Celestial Kingdom

by Stan Mason

  ‘Is this one of your whims, Sheila?’ he enquired suspiciously. ‘A way to get back at me!’

  ‘No... I really want you back. I really do!’

  ‘And what if I tell you I’m not interested any more?’ He intended to be incisive enough to rile her sufficiently to make her change her mind again.

  ‘I know you don’t mean that... not after all we shared in the past. It was only this religious idea that split us up but I can live with it now. And then there’s the children. They need a father. So... like a bad penny... love it or hate it... I’ve come back to you.’

  ‘Great!’ muttered Rebecca angrily, unable to mask her despair. ‘And I suppose we’ll all live in peace and harmony! Do you realise the problems you’re causing? This man has a mission... a cause. How do you expect him to continue with you around?’

  ‘I can’t see the problem. He loved me once before and I’ll make certain he loves me again. You see, love doesn’t die. It just gets jaded and needs refreshing, understanding and reconciliation.’

  ‘Mummy!’ called the eldest child. ‘I want a drink of orange.’

  The messenger’s gaze moved to Rebecca but she looked away in the other direction. She had no intention of becoming a main to Sheila Warrior or her children. ‘I’ll get him a drink,’ said his father meekly. He went into the kitchen emerging shortly with a glass of orange in his hand. ‘Thee you are, Peter,’ he said, passing it to the child before facing his wife. ‘Let’s try and make sense of this situation,’ he told her flatly, for he had no idea of the outcome. ‘You say you want to stay here. How final is that? I mean you can take the children to your parents and live there.’

  ‘I’m not going to live with them,’ retorted Sheila adamantly. ‘You know what they’re like... fussing, fussing, fussing!’

  ’that’s a bit thick!’ cut in Rebecca sharply. ’You say you’ve nowhere else to stay but you have... and they’ve probably got the room! You’re just hoping we’re soft enough to let you stay here. Well it’s not on!’

  ’How else could I get my husband back?’ returned Sheila curtly.

  Rebecca turned to her lover despairingly. ’Can we have a word in private please?’

  They went into the bedroom where she sat on the bed angrily. ’The nerve of that woman! She’s come her with your children insisting that she’s going to stay. Well I’m not having it, Stephen!’

  He inhaled deeply wishing he had the wisdom of Solomon but the truth was that he was very poor in dealing with domestic matters. ‘Let’s face it, darling,’ he told her. ‘We’ll have to put her up for a few nights... until she finds other accommodation.’

  ‘There’s no way she’s going to look for another place if she’s allowed to stay here!’ Rebecca was quite adamant with her assumption. ‘And if you let her in here, she’ll do everything in her power to force me out! Is that what you want?’

  ‘You’re taking this too seriously,’ he said feebly. ‘It won’t affect the way I feel about you. You’ve got to trust me.’

  ‘Huh!’ she snorted. ‘The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Can’t you see what she’s doing?’

  ‘She’s my wife,’ he bleated. ‘They’re my children. What can I do?’

  ‘I knew you’d take her side. What you should do is to throw her out on her ear. Call her bluff! That’s what any other man would do!’

  ‘If only it were that simple. There’s the children to think about. I’m afraid we’re stuck with her for a while but it won’t affect us.’

  ‘You’re a damned fool, Stephen!’ she snarled. ‘Of course it’s going to affect us!’ She gave a deep sigh and leaned back on the bed. ‘She means what she says, you know. She wants to get you back to become your lover again.’

  ‘No chance!’ he scoffed. ‘She’’ soon see the wood from the trees.’ He moved towards the door. ‘Just leave it with me. I’ll sort it out.’

  He left the room and she remained on the bed utterly devastated. The sudden intrusion of her lover’s wife seriously threatened her relationship with him. In fact she viewed it as a catastrophe. For exampled, how could they make love together if his wife and children were in the next room? The situation had become impossible! And then there was the threat from his wife that she wanted to win him back. Rebecca’s life was in a turmoil. Life had been so happy until that moment. Suddenly her world had been turned upside down.

