Mother returned home to an empty house.
Curious, Mother thought to herself. I wonder where everyone went.
Mother dialed Father’s phone, but it went straight to voice mail.
“That’s strange,” Mother said out loud. “Father never sends his phone straight to voice mail unless he’s on a plane.”
Mother had taken some time to reflect on her reactions to the information Brother had relayed earlier. She surprised herself regarding how angry she had become over the information Brother had been telling her. She still couldn’t fathom why, but it still rankled her, and she felt it deep within her spirit. Even though she was still upset with Brother, she dialed his phone next.
“Hello,” Brother replied. “Mom, is that you?”
“Yes, you haven’t seen or heard from your father, have you?” Mother inquired as calmly as possible.
“No, when I left, Father was in his study. He said he wanted to digest the information I had given him. Mom, are you okay?” inquired Brother with a tone of love and concern in his voice.
“I’m fine!” Mother replied just a little too harshly and quickly.
Brother could detect from her tone of voice that Mother wasn’t fine; she was still upset. He was hoping she had had time to calm down somewhat.
“We have some possible good news,” Brother said with a hint of excitement in his voice. “Warrior, Seaman, and I went to the town of Next Port to meet with the minister of their church. We found out that it’s quite possible that the ship that Teenager is on might be docking at Next Port tomorrow morning. We’re heading back to our church to formulate a plan.”
Mother was delighted they had news about where her younger son might be but wasn’t quite sure what they meant about formulating a plan.
“What kind of plan?” Mother inquired.
“It’s kind of hard to explain while I’m driving and talking on the phone. Would you be willing to meet us at the church? We want you and Dad to be there,” Brother inquired carefully; he didn’t want to upset his Mother further.
Mother was perplexed. She wanted to do everything she could to help rescue her baby, but she felt like she was being squeezed from both sides.
“I don’t know,” Mother said hesitatingly. “Can’t you guys come to our house? I can make us dinner and have it ready by the time you get here.”
Mother knew she would feel more comfortable talking with these Christians while on her own home turf.
“What about it, guys?” Brother inquired of Warrior and Seaman. “You guys up for switching the planning session to my house if my mom cooks us dinner?”
“Count me in,” Warrior replied.
“Me too,” Seaman said with a smile on his face. “Tell your mom thanks and ask her if we need to bring anything when we come.”
“Mom, we’ll meet you at the house. We should be there soon, but we’re going to stop by the church before we head over. Do we need us to stop and pick anything up?” Brother inquired.
“You might pick up a bag of ice on your way home, but I’m pretty sure there’s enough food here for me to whip something up,” Mother replied with a sound of relief in her voice.
“Okey dokey, Mom,” Brother said with a brighter tone. “Love you; see you soon.”
Mother made no reply and hung up the phone.
P
Teenager sat up, rubbing his eyes. He had fallen asleep and had slept surprisingly well. He couldn’t help but wonder what day it was, whether it was day or night, and where the ship was. He wondered why the captain hadn’t bothered him anymore. He had a lot more questions than he had answers.
Teenager got up and strolled the few paces back and forth in the room. He listened and could hear the ocean waves and the creaking of the oars. Suddenly a whiff of foul air came up through the floorboards. Teenager retched. What an awful smell! He wasn’t quite sure what the smell was, but it was more than just the smell of dirty humans. It had an eerier quality to it, like rotten eggs only a million times worse. Not knowing what else to do, Teenager began to pray again. It surprised him that he found praying to a God he didn’t really know would give him comfort.
P
The captain was beside himself. The situation with his ape guest was becoming intolerable. It had only been a short while since the wretch had come aboard, and yet he hadn’t caved in. These young apes were usually pretty easy to subdue, and Captain couldn’t fathom what was different about this one other than he was covered in the stench of prayer. Captain summoned his first mate.
“Aye, Cap,” replied the first mate as he lumbered across the deck.
“We’re coming into that dump of a town called Next Port before long,” Captain said with anger in his voice. “While I’m on shore winning souls, I’m giving you carte blanche to subdue the young ape in the holding cell. I want him broken, understand? Broken and in chains below deck before I return with our new guests. Do I make myself clear? I want that ape broken!” Captain spat the words out of his foul mouth.
“Aye, Cap! With pleasure!” said the first mate with a slimy, evil grin on his ugly face.
“I’m through playing around with these Christians,” Captain said with a grimace. “I’m tired of their interference. If you have any trouble, take whatever action you need to.” It pained Captain even to say the word “Christian.”
“You can count on me, sir!” First Mate said positively, slobbering with glee. “I relish the task!”
