Chanitok, L.I.

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Gwen’s mother remained in the All You Can Eat, greeting potential voters for another 10 minutes. Then she was gone, heading off to another local campaign stop. Gwen, Jimmy, Mark and Beth had remained seated in the booth, hardly saying a word until she and the reporter were gone.

Now Beth spoke with a quiet, tearful voice. “I can’t believe we did that. Gwen’s mother asked us if we were Born Again Christians, right in front of everybody; and we froze. Gwen told a lie, to protect all of us; and we went along with it. The Bible tells us to ‘Grieve not the Spirit’.

Mark said, “Right. That’s just what we did by going along with her lying.”

Beth went on. “I’m sure your mother knew you were lying Gwen. Now people might start harassing us. We might be getting threatening e-mails. We might get suspended from school, and I don’t know what else; all because I grieved the Spirit by lying.”

“Calm down please,” Gwen told her “and don’t worry. I’m sure my Mom doesn’t want to cause a couple of High School kids any kind of grief. As long as you keep it to yourselves, there shouldn’t be any trouble. I’ll talk to her when I get home.”

Mark said, “But there was a reporter standing right next to her; taking down notes.”

“All he heard me say was that you two are sexually responsible high school kids. There’s no news in that; at least here in Chanitok.”

Beth said, “There is, if he didn’t believe me.”

Now Jimmy spoke. “Gwen’s mother wouldn’t have asked that question, if she didn’t believe there was something to it; and the reason she believed there was something to it, was because Gwen told her.”

Now Gwen stiffened up. “Oh. I did. Didn’t I?”

“Yeah. You did.”

She snapped, “Well that was because you got me angry Jimmy! First you said you wanted to be my steady boyfriend. Then you changed your mind ‘cause you’re a Born Again Christian; and that got her angry too.”

“That explains it. Sorry.”

“Look.” She spoke calmly. “I told her about it when we were at home. I thought it would remain a private conversation, between me and my mother; not me and ‘the Inclusive Party Candidate’. But don’t worry. I’ll talk to her when I get home. I’m sure she’ll see to it that nobody’ll give you any trouble.”

Mark said, “Right. Do you want to get back to what we were talking about, before she came in?”

Jimmy said, “Good idea. What were we talking about?”

They thought it over for a minute.

Gwen told them, “Something about people being more valuable than birds?”

“Right.”

Beth reached for her handbag. Then she halted.

“I can’t take out the Gospel booklet now.” She said, “People in here might be watching us.”

“Come on Beth.” Mark told her, “You’re starting to sound paranoid.”

Jimmy chuckled humorlessly, repeating a quote. “’Just because you’re paranoid, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t out to get you’.”

Mark said, “Right. So let’s go someplace where there’s nobody around.”

Beth asked him, “How about your place?”

He shook his head. “My old man’s also an active member of the Inclusive Party. Why not your house?”

“I don’t know.” She told him, “I haven’t told my parents anything about me being Born Again. I’m not sure how’ll they’ll take it.”

They both looked at Jimmy.

Now Gwen spoke. “You’re all welcome to move this meeting to my house.”

They all looked at her.

Jimmy said, “You’re kidding?”

“No. My Mom’s gonna be away from the house for hours. If she does come home while the meeting’s going on, she won’t be reporting it to anybody. Once she steps inside the house, she stops being the Candidate; and she’s not gonna do anything that’ll get me or any of my friends in trouble.”

A half hour later, Gwen and the other three stepped through the front door of the Sandrell home. The living room was to their right and the kitchen to their left.

Sarah was seated on the living room couch, with a boy her own age. They were hugging and kissing heavily. She wore only a very short skirt, along with a halter top.

She called out, “Hi Gwen. This is Pete. He’s the boy I told you about; the one who made me a complete woman.”

Her older sister asked, “Are you two going to be practicing the proper use of a condom again?”

“Exactly. We’re about to begin responsibly engaging in safe sex again.”

“I’m sure Mom’ll be glad to know you’re being responsible; but could you please engage in that responsibility, in your own room?”

“Right.”

The girl and Pete jumped up from the couch, and hurried into the back of the house. Gwen and her guests heard the door to Sarah’s room shut.

Now Gwen, Jimmy, Mark and Beth went into the dining room and sat around the table.

Jimmy said, “It looks like this meeting won’t be exactly secret.”

Gwen told him, “I’m sure, that what Sarah and Pete are gonna be telling people, about what was going on here tonight, won’t have anything to do with us.”

“Beth.” She looked at her guest. “My little sister really enjoys being a complete woman. Don’t you?”

