Located deep within the Smithsonian's basement warehouse, a group of uniformed security guards scrambled to make sense of the alarm. They stood huddled around a tremendous bank of CCTV monitors when the door suddenly burst open. A frantic Fletcher Howard headed straight for them.
"Move!!" he yelled.
In his hand was a single, blurry photograph. It looked eerily similar to the famous striding Big Foot photo that had been proffered over the years as the irrefutable proof of its existence. Except this Big Foot was white and the size of a normal man. And happened to be John. The covered in white ash John. It had been hastily snapped in the jungles of Tanna during the Kava ceremony by some of Fletcher's henchmen, the same ones who followed Marco into the jungle and remained the only photo Fletcher had of him.
"I need to review the tapes," he snapped. "Take me back to just before the sprinklers went off. Wait! Stop! Ok, back it up. There!"
The guard freeze-framed the image of John, Em and Ethan entering the warehouse hallway. John had struck the exact same pose.
"Zoom in." He held the photo next to the screen. "Well look who it is. The Messiah. Right here among us...and... with my valise."
Fletcher opened his laptop and began scanning the screen.
"Where you goin' oh, Chosen One?" he muttered to himself. "Don't you love technology? There! They're headed west on Constitution."
By now, the street was clogged with people and the flashing lights of emergency vehicles of every description making it even more difficult for John to hail a cab. After an unsuccessful five minutes, Em had had enough, grabbed John's arm, pulled him away from the curb and backed him up against the building like an elementary school child being put in time-out.
"Stand here, outta sight." she said. She took off her soaked hoodie,wrapped it around her waist revealing an equally drenched white T-shirt. She inserted two fingers into her mouth and produced an ear shattering whistle. Two yellow cabs nearly collided, clamoring to be the first to get over to the curb. Words were exchanged between the cabbies until one of them ended the conversation by raising the one finger salute and quickly speeding off.
"This is us," she said. Soaked, but a grateful Em climbed in clutching the valise while a somewhat dumbfounded John followed her into the back seat.
"The Westin-Georgetown," John told the driver. He turned to Em whose mood had taken a turn for the worse ever since her discovery of John's alter ego. She refused to even meet his glance, choosing instead to stare out the side window. He looked over at her and in hushed tones began to explain himself.
"Look, I umm...was going to say something...uh...when, when the time was right. I didn't mean to keep anything from you, I really didn't."
Em was not having it and her expression was that of pure deadpan.
"I haven't even figured this all out yet myself. Everybody's convinced I'm something or someone I'm not. I've got a whole bunch of people who want me dead or worse and I haven't even been able to understand why- I haven't even told Ethan, uh...I got a little caught up in everything on the island, I really didn't mean to.... well...so... I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry."
Em continued looking straight ahead, unfazed, and expressionless. They both sat, in awkward silence, looking straight ahead for what seemed like forever. John leaned in closely.
"You really are a good dancer though." he said quietly, an ear-to ear grin slowly forming on his face. "I mean damn, girl! Day-uum!"
Em hauled off and punched him in the shoulder. She looked over at him, her expression unchanged and slowly turned away to look out her window. But in the faint reflection of the glass, John caught a glimpse of an ever so slight smile on her face. It was all the confirmation he needed that all was right again and like a big brother, put his finger in her ear. She jumped and giggled just as they pulled up in front of the hotel.
YOU ARE READING
John Frum The Reluctant Messiah
مغامرةThere were always people watching. Even as a child he could feel it. Everyone knew he was special. Everyone except him that is. Now, through a series of fateful events, John finds himself alone, hanging upside down from the crumpled mess that was hi...