Oh, Sheila, I don’t want to hurt you, but you can’t go where you’re going. He’d have to stop her becoming a believer. It was the group’s ‘last gentile’ belief—Jesus would return when the number of non-Jews becoming believers was reached. They had to stop him coming back. They didn’t want civilisation pushed in the wrong direction. He didn’t know the number, but the group were determined to delay the last gentile and he was happy to oblige. But this situation was harder. Sometimes he wondered if their strategy was the real reason he felt the darkness come across him with the mention of the name of Jesus. Jesus frightened Thomas Wiley and he didn’t want Him to come back.
He walked into the hallway, looking for his backpack. It was at the doorway. He must have dropped it when the tremor hit. The glasses. He wanted to confirm Sheila had turned. Had become an amber person.
He came back into the kitchen with the glasses perched on his nose.
“What’s with the glasses?” Sheila asked. “Aren’t they aura glasses? Why are you wearing them?”
“I want to see if your fear has subsided.”
She gave him a soft smile. “Good to know some of my New Age stuff rubbed off on you.”
“Your aura is amber.” The anger was coming.
Her eyes widened. “That’s good, I think. Amber is a positive sign. Interestingly, I think it also involves change.”
“Yes. That’s what you taught me.” He was trying to control his tone. “Someone seeking change in a spiritual sense.”
Wiley looked over to the kitchen bench. There was a magnetic knife rack attached to the wall.
“You know, Thomas, I used to believe Christians were a blockage to worldwide peace and harmony, but I have my doubts now. The things I hear when I meet with friends and the things I see when I venture into the world, the streets, the shopping centres. I think the world is becoming a worse place. The further we push God away, the worst it gets.”
Wiley walked over to the kitchen bench and turned to look at Sheila.
She had closed her eyes. “I’m starting to believe the world does need a saviour and I believe that may well be Jesus.”
He looked at the knife rack, hoping for and looking for an alternative. His phone rang. Pleased with the distraction, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out the phone and put it straight to his ear without thinking.
“You idiot, I told you to get rid of your phone.” A pause and a sound of frustration. “Mate, they’re onto you. They know where you are.”
Alertness returned. Maybe he was lucky he hadn’t got rid of his phone. Otherwise he wouldn’t have got this warning. But what could he do? He looked at Sheila.
The sound of sirens replaced the birdsong.
15 - Welcome to Sunshine Beach
Wiley ran to the front door. He couldn’t hear the sirens any more, but that didn’t mean they weren’t coming. They could’ve used the sirens to get through some traffic lights, then switched them off for the element of surprise. Well they weren’t going to surprise him.
“Are they looking for you?” Sheila stood behind him. “Maybe you should go. I don’t want any trouble.”
“It’s not me, Sheila.” He didn’t want to lose her confidence. “They’re probably rushing to incidents related to the earthquake.” He turned towards the kitchen. “Come back to the kitchen. You offered me a coffee, remember.”
Through the kitchen window, he saw a police car pull up and two officers get out and walk towards the fallen tree, which was surrounded by people who seemed in awe of the uprooted stick. Before he knew it, Sheila was out the back door and heading towards the gate in her back fence. She called out and waved to Wiley.
“Come on, Thomas. Let’s see if we can help.”
Wiley watched from the window as Sheila opened the gate. She turned to see if he was coming, shrugged, then walked in the direction of the tree. Someone told him trees could feel pain and have feelings. It may even have been Sheila who told him that. Trees with feelings? He shook his head. It’s one crazy mixed-up world out there.
The dinging of the front doorbell snapped him out of his stupor but added to his anxiety level. He kept still hoping, the door dinger would go away.
“Hello, anybody there?” Silence. Door dinger was waiting for a response. The silence didn’t last as a voice boomed down the passageway into the kitchen. “Hello, I’m looking for a Thomas Wiley. Sarge advised me that I would find him here.”
With the mention of Sarge, Wiley tensed up. Who could this be? His club? Did they have a Noosa chapter? How did they know he was here? They must have police connections.
“Hello, Wiley. If you’re there, we need to move quickly.”
He continued to watch the people gathering around the tree and tried to gather his thoughts. Of course door dinger wasn’t going to mention the chapter or The Great Leader in case others were present. Wiley had to respond.
“Uh, I’m coming.”
He took one last look out the window. The group of people was dispersing from around the tree. Sheila was talking to a police officer and pointed towards her house. She started walking back with the policeman in tow.
Time to depart. He moved into the darkened passageway, towards the front door. A tall figure stood behind the flyscreen, blocking the natural light from entering. The outline of the man cast a white aura—Wiley didn’t need glasses to see that.
The figure spoke. “Pick up the pace, young man.” There was a tone of authority in the man’s voice.
Wiley picked up his pace, unlatched, and opened the door. The man looked him over. Wiley couldn’t read the man’s thoughts, but it didn’t bother him.
The man tilted his head towards a white BMW sedan parked in front of Sheila’s house. “Let’s go.” A short beep came from the car.
“Jump in the back seat and lay low.”
As the car drove off, Wiley took a peek out the window. Sheila and the police officer had entered the backyard. After lying down across the back seat, he closed his eyes and fought back some emotions. He wasn’t sure what they were. He opened his eyes and stared at the cloudless blue sky through the back window. They drove in silence. Sometimes silence was awkward. Wiley didn’t know this man, didn’t know where they were going, and didn’t care.
He stared at the sky and saw the outline of something in the distance, reflecting the sun for a moment. Was that the asteroid? His comrade’s asteroid. No, that was a plane.
He broke the silence. “That asteroid thing still around?”
“It is.” The driver gave Wiley a quick glance. “You can sit up now.”