P
Warrior, Brother, and Seaman pulled up to the church. They noticed two cars in the parking lot. One belonged to Pastor and the other Brother recognized as Father’s car.
“Hello!” chimed Brother. “Anybody home?”
“In here,” Pastor’s cheery voice sounded from the direction of his office.
The three men walked into Pastor’s office, positively glowing with excitement.
“Guess where we’ve been,” asked Seaman with a grin from ear to ear.
“I have no idea,” replied Pastor with an equally large grin on his face, “but you’ll never guess what we’ve been up to.” The last remark was made with a nod toward Father.
Brother turned to look at his dad. There was something different about him, but Brother couldn’t quite place it at first; then, all of a sudden, it dawned on him; hope sprung up in Brother’s heart.
“So what’s up?” Warrior asked.
“We’ve been planning a baptism for next Sunday,” Father replied with a gleam in his eye and a smile on his face.
“Really, Dad?” exclaimed Brother with an inquiring tone.
Brother rushed to his dad. He looked his Father in the eyes and saw the confirmation. Brother threw his arms around Father’s neck. There were tears escaping down Brother’s face, and this time, he was not ashamed to show it.
Father and son began slapping each other on the back with exceeding joy.
“I only wish I had done this sooner,” Father replied. “We might have avoided this situation with your brother altogether.”
“Everything in its time and season,” Warrior said, grasping Father in a crushing handshake while slapping him on the back. “Welcome to the family, man!”
“Yea! Welcome, man! So happy for you!” said Seaman as he inserted himself between Father and Warrior to shake hands.
Seaman and Warrior were both pounding Father on the back so hard that he was finding it difficult to breathe.
“I feel like a new man,” Father said, looking away. He was starting to get choked up and was feeling embarrassed. “But don’t pound the life out of me!”
“Sorry, dude!” Warrior said with a smile.
Warrior and Seaman stepped back to give Father a break.
“So where were you guys, and what have you been up to?” Pastor inquired.
“Next Port,” Seaman said. “Warrior had this brilliant idea. He and I put our heads together and talked about it. We’re tired of just reacting to what the dark ships do. We think it’s time we were more proactive. We may not be able to stop them, but we can limit their influence.”
“Well, it wasn’t all my idea,” Warrior replied. “Something you said in a sermon a while back, Pastor, triggered the idea. So I called Seaman, and we met at the church. We called the pastors, priests, and ministers of the churches up and down the coast. They all agreed we need to come together as the body of believers and get organized. We need to stop focusing on our differences and what separates us and focus instead on fighting our common enemy. We’re getting ready to set up a meeting.”
“Tremendous!” Pastor exclaimed. “I can always count on you two guys to come up with something incredible.”
“The three of us just came back from a meeting in Next Port; we have some encouraging information, Dad,” Brother said with a look of hope on his face.
“The minister of the church in Next Port said that their community has been devastated by the downturn in the economy. This makes their citizens ripe to be plundered by the dark ships,” Seaman replied.
“I know Minister well,” Pastor said. “That town is really struggling.”
“We put our notes together,” Warrior interjected, “and we have a pretty good idea about how many ships patrol our coastline. Based on our combined information, they seem to follow a set routine.”
“That makes sense,” Pastor replied. “Remember evil is cunning, but not always creative.”
“The encouraging information, Dad,” Brother explained, “is that it appears that the ship that Teenager is on might be in Next Port in the morning if they follow their usual schedule.”
Father jumped to his feet with excitement.
“Let’s get over there right now!” Father said. He was anxious to get in the game to rescue his younger son.
“Now wait a minute, Father,” Pastor said in a rather sober tone. “You’re not ready to take these guys on just yet.”
“That’s right,” Warrior said. “We came up with a plan when we met with Minister, but we need to bring everyone up to speed.”
“Copy that!” Seaman agreed.
“We’re getting together at our house, Dad,” Brother replied. “Mom’s agreed to let us meet at our house. She wants to hear what’s going on, so she’s invited everyone over for dinner.”
“Your mom probably feels safer in our house than here,” Father said. “I think she’ll come around to believing eventually.”
“Hope so, Dad,” Brother replied.
“So what do we do?” Pastor inquired.
“I was going to stop on the way home and pick up some ice like Mom requested,” Brother said.
“We’ve got bags of ice in the freezer in the kitchen,” Pastor said. “Just pick up whatever you need, and let’s get started.”
“Agreed!” Father said.
“Heading to the kitchen,” Brother said, waving to the men behind him. “Meet you guys at the house in a few.”
And with that, the men left the church and headed for Father and Brother’s house.