by Francis CoCo
He was silent for a minute and I said, “So, you believe that the point of the dream was to show you that the Earth was flat?”
“Yes. Because, I never went around- I shot straight across – from one end of the Earth to the other- a straight shot- flat- I flew straight across until it ended. Until I came to the wall of water.”
“Then what happened?” I said. Max had pulled over. We were sitting in an empty parking lot a boarded up Burger King. The sign on the front door read, “We have moved. Please visit our Clairemont Road location. We apologize for any inconvenience.”
“Then I turned around and started flying back and, the thing I remember is, it was like the Sun and the Moon were so close, so close to us, and then, suddenly, I had vertigo, so bad – and I woke up.”
We sat looking at one another. I didn’t know what to say. Max said, “And I knew. Now I know the Earth is flat.”
“It was a dream,” I said softly. I didn’t want to make him feel like I didn’t believe him or that I thought the idea was ludicrous, (which I did) but, he’d only had a dream. Why was he taking it so seriously? A dream was just a dream.
“No. No Paige, it wasn’t.”
I didn’t know what to say. I hated to burst his bubble, so to speak, but this had been a dream, right? He couldn’t possibly believe the Earth was flat? Could he?
He must have read my mind because he said, “I pulled up some Youtube videos on my phone, about the Earth being flat, and I watched them and it was like, Of course! It all made absolute sense. I don’t even question it.”
“From some Youtube videos?”
“No. Not from the videos. From the dream. It was shown to me in the dream. You have to believe me, the Earth is flat. It’s a fact. I saw it.”
“Okay,” I said, “so, let’s say the Earth is flat. What does that mean? I mean to say, what does that change? So, we thought it was round but it turns out to be flat. So what?”
He looked at me like I was crazy.
“So what? So what? Paige! It’s a big so what! If the Earth is indeed flat, which, I now know it is, then, don’t you understand what this means?”
“No. What?”
He reached out and took my hand, something he had never done, he held my hand in both of his and looked me in the eye, so seriously, “Paige, nothing that you know is true. Nothing is true. It’s all a lie and even scarier, is why they lie.”
I felt a little spooked, for some reason. Maybe it was the intensity with which he spoke. Max had always been so carefree and fun, never serious, never taking on subjects like this, and yet, he was so very intense about this – I said, “Who is they?”
He let go of my hand and leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. He put both hands on the steering wheel and gripped it tight. He took a deep breath and exhaled.
“They,” he said, opening his eyes and turning to look at me, like he just wanted me to understand, “is Nasa. They is the government, they is The Man.”
“Whitey?” I said, laughing. I couldn’t help it. When he said the man, all I could think of was that In Living Color skit where the man was whitey.
Max relaxed and smiled, “Sort of, yeah.”
“But, why lie and tell us the Earth is a ball if it’s really flat?”
“Don’t you see? A ball makes you believe in the Big Bang, the Big Bang makes you believe there’s no Creator - that all of this is random, nothing more than a cosmic coincidence- that we are nothing in this vast Universe, that’s so much bigger than we can ever even imagine- they say the world is a massive ball spinning through space at over a thousand miles per hour- spiraling five hundred thousand miles per hour around the Milky Way, and yet, I can sit at my kitchen table and drink a cup of coffee and not feel the slightest bit of movement? Don’t you see how insane that is? And yet, we’ve always believed it because we haven’t really thought about it. We’ve been brainwashed and we don’t question it. It’s not true. We’ve been indoctrinated to believe this and it isn’t true. I believe that the Earth is flat and if the Earth is flat- if the sun is not 93,000,000 miles away but, is, in fact, close, so close that the rays of the sun span out across the water, If there is a Creator and if we are the center of the Universe- then, we matter- Paige, don’t you see? We matter! Doesn’t that change everything? We matter. There is a Creator. All of this was planned, intelligently designed and intended. We have a purpose.”
“You really believe this?” I said.
“Paige,” he said turning and looking at me like it was the easiest thing in the world to understand, “I know it. We live on a plane, not a planet.”
I just looked at him. Just a few days ago he’d said he didn’t even really believe in the Bible.
“So, now you do believe in God?” I said.
“I believe there is a Creator, yes.”
“So, what about the Bible? Do you believe what the Bible says? Because, I think the Bible does say that the Earth is flat. It says the Earth is flat and there is a firmament over it. I know that because, it’s what my grandmother believes.”
“Well, I believe what is being shown to me and if that lines up with what the Bible says, then I guess I do.”
Outside the sun beat down on the snow, everything blindingly lit up and white. I could tell that Max did believe what he was saying. But, he’d only just had the dream – how could he so wholeheartedly believe it was true when only yesterday he’d believed the Earth was a spinning ball? Just yesterday. Didn’t he need to do a little more research? Read some books? Something?
Again, I said, “You know it? Because of this dream?”
“It wasn’t a dream,” he said, simply, “It was shown to me. I didn’t have a dream. I had a vision.”
_____
I thought about the Light a lot. I wished I could not think about it- forget it altogether- but that would be impossible.
