by Dan Arnold
Christine had gotten out of her car and opened the passenger door. She looked ready to attack as the reporter followed me to the car and continued to badger me with questions.
As we pulled away from the curb, Christine gave a loud sigh, and apologized.
“John, I’m so sorry. I went out the side door to get to the parking garage, and I didn’t know they were waiting to ambush you at the front entrance.”
I shook my head.
“Not your fault. I just couldn’t deal with it right now.”
“I guess it’s just part of the cost of being a local celebrity.”
“No, that’s not it. She was pushing for an angle. She had an agenda. It wasn’t enough her patience had rewarded her with an exclusive interview opportunity. If she had approached me differently, I might have made a statement.”
“It sounds like she has a lot to learn.”
“We’ll see. It all comes down to what the news director was looking for. The reporter may have messed up, or she may have done exactly what the news director wanted.”
“You sound kind of cynical, John. Do you mistrust the media?”
I gave her a look, and she snorted out a most un-lady like laugh.
“Who all called me earlier, while they were sewing me up?”
“Gary called. He told me to tell you, he hasn’t been able to get any of the men who have been working with him, to talk about anything. He asked them about someone named Eduardo, and they all clammed up.”
“Yeah, it figures.”
“Tony called to check on you.”
“Odd, he didn’t call me on my phone.”
“Well uhhh, no, he called me on my phone.”
“I suppose he probably figured I couldn’t talk on my phone.”
Christine frowned slightly.
“Well… not really.”
“OK. What did you and he talk about?”
She glared at me this time.
“I told you, he called to check on how you were doing.”
I wagged my finger at her.
“Yes, and it was the only time you left the room. You were gone for like fifteen minutes. It wouldn’t take ten seconds to say, ‘Oh, John is just fine, the doctor is using him for quilting practice’. Then, you could have handed me the phone. So, what was it you were discussing with Tony?”
Christine blushed.
“That’s really none of your business.”
I chuckled.
“No, it surely isn’t… Or is it?”
Christine rolled her eyes.
“Ok, we were wondering if you could uh… baby sit, tomorrow night.”
“Ahhhh, Tony wants me to hang out with Diondro, while you and he go out on a date.”
I winked.
“OH! You are insufferable. I told Tony he should be the one to ask you.”
“Probably, but I’ll be happy to do it. It’s about time I have a talk with Diondro. Besides, I don’t think I’ll feel much like dancing anyway. Y’all plan to go on and have a good time.”
“Don’t think we won’t, because we will” She said, bobbing her head and holding up her hand.
“Testify sister!”
“Um hmmmm.”
We both laughed.
Later, as the local anesthetic began to wear off, my leg felt like it was on fire.
Twenty-Four
We decided since Tony was going to take Christine out, I would meet Tony and Diondro at Christine’s apartment. Diondro and I would stay there and wait for Tony to come back with Christine. That way, if anyone was watching my apartment, they would never see Diondro there. If anyone tried to follow me, Christine’s apartment was in a gated complex requiring a card or an access code to get in. It provided some sense of minimal security. Anyone following me wouldn’t be able to follow me into the apartment complex, without me spotting them.
I had been keeping a sharp lookout for anyone tailing me since I came back from Arkansas. Tailing a person without being spotted is not easy, whether on foot or in a vehicle. If you have multiple people or vehicles taking turns, keeping the subject in sight is easier to do without the person being able to detect the surveillance. I was pretty sure no such involved planning or resources were being employed against me. One person alone, attempting to tail another person, is pretty easy to spot, especially if the person being followed is looking for someone tailing them.
Manned aircraft are an excellent way to maintain surveillance on a subject, but it is very expensive and problematic. Unmanned aircraft fitted with a camera are often the best way to go for tailing someone. They are hard to hear or see from the ground. They are fairly inexpensive to operate and the person controlling the aircraft can be miles away, or even on a different continent. That’s why the military uses them for surveillance both at home and abroad. In war zones and conflict areas, some drones are armed and lethal. Any number of our nation’s enemies has been killed by our unseen drone aircraft. Fortunately, our government would never use them against our own citizens in our own country, right?
I knew a variety of these aircraft, in various sizes and configurations are available to the general public. These drones were being used more and more in commercial applications, and were even being used by the paparazzi, voyeurs and other criminals. The FAA was struggling to regulate their use. I’d purchased a couple of different styles myself. The only ones I could afford were not nearly as sophisticated as the military versions. Mine were smaller and confined to a pretty short range, and I had to be within about a mile of the aircraft and more or less in line of sight to control them, but they had excellent cameras. That’s where I’d invested the most money, in those extremely high tech cameras and gimbles. I was very pleased with the quality of the images sent back to my monitor. I hadn’t had occasion to use one on the job yet, but I knew the opportunity would present itself.
