Chapter 9
Then the day came. The sky was clear. The town was quiet. Tension was in the atmosphere. The stranger sighed. There wasn’t much that a man could hope for when it was his last day on earth, except another day on the planet. He walked out of The Tavern. There the Brute stood outside. He was ready. The Stranger stepped outside into the sun. He was ready to accept his fate.
They were face to face and ready to draw. They drew their pistols. Suddenly, they both felt raindrops. Then the rains came pouring down heavily. They refused to stop. It kept raining and raining. Suddenly, the winds began to howl. It began to pull on the roofs of some of the houses. Both parties looked at each other briefly and ran for cover. A storm was coming. The stranger headed back into The Tavern and Eileen directed him to the basement. Several others were there trying to stay safe from the storm. They huddled up in the shed and waited for the storm to pass. Outside, he could hear screams for help. The cowboy was scared to go out and look, but the screams got worse. He went outside following the source of the screams. The winds slowed him down and he was becoming drenched in the rain but he kept moving. Objects were flying around and he almost got hit twice, but he kept moving. He then stopped at the sight. He saw the Brute pinned under a roof and was struggling to get free. He became indecisive. Here, he had a chance to finally get rid of him. The town could be done with him once and for all and he wouldn’t have to take a man’s life. But something told him not to. He just lay under there and was absolutely helpless. He kept wiggling and trying to get himself free.
“Help! Somebody help me!” He screamed, “Please someone help me!”
He ran up to him and looked at him. The Brute looked up at him.
“Please help me, I promise I will stop. Just help me.”
“You promise?”
“Yes, please just get me out of this.” He was still wiggling under the torn roof.
He ran over and began to lift the roof from his body. It wasn’t easy. With the howling winds and random objects present in the air, it proved to be quite dangerous. But he stayed and continued. Eventually, he became free. He looked up at him.
“Thank you…” he said. The stranger then helped him up.
“Oh, the name’s Eli, Eli Jones.”
“Thank you, Eli.”
“Good, now that we are acquainted, let’s get out of the storm.”
Chapter 10
They then headed back to The Tavern. Eileen was shocked to see the both of them together. She let them into the basement and closed the door.
Eileen pulled Eli at a distant corner and began questioning him.
“So instead of letting nature take its course and take him off of his, you bring him back to my establishment? I just don’t get you.”
“I think he won’t be troubling us anymore, ma’am,”
“I hope you are right,” They then re-joined the group.
The storm continued for hours. It wreaked havoc on everything in its path. Eli thought he had seen the worst part of it while rescuing The Brute but he was wrong. They could hear the destruction taking place outside. Eli was grateful that the basement was big enough to even fit his horse. Thankfully, Eileen had given the horse some tranquilizers so that it could sleep peacefully during the storm. When the storm was finally over, they left the basement and headed outside. The Tavern was a mess but they were lucky to be alive. Chairs and tables were thrown all over and there was a lot of water. The roof was still on but there was some damage. The Tavern was one of the more fortunate buildings to have been spared by the storm. After they cleared up the debris at the Tavern, they headed outside. They fully understood the full wrath of God. Buildings were all torn down and remains of anything living were scattered around the town. The group walked all over the town and saw nothing but chaos. There were dead animals and objects askew. Dead bodies were also present and represented the unfortunate few that weren’t able to find shelter in time. Eli was horrified by what he was seeing. He had never seen such destruction. Not even his own town looked this bad and there was murder and corruption taking place daily before he made a decision to clean up the filth. His mind ran on Jeanie. He hoped she was ok. He hoped that she was safe. As soon as they made some progress with cleaning up the town, he got his horse out of the basement and rode to Jeanie’s farm. As soon as he got there, he knocked on her door.
“Jeanie! Jeanie!” There was no answer.
“JEANIE! Are you there?”
Five minutes later, Jeanie answered the door. She invited him in and to take a seat.
“Wow, you’re still alive. How quickly did it take you to kill him? Was it easy?”
“It didn’t happen. I didn’t kill him.”
She almost didn’t believe him. But then she could see the innocence in his eyes.
“You didn’t. You didn’t kill him….Because of the storm right?”
“Yes, because of the storm…Wait…did you pray for God to intervene?”
She remained quiet.
“You did, didn’t you?”
“Well, you didn’t want to go to church with me. I had to do something. I had to pray. I didn’t want you to kill him. It wasn’t your place and I really care about you. I don’t want the man I love to go to jail, so I prayed.”
“Wait,” he paused for a moment, “What did you say?”
“I prayed because you didn’t want to go to church with me and that I had to do something….I”
“No about the part where you said that you loved me,” he smiled at her.
“No, I love you. God said you are supposed to love your brother and your neighbour and…”
“He also said that you aren’t supposed to lie,” he said smugly.
She remained silent, “Fine, I love you. There! I said it, what does that have to do with this situation?”
He looked up at her and smiled. He then held her hand and touched her face.
