A Glimpse Of Tomorrow

by K. T. Martina

Three weeks had passed since the first youth group meeting and as far as Nathan was concerned, things were going great. The Mercer boys were showing up each Saturday ready to work and doing a good job at whatever task they were face with. They had already painted the front porch and columns, mowed the yard and planted new flowers at the message board. The floors had been scrapped of gum and polished. Every window was washed and even the stained glass gave the impression of being more brilliant than ever.

  Clayton and Joshua had become good friends and Kellie was holding her own in the presence of Kimberly who found a new respect for her best friend. There had been a few times that some of the kids brought up topics to discuss that left Nathan and Bill stunned, but they made it through by basing answers on the bible and then following up the next week, once they had time to study and discuss each one in detail.

  Nathan had let Bill in on everything that was going on outside of the church and began to share the duties of the church too. They had been to Rising Sun Rehab Center twice a week to check on Carol and keep her up to date on Thaddeus and the kids. He had been keeping in touch with the women that were helping with the kids and he was enjoying the time that he had been able to spend with the kids although it only made him miss his children even more.

  There was no shortage of students at the high school that were in need of guidance and he was enjoying his new found position in God’s plan, which is what he now called his life. He had sat and talked to a surprising number of boys and girls that were facing everything from divorce in their family to suicide, and failing grades to failed relationships. The students for the most part were responding rather well considering all that is on a teenager’s plate these days.

  As he sat at his desk making notes on the last student to visit there was a gentle knock on his door. He looked up from his desk and saw Henry Campbell, the Principal standing with a man in a blue suit and two police officers. His stomach sank and his heart skipped a beat or two. He hurried to the door and opened it. The look on Henry’s face expressed the gravity of the situation.

  “Henry?”

  Henry stepped aside as the man in the blue suit pushed his way into the office. “Are you Nathan Foster?”

  “I am. What has happened?”

  “My name is Phillip Baker; I’m from the Department of Child Services. Have you been to the New Covenant Church on the past three Saturdays with Bo, Jimmy and Danny Mercer?

  “Yes I have. Are you going to tell me what’s going on or what?” Nathan said getting irritated at the man’s attitude.

  “Ok,” Baker said nodding to the officers. They came into the office and one pulled out handcuffs. “Please turn around and place your hands on your head.” Nathan did as he was told but then he became confused and unable to think clearly. “You have the right…Blah, blah, blah. Nathan heard nothing else as he was escorted through the school. What was going on? What has happened to the Mercer boys? He couldn’t put the pieces together at first, but then he began to calm his mind by thinking about the conversation he had with Bill in his kitchen a few weeks earlier.

  Kids lined up along the halls as others came out of the classrooms. Some were stunned and others were furious that Mr. Foster of all people would be arrested. He had helped so many of these kids and they, in turn, helped each other.

  “Hey! Stupid pigs, let him go!” One boy called out.

  They were yelling and swearing when Nathan got to the main entrance doors and stopped. He looked at the officer on his left. “May I address them, please?”

  “Be careful.” He said and turned Nathan around to face the crowd.

  “Come on kids, is this how we handle an issue or do we find out what is going on, assess it, and figure the best way to handle it. Whatever happens… there’s a reason. Go back to class.” They turned back around and a boy stepped out of the crowd and walked into the middle of the hallway.

  “Mr. Foster, we almost lost you once, we won’t let you go again.”

  Nathan had no words, but the officer did. He leaned in and quietly said, “These kids love you. You're a good man in my book.”

  Nathan turned and replied, “Thanks but it’s not your book that I’m interested in.”

  The officer chuckled, and shook his head, then escorted Nathan through the door and down the sidewalk to his police car. He opened the back door and Nathan took a seat. He closed the door and got in to the driver’s seat. A minute later another officer got into the passenger’s side. They began their trip to the police station and the officers began to discuss a birthday party for one of their kids but Nathan just sat back and looked out the window.