  She sat there for five minutes and then the door opened as Warrior returned.

  ‘Well,’ he told her dolefully. ‘I’ve discussed the matter with Sheila. She says she’s willing to look for another place but she’s asked to stay here until she finds one. I told her that I’d give her a week and then she’d have to go.’

  ‘That’s no good!’ riposted his mistress irately. ‘If you let her stay even for one night you won’t get rid of her. She’s no fool. She’ll stay here for ever using the children as emotional blackmail. I can’t let that happen!’

  ‘What choice do I have?’ he bleated. The expression on his face indicated his despair.

  ‘If you let her stay, let us look for another place to live,’ suggested Rebecca trying to resolve the problem. ‘We can find a one-bedroom apartment and then she won’t be able to dump herself on us.’

  He looked rather uncomfortable with the idea but he realised it was the only solution to satisfy her. ‘All right,’ he said in accord. ‘We’ll look for another place tomorrow.’ He inhaled deeply to calm his emotions before sitting on the bed beside her. He leaned across, stroked her hair, and kissed her gently on the cheek. ‘Does that make you feel better?’

  She put her arms around him and kissed him on the lips. ‘Tell me she won’t turn you against me, Tell me!’

  ‘Of course she won’t!’ he confirmed in an attempt to allay her fears. ‘I love you... you know that! You’re the only one I want.’ He experienced a tinge of conscience once he had uttered the words when he remembered his sexual involvement with Xantha Vesta and the way he felt about the Goddess of Love.

  His mistress hugged him fiercely with satisfaction. ‘’If we look for another place tomorrow she can stay,’ she agreed. ‘We’ll have left in a couple of week’s time to leave her behind. Until then, it’s going to be very difficult with two women here. Both interest in you!’

  ‘We’ll get over that problem somehow,’ he concluded. After Sheila arrived to announce her plight, he had wanted the situation to simply go away but now he was delighted to have found the solution. ‘Come on!’ he continued, ‘let’s go and face her. If we keep our heads, everything will work out all right. I know her of old. She acts impulsively and eventually give up on them.’

  They returned to the lounge where Sheila Warrior was sitting on the settee with her children.

  ‘Well,’ she asked directly. ‘Have you come to a decision? Will you let me stay?’

  ‘You can stay,’ the messenger told her.

  ‘That’s right,’ echoed Rebecca calmly, although she felt her blood-pressure rising at the agreement. ‘If you come to the box-room you can help me sort it out. I think there’s a couple of mattresses in there. But you’ll have to sleep on the settee where you’re sitting.’

  Warrior’s wife looked at her in surprise. Rebecca’s attitude had changed considerably although it didn’t fool her for one minute. She knew that it was an act and she wondered what her husband’s mistress was plotting. She had obviously devised a plan in her mind but, whatever it was, it could be defended later. As far as Sheila was concerned, she had got her foot in the door and that was the most important thing to achieve at the present time. She was being allowed to live in the same house as her husband. Who knew what might become of it? Anything could happen! He might even fall in love with her again! That would be a feather in her cap. She considered it was a wise move to dispense with the shame of being marched with a man whose alleged religious
views made him a person to be mocked and ridiculed. It was far more important to force him to cast out his mistress tso that he could live with her again as husband and wife. She could actually emotionally blackmail him with the children to achieve her aim. However one thing was certain... now that she was staying with him, at least she was in with a chance!

  Chapter Nine

  The final meeting of the Christian Action Group took place three days later. The members were completely unaware that it would be the last occasion they would assemble. The wide difference of opinion on how to tackle the only item on the agenda was too much for them to accept. The methods by which to deal with Stephen Warrior and the diverse results of their considerations, were sufficient to drive a wedge between all of them. The venue was once again held at David Hamilton’s house and they filtered through the door to sit around the table staring moodily at each other. They had never arrived at a serious conclusion before and, from their expressions, it was almost certain they would fail to do so on this occasion. Therefore they tended to nurse their resentment of each other until the Chairman opened the meeting.

