Lionel had stepped from the car with confidence, telling himself to just do his duty and get it over with. It made him feel grown up to handle this for his parents. He wished he could see them and his brother and sisters, but he was sure glad they weren't dead.
And yet as Lionel neared the front of the building, it was as if his legs had turned to jelly. He began to shudder and tremble, and he found it difficult to put one foot in front of the other. His breath came in short gasps, and he fought the urge to race back to the car and have Judd run him back to Mount Prospect. I'm going to do this, he thought. l have to. Otherwise, I'll be a wuss, just like Ryan.
Lionel put his hand on the brass handle of the front door and stopped. It was as if he was paralyzed, his legs heavy. The handle felt icy, though it was not that cold out. He forced himself to pull the heavy door open, and he was immediately struck with fear and dread by what he saw. This was nothing at all like he had assumed. The entire place had been turned into a storage area for white-sheeted bodies.
Lionel thought a morgue had one area for bodies in drawers. He knew, that was true, but it shouldn't have surprised him to find this morgue overcrowded, what with everything that had gone on.
Lionel felt the cold rush from the air conditioners. This place, the whole building, was cold as a refrigerator. Covered bodies were lined up on stretchers down both sides of the hallway, and Lionel could only assume that's the way it was all through the building.
A bored receptionist in a winter coat said, "You can't be in here, son. What are you doing?"
"fm here to identify a body," he said.
"All the bodies in here have been identified," she said.
Lionel dug the sheet of instructions from his pocket. "I'm looking for assistant medical examiner Ford," he said.
The receptionist paged him. "You'd better take a seat," she said. "No telling how long he'll be."
He was twenty minutes, time enough for Lionel to calm himself if he was able. But he was not able. All the wait did was to make him more upset. He wanted to be anywhere other than this creepy place. None of the dead bodies he had ever seen before were related to him. He had no idea how he would react.
Dr. Ford was a pudgy man in a hurry, and he was all business. "You're Washington? Where's Barnes?"
"Couldn't make it," Lionel said.
"This way, Washington."
Lionel followed the fast-walking doctor down the halls between the stretchers with bodies on them. He held his breath and looked neither right nor left. The doctor peeled a couple of sheets of paper back off his clipboard and studied a page. "andré Dupree, right?"
"Yes, sir."
"Age 36, male, African-American, 5 foot 8, 155 pounds?"
"That's him."
"He's in the back. You OK?"
"Yeah, just a little out of breath."
"Almost there."
"Could you do it slow?"
"What, walking? Lots to do, son. Never seen this many deaths in so short a time. Never anything like it."
"No, I mean, will you show me his body slow?"
"Meaning?"
"Like, don't whip the sheet off."
"I never do that."
"Good."
When Dr. Ford got to the back, the place looked more like what Lionel expected. Six bodies were lined up next to each other. The doctor lifted the bottom of the sheets and read the tags on the toes of two in the middle. "Dupree," he said. "Here are his effects, if you want them. We threw away the jeans. They were, um, stained with blood."
"Lots of it?"
"'Fraid so. This was a suicide, you know."
"I figured." Lionel was having trouble speaking loudly enough to be heard. He still wasn't sure he could keep from running out of there. The doctor handed him a manila envelope clasped by a red string. He unwound it with shaky fingers and saw his uncle's watch, bracelet, earring, ring, beeper, belt, and socks.
"He came in here with that and a pair of jeans and stocking feet."
Lionel nodded, dreading what was to come.
The doctor moved to the other end of the stretcher. "Ever done this before, son?"
Lionel shook his head.
"I'm just going to fold the sheet back to his chest and you can see his face."
"And then I identify him to you?"
"That's not necessary. Identity is not in question in this case. The personal effects were on the body and in the pockets. A neighbor identified him. He was in his own apartment. You can just look away for a moment if you'd like."
Lionel held the envelope in both hands, as if he were holding a hat in front of him. He heard the slow rustle of the sheet. "OK, son," Dr. Ford said.
Lionel stared, speechless, at the expressionless face, and his heart seemed to stop. He could hear himself breathing. He wanted to say something, but words would not come.
"All right?" the doctor said.
Lionel nodded, his lips quivering.
"Can you find your way out?" Dr. Ford said.
