Glassing the Orgachine

by David Marusek

  Everyone knew there was more to the story than Deut was letting on, and no one (including Poppy) was leaning too hard on her to spill it.

  Why not? Maybe because if Uzzie was brimming with Satan’s strength instead of the Father’s, one might observe that Uzzie was a drowning victim after all. He was dead dead, and Pastor Bunyan and son and Adam and Hosea had all begged Poppy to stop trying to raise him from the dead. Yes, Father God gives men the authority to perform miracles like raising the dead, but after you offer up a boatload of prayer and the corpse doesn’t stir, you have to conclude that Father God is saying, Sorry, this one is Mine now. And if you continue to pray after this, no, not pray — demand a miracle, command Father God to return the child — well, maybe Lucifer steps in and performs the deed instead. Only then it’s not a real miracle but its opposite, a vile sin of hubris and pride. Satan can’t actually raise the dead but can only animate the corpse. So they may have already lost Uzzie to drowning before the demons collected him on the chopper. Therefore Poppy left his second-born daughter to stew in her own anguish and declined to probe too deeply into the matter. Better to harbor a mystery than a travesty.

  Proverbs was having nothing to do with mystery. “The demons got Ginger. That’s the only thing that makes sense. We drove seven demons from her soul. You were there; you took part; you witnessed the demons leaving her one by one. Didn’t you?”

  “Yes,” Deut said. “I did.”

  “We cleansed her soul of evil spirits.”

  “We did.”

  “She loved me. She wanted to marry me, to have my babies. You heard her say that, sister, didn’t you? She asked if it was all right to bring her parents here to shelter with us. She dreamed of having her own kitchen window!”

  “Yes, she did. I heard her say it.”

  “So the only way she could’ve left was against her will. Right? It only makes sense. If demons can carry Uzzie away in a chopper, why not Ginger too? People in town say they heard two choppers that night. Who’s to say the second chopper wasn’t for her?”

  No one, there was no one to say it. Least of all Deut, who knew why the chopper came the second time — to drop her and the ranger off.

  And the next day when Deut was caring for her mother and saw that Mama P had wet herself, Deut didn’t change her right away but let her sit in her own pee for the rest of the afternoon. Why? She didn’t know why except to punish Mama for abandoning her for so long.

  When Sue discovered this, she went off on Deut in front of the children. But Deut shut her down fast.

  “Who put you in charge, Sue? Why don’t you mind your own business and leave me alone.”

  After Worship Time, Adam took his sister aside for a quiet correction. “Sue will be my wife, and since I’m the eldest, she will have authority over you. Better get used to it now, or do you want me to talk to Poppy about how you disrespect Mama?”

  The correction was unnecessary because Deut was already repenting her unloving act on her own. And the next day she apologized to her mother for letting her sit in urine-soaked clothes, or she tried to, she broke down in hot tears of repentance and shame and could not speak. She rested her head on her mother’s warm chest and wept.

  They were in a corner of the new common room. Deut had been brushing Mama P’s hair. The babies interrupted their play to watch their sister crying. So many tears in the keep lately. Deut turned her back to the babies and spoke softly to her mother.

  “Mama, please come back; we need you. We miss you and we really need you. Uzzie says you’re not in Heaven, so why do you stay away? Don’t you love us anymore?

  “Mama, I don’t know what to do. Uzzie’s gone; I couldn’t stop him. He said he was doing the Father’s work, but how do I know that’s true?

  “And Ginger’s gone too, and nobody knows why. And Sarai’s off by herself all the time like she doesn’t even live with the rest of us. And Sue is being so bossy. I don’t see why I have to obey her, even if she is Adam’s betrothed.”

  Once started, Deut couldn’t stop pouring out her doubts and grievances to her mother. Though Mama P sprawled motionless on her lounger, with eyes closed or staring into space, without a hint of awareness, just the possibility that at some level she was still listening was enough for Deut. She was so sick of being a motherless child.

  “Mama, there’s a man lives in town. He’s a ranger, Ranger Rick, but that’s not his real name.” Deut didn’t say his real name because she hated him so much. “I don’t think he’s a demon like the rest, but he did drive us to the glacier where the chopper was. He tried to help but didn’t know what to do any better than me.

