Two Gates
Book 1
The Broad Way
By Barbara Henderson
Copyright
Thou Shalt Not Steal
Exodus 20:15
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be that go thereat. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and there be that find it. Matthew 7:13-13
Contents
Chapter 1 4
Chapter 2 10
Chapter 3 16
Chapter 4 20
Chapter 5 26
Chapter 6 31
Chapter 7 34
Chapter 8 40
Chapter 9 45
Chapter 10 50
Chapter 11 55
Chapter 12 58
Chapter 13 61
Chapter 14 64
Chapter 15 68
Chapter 16 71
Chapter 17 76
Chapter 18 80
Chapter 19 83
Chapter 20 86
Chapter 21 90
Chapter 22 93
Chapter 24 99
Preview of - The Narrow Way 106
(5 Years after “The Broad Way”) 106
The Broad Way
Chapter 1
Ann
Most Common?!?! Most Common??!! Ann Jones shrieked as she walked through the door of her home. Slamming her books onto the floor, Ann continued her tirade. From the kitchen Ann's mother heard her daughter's outburst. Ann was a sixteen year old who normally kept her emotions well under control. She hadn't even thrown tantrums as a two year old. So when Shelly Jones heard her daughter's almost hysterical shrieking, she ran to her.
"What on earth has happened?" questioned Shelly, trying to keep the alarm out of her voice.
"Oh mom, you won't believe this. It's too unreal."
"What happened? Please calm down and tell me what happened". Shelly repeated in a voice as soothing as her anxiety over her daughter's distress would allow.
"OK, well, I got my yearbook today." Ann began. She tried to speak, but was unable to continue, Ann opened the yearbook and pointed to a photograph.
Not knowing what to expect, Shelly looked where her daughter's finger was pointing. There, among the photographs of the winners of various popularity contests was a photo of Ann. Shelly looked questioningly at Ann.
"Read the caption mom!" Ann shrieked. "It says "Most Common"!!!! Right there with "Most Beautiful", "Most Popular", "Most Likely to Succeed", they have me listed as "Most Common".
"But Why?" Shelly said, almost as though asking herself the question. It was quite obviously an attempt to humiliate her daughter. Looking back at the yearbook it was clear the other girls had planned every detail of their photographs. They were dressed in designer outfits, smiling, hair and makeup done almost to the extreme, and each one was definitely showing their best side. Shelly knew the girls and they all looked much better in the photographs than they did in person.
In marked contrast, Ann was not really smiling, her hair and makeup were certainly not outstanding that day, and the best thing you could say about the outfit she was wearing would have been it was probably a little too casual for even the "casual Friday" attire allowed at school.
"I don't understand. Why would they do this?" Shelly asked again.
"It was that disgusting Alice Williams. She had some lame brained idea I was getting too close to her boyfriend. Since she was the main student editor for the yearbook she used this to get even. Everyone is laughing their heads off about it. And all I did was sit by him in study hall. He's a senior and you know I'm a sophomore. He was just being polite. I really don't care for him. He isn't very bright. In fact he may even be dumb. He is a big sports guy. He plays everything.
"Anyway, I only sat by him in study hall. We never ate lunch together. We never walked down the hall together. We never did anything together. That's it. But that has to be the reason. Alice didn't like it. And it was Alice who called me common. She said everything about me was common. She said I was "as common as grass". According to Alice my hair is the most common color, mousy brown. Or dishwater brown if I preferred to call it that. I am the most common average height. I am a common weight. I have common brown eyes, not light brown, not dark brown, just common brown. My clothes are common. I drive a common car.
"And mom, she said this entire fiasco was her way of doing me a favor. She said this is the most attention I will ever get in my entire life. And that I better enjoy it now while I can.”
Shelly was appalled at the story. She was unsure of how to proceed. As a mother her first thought was to protect her daughter. But the deed had already been done. Ann was devastated. Her second thought was to find Alice Wilson and have her sent to prison for life. But she settled for trying to calm Ann down. Shelly decided that her first duty was to decide what was in Ann's best interest and proceed from there.
Aloud Shelly said, "Well, honey, school is almost over for the summer. Alice will be graduating this week, and by the time school starts in the fall no one will pay much attention to this.
Shelly knew immediately that was the wrong thing to have said. Ann gave her such a look of contempt that it almost took her breath away.
"You are as bad as that silly boy I sat by in study hall. You could be considered dumb as well. I will wait for dad to get home. He always knows what to do; where as all you know how to do is stay home and bake cookies."
Ann's voice almost dripped venom as she spoke to her mother. Shelly had dealt with Ann's temperament many times in the past, but never so openly vicious. That sort of outburst usually came from Ann's father.
Ann turned from her mother and coldly and deliberately walked up the stairs to her bedroom.
Shelly was left sitting in the living room wondering what had just happened. She sat in the chair by the window, but was really no longer aware of the beautiful day just outside. An ominous, although invisible, darkness seemed to have settled over the house.
"I hope Malachi is able to stay at least a few days when his term is finished and he comes home for a visit, she thought. "Oh Mal, I really miss you all the time, but I really miss you now."