Mark said, “Hey Gwen! Enough of that!”

“Yes Gwen.” Beth told her, “I’ve always enjoyed doing the horizontal dance; just as much as you, your sister and every other girl I know. I think it’s a healthy activity and terrific recreation. The thing is, I’ve just never found it to be anywhere near as great as everybody says.”

Gwen shook her head. “Neither have I.”

“So it’s hard to understand why everybody makes such a big fuss about it.”

Jimmy told her, “I agree.”

Beth told them, “But the Lord makes a big fuss about it; which means that it’s something which everybody should take into account.”

“Right.”

“Enough of this.” Mark interrupted, “Do you want to begin?”

Beth said, “Right. Let us pray.”

Then Gwen and her three guests bowed their heads.

Jimmy spoke, “Thank you Lord for bringing us here tonight, and bringing us to Gwen’s house, where we can study your Word without fear of harassment, and see how we can apply it to our lives; in Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

Beth and Mark also said, “Amen”, as did Gwen.

Beth zipped open her handbag and reached inside. This time she took out a complete Bible, and placed it on the table in front of her. She flipped through the pages, and came to the place she searched for.

“Here it is.” She told everyone. ”Matthew chapter 5, verses 10 through 12.

Beth looked at the words in front of her and read aloud:

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Now Beth repeated, “’Rejoice and be glad’? Rejoice because we’re afraid of being harassed, if we read the Bible and pray in public? ‘Be glad’ that we’d get in serious trouble if we quote the Bible, or make any kind of Christian religious statement in School?

“If we say ‘God bless you’ to somebody who sneezes, will we lose our scholarships, or not be allowed to enroll in certain institutions of higher learning?”

Mark said, “Now that’s exaggerating.”

Beth asked “Are you sure about that?”

Gwen said. “It’s not just having to avoiding the appearance of being religious. There are other things that might lead to harassment, which have nothing to do with religion. The other day my mother warned me not to make any negative comments about anyone who’s gay, even if it’s true; or I might have to pay a very large fine for violating a local nondiscrimination ordinance.”

“A large fine?” Jimmy asked, “Even if it’s true? An ordinance like that is unconstitutional. Is being honest and truthful illegal in this town?”

Mark told him, “Welcome to Chanitok Jim; a ‘Gay Friendly’ community; where ‘all the citizens are friendly to gays’; or else.”

“Well what’s so great about homosexuals, that they think the whole world has to change, just to make them feel comfortable? If anyone doesn’t go along with whatever they do or say, they try to destroy him. Look at what’s going on with Snacking Kings.”

Mark said, “Get used to it Jim. The Gay Rights activists are among our Leftist Conquerors, and we the people of Chanitok are helpless before them.”

Gwen said, “Well it seems to me, that all of you could easily avoid any trouble, if you just keep your beliefs to yourselves, in the privacy of your own homes, like you’re doing here tonight. No one will bother you then.”

Jimmy told her, “But Jesus told His disciples, ‘Go into all the world and teach the Gospel to every creature’. If we just keep it all to ourselves, we’ll be going against His Word; and like I said, we want to avoid trouble with God; and we’d also like to avoid trouble with the people who run things here in Chanitok; but doing both seems impossible.”

Now muffled sounds came from the back of the house. They heard Sarah giggling, and her bed creaking rhythmically.

Gwen called out. “Hey Sarah! Do you and your boyfriend want to keep it down!”

Now Beth sang a verse from a worship song.

“’I will call upon the Lord,
Who is worthy to be praised,
So will I be safe
From my enemies’.

“Amen.”

“’Call upon the Lord’?” Gwen asked, “To keep you safe from your ‘enemies’?”

Jimmy said, “Constantly, when we’re together and when we’re alone; and things just seem to keep getting worse.”

Beth told her, “We want to do what the Lord wants, but we keep getting in our own way, and just going along with the way things are here in Chanitok, seems much more reasonable. ‘The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak’, and the temptations are so strong.”

“The temptations?” Gwen asked her, “Like Jimmy wanting to have sex with me regularly, which is the same thing I want him to be doing; and when Mark says that he’s been having sex with you, you don’t want that to be a lie either, do you?”

“Exactly.”

Jimmy prayed, “Oh Lord, have mercy on your sinful servants here, who are finding it very hard to repent. Send forth your Holy Spirit, and give us all the help we need to do everything you require of us. I ask this for everyone here, including our hostess Gwen. In Jesus Name. Amen.”

Mark and Beth both said “Amen.”

Gwen also said “Amen.”