  “Mama, Ginger says Poppy hurt my sister.

  “Mama, I’ll be 26 when this is over and we can all live outside again. But what then? Will Elder Brother Jesus come and lift us to Heaven right away? Or will we stay here longer? Will the people in Heaven who missed out on being married on Earth be allowed to get married then? And, you know, raise families in Heaven? I want a house, Mama, and a righteous man for a husband. I want babies, lots of babies. Well, maybe not as many as you, but three or four at least, maybe five or six. I want my life to magnify His glory so that unbelievers can see Him through me.

  “Plus, I want a house outside of a cave, with a porch for sitting and windows for looking out of every room.”

  Especially the kitchen.

  “Mama, there’s a girl, Ginger. You know who I mean. She’s a good person in Christ and she was my friend. She wanted to stay with us here and bring her whole family too. But now she’s gone. She went away — or was taken away — and we don’t know why or how. She loves Proverbs and he loves her and now he’s desperate. He wears his eyepatch all the time now and he talks crazy and rides around every day looking for her. What’s happening to us, Mama? Are we all going nuts? I just want a normal life. Is that so much to ask?”

  SOMETIME DURING THE night, lying in her narrow bed, with her husband snoring fitfully in the next bed, Mama Prophecy gasped. Her body spasmed violently, and her breathing became loud and labored before stopping altogether. Her last breath was a long overdue sigh. Mama P passed from this life.

  Poppy snored on.

  SB2 1.0

  WITH DINNER COOLING in the kitchen, the children dragged benches into circles around Poppy’s chair and Mama’s lawn lounger.

  Deut didn’t help. She sat in the corner with her head down. This got everyone’s attention. Sue and Sarai expertly carried Mama to her lounger, covering her legs with an afghan. Mama’s ears looked deep red, like she had been lying on them. But how could she lie on both at the same time? Her face seemed flushed as well, especially her too rosy cheeks. Sue felt her forehead, but the results were inconclusive. Oddly, Mama’s mouth didn’t seem to want to stay shut. Her jaw just flopped open, and every time Sue or Sarai shut it, it flopped open again. They finally propped it shut with a pillow. They were more concerned than they let on. Even for Mama this was an alarming loss of bodily function.

  Sue and Sarai took their seats when Adam, Hosea, and Corny came in and took theirs. Proverbs was missing, pulling guard duty at the gate.

  They waited with empty bellies and listened attentively to the creaks and groans of the floorboards that would herald Poppy’s entrance. When he did come down from the bedroom, everyone sat up straight except for Deut. She just wasn’t feeling it tonight.

  Poppy shuffled to his chair in slippers. He was dressed in his habitual flannel shirt and bibbed trousers. Someone had trimmed his bushy beard, lopping off the bottom third. Maybe he’d done it himself. He unsnapped his holster and removed the soft-leather-bound old volume of scriptures.

  When he sat, toddler Elzie was right there at his side with outstretched arms, demanding to be elevated to the throne of his lap. Poppy always obliged. Elzie was the only child who could tell him what to do. Poppy’s former favorite, Uzzie, usually sat in the front row, closest to his feet. Not anymore.

  When Poppy and Elzie were comfortably settled, and before Poppy
could open his mouth to invoke the Creator’s presence at their little circle, Deut stood up. She quickly and silently made her way through the maze of benches and chairs to the kitchen doorway. Before leaving, Deut paused to say, “I need some air.” She was gone before Poppy could stop her. Out the back door to the porch and the utter darkness of the backyard. She’d left without grabbing a lantern, took only a jacket from a peg. The eternal jacket weather of the keep. Chilly temps but no snow in the forecast, ever. She zipped herself up and felt her way in the darkness to the steps to sit down. She jammed her hands into her pockets. It really was like sitting in a refrigerator with the door shut. She might as well be a bowl of leftovers.

  A little while later, with the creak of hinges and an onslaught of light, Cora came out to join her, brandishing an LED lantern. She made a show of searching the porch and the ground surrounding the steps with the light.

  “So, did you throw up? I don’t see it.”

  “It’s not that kind of sick.”

  “Good for you. Sue sent me out to check.”