“It means everything to me,” he then pulled her face and kissed her. It was everything he was hoping for. There was a rush and an energetic surge flowing through both of their bodies. Eventually, Jeanie pulled away and looked up at him. She was still in his arms. She hadn’t been so close to anyone since her parents.
“Jeanie, thank you so much. You saved my life.”
“No…God did. I just asked for him to help. I asked him to intervene.”
“But you still had some part to play in this. Jeanie, I ain’t never met a woman like you before. Before the showdown, during the storm and even after, you were all I could think about. I’ve been in some parts of this here planet and I can tell you, there ain’t no one like yourself. I didn’t think I would ever be able to change. I didn’t think He would ever care for me so much. Even though He brought a storm, there was peace. Can you imagine peace in the middle of such a storm? I’m lucky to even be alive. Jeanie, your prayers kept me alive. I survived. I was kept alive…and so was The Brute. I saved his life during the storm and he promised to change. I didn’t see it before now. I’m really sorry that I never listened. I never experienced such a miracle before today. I just didn’t even know if I would make it to the end of the day. But if I was to have died, I would have liked your face to have been the last that I would have ever seen. I was close to not being alive again and now I want you in my life again. Jeanie, I could go on and on about how much you mean to me, but I’d rather take the rest of our lives and show you what I mean.”
He never met a woman who could make him so flustered. He was now lost in his thoughts.
“What I wanna say is that, ‘I love you too’ and I can’t take another day without you,” She smiled at him.
“Then come to church with me this Sunday,” she said.
Chapter 11
Eli got dressed and headed out of The Tavern.
“Nice suit,” Eileen said before he left.
“Aww, thank you. I’m going to church.”
Eileen looked at him. She thought he was joking.
“You are really going to church?” She looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Yes, why is that so hard to believe?” She remained quiet and watched him leave.
He arrived at the church. It was a lot smaller than he thought it would be but he could feel something…different when he stepped in. The congregation was seated and the pastor was preaching a sermon that was clearly moving the attendees. He clearly was late. All eyes were on him.
“Young man, why are you so late to service?” Jeanie looked at him. She was surprised that he was here. He immediately sat next to her. She squeezed his hand and then pointed to the right. There was another unfamiliar face present at church. The Brute was also there. He looked uncomfortable but truly listened to the sermon. The church was packed. The entire town had never seen such a storm before and perhaps they were all here to give thanks for being alive.
“Does anyone want to come up to this alter and speak about how God has been influential in their lives?” said the pastor.
Everyone was surprisingly quiet. Everyone’s hand was down with the exception of The Brute. The church was surprised. The Brute got up and began to speak.
“I never thought that God would help a man like me. I have committed several sins. I have been a bad man. I don’t even think that I could deserve a chance to live. Then I did something I haven’t done in a very long time. I prayed. I was stuck in the middle of a storm and God sent someone to rescue me. I didn’t expect to see tomorrah,” He began to wipe his face with a handkerchief. “And here I am. Alive to tell the tale and I gotta tell you, I don’t know how I would have done it without Him and my hero, who happens to be at church as well,” he pointed to Eli who was suddenly put on the spot. He was invited to the front of the church. The entire church began to clap for him. Eli didn’t know what to do. He thanked the church and smiled.
“I think I was just doing the right thing. I’m no hero, really. Just a man trying to do good in the world. Tryna atone for my sins. Before I came here, I was a broken man. I came from a corrupt town. Gamblers, thieves and corrupt leaders were everywhere. One day, I got tired and took justice into my own hands. It raised a lot of moral questions for me. A man shouldn’t have to do God’s duty, but is it wrong to let the world go down in sin? I waited for God to intervene in my life but He wasn’t ready until I moved here and I met Jeanie. She made me want to be a better man and I hope one day, I am.”
The entire church applauded and then he went back and sat next to Jeanie. The pastor thanked them for their testimonies and used their sermons to talk about forgiveness.
After church, Eli pulled Jeanie aside.
“Jeanie, there is something I wanted to ask you. I am in love with you and I can’t imagine life without ya,”
He got down on one knee, “Jeanie, would you marry me?”
She smiled. “ Yes, Eli I will. I will marry you.”
Some months later, they were married. It was a small ceremony in the church. Eli helped out with the farm and became the man he had promised Jeanie he would be. He went to church regularly and even got baptised. They were beginning to grow into a family. Jeanie was only a few weeks pregnant and Eli began to take over all of the tasks on the farm, but he didn’t mind. One evening, as the sun slowly began to sit, he sat next to Jeanie at home and looked through the window with her. He squeezed her hand and kissed Jeanie, “I’m glad that I get to share that with you for the rest of my life.”
She nudged him, “You mean for the rest of our lives.” He rubbed her stomach and whispered ‘sorry’ to her stomach.
“You see how God can even make endings into such beautiful beginnings?”
“Yes Jeanie, I do.
“You see how the sun sets over the horizon? It’s one of the most beautiful things. It makes life worth living.”
“And so are you...” He replied looking directly at her, “And so are you.”
THE END