Malachi
Malachi Jones was finishing his first year as a graduate student. He had been a business major, but had minored in political science. His graduate study was business management. He had held several part time jobs while attending school, but had not found anything that really held his interest. Making money didn't really intrigue him because he already had money. The truth was Mal would never actually have to work if he didn't want to. He supposed he would eventually find something he liked to do enough to do it, even when he didn't have to do it. But so far anything that interesting had eluded him. He just hoped the trust fund management was able to guess which currency would wind up in the winner's circle. Currently, Mal saw it as either the Euro or the US dollar. He hoped the fund managers saw it the same way.
Something he had found that was pretty interesting was a fellow student. Actually, she was just 20, whereas he was 25. Mal had met her at college days the previous fall. As a graduate student, he was drafted to sit in the "business and computer" section and answer questions about that area of study as a major. Belle had shown up with her sister Amelia. Belle was starting her sophomore year at college. Her sister Amelia had one year of high school to go. Mal considered a five year age difference between himself and Belle as probably acceptable. Belle did seem to have a level of maturity far beyond her years. Regardless, Mal found her quite captivating. She called herself "Miss 'Not To"'. When Mal had asked her, "Why?", she had said because she was "not to anything". It was a family joke sh
e had said. She was not too tall, not to short, not to heavy, not to thin, not to beautiful, not ugly, not to anything. She had said it was really quite comforting.
But Mal thought she was all too memorable, even delightfully memorable. He name was AnnaBelle, and Mal was beginning to wonder if he was in love. Actually, everyone just called her Belle. Mal didn't know too much about Belle's life. He knew her parents had died tragically in an automobile accident. He younger sister Amelia had been seriously injured, but had recovered as far as Mal could tell, except for a slight limp. He knew Amelia and Belle lived together and that Amelia was finishing high school this year. He had only met her at the college that one day, and then a few more brief visits when he picked up Belle. He knew they were planning to sell the family house as soon as Amelia graduated and buy a condominium or something. And Belle had told him on their first date that she and Amelia would be living under one roof for the remainder of their lives. Having lost their parents they would never lose each other. "Well," Mal had thought, "I guess that means it would need to be a pretty big house to eventually hold two families."
Resolutely, Mal switched from daydreaming about Belle to thoughts of how he would spend his summer. He had to go home for a few days at least. He definitely missed his mom. Mal knew his dad didn't really mind him being away from the house. But his mother was another story. He had a strange feeling that something was going on at home anyway. He had been pretty uneasy about something for several days. Mom would never burden him with the problem, whatever it might be. And dad would never think to keep him informed of anything, regardless of what it was.
And then there was Ann. She was his sister, but she had always seemed somehow unreachable to him. Sometimes he thought she was missing a "connection gene". She never seemed to connect to anyone or anything really.
"Oh well, I guess I just wasn't born to be close to Ann and dad," Mal thought sadly. Thank goodness I have mom.
4th Demension
stratigic operations
At the table sat a number of high ranking officials from among the legions who fell from grace when the cosmic war in heaven had occurred. They were reporting on different aspects of the war on the sons of Adam.
Cabiri did not know, but had the firm impression that he was onto something big. He saw in Ann Jones the potential to further their cause immensely. He saw in her father a firm ally. He was pretty sure the mother and brother could be trouble - immediate trouble in his control of Ann and her father; and long term in the quest for the souls of the mortals who now walked the earth. Perhaps something could be done. He would ask for help.
Stellar Dominion Outpost
Command Center
Raphael was hungry. He wanted a visit from the "angel cook", the one who had been sent to Elijah when he had ran away from Jezabelle and hidden himself in a cave. But he was going to have to wait. He could go on a little farther. The Lord was ready to raise up another one through whom He would work. Malachi Jones, known as Mal, had a heart that was at least willing to become willing to do the Lord's work. Raphael had instructions to assign some additional celestial helpers to Mal, and to bless his mother as well.
Usually, the helpers Raphael assigned were the "unseen" helpers. The people being helped had no idea the "unseen" were anywhere around. But this time, in addition to the standard unseen helpers Malachi Jones was going to be encouraged with an earthly helper, someone he already knew - Belle.
Raphael loved this part of his job. However, in this instance, there was a concern. He knew Cabiri, his arch adversary, was very interested in the Jones family. In fact, Cabiri had set his sites specifically on Malachi's sister Ann. This was quite unusual for his enemy. Cabiri had spent ages working in the area of "government". He had been a prime director for the Caesars of the Roman Empire. He had ruled through the Caesars always. Some had realized they were being directed, some thought everything was their own idea, and some knew Cabiri face to face and openly did his bidding.
But gradually, Cabiri had destroyed his own most cherished treasure, Rome itself, and all the Caesars with Rome. And Cabiri had been trying to make a comeback ever since. His greatest prodigy in modern times had been one known as Adolf Hitler. Cabiri had been a major influence in Hitler's life from a very early age. And that had been with the idea of a revived Roman Empire.