  Cora turned back to the cottage, and Deut said, “Why are you being so mean to me?”

  “Excuse me,” Cora said. “Me being mean to you?”

  “You treat me like I’m an outcast, not like I’m your sister.”

  Such an accusation might have worked in the past to soften Cora’s attitude, but tonight she stood her ground and delivered a cold observation:

  “The glacier where you said your helicopter landed is twenty-three miles (37 km) away.”

  Everyone knew how far away it was. “So?”

  “So, Sue says you said Uzzie was so strong he could do whatever he wanted and you couldn’t stop him. Is that true?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “So how did you and him make it twenty-three miles like that on foot? Hosea and Proverbs were using our sno-gos. Was our brother so strong he could pick you up and run with you all the way to Caldecott? That’s a sight I’d like to see.”

  Deut had no answer.

  “I didn’t think so. Shame on you, sister. Shame.”

  “Wait. First tell me what you’re shaming me for.”

  “You want me to say it out loud? All right, I will. You didn’t walk there; someone must’ve picked you up and drove you. My bet is on Ranger Rick. He’s involved in all of this, isn’t he? And you’re lying about it to Poppy, aren’t you?”

  She waited for Deut’s confession, but Deut wasn’t ready to confess.

  “I didn’t lie about it. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Then set me straight.”

  “So you can blab it all over Creation?”

  Cora fumed. “I’ll blab it to whoever has a right to know it and to no one else.”

  It had felt good confiding in Mama P, telling her the whole story, but as far as her sister went, Cora was an inconstant ally. “That’s not good enough.”

  They were at an impasse, but Cora’s curiosity was burning bright. “Okay, I won’t tell anyone.”

  “Promise me.”

  “I promise.”

  “All right. Uzzie was doing Father God’s work, like I said, and Father God gave him gifts in order to accomplish it, including Samson-like strength. Father God wanted our brother to meet that helicopter, and He must have told the ranger to come pick him up. He was just the driver, nothing else, and he didn’t even do that part right. That’s the truth. You can’t tell anyone.”

  It wasn’t enough for Cora.

  “He’s demon-filled.”

  “He is not.”

  “He’s not saved.”

  “No, I don’t believe he is.”

  They fell silent for a little while. They could hear their father’s voice droning on through the wall but couldn’t make out his words.

  Cora said, “You coming in?”

  “In a little while.”

  Cora was preparing to go inside when there was a sound that made them both stop and listen. A baby was laughing, but not from inside the cottage.

  “Who was that?” Cora said.

  “Is Elzie in the house?”

  “He must be. He was sitting on Poppy’s lap when I left.”

  “Nummy? See-Saw?”

  “They’re all inside.”

  “Give me that.” Deut grabbed the lantern and raised it above her head to peer into the darkness. “Hello?” she called. “Who’s there?” She started down the steps.

  “Don’t go!” Cora said. “Let’s get a brother to check it out.” But Deut was already heading into the enormous chamber, and after a little prayer, Cora hurried to catch up.

  They followed the path of stones to the construction site of Adam and Sue’s future cottage, stopping to call out and listen every few yards. They searched behind the piles of lumber and building material.

  “Did we just imagine it?” Cora said. “Let’s go back.”

  “I didn’t imagine anything.”

  “Maybe it was demons playing tricks.”

  “The keep is double-anointed against demons. You know that.”

  “Still.”

  Deut turned on her sister. “If demons can get in here so easy, my dear sister, then they could’a took Ginger like Proverbs says they did. And that means demons could’a took Uzzie too. Is it my fault or the demons’? Make up your mind.”

  They heard it again, clearly a baby, babbling, laughing. It was coming from further back in the chamber.

  “Come on,” Deut said, dragging her sister by the arm.

  The sound led them deep into the heart of the chamber. Every time they should have reached its source, it receded a little further. They hummed a reassuring little hymn as they went. The enormity of the space swallowed up the puny light of their lantern. Deeper and deeper they advanced until the LED bulb flickered once and went out. Total darkness rushed in. Deut shook the lantern and fiddled with the switch, but nothing helped.

  Cora squeezed her arm.

  “Easy,” Deut said. “That hurts.”