I doubted anyone who might be trying to use me to find Diondro, would be so sophisticated, but it pays to be alert.
I arrived at Christine’s apartment at about 6:30 the next evening, and was delighted to see Tum Tum again.
“Tum Tum” whose name is actually Mr. Tumescence, is Christine’s rather obese cat.
Christine thinks the name is funny.
Go figure.
A couple of hours after Tony and Christine left on their date, Diondro, Mr. Tumescence and I were left sitting in the apartment, watching some vapid comedy on the Boob Tube
“Diondro, have you ever noticed how the laugh track comes in after nearly every comment a character makes?”
“What? Oh, uhh yeah, I guess.”
I picked up the remote control and pointed it at the television.
On the screen, the fat man made a comment, and the laugh track kicked in. Another character said something, and I hit the mute button, for a second. The next character said something, and just as the laugh track started, I muted it again.
“See what I mean? You don’t get to decide whether the dialogue is funny or not. They insert the laughter, wherever they think it should go. If you take the laugh track out, very few of these programs are actually funny, at all. It takes clever writers and skilled performers to be consistently funny. Hollywood is the home of mediocrity, in a flashy package. They provide neatly packaged junk entertainment, available 24/7.”
We stared at the antics on the screen for a little while, until Diondro picked up the remote and did his own test.
“Rats! You’ve ruined it for me. I used to like this show. Now it just seems shallow and silly.”
Diondro turned the television off.
I laughed.
“Sorry. I guess it was kind of mean. I wanted to talk to you for a minute.”
“What’s up?”
“How are you handling the isolation?”
“It’s OK, I guess. There’s nothing to do. Most days, I just sit in Tony’s office at the police station, and read.”
“What are you reading?
“Oh, I don’t know. Fiction mostly, I guess.�
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“What kind of fiction?”
“I like science fiction and fantasy books.”
“Ahhh, Asimov, Tolkien, Robert Jordan, and the like?”
“Yeah, like that.”
“Have you ever read any C.S. Lewis?”
“Was he the guy who wrote the Chronicles of Narnia series?”
“Yes, and some other really excellent books, The Screw Tape Letters, and the Out of the Silent Planet trilogy, and several others.”
“I saw one of the Narnia movies and it was OK, I guess, but it was kind of kid’s stuff.”
“I recommend actually reading the books.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. The books are almost always better than the movies.”
“Tony has a pretty good collection of books.”
“Yeah, it sure helps. He doesn’t do much reading himself. He mostly just reads the Bible.”
“Well, Truth is always better than fiction.”
“I guess there is probably some truth in the Bible, but it’s mostly just made up stories to illustrate a point, or poetry and prose for the sake of maintaining the God myth.”
“Where did you hear that?
“I think I read it somewhere, but everybody knows that.”
“So, you haven’t actually read the Bible yourself?”
“No, it’s really hard to read and even harder to understand.”
“Not for a smart guy like you.”
“Naw, I don’t think I’d get much out of it.”
“You would be surprised. Where do you think great writers like those we mentioned have gotten their inspiration?”
“I thought you said you weren’t religious.”
“What does religion have to do with this conversation? I thought we were discussing literature.”
Diondro shrugged.
“What’s bothering you?”
“I’ve been thinking about what you and Tony said about life after death.”
“Why? Does thinking about death upset you?”
“I haven’t had much experience with death. I had never seen a dead body, until that day, in the bayou,”
“Not even at a funeral?”
“Yeah, from a distance, when I was a kid. But this was different. I saw those men die.”
“Seeing men die, is upsetting, Diondro. It tears me up, too. I’ve seen far too many die.”
“It doesn’t seem to bother you. You just killed another man, and he nearly killed you. You’ve killed three men in less than three weeks. So much death, one minute they were alive, and then…”
I let him think about it for a minute.
“Diondro, it bothers me more than you know. I hate death, any way it comes. Everyone dies, eventually. Sometimes, it happens suddenly, maybe even violently, and sometimes it happens slowly. I didn’t set out to kill anyone. Those men in the bayou brought it on themselves. Some people live long happy lives; others are miserable for their entire lives, however long or short. Children die, old people die, rich or poor, everyone has to face death at some point. You might think of death as a natural part of life. How or when we die is not what matters. How we live is the thing that matters. We remember and celebrate the lives of people, not their deaths. Some people live and love and make a difference in this world and in the lives of other people, making their lives better and being remembered fondly. Others live in hate and stumble around lost and confused, leaving broken things and wounded people in their wake. How we live is the only part of life that matters. Death is just a single, small part of life, the last part, for far too many people.”
“It’s not fair though. Some people suffer horribly, even little children. They didn’t choose to suffer. How is that living a ‘good’ life?”
