Chapter 9
“Answers are right around the corners of your every inquiry. The only challenge about it is knowing where to look.”
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I never realized how beautiful nature was, Fred’s thoughts shimmered about like tiny flames, casting reminiscences of past encounters and experiences to emerge. Allowing his eyelids to gently close, he breathed in the sweet aroma of blossom fragrances and inexplicable moisture lingering in the air, clinging to the last fleeting moments of summer, falling slowly into the fall solstice. Perhaps it was his never pending guilt that wouldn’t go, or the constructional feeling of regret. How he hated that feeling of regret. That final piece that held onto him like the fraught cling of a dying leaf holding onto its stationary tree branch. Breaths coming out as rigid as those rocky mountains that lie in the Himalayans, he could feel the unswerving squeeze in his lungs as if forcing his breaths to weaken and die out. Looking up towards the clear heavens shrouded with flicks of clouds, a sigh of fortitude arouse in the farthest reaches of his mind, Dear Lord, when am I going to find rest?
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Ding Dong! “Coming!” Suzie waddled down the long hallway, shaking out the excess dishwashing water released from her hands. Trying hard not to slip on the saturated floors that she had only just moped, she twisted the knob and opened the wooden door.
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“Oh!” A small gasp of astonishment escaped her mouth as she instinctively raised her hands to stifle her sudden outburst. “Taylor! What a pleasant surprise!”
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“Ah,” sinking down into the comfort of his huge armchair, Fred smiled contently upon finished reading a gratifying novel titled, “Redeeming the past.” Setting it down gently onto the marble table, he lifted his head to face the ceiling as if staring into a world unimaginably swirling about in endless cyberspace. Just before drifting into sleep, Suzie burst through the door, startling Fred into an upright position. Nearly panting from the lack of breath, she leaned against the doorway tiredly, but a smile was plastered plainly on her face.
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“Suzie?” Fred asked cautiously. She rarely ever behaved this way, let alone disturbed his onward sleep. Searching her face for an immediate answer, he was disappointed to find none. What was she so excited about?
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“Fred!” Her smile grew wider as pearly whites emerged between her lips. Making her way to beside him, she took his wrinkled hands and held them fondly before answering. “Taylor’s here to see you.”
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Sitting casually on the living room couch, Taylor peered around at his surroundings. Framed paintings decorated the walls with their colorful touches of brilliantly painted flowers and gently sinuous plants swaying as if in rhythm to the light breezes. The carpet was plain beige, indicating the cleanliness that resided in the room; adorned with sweet smelling plants and smiling flowers, the large sign stuck out the most. It read off, “God is the leader of this house.” That led off the impression of a sense of peace and tranquility that floated about the serene atmosphere. Of course, it was possible to drown in this ambiance of serenity rushing into him through the form of oxygen. Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by a small voice that seemed to cautiously ask for permission to disrupt him.
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“Taylor?” The look of shock and astonishment on the old man’s face soon was replaced with a look that shone with pure happiness. Using all his effort to roll himself closer to the youth, his old eyes twinkled with something that seemed to have been lost some time ago. For here was a soul that would be saved; through his teachings and God’s. It won’t be easy to convince him and drive his heart out of captivity, but it was worth the exertion. “Taylor,” his wrinkled lips curled upward into a wide smile. “You’ve decided to heed my word.”
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Taylor shifted his position uncomfortably and immediately Fred knew that something was wrong. The way his eyes avoided his kind gaze and how this feeling of irresolute ness lingered about in the atmosphere.
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“Mr. Harrison,” Fred flinched slightly at the mention of his formal greeting. No one has ever called him that since the day he became a Christian. Everyone thought of him as family, and formalities were often overlooked. But the forlorn tone in his voice shook anxiety into him as he stared at the messy brown curls laid onto the boy’s head.
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“Taylor,” he paused as he slightly lifted up his head to look at him directly. “We are all friends here. There is no need to be so formal.” Suzie came over and set down two cups of steaming tea down onto the coffee table between them. Then she helped Fred off the wheelchair and onto the sofa Taylor was previously sitting in. Sensing the anxiety in the room, she nodded towards them and silently left to let them contemplate on their decisions. Indulgent was present on the deep furrows of her face, in profundity as she stopped outside the door and prepared for their conversion.
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“…Taylor?” Fred reached out in apprehensiveness, disappointed that he slinked away, out of his grasp. Puzzled by his strange reactions, his hand was laid back onto his lap, eyes cast down onto the handles of his wheelchair. Sighing resoundingly, his head was lifted in order to catch a glimpse of what Taylor might have been pondering right then. However, all he received was an impassive stare.
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“I’ve-I’ve come to ask you something,” Taylor responded defiantly to his inner emotions. His thoughts ran with swarms of questions, overcrowding the internal recesses of his mind. What seemed to go on pushed out the indulgence of being in this present location. The extravagant environment didn’t seem to apply anymore to Taylor, for he was trapped in his position and the need to know the answers to his questions was too overbearing to hold off any longer.
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“You’ve come to ask me about God,” Fred said out ingenuously, knowing immediately what was troubling the circumstances of the situation at hand. “Am I not right?”
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Taylor seemed taken back at the immediate out spoken response. Fed had just recently perpetuated onto him. Frustration livid on his uncompromising expression, Taylor resisted the temporizing urge to give in to mercerizing his fragile thread of temper. An ancient perceptive filled the eccentricity of the intensity inexorably approaching into the impending luster of understanding and salvation about to overflow into alleviation. Hopefully, Fred would be able to answer all that Taylor needed to know and what will he cross about in the rapidly imminent future. Taking in the vast air about him as much as he can, Taylor stringed together the scattered thoughts and questions present in his mind and breathed out the words in which would change his views on life, forever.
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“I wish to know about salvation.”