  “I’m afraid.”

  “Obviously.”

  “Aren’t you?”

  “I already faced down demons, sister. What do you think?”

  “Let’s go home.”

  “If you want to go, then go.”

  “Will you come with me?”

  Deut shouted into empty space. “Where are you? Don’t be afraid. We won’t hurt you.”

  After a few moments with no reply from the mysterious baby, Deut said, “Okay, let’s go.”

  But go where? The chamber around them was totally, utterly, hopelessly dark, and there were no stars or moon or even a porch light to steer by, no candle in a non-existent window. But Deut picked a direction and set boldly forth with her arms stretched out before her. The stone floor was pocked with potholes and littered with gravel and stones, and without the lantern they had to take it slow. They seemed to walk a very long while without arriving anywhere. Eventually, Cora began to cry.

  “Now what?” Deut said.

  “We’re lost.”

  “We’re not lost. How can we be lost when we’re inside a big room? All we have to do is walk in a straight line in any direction and eventually we’ll come to a wall. Then we just follow the wall. And even if we have to go all the way around the chamber, we’ll get back home.”

  “Unless we’re walking in circles,” Cora pointed out.

  “Then let’s be careful not to walk in circles.”

  They walked a while longer, arms outstretched, but they reached no wall.

  “Let’s pray,” Deut suggested. “Dear Holy Spirit, we could really use some guidance about now. Please help me and my sister to find our way home. In Elder Brother Jesus name. Amen.”

  “Amen.”

  They set off again, and soon the chilly subterranean air seemed to warm up a bit, and there was a pleasant odor, like cinnamon toast and rose petals.

  “What’s that smell?” Cora said.

  “That’s me!” said the baby. Its voice was coming from somewhe
re over their heads. They looked up but the darkness was complete.

  “Who are you?” Deut said.

  “Are you a demon?” Cora added.

  The baby giggled. “Behold!” it said.

  The vast stone vault above them began to glow like the dawn sky. Soon they could make out the baby’s silhouette. He was a plump boy all but naked hovering over them on tiny angel wings. A cherub! He offered his hand in a gesture of invitation. “Follow me,” he cried and began to rise higher in the air.

  But Deut wasn’t an angel; she didn’t have wings; how was she to follow? Yet she did leave the ground, her feet tread air, and when she looked down, her sister’s astonished face was gazing up at her. Meanwhile, the dawn sky turned the purest blue she’d ever seen. A bank of billowing white clouds parted, and golden rays of sunshine broke through and clothed her in glory. Trumpets sounded, and a chorus of voices cried out Hosannah.

  A puffy little cloud appeared high above. Either it descended, or she rose, because they met in the sky. Standing on the cloud was the most beautiful man ever. He wore a long robe made of snowy white linen, cinched at the waist with a kingly purple sash. A nimbus of golden light suffused his glossy hair. He was just as Uzzie had described Him.

  “Lord!” Deut gasped. “Elder Brother Jesus.” But then she remembered what Uzzie had told her and corrected herself. “I mean, Jesus.”

  He smiled, acknowledging her, and His smile filled her with joy, almost more than she could bear. For a long while they beheld each other, lost in eternal bliss. He broke the spell, looking behind Himself. When she followed His gaze she saw that she was in the Throne Room of Heaven. And there on the throne was the Father, too bright to look at. Deut fell to her knees, but she was already on her knees. It was all so confusing. Jesus smiled again and winked with divine mischief as He lifted the hem of His robe to reveal a little boy sitting between His sandals. It was Uzzie! Her brother looked so lighthearted, he looked so content. Jesus lifted Uzzie up to kiss his cheek, then playfully tossed him into the air. Uzzie went up and up and didn’t fall but soared on brand new wings. Her brother, far from being lost in a volcano, was a saint in a white robe and yellow sash. He flew around the throne room and alighted on a higher cloud where stood a group of saints who Deut had never met but knew just the same: Nana and Grandfather Johnson, cousins Pete and Gladys from Mama’s side of the family, and her own stillborn baby sister Incense, to name just a few. Even the ones whose names she didn’t know, she knew, like in a dream. And, just as Uzzie had said, Mama wasn’t among them.