nova fiction guest article #15-last one

NOVA FICTION GUEST ARTICLE #15-LAST ONE
Thank you, Nova, for a wonderful diversion from our impending horrible deaths.  My article posts at its regular time.
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"Ah. Enough about her. Roy, what do you think of them."




"They're good for White boys." Roy I noticed lately had discovered his inner racist or he just felt comfortable saying what he thought around me now. He continued "Micah is a vet. Tiny wanted to be a Marine but he failed something. He won't say and either will Micah. Micah did security and laid carpet for awhile. Tiny, I think he lived in his Mom's basement forever. Him and Micah are cousins somehow."



"Who got the woman pregnant." I asked.



Roy shrugged, and told me, "No clue."



He was right. It wasn't that important as long as one of them took care of her.



We rode in silence for awhile. I refused to listen to the radio or let them listen. That did not go over well. I almost relented but I hadn't let them listen before so why should I now? It was just recycled music from a generation that was one foot in the grave or soft porn over a beat. I was debating in my head if classical would be acceptable. Also I wasn't sure when radio had been invented. I was pretty sure it was a real long time ago. Falling out of the back of my brain was an image of the family gathered around a radio the size of a gas pump smiling and listening to story tellers.



My thoughts were interrupted by Sharon who said, "Chosen. We need to talk,"



"Okay. I'm listening."



I twisted around a bit in my seat so I could make eye contact with her. Roy I noticed was watching her using the rear view mirror. I noticed it because we almost ran into the car in front of us.



"Chosen. You know I believe. I understand your viewpoint and HIS but we have to know what's going on in the world. We especially need to know if they are hunting us."



Even Roy was nodding his head.



"No." I told her. "You think we aren't the first group of believers to have to make choices? You don't think I miss watching HGTV? This is what HE said long ago.

“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”



I told them "You can't make it any clearer than that. We kill people for compromising their beliefs in order to satisfy their needs. I will not compromise because to compromise means I am no better than them! I will not kill someone when I know in my heart I am guilty of the same!" I was getting angry. "The road to hell is paved with compromises. THEY enslaved us because we were willing to compromise! No!" Then I began pounding on Roy's car radio with my fist. It hurt but I didn't care. I wasn't really doing any damage to the radio but my hand was starting to bleed. I was screaming "No!" as I did it. I didn't notice when Roy pulled off the road and shifted into park. I did notice when he grabbed my arm, for an old man he was surprisingly strong, and told me quietly "We understand Chosen. It shall be so."



I froze. Then I waited for my head to stop screaming. When it was quiet I told Roy "Let go." He did and I cradled my hand in my lap. It hurt but I wasn't going to let them know that. "Drive."



Sharon said "Oh my! Your hand Chosen!"



"Shut up Sharon." I said it coldly. She shut up. If she hadn't I would have killed her right there. Roy didn't need to be told twice. That was one of the reasons I liked him. We merged back into traffic by cutting off a BMW who honked and flipped us off. I grinned and looked at Roy who started laughing. "Want to follow him Chosen?"



"No. Let's find us a place to eat and then somewhere to stay." I looked back. The Suburban had pulled off after we had and was swinging back into place behind us."



After awhile I knew we going to need find a drug store so I could wrap my hand and eat some aspirin. I was also getting hungry. That was what I was looking forward to. A road trip on I-95 meant Waffle House!

We ended up pulling off into a strip shopping center with a Waffle House set at the far corner of the parking lot next to a gas station. Sharon and Rick, still faking his limp, went into CVS to get the first-aid stuff for my hand. I rolled down my window, shut my eyes, and leaned my head back. Roy got out, lit up a cigarette and walked over to my side of the car so he could talk to me and smoke.



I didn't bother to open my eyes when Micah came up to the window, looked in at me and said "Holy smokes Chosen! What happened to your hand?"



"Nothing Micah. Nothing."



He didn't say anything. Just stood there, shuffled in place, and radiated uncertainty that I could feel through my eyelids.



"Micah."



"Yes sir?"



"If you need anything at the store now is the time to get it. When Sharon and Rick come out we're going over to Waffle House to get something to eat."