Lionel nodded again and hurried toward the door. He was afraid he was going to be sick. The corridors looked longer than ever, and he couldn't wait to get out to the warmth of the day. By the time he reached the receptionist's area he was running. He burst through the door and sprinted to the parking lot, jumping into the car.
"You look like you saw a ghost," Judd said, starting the car.
Lionel could only snort.
"Oh, sorry, man," Judd said. "I guess you sorta did, huh?"
Lionel nodded.
"That his stuff there?"
"Uh-huh." It was the first sound Lionel had emitted since seeing the body.
"Did he look like himself?" Judd asked.
"I wouldn't know," Lionel said. "He probably did. The only thing I know for sure is that that was not my uncle."
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Jerry B. Jerkins (www.jerryjenkins.com) is the author of more than one hundred books. The former vice president for publishing for the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, he also served many years as editor of Moody magazine. His writing has appeared in a variety of publications, including Reader's Digest Parade, inflight magazines, and many Christian periodicals. He writes books in foot genres: biographies, marriage and family, fiction for children, and fiction for adults.
Jenkins's biographies include books with Hank Aaron, Bill Gaither, Luis Palau, Walter Dayton, Orel Hershiser, Nolan Ryan, Brett Butler, and Billy Graham, among many others. The Hershiser, Ryan, and Graham books reached the New York Times best-sellers list
Four of his apocalyptic novels, coauthored with Tim IaHaye, Left Behind, Tribulation Force, Nicolae, and Soul Harvest have appeared on the Christian Booksellers Association's best-selling fiction list and the Publishers Weekly religion best-sellers list. Left Behind was nominated for Novel of the Year by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association in both 1997 and 1998.
As a marriage and family author and speaker, Jenkins has been a frequent guest on Dr. James Dobson's Focus on the Family radio program.
Jerry is also the writer of the nationally syndicated sports story comic strip Gil Thorp, distributed to newspapers across the United States by Tribune Media Services.
Jerry and Dianna and their sons live in northeastern Illinois and in Colorado.
Speaking engagement bookings are available through [email protected].
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Tim LaHaye is a noted author, minister, counselor, and nationally recognized speaker on family life and Bible prophecy. He is the founder and president of Family Life Seminars and the founder of The PreTrib Research Center. Presently Dr. LaHaye speaks at many of the major Bible prophecy conferences in the U.S. and Canada, where his seven current prophecy books are very popular.
Dr. LaHaye is a graduate of Bob Jones University and holds an MA. and Doctor of Ministry degree from Western Conservative Theological Seminary. For twenty-five years he pastored one of the nation's outstanding churc
hes in San Diego, which grew to three locations. During that time he also founded two accredited Christian high schools, a Christian school system of ten schools, and Christian Heritage College.
Dr. LaHaye has written over forty nonfiction titles, with over ten million copies in print in thirty-two languages. He has written books on a wide variety of subjects, such as family life, temperaments, and Bible prophecy. His current fiction works written with Jerry Jenkins, Left Behind, Tribulation Force, Nicolae, and Soul Harvest have all reached number one on the Christian best-seller charts. Other works by Dr. LaHaye are Spirit-Controlled Temperament; How to Be Happy though Married; Revelation, Illustrated and Made Plain; and a youth fiction series, Left Behind: The Kids.
He is the husband of Beverly LaHaye, founder and chairperson of Concerned Women for America. Together they have four children and nine grandchildren. Snow skiing, waterskiing, motorcycling, golfing, vacationing with family, and jogging are among his leisure activities.
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OTHER BOOKS
to look forward to
in the series:
LEFT BEHIND
>THE KIDS<
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#01: The Vanishings ISBN 0-8423-2193-4
#02: Second Chance ISBN 0-8423-2194-2
#03: Through the Flames ISBN 0-8423-2195-0
#04: Facing the Future ISBN 0-8423-2196-9
#05: Nicolae High ISBN 0-8423-4325-3
#06: The Underground ISBN 0-8423-4326-1
#07: Busted! ISBN 0-8423-4327-X
#08: Death Strike ISBN 0-8423-4328-8
#09: The Search ISBN 0-8423-4329-6
#10: On The Run ISBN 0-8423-4330-X
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Left Behind - The Kids 02 - Second Chance Page 9