  When they arrived at the run-down police station they pulled into a large garage area and a heavy steel door began to lower behind them giving the impression of a castle’s gate. Iron pumping behemoths in uniforms waited for the door to seal and then came to the car like a group of Minotaur with biceps as large as his thighs and shirts two sizes too small, straining every seam. They took Nathan to the clerk seated behind a two-inch-thick window for booking, finger printing and photographing.

  Nathan inquisitively looked around since he had never been inside of a police station. His first thought was, how cold and intimidating it was, from the impersonal attitudes of the officers to the large bulky partitioning walls and massive steel cell doors. After giving his name and address and other obscure details about himself, he stood at a white cinderblock wall with horizontal lines marking off a perp’s height in one inch increments, and held a filthy black placard with plastic white letters spelling out his name and case number.

  He hadn’t been spoken to other than for basic directions of where to stand and where to place his hands from any of the city paid civil servants. Until officer Brenneman saw him in the mugshot booth. He looked not at Nathan’s face but instead at the placard he was holding. He walked over to Nathan. His shoes making a clickety-clop noise like a two legged horse.

  “Mr. Foster?” He asked as he approached.

  “Nathan.” He replied.

  “From the high school?”

  “Yes sir”

  “You know this guy Chuck?” Asked the officer behind the camera, to the approaching officer.

  “Ya, he’s the one I told you about, you know, the whole thing with Quincy.”

  “This guy? You sure?”

  “Mr. Foster, Nathan, did you have a talk with a boy at school named Quincy Brenneman?”

  Nathan thought about it, “Ya, I think so. He’s on the football team, right? And doesn’t he have a mohawk?” The officer nodded his head and Nathan continued. “If I remember correctly, he said that you and he were not getting along very well. We met a couple times to talk. How’s he doing?”

  “Yup, that’s my boy. I got to tell ya, you really helped me out. He came home from school last week and his whole attitude was different. He apologized for busting my chops about working so much and offered to help out around the house more. I have to admit, he’s been true to his word. I really appreciate whatever it was that you said to him.”

  Then it dawned on him that Nathan wasn’t on a tour of the police station, but he was a detainee. So he asked the other officer, “So Lloyd, what’s he in for? J-walking?”

  “CDM.”

  “Really? You sure we got the right guy?”

  “Excuse me gentlemen, what is CDM?” Nathan slid in.

  “Contributing to the delinquency or a minor.” Answered Chuck

  “What?” Gasped Nathan. “You’ve got to be kidding me?”

  Lloyd looked at the folder on the table beside the camera. “Says here, there are three counts of CDM.”

  Chuck and Nathan looked at each other dumbfounded. “Is that serious?” Nathan asked.

  Chuck scratched his head, “Could be. It depends on the circumstances. It can be a slap on the wrist or three to five years per incident.”

  “Come with me.” Said Lloyd with a little less
hostility than he previously had. “I need to take you to Detective Yoon now.”

  Nathans brain was telling him to just cooperate although his gut was about to go off the deep end. So he closed his eyes and whispered, “God use me, even now while I am out of my comfort zone.”

  Lloyd huffed at Nathan’s simple prayer, “Let’s go.” He snapped, and led Nathan down a foggy grey hallway to a vacant room with a metal table and two chairs; one on either side of the table. The door was open and Nathan walked in and took a seat. Officer Lloyd pulled the door closed from the outside with a thud and a loud click from the heavy duty locking system. Nathan watched as Lloyd took one last look back at Nathan through the wire reinforced window, then walked away.

  Nathan looked around at his new surroundings. It wasn’t like any interrogation room that he saw on prime time television or even in the movies. It was just a room, a lifeless void of concrete and cinderblock. He closed his eyes and placed his hands on the table, his cold steel handcuffs rattling loudly on the table top. “God, I’m not sure what your plan is, but, whatever it is, I will do my best in my part of it. I am yours, and I know you will never leave me or forsake me, and I thank you for that.”

  When he finished his prayer he sat quiet and patient. His ability to gauge just how long he had been setting there became diminished by the numbness of the room and the fact that now he wondered what he would do if he felt the urge to use the facilities. Maybe they were watching him and they would see his urgency. He didn’t think they would hear him yell but maybe if he banged on the door they would come to his aid.