I suppose that was why I didn’t particularly like to be alone- why any of us didn’t like being alone. When any of us were alone, that was when the real fear crept in. When we were together at least, it felt like a united front. Alone, you felt vulnerable.
I tried to ignore this feeling and get back to the things I’d once found so comforting: sitting in my bay window with a good book on those beautiful winter days, watching one of my favorite movies that I had on DVD on the couch with a mug of hot chocolate, talking on the phone with an old friend from back home or my sister. My sister was the only person I’d told about the Light. She believed me, or she said she did, but she had no idea as to what it could be. We’d only spoken of it once, that first time, and I didn’t bring it up after that and she didn’t ask. She did want me to move back home to Nashville, not so much because of what I’d told her about our encounter, more so because, she just could not figure out why I’d stayed in Fallcrest once Brian had passed. I told her I would but, not yet. I didn’t say it to her but I still needed to be in Fallcrest. I think maybe because, I needed to see how all of this would play out.
So, I tried to get back to my old routine. But none of those things held the same enjoyment, the same comfort that they once held. Now, if I attempted to do any of those things- the same thought stayed at the back of my mind- the same question, the same image. The Light. What was it? Why did we see it? Would we see it again?
_____
“They’re called Beelzebub’s darks,” Max said, one night as we sat in my living room having a glass of wine. The three of us had spent the evening watching a movie and having dinner at my place and Angela was then, on the back deck, talking to her stepbrother on the phone.
“What is?”
“The shadows I’ve been seeing.”
“Beelzebub? As in, the devil?”
“The devil? What are you talking about?”
“That’s his name- Beelzebub.”
Max stood up and walked to the kitchen where he peered through the blinds to make sure Angela wasn’t anywhere around. For some reason, he hadn’t told her about the shadows he’d been seeing. He
came back into the living room and sat down beside me on the couch. He closed his eyes for a minute and rubbed his temple. Then he said, “How do you know that?”
“It’s in the Bible.”
“No,” he said, incredulously, cutting his eyes at me like I couldn’t possibly be telling him the truth.
“It is. I’ll show you.”
I didn’t know much about the Bible. I’d read bits and pieces - not much but I did know the name Beelzebub- I knew who that was.
I got up and walked over to the bookshelf in the corner. I pulled out my Bible- went to the concordance and found the word and then looked up the verses to show him. He sat looking shocked.
“You didn’t know that?”
“No,” he said, “I didn’t.”
He sat back and took a deep drag on his cigarette, “Jesus,” he muttered.
I asked him where he’d heard the name Beelzebub. How did he know that was what they were?
“Last night I had a dream. I was talking to the Light.”
“What?”
He looked at me and shook his head. He said, “I know. I know- but, Paige, I was talking to him...”
“Hold on a second,” I said, getting my bearings. I took a deep breath, this was almost more than I could take. If I didn’t loathe cigarettes so much I would have asked him for one, right then. I said, “You mean, the Light we saw on Inferno Way? It has a voice?”
“Yeah, I was talking to him, or her, I don’t know, but I saw the Light in my dream and he was telling me not to worry about them… about the shadows I’ve been seeing.”
“Okay, hold on a second here,” I said, “let’s try this again. What are you talking about? Start from the beginning.”
“I was just talking to him. I can’t really remember the beginning of the dream, I only remember talking to him- the Light- I was complaining about them- the shadows- complaining about seeing them- I told him I was scared. I asked him to make them go away. And he told me not to worry about them. He said, Those are Beelzebub’s darks. They are trying to distract you from your path. Don’t worry, they’ll be heading back to Ekron soon.”
“Where is that?”
“I have no clue.”
“You didn’t Google it?”
“No. Why? I told you, these are not just dreams, these are visions, and I trust them...” He leaned forward and smashed his cigarette out in the ashtray on the coffee table.
“I know you do, but, hold on...” I grabbed my phone from my purse- pulled up Google and typed in Ekron – there was a Wikepedia page on it. I clicked on it and read: “The city of Ekron was one of the five cities of the famed Philistine pentapolis, located in southwestern Canaan.”
I scrolled down the page until I came to this and read aloud to Max, “Ekron is mentioned in Joshua 13:2-3 ‘This is the land that still remains: all the regions of the Phillistines and all those of the Geshurites from Shihor, which is east of Egypt, northward to the boundary of Ekron.’”
I glanced over at Max, who sat with his eyes wide, staring at the floor.
“Holy fuck, Max,” I said, “it’s a real place.”
“Keep reading,” he said.
I went on, “Joshua 13:13 counts it the border city of the Philistines and seat of one of the five Philistine city lords, and Joshua 15:11 mentions Ekron’s satellite towns and villages. The city was reassigned afterwards to the tribe of Dan (Joshua 19:43) but came again into the full possession of the Phillistines. It was the last place to which the Phillistines carried the Ark of the Covenant before they sent it back to Israel (I Samuel 5:10 and Samuel 6:1-8) and the city lords returned here once they had seen that the Ark reached the Israelites in Beth Shemesh (1 Samuel 6:16). There was a noted sanctuary of Baal at Ekron. The Baal who was worshipped was called Baal Zebub, which some scholars connect with Beelzebub...”