"Yes sir."



"Micah." I waited "Call me Chosen okay."



"Yes...Chosen."





"Thanks."



It took him about ten seconds to realize he had been dismissed. I was impressed. Micah had potential.



It took five minutes for Sharon to bandage me up. As she did she whispered "I'm sorry Chosen."



"You're forgiven Sharon." I meant it too.



Waffle House wasn't busy. When we got our booths I told Rick to switch with Micah. I wanted him at my table. Our waitress was a recovering meth head. I knew she was recovering because she was working and didn't have any visible sores on her face or arms. She had the mouth tho. I avoided looking at it. I think she had two teeth left while the rest were brown stumps. It also made her hard to understand. She also forgot everything a waitress could possibly forget. She was trying, and she was nice, so I overlooked it. Sharon found food on her spoon and sent it back. The waitress took it away and forgot to bring her a new one. I didn't care. I loved Waffle House waffles and hash browns.



The woman at the counter was black, looked like a pro, and was with a white guy who had dreads. She was telling the other waitress about how her boyfriend had two months tacked on to his sentence at the county jail for fighting. The cook looked like Roy's brother only White and sweatier.



While we ate I told them the PLAN. "We would stay somewhere around here for the next couple of days, read the paper, yes the paper was okay if you filtered it, and then head back to the DC area."



"Then what?" Micah asked.



"We send a few more bankers to hell and then head to Montana so I can finish The Book of Chosen. I had been to Montana when I was a kid and had loved it. HE definitely lived in a place like that."



"Montana. That place is cold. Real cold. I hate cold, snow, and mountains." Roy told the table.



Micah didn't hesitate. He told Roy "If that's were Chosen says we're to go then that's where we go." He added, ignoring Roy's frown "Plus there is a lot of good people up that way. I hear Montana is going to legalize automatic weapons."



"Yeah. That will makes all the difference. Yes indeed."



I was surprised. Roy was good at sarcasm even if it went Micah's head, or more likely, was just being ignored by him.



While we were talking Rick hobbled over to the counter and came back with the paper someone had left behind. He flipped through it and stopped dead about halfway back. He looked around, then came over to the table and told Micah to slide over and give him some room. He slid the paper in front of me and tapped on the front page. "You need to look at this Chosen." I noticed Meth Waitress look over when she heard that. Rick was idiot. He was repeatedly proving that to me. Roy was not a idiot. He scooped up the paper, told Rick to go sit back at his table, and loudly "What did you say you were choosing to do Elvin?"



"Buy some lottery tickets and get rich."



Meth Waitress laughed and told us "That's my dream too."



I stuck my last piece of waffle in my mouth, wiped it, and said "Sharon, you got the bill?"



She nodded her head. Sharon was our treasurer. She collected tithes and what have you. I knew we were going to need more money soon. A little voice whispered "Armored cars." I put that idea on hold for now and slipped out of the table and stood up. "Time to go" I told the other table. The woman, whatever her name was, didn't look happy but she got up. I looked at her plate. She needed to eat faster.

We headed out to the car and once we got settled in Roy handed the paper to me. We had the front page headline of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Banker Burned And Filmed." I read the article. They got most of it right except they called us a Burner's. That pissed me off. They did get my name right which was a plus. I handed it to Roy without saying a word. Rick and Sharon leaned over the seat so they could read it. Sharon, after about a minute said "Roy. Just read it out loud." He handed it back to her and said gruffly "You read it. I'm going to have a smoke" and got out of the car. When they got done I asked Rick to run it back to the other car. As soon as he was back I told Roy "Lets go."



We spent the next two nights at the Cadillac Motel off Route 1 which, as far as I could tell, was run by a bunch of Indians who all had bad breath. The paper told us we were unidentified, except for me, but authorities were close to finding out who the other people in the video were.



I altered the plan. "We were going straight to Montana with a few detours along the way."



Everybody liked that idea but Roy. Only Sharon asked "Why?"



"Because HE told me to." That shut her up.



"What kind of detours Chosen?" Roy asked me.



"Armored cars and gun stores." was my answer.

The End