Now, with the European Union progressing so nicely, Raphael was quite surprised that Cabiri would involve himself with an American, and one of the female gender at that. But time was growing short. The heavenly building project was progressing speedily. Raphael was puzzled by Cabiri's actions. However, he wasted little time considering what Cabiri was up to. Raphael knew that his Boss knew the full score, from start to finish. Raphael didn't have to understand everything; he just had to follow instructions.
Chapter 2
Ann
After Ann went up to her room, Shelly sat in stunned silence for what seemed like an eternity. She considered her daughter's reaction to the yearbook. There were no tears of humiliation, no apparent hurt feelings, just simple rage. And boy was there a lot of rage. Shelly shivered just thinking about it. The house, normally quiet anyway, seemed like a tomb now, so deep was the unnatural silence of the afternoon.
Shelly shivered again without warning. She wondered if something had just walked across her grave. That had been an explanation for an unexplained shiver when she was a child. Then, realizing the afternoon was growing late, Shelly rose from the chair and started toward the kitchen to get supper ready. She thought about just once doing something daring - like order a pizza and bread sticks, maybe even cheesy breadsticks. But of course she didn't do that. Her husband would not like it.
Shelly's was a good cook, but it really was a thankless job. No matter what she prepared, she never got a compliment unless Mal was home on vacation. However, if the meal was not to Ann or Fredrick's liking, Shelly knew she would be scolded roundly. Tonight would not be any different. She knew basically whatever she prepared, no one would really be hungry. The three of them would only pick at the meal, and discuss Ann's situation. But it would only add additional stress to the situation if something nice was not on the table. There must be something on the table so Ann and Fredrick could turn up their noses. Shelly quickly threw together an "oven meal". That was a quick meal, where everything went into the oven to bake. This time it was fish, potatoes, and eventually hot rolls. Fresh Salad mix was in the refrigerator, as well as 5 kinds of salad dressing designed to suit whatever mood her husband's appetite and taste buds might require. She would use ice cream for dessert if anyone asked. That done, Shelly sat at the table sipping herb tea and wondering how soon the end of the world was coming. If it were coming any time soon, Shelly wished it would come before supper. But, the clock kept ticking, and eventually, it was 5:20, and Fredrick walked through the door.
Ann met him at the door and quickly filled him in on the details. Fredrick really surprised both Shelly and Ann with his immediate response. He simply said, "Well, let's eat while I think this over."
Ann surprised Shelly by agreeing that was the thing to do. Ann even joked that being so angry had made her quite hungry.
Nervously, Shelly sat with Fredrick and Ann at the dining room table.
"You know Shelly," Fredrick began, "I usually leave everything to you where the children are concerned. But this seems pretty much out of your league. You would probably come up with some stupid idea to just forget about it and let it blow over."
With that statement made Fredrick paused to add a little salt to the fish on his plate. Ann looked at her mother as if to say, "See I told you so. Dad knows how you are too."
Fredrick ate slowly and thoughtfully. Finally he began to speak.
"Isn't it nice that I am a man of influence? You know I have favors owed to me by just about every business in town. As an accountant, I know the business of just about every business in town as well. And, you know, getting on the school board wasn't really something I wanted to do, but I thought it
would a good way to gain more name recognition. Now I am certainly glad I did that.
We need a long term strategy here Ann. Your mother really isn't good at this. She is sort of like those silly Psalm singers on old movies. You know, turn the other cheek and things like that. So, Shelly, I won't ask you to be involved in any of this because you would probably mess up the entire game plan anyway.
Now - Ann - Let's start at the top and then go out from there.
The way I see it, the first person is the teacher who was actually in charge of the year book. No matter what a student did, the teacher should have stopped it. We have to see that she is properly chastised for such neglect of her duty. You attend the finest school in the district, maybe the entire state. That teacher should probably get a transfer to whatever is considered the absolute worst school in the area. I don't know what school that would be. Ann honey, can you find that out for me? I can take care of the rest.
Second, this Alice Wilson must be dealt with in a very firm and final way. She can't go off to college scot-free. I suppose the best way to bring miss high and mighty down a peg is a very vicious but believable rumor. I will have to think about that. And of course her boyfriend needs to dump her.
Fredrick stopped speaking momentarily as he drank his tea. "Alice Wilson," he said thoughtfully. An Andrew Wilson is a competitor of mine. His accounting firm is not as prosperous as mine of course. It seems I have heard Andrew has a daughter named Alice."
"That's right dad," Ann said. They only live a few blocks from us. Their house is newer, but not quite as big. Our pool is quite a bit bigger than theirs as well. They are always having parties, too. But she never invites me."
"Yes, well, I can probably at least cause some damage to Mr. Wilson's company. I know a little on some of his clients. All I really have to do is suggest to his other clients that Mr. Wilson works for businesses that have, shall we say, a less than pristine reputation. He is probably living from pay check to pay check like most of the people in this country. Fortunately, I have had the fore site to plan ahead. My business could take a big hit without causing this family's lifestyle to drop"
The Broad Way (The Two Gates) Page 1