Then she said, “Wait a minute. When I agreed to come to your meeting, it was because I thought I might hear some comforting words about Marge and Dave. So far, haven’t heard anything comforting from anybody, about anything.”

From outside the house, there were the sounds of a car pulling into the driveway, along with the flashing of headlight beams against the windows.

Gwen went to the window and looked outside.

“It’s my Mom.” She said, “I didn’t expect her to be back this early.”

Then she ran to the back of the house and called out.

“Hey Sarah! Both of you quiet down! Mom’s home early!”

She came back out to the dinning room, where she saw Beth shutting the Bible.

Gwen asked, “Are you gonna hide that from my mother?”
Beth halted.

“It’s okay.” Their hostess Gwen said, “Let’s just keep on with the meeting. She won’t try to stop what we were doing.”

Now Irene Sandrell came through the front door. She saw Gwen with her three friends seated at the dining room table.

Her daughter said, “Hi Mom.”

“Good evening Gwen. Everybody.”

She looked at the table. “You’ve brought a Bible with you?”

Gwen said, “You were right Mom. Jimmy, Beth and Mark here are all Born Again Christians. What we were doing at the All You Can Eat, was having a Bible Study. When you showed up, it brought attention to us; and they were afraid we might be harassed; so I invited them to come here, where nobody’ll try to stop them.”

Her mother was amused, “You brought them here? To the home of an Inclusive Party Candidate?”

“That’s right. That’s because they hope that you’ll keep all of your, what they call your ‘fanatical Leftist Conqueror friends’, from harassing them.”

“As long as they don’t try to force their beliefs on anyone else, none of my ‘fanatical friends’ would have any reason to harass them.”

Jimmy spoke, “But Christian students are being harassed anyway Mrs. Sandrell.
At Chanitok High, anyone who even mentions the Bible is reprimanded. On Monday morning in History, Gwen here received a veiled threat from one of her teachers, just for mentioning the Bible in Class.”

“You did?”

Gwen nodded. “Ms. Morris. She told us that discussing anything about the Bible in School is in violation of the ‘Constitutionally Mandated Separation of Church and State’.”

“That’s not true.” Her mother said, “It is both legal and also a Constitutional right, for ‘a student to instigate a discussion about God and religion in public schools. And once the student does, the teacher is allowed to respond, and answer the student’s questions’.”

Gwen told her, “Ms. Morris has bullied the entire class into going along with the idea that we aren’t allowed to talk about religion in school. She said that if we do, we might have to face some very serious consequences.”

Jimmy said, “Ms. Morris is a Leftist like you Mrs. Sandrell, and you Leftists who are now running things in this Country, are our Conquerors; and we the American people are helpless before you.”

Mrs. Sandrell told them, “Don’t worry about Ms. Morris. Just leave that woman to me.”

Now, from the back of the house, they heard the door to Sarah’s room open. Then Sa-rah stepped into the dining room, accompanied by Pete. He wore a pair of pants, shoes and a shirt. She was now fully dressed in the very short skirt she’d had on, when Gwen and her friends first entered the house, along with her halter top and a pair of sandals.

“Hi Mom.” She spoke casually. “This is Pete. He’s in my class. He was the guy who made me into a complete woman.”

Everyone greeted the girl and guy pleasantly.

Her mother said, “Good evening Sarah. I’m very pleased to finally meet you, Peter.”

Sarah told her, “Now Pete’s just given me my very first orgasm, responsibly. I am now even more of a complete woman.”

Now Jimmy spoke to Sarah and Pete. “Right now, we are having a Bible study here. You are both welcome to join us. You too Mrs. Sandrell.”

Sarah and Pete both chuckled.

“It’s not a joke Sarah.” Her mother told them, “They are your sister’s guests. She’s invited them to conduct a Bible study in our house, where they will be safe from any harassment.”

Sarah said, “But a Bible study Mom? You of all people are allowing this; in our house?”

“I certainly am allowing this.” Gwen’s mother declared firmly. “I ‘of all people’ am allowing this in my home. They will always be welcome to conduct their Bible study here, in our house, without any interference from me, or anybody else. As long as they have Gwen’s invitation, they will also have mine.”

Her oldest daughter told her, “Thank you Mom.”

Now Jimmy prayed. “In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I ask God the Father Almighty, to send forth the Holy Spirit, and Cast out the Devil from any place, where we your people are present; so that nobody in these places, will be harmed in any way; that they and we will be healed of any and all afflictions; and that they and we will come to know the will of the Lord, and follow Him. I ask this all in Jesus Name. Amen.”