  Unexpectedly there was a loud click and the door swung open. In the doorway stood a beefy woman with long brown hair tied up in a ponytail, looking as though she was forged from iron or molten lava. Her hardened face was devoid of any expression other than contempt for the man before her now. Her tight white button down shirt slid into her designer blue jeans like a waterfall into a deep dark pond. He was sure it was a man’s shirt rather than a woman’s blouse based in the way the buttons were on the right and how it and her black leather shoulder holster were less than flattering to a female figure. But it made sense since dainty silk shirts are not as durable as heavy cotton shirts, and that must be something you learn after some time of doing this job.

  Her golden badge hung over her brown leather belt just to the left of a Smith and Wesson belt buckle conveying the message, “Don’t even think of messing with me,” and by no means did Nathan want to anyway. She stepped to the table leaving the door ajar slightly as if daring him to make a break for it. She slapped a dark green folder on the table in front of Nathan and then spun the other chair around and straddled it like a horse. “So what kind of freak are you anyway.” She blurted out.

  Nathan was taken aback by the comment, “excuse me?”

  “Oh, come off it. You guys are all alike. You gain these kids trust and then you get um liquored up or stoned and then WHAM!” She slammed her fist hard on the table, making the handcuffs vibrate against the bones in Nathan’s wrist. It stung but he didn’t let her see that it hurt. “You take advantage of them. You make me sick. I wish there were still firing lines just for creeps like you.”

  Nathan was about to speak when the door to the room swung open and a white haired man in a dark blue suit walked in, “Not another word Mr. Foster.”

  “But I didn’t say…”

  “Not another word sir.” Then he placed his camel hide briefcase on the table. “This interview is over detective. I am Bernard Silverton and I am representing Mr. Foster. So if you don’t mind I would like a minute alone with my client.”

  The detective stood up and spun the chair around and placed it back under the table, and without a word made her way to the door. But before she left the room, Nathan asked, “Detective?” She stopped and looked at Nathan, “Detective Yoon is it?”

  “Ya, so what of it.”

  “Nathan,” Bernard said trying to stop any more words from exiting Nathan’s mouth but Nathan just ignored him and said, “I don’t know what those files say I did, but I can assure you, those files are wrong.”

  The detective didn’t respond as she turned and walked out of the room closing the door behind her. Then Nathan turned to Bernard who turned his attention to the green folder and began was rifling through it. Nathan began with, “I didn’t hire you.”

  “I know.” The attorney said still flipping pages and looking over the reports. “You had a meeting with my granddaughter and she assured me that these are bogus claims and that you could have never done what they are saying. So naturally, she persuaded me to help you out.” He stopped and looked up, “She is going to make a very good attorney one day.”

  “Well sir, I’m sorry but there’s no way I can afford an attorney.”

  “Like I said Mr. Foster, a very good attorney. My firm is doing this pro-bono.” Bernard replied.

  “Ok, listen, I don’t need an attorney. I’m innocent.”

  “Ya, and so was Jesus. He was way more innocent than you and they still convicted him.” Bernard opened his briefcase and pulled out his bible, flipped through it and laid it in front of Nathan. “Read the highlighted part.

  Nathan began to read aloud; "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.…”

  Nathan looked up at Bernard who was still standing watching Nathan. Bernard raised his eyebrow as if to say, “See?”

  “What makes you think they hate me?”

  “Do you give biblical advice in a public school?”

  “Ya.”

  “Did you invite these kids to come to a church and learn about God and Jesus and how to live a godly life?”

  “Ya, but…”

  “Do you do it for personal gain or because you know they need God in their life?”

  “Because they need God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit.”

  “Turn over to Mathew chapter ten verse twenty-two and read it also.”

  “You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Nathan read. “And if they hate me, then they hate me. I know what waits on the other side and I can endure whatever they dish out.” He closed the bible, “but I believe that God will protect me and if he wants me out of here, then he’ll get me out of here.”

