning, sir!”

  Robert replies, “Good morning.”

  Watson, “Don’t worry, sir; these things are always easier to fix than they seem.”

  Robert shrugs, “Humph, from your lips to God’s ears Commander.”

  • • •

  It is now 8:00 a.m., and James has not made much progress since his encounter with Miss Coles. He sits in the lobby of his dorm, then stands, then sits again; he looks at her phone number on the back of his flyer and rehearses what he might say to repair her perception of him, after a somewhat awkward first encounter. “Hi, I just wanted to explain why I preferred to ride with a guy. It has nothing to do with driving or her being a girl. Well, it does have to do with being a girl—not that being a girl affects a person’s driving. Wow, that’s still SO LAME!” He begins to feel self-conscious because of a few students that are up and about at this early hour, and walks over to another more secluded sitting area and plops down in a chair.

  He sighs and thinks, “Lord I really want to get to know her, there’s something about her that’s just, I don’t know … but I don’t want to take her offer for that reason. I mean it’s still better if I can ride with a guy because I’m a guy, and she’s a girl. Riding off together—it might give the wrong appearance, right? Am I being ridiculous? Oh, my parents really have done a number on me! But if I turn down her help simply because she’s a girl that could really hurt her feelings! Who knows if I’ll ever get to know her after I do that … but you know Lord”

  All of a sudden he jumps up with:

  “Perhaps she needs a riding companion! What
if she gives a ride to some other guy and he’s a whacko? I could never forgive myself. At least with me she’s safe. Humph! As strong as that girl is, she’s safe with anybody! Maybe she can’t afford the gas! Wow, what if she wasn’t even going to go until she saw my flyer and figured with me paying for the gas …! And what if I don’t get any other offers? Okay, I’m definitely going to go with her, right?”

  He flips open his phone and then, all of a sudden, “RING-RING, RING-RING” the caller ID shows Unknown Number. James heart begins to race. He answers it with great curiosity and anticipation, “Helloooo?”

  A female voice replies, “Hello, is this James Market from the flyer that I tried to plow into the ground this morning?”

  Cupping the phone mouthpiece in his hand James exclaims, “Thank you, Jesus!” then answers with a laugh, “Yes, this is he. I’m so glad you called; I really wanted to apologize.”

  “You have got to stop doing that! It’s me who really should apologize. I really prejudged you harshly; you very well might have a perfectly good reason to not to want to ride with a girl”

  He interrupts her, “No, I don’t. I mean, I do, but I really would like to take your offer if it still stands.”

  “Really? Are you sure?”

  “Yes, it’s been all I’ve been thinking about, and I definitely would appreciate both your help and making your acquaintance.”

  Lauren thinks to herself, “Making your acquaintance? Who is this guy?” She says, “Well, then it’s a deal! And I really appreciate and accept your offer to pay for the gas. So, I need to tell my family about my plans, can we set out at 10:00 a.m.?”

  “Perfect, and I can explain myself on the way.”

  Lauren laughs and says, “It’s really not necessary, James. So I’ll pick you up at your dorm, okay?”

  “Okay, see you at ten, bye.” He hangs up and looks up to heaven and says, “I love her!”