  Brown and Dobson deliberate kept their news a secret from the other members of the committee, As a result, they arrived with the adrenalin pumping through their veins and they could hardly contain themselves. They had intend to establish the greatest impact but, to their disappointment before they could relate their triumph, dissension broke out between the members. Richard Toomey, who had blazed a trail as a loner with the attention of harming or assassinating Warrior, decided to go on the warpath. His patience with such an ineffective committee was virtually exhausted. In his opinion, their decision to continued with the role of passive resistance was a hopeless attempt at stopping the messenger. Failing to come to any other conclusion was the last straw. He had only come to the meeting in a final hope of bringing sense to the other committee members by taking them to task.

  ‘For the last two meetings I’ve advocated we should eliminate Warrior,’ he ranted savagely, ‘but the decision went against me and I was outvoted. And what has happened? The man has grown from strength to strength. Firstly there was the article in the newspaper to bring attention to himself. Then he appeared on a television programme to pass on his message to the whole nation. And what does this committee do about it? We were told that if we left him alone he would fade into infinity. How wise was that decision? He’s getting his message across to all and sundry and, for all we know, there are thousands of Christians ready to follow him. This is the third time I’ve come to a meeting and, if nothing is decided positively today, it’ll be my last. I’ll have no option but to wash my hands of this toothless committee.’ He was determined to press home his argument regardless of whether he upset anyone else.

  ‘Hold on a moment!’ intervened the Chairman holding up his hands as if to stop the flow of emotion. ‘Before we go any further, I have something wish to tell the committee. Something I need to confess to you.’ He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts watching the faces of the members who stared at him wondering what he was going to say. ‘After our last meeting, I received a visitor here. A man by the name of Gabby Saunders.’

  ‘Not him... surely!’ spluttered Reilly in disbelief. ‘He’s the most violent bully known in these parts. If anyone was to harm Warrior, he’d be the one to do it. I wouldn’t be surprised if he burned down the Community Centre.’

  ‘Let the Chairman finish what he had to say!’ intervened Brown, eager to get the initial business of the committee out of the way so that he could present the information that he and Dobson had brought with them.

  Hamilton waited for them to settle down before continuing. ‘In the short conversation between Saunders and myself nothing was agreed. However, from what he assumed, he took it upon himself to deal with our adversary in the harshest possible way. I admit that I made no effort to dissuade him. He left believing he had the authority of this committee to exterminate the man. I’ve had sleepless nights about it.’

  ‘But Warrior’s still alive and kicking!’ cut in Toomey with an element of surprise in his voice. ‘He’s still out there passing on his message and now he’s started to advertise his healing talents.’

  ‘That’s the mystery,‘ went on the Chairman. Saunders has simply disappeared. His car was found outside St, Michael’s church last Sunday. Even stranger is the fact that the police were called in to examine a charred body laying on the altar. They’re checking the teeth with the local dentists to discover the identity of the person. However if Saunders fails to appear, I can only imagine that it’s his body although I’m at a loss to know how it became charred.

  ‘You believe that it’s his body then,’ commented Brown dolefully.

  ‘Well his car was found outside the church. With hand on heart, I believe it is him.’

  ‘But how did he get that way?’ asked Reilly seriously.

  ‘I understand there’s no signs of petrol or any other combustible materials or any knowledge of the body being burned elsewhere and carried to the church., It’s a mystery. The police are completely baffled.’

  A buzz of conversation went around the room as the enigma became the main topic of discussion until Toomey banged his hand hard down on the table. ‘Look!’ he shouted, ‘I think we should focus our minds on what we intend to do about Warrior! Don’t let us become side-tracked by other issues. If it is Saunders’s body, we ought to cross him off the list of assassins. He clearly failed to carry out his mission.’

  ‘Assassins!’ echoed Reilly in surprise. ‘Who said we had a list of assassins, let alone any agreement to harm Warrior? You’re way ahead of the situation, Mr. Toomey, unless you know something different.’