  Bernard smiled and laughed, “Are you really that blind? That’s why I’m here. Do you think God is going to send an army of angles to bust you out of here or have Jesus himself come down and represent you in court? Or do you think he would have put someone, like my granddaughter in your life so that someone like me can come and help you out. Trust me Mr. Foster; you're not the only one that has been called to help others. God uses all things for good, even us lawyers.”

  “Ok, I get it.” Nathan smiled, “What do you need from me?”

  “Do you know these boys?” He slid three reports in front of Nathan and he read the names at the top of the pages.

  “Are you kidding me?” Nathan laughed. “Yes I do. I even know their father, Billy Joe Mercer. We had a run in a while back. They were picking on another kid during youth group, and Pastor Bill and I got on to them about it, then their father got involved. For a punishment they had to come by the church every Saturday and do some work. We hoped that if they were more involved they might take more pride in their own actions and maybe become more respectful of the church and those in it.” Nathan shook his head. “They were really doing good too.”

  Bernard picked up one of the reports, “It says here that you took them to your home and gave them alcohol and even smoked marijuana. But they said they ran away before anything else happened.”

  “They have never been to my home as far as I know and as for the drugs and drinking, that’s just not true at all. I don’t drink, othe
r than the occasional beer with a friend, or do drugs and would never offer it to anyone else, especially kids.”

  “Ok then,” Bernard started to pack up his briefcase, “You’ll need to stay here tonight but I’ll be back in the morning and see if we can clear this up.”

  “That’s it?” Nathan asked somewhat surprised.

  “If you say you didn’t do this, then I need to find out what’s going on. So yes, that’s it. Have a good night Mr. Foster.”

  Bernard left and Detective Yoon came back to take Nathan to get an orange jumpsuit and take him to a cell.

  As Nathan, Detective Yoon and Officer Lloyd walked through the police station, Nathan caught a glimpse of a Subway wrapper on one of the officer’s desks. “You think I can get something to eat, I’m starved.” Detective Yoon and Lloyd looked at each other.

  “Ya, we’ll get you something.” Lloyd said. “Any requests?”

  “No, just whatever will be fine.” Nathan replied completely missing the sarcasm. At this point he had been in custody for about seven hours and he was hungry and tired. He was brought to a cell with a concrete bunk covered by a worn out, soiled mattress with an olive green blanket folded at the bottom and a penny-flat pillow on it. In the back of the cell stood a stainless steel commode and a tiny stainless steel sink to match. “I like what you’ve done with the place.”

  “Very funny,” said Lloyd, “I’ll bring you some food in a little while.”

  “Ok, thanks.”

  Nathan got in the cell and Lloyd said, “Chuck asked me to go easy on you, so normally you’d have to get undressed out here but… Anyway change into your pumpkin suit and hand me back your clothes, you can keep your underwear and socks but everything else goes into your cage.”

  Nathan did as he was told. Then he stretched out on his bunk, folded his pillow under his head and stared at the ceiling thinking about how awful it must feel for prisoners to be in here not knowing when they would get out, without having the love of God to comfort them and feeling utterly and completely alone. He knew his cell was empty but he still felt the presence of God and Jesus and even Daniel from the lion’s den, then the more he thought the more he thought of John the Baptist, and Paul and Peter and so many others jailed for doing God’s work. He knew that he was among friends in his tiny six by nine-foot cell and that was enough. He closed his eyes and fell fast asleep.

  Shortly after he fell asleep Lloyd came to the door and looked in through the small window and saw Nathan sleeping. He called another officer to stand at the door and he took the food into the cell and placed it on the sink. When he came back out the other officer said, “I can’t remember the last time someone made himself at home so easily.”

  “Ya, this guy acts like he hasn’t got a care in the world” Lloyd said as they walked away.

  “You think he’s good for it?” asked the other officer. Referring to if Lloyd though Nathan did what he was accused of.

  “No, I think he’s getting messed with. From what I’ve heard about him, he’s a good guy. I can’t see him doing that.”