“Diondro, the life we live in our physical bodies is just a moment in time. One small lifetime in a physical body, is just the blink of an eye, compared to eternity. Some people are walking around in a healthy and strong physical body, but they are spiritually dead on the inside. When the physical body dies, those people will still be spiritually dead, just like when they were in the physical body. The thing is they will go on that way forever. They will be physically dead and spiritually dead. I mean for eternity. Think about hundreds of thousands of years, and then multiply that by millions of millions of years. Today, some people are suffering in their physical bodies, but on the inside they are spiritually alive and well, knowing great joy. They will continue that joyous life forever, but they will have glorified, new, healthy bodies.”
“How do you know who is spiritually alive?”
“The Bible says everyone is spiritually dead and separated from the knowledge of God, until they are re-born as His children.”
“See, that’s what I’m talking about, Religious mumbo-jumbo. That’s why I don’t read the Bible.”
“Would you say you are spiritually alive?”
“What kind of question is that? Of course I am, as much as the next person.”
“Are you?”
“Hell yes.”
“Then why are you so upset?”
“Because you lied to me,” he snapped.
“How did I lie?”
“You said you were not religious, but you talk like a preacher.”
“I’m not religious. I’m not a fan of the various religions man has made for himself.”
“Then why do you keep talking like a preacher?”
“I am a servant of God.”
“See? Right there! There you go. God this and God that. It’s the way all you religious people talk.”
“How people talk is immaterial, Diondro. I don’t play in the NFL, but I can talk football as well as anybody. The difference is important. It’s the difference between reality and imagination. There are plenty of people who talk religion. People who are religious are like sports fans. They may be experts, able to recite all the rules, regulations and statistics. They call in to the sports talk radio programs, raving about this or that. They can talk the talk and they love to watch the show. They have their favorite teams or players. They may even wear their favorite player’s number or jersey. They choose up sides, but they are not actually in the game. Sometimes they think they are players, maybe they even play the game as a hobby, but they’re only on the outside, looking in. Do you understand the difference?”
“So, you’re saying only people who go to the right church are spiritually alive.”
“No, I’m not saying anything like that. Most people who go to church, a synagogue or temple, are just watching the show. Many of them are very religious, but they’ve just picked a team and they’re ardent fans. Some are convinced their religion is the best, or the only true way to get to God. ‘Go team, Go!’ They are fanatical fans who hate any other religion because it is not the ‘right’ religion. Others have adopted religion as a hobby, and have become experts on the doctrine and dogma. All these things are religious, but they are only on the outside, looking in. Man makes up religions as a systematic way to search for God.”
“I don’t get it. What difference does it make?”
“God is Holy. That’s the difference.”
“Whatever!”
“Man has invented all sorts of religions as a way to find God, or make other people follow their system. But God has made the way Himself. It’s not important to belong to the ‘right’ religion. It’s not important to practice a religion or system in the ‘right’ way. Only one thing is important. Do you know what one thing is important?”
“OK, I’ll bite. What ‘one thing’ is important?”
“It’s important to know the way that God has provided.”
“Oh, fine. We have just completed the circle. You said yourself religions are the way man finds God.”
“Well, sort of, but not exactly. What I’m trying to say, is men do not know how to find God. That’s the reason there are so many different religions. People are trying to find some god, somewhere, somehow. Being religious might be a way, but it’s not the way. God al
one has decided how we will know Him. God is Holy, and we can’t even begin to grasp the wonder of the way He does things.
Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man come’s to the Father, but by me.” We are saved by grace through faith. That is a gift from God. It isn’t what we humans do; it’s what He did, for us.”
“Aren’t all religions good, helping point you toward God?”
“Again religions are man-made. Some people, who are truly searching, will find God through religion. Still, if they are earnestly seeking Him, they may find Him almost anywhere. Most people make the mistake of substituting a religion, or any combination of religions, for actually knowing God. They think being religious, or practicing the rituals and customs of a religion, is the same as having a relationship as a child of the Holy God. They think wearing the jersey is the same as being on the team. The Bible says anyone who wants to know God must first believe that He is, and that He always rewards those who diligently seek Him. Once you know Him, you can decide if there is a religion you might want to participate in.”
“Why? According to you, it doesn’t matter where you start, or what religion it is, if you are looking for God, you will find him.”
“Do you believe there is a God? Are you searching?”
“I don’t know. I’m just saying maybe I could believe there is some kind of God.”
“Good. The devils believe, and tremble in fear.”
“You’re kind of creeping me out, right now. Let’s change the subject.”
I laughed.
“Sure, this is not easy stuff to understand.”
“Yeah, and I don’t even want to understand it. I’m not really interested in myths and mythologies. One thing I do know though…”
“What is it?”
“… You are one peculiar dude.”
I laughed.
“Peculiar? Maybe, but I still say, I’m not religious.”