Max reached over and grabbed my wrist, “What the fuck?”
“What the fuck, is right,” I said, “Oh my God. You had no way to know any of this. And it all ties in- I’ve read my Bible, maybe not as much as I should, but still… I’ve never even heard of Ekron. How could you dream of a place you’ve never even heard of? How would you know of that place? And according to Wikepedia, it is where Beelzebub resides...mother fuck.”
“I told you, Paige, I told you these dreams that I’m having are not dreams. They are something else. The Light is speaking to me.”
My hand, holding my phone, was shaking. I felt light-headed. What was talking to him? Who was talking to him?
“Keep reading,” Max said.
I steadied my hand and picked up where I’d left off, “...some scholars, uhm, some scholars connect with Beelzebub...known from the Hebrew Bible.”
“Is that it?” said Max.
I looked at my phone. There was a bit left. I read, “The destruction of Ekron is prophesied in Zephaniah 2:4 Ekron shall be rooted up.”
“Oh God,” Max said, dragging his hand down his face, “What’s all this about?”
“I don’t know, but, Max, back up… the Light, did you see it in the dream?”
“Yes, I saw it, but I also heard it and the voice- the voice is – otherworldly, almost electronic, like a voice from a movie...”
“You said a minute ago, him or her? You’re not going to tell me the voice was androgynous, are you?”
Fuck me. I knew what else was androgynous but Max had no idea.
“I think it’s a male voice,” Max said, “it might be female but I think it’s male.”
“What kind of voice is it? I mean, besides otherworldly, is it nice? Stern? What kind of voice is it?”
Max looked up. He said, “It’s deep. Heavy. Deeper than anything I’ve ever heard but, also soft.”
“Is it scary?”
Max smiled, “No- No, Paige, it isn’t scary. In fact, since talking to him- the Light- since talking to him, I feel so peaceful about all of this… I could never explain to you how talking to him makes you feel, but, it puts me at ease.”
“Are you scared?” I said.
“I’m not scared at all,” Max said, grabbing a small box of matches and lighting a cigarette. He stared straight ahead and didn’t say another word. He might not have been scared, but I sure was.
_____
I awoke on Saturday feeling that I absolutely, desperately needed to get out, alone and do something. I seemed to spend almost all of my time either at home, at work, or with Max and Angela. I hadn’t done anything by myself in so long, I almost couldn’t stand it.
I decided to go to the noon Matinee at the Cineplex in Irondale. I was so sick of thinking of these odd things- the Light, Beelzebub, the flat Earth- all of it was driving me insane. I needed to do something light hearted and fun. And so I drove into Irondale and went to the movie theater. I never went to Irondale for anything. Besides the Tastee Freeze, the only other thing they had was a decrepit gas station where an old man dressed in a gray onesie sat in a fold out chair by the door waiting for customers and if you gave him a tip he would pump your gas for you, and besides that, an old movie theater downtown. Actually, the theater was kind of nice. It was really old and had one of those marquees out front that lit up.
It was a small theater but it had those great, old velvet red curtains with the gold ropes tied around them and a man in the projector booth running the film. It sort of made you feel like you’d stepped back in time.
I only had two options. The only movies showing were How to lose a guy in 10 days, a movie with Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey and All About Eve. I couldn’t stand Matthew McConaughey and so I decided to get a ticket to All About Eve. It was an old black and white movie and I loved the old movies. I hated the newer stuff. Unless it were an 80’s movie- I loved the 80’s. Anything after that, I wasn’t too crazy about.
But, All About Eve was one of Marilyn Monroe’s early parts and I was excited to see it.
I bought my ticket and got some popcorn and a box of Goober’s and the biggest fountain Coke I’d ever seen in my
entire life.
I enjoyed the movie. I got a kick out of the buttered popcorn and melted Goober’s and my monster Coke. I hadn’t pigged out on such fattening stuff in so long. I told myself I should do this more often- sneak away by myself and do like Angela had been doing, let the rules fly out the window- do whatever the fat fuck I felt like doing. Don’t think about how bad the sugar was for my teeth or about how bad the movie theater popcorn (which they said was the most fattening) and the syrupy Coke was for my waistline. I loved the old movie theater, which, by the way, I was almost completely alone in. Just me and one other person, a man dressed in dark clothing, who sat way in the back by himself. I enjoyed the movie, but, as usual, my mind kept wandering to the Light. As the movie played on the gigantic screen, as Bette Davis seemed to float down the stairs and Marilyn Monroe said her few lines (they must not have known how huge a star she would become) as I watched the old black and white movie and sat with my feet propped on the back of the seat in front of me, I couldn’t help but to think of the only thing I’d been able to think of since that night in October- the Light. And when I thought of the Light, it was always the same question: What was it?
Was it God?
Could it be the Devil?
Lucifer was said to be the morning star, the bringer of light.
But also, wasn’t Christ the light of the world?