Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: End Times (02/27/14)
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TITLE: Yeah, Right! | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
03/03/14 -
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When Tommy Lee Jacobs first mentioned the phrase ‘end times’ I thought he was talking about some local paper I hadn’t seen yet. I had just come from England and he had just come from church when we met on the sidewalk outside the duplex our families were going to share.
I still remember bits of that conversation after we’d made our proper introductions and he had me repeat myself a dozen times to figure out what I was saying. In plain English it went like this:
“So, don’t suppose you got any churches left over there.”
“Of course, we have churches. Thousands of them – some a thousand years old.”
“Yeah, right! You don’t have to fib to me just ‘cause you’re new here. Ain’t no church ‘round here older than two hundred years. Preacher Farbs told us the Nazis bombed every last one of your stained glass cathedrals into oblivion. Says it didn’t matter though ‘cause there weren’t no one sitting in the pews.”
“Double negatives don’t work in my country. My auntie and nanny had me in church every weekend when we could come out of the tunnels.“
“Tunnels? You living like rats over there?”
“Only the first little while. In 1940 Hitler came at us for eight straight months dropping his bombs on us. 40,000 died and more than that were injured. My momma says we lost a million buildings. We did spend some time in the tunnels and then we went to the country with my uncle and aunt. Their churches were fine.”
“Bet you didn’t have anyone like Preacher Farbs over there. He knows the ‘end times’ inside out. Done scared the pants off us last week with his hell-fire and brimstone.”
“I think I’ve lived through that hell-fire and brimstone. We didn’t need the London Times to tell us what was happening. We had bomb craters on every block. Sirens were always blowing. Planes just kept coming. Anti-aircraft guns chattered away non-stop. After a while we just stopped looking up.”
“You stopped looking up? Couldn’t been that scary then. Preacher Farbs says we got to keep looking up ‘cause that’s where our redemption comes from.”
“I can tell you that when we looked up it wasn’t redemption we were seeing. I think your preacher needs to read a better paper.”
The fist fight didn’t last long before we called a truce. I learned not to speak ill of Preacher Farbs and Tommy Lee learned not to mock my memory. When you’re fourteen things can get worked out quickly.
Mrs. Jacobs brought us out tuna sandwiches and glasses of powdered milk. It was the strangest food but I’d learned to eat a lot of different things during those war years.
And I did go to hear Preacher Farbs wail away at the tyrants and warn us all that Jesus was coming back to set it all right again. I figured out he was using the Bible and not some paper to get his ideas from. Although some of the things seemed a lot like what my Momma was telling me was in the Tribune down at Kinsey’s market.
Tommy Lee signed up for the marines and came back in a box. The war was over but he’d stepped on a mine somewhere in Europe. He was 18.
I kept listening to Preacher Farbs as a way to honor Tommy Lee. He was more than excited when the nation of Israel came into existence. He was sure we’d be raptured any day.
I met my girl Georgia in the youth group. We kept attending when Pastor Jenson took over the pulpit. He had a different take on the ‘end times’ but kept using the Bible to show us that what the headlines were saying was already known by God. The rapture was getting closer.
My kids grew up under Pastor Harding and Pastor Lindsey. One was sure that the pope was the anti-christ and another that it was Henry Kissinger. Some of the people actually packed suitcases in preparation for the coming terror and a few even dug out survival shelters.
Pastor Withers focused on the rising role of Russia and China until the Arabs invaded Israel. Then the focus switched to the Muslim invasion of God’s country.
Georgia’s daddy does just as well as the preachers in trying to set me straight as to what is happening next. I pray. I work. I wait. I read my Bible. I know he’s coming soon.
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Opinion: Your story was consistent with what I saw as the main character's point of view until an abrupt change in the last sentence. Perhaps a few more sentences to explain why the MC suddenly went from "trying to set me straight" to praying, working, waiting, etc.
Thanks for reminding us that no matter how much others may doubt, we should not lose hope.
God bless~