  The electrician rose to the bait and it was almost possible to see steam streaming from his nostrils. ‘Are you still going along with this nonsense of passive resistance,’ he snorted, ‘or do we progress sensibly and effectively?’

  Gentlemen! Gentlemen!’ intervened the Chairman solemnly. ‘Let’s not lose our tempers over this issue! Whether it’s Saunders or not there’s nothing we can do about it.’

  ‘How did he become a charred corpse? That’s what I want to know,’ enquired Dobson, running the index finger of his right hand along his moustache,

  ‘What difference does it make. If he’s dead, he’s no use to us any more,’ retaliated Reilly.

  ‘That’s a pretty callous way to talk about someone who tried to do something on our behalf,’ commented Brown with an element of remorse.

  ‘But he didn’t do anything to help us!’ submitted Reilly curtly.

  Hamilton raised his hands to try to establish harmony again. ‘Please!’ he called out at the top of his voice. ‘If you have anything to say kindly do it through the chair.’ He paused until they all settled down. ‘I fear that we have to take some form of action against our adversary. He’s gaining too much ground and we’re letting him get away with it. The passive stance doesn’t seem to work. Saunders clearly failed. So where do we go from here?’

  This was the ideal moment for Brown to intervene with the information in his possession and he didn’t fail to use it to his best advantage. ‘I’ve got something this committee would die for,’ he explained with a broad grin on his face. He removed the photocopies from his briefcase with shaking hands.

  The other members of the committee stared at him blankly with the exception of Dobson who decided to inform them of his part in the affair so that he could claim some credit. ‘I did the research,’ he told them boastfully. I went through years of newspapers to come up with the goods. Years and years of them until my head ached and my eyes hurt. It was worth it in the end.’

  Brown waited until the older man had finished before giving his colleague an austere glare and then he continued with his revelation. ‘We discovered the skeleton in our adversary’s cupboard,’ he announced boldly. ‘Gordon and I did our research to see wh
at we could dig up. I can inform you that eight years ago, Warrior was arrested by the police on charges of arson and murder. He was alleged to have killed both his parents in the fire. It’s all here in print... in black and white!’

  The committee fell completely silent as he passed around the photocopies. Reilly picked one up and read it eagerly but the rest of the committee were reduced to silence.

  ‘How’s it he’s still walking the streets?’ demanded Toomey aggressively looking somewhat puzzled. ‘Why wasn’t he sentenced to twenty years in jail?’

  Dobson grimaced knowing in advance that the question would be asked. ‘The police dropped the charges for lack of evidence. Thee wa no Court case... no further newspaper cuttings... nothing!’

  ‘So what use is this information?’ enquired Toomey equally aggressively. ‘If the charges were dropped and the man is free, what value do you hope to gain from it?’

  ‘I think that’s obvious,’ countered Brown staring at the electrician as though he was an oaf. ‘If we reveal these details, which have already been published, people will believe that he killed his parents. Mud sticks, you know. Once they learn that he was arrested and charged with arson and murder they’ll make up their own minds about him. Then his message will fade into obscurity.’

  ‘And remember,’ added Dobson. ‘He was charged with arson and the Community Centre was burned down.’

  ‘But he wasn’t found guilty!’ insisted Reilly justifiably. ‘He has the greatest defence in the world... his innocence!’

  ‘Do you think the public will go along with that once they find out he was arrested and charged with those crimes?’ continued Brown, angry at the unexpected opposition by the other members of the committee. It was his belief that they would fall over themselves with excitement to provide support but, in reality, they resisted him!

  ‘Not really!’ retorted Toomey becoming exceedingly tired with yet another red-herring the committee would chase to futility. ‘He’ll just go on and on until enough people decide to follow him. Information of this kind is merely a smear. Yes... some people will take the adverse view but it could end up backfiring on us. As Mr. Reilly said, the man’s innocent.’