The Argo Goes West

29, The Procrustean Church, part 2

Dorothy heard footsteps running up the stairs from downstairs.

The door opened and Pastor Procrustes entered the room.

"Oh, Reverend. Somebody played a big prank on me. Please, untie this rope."

Pastor Procrustes just stood at the door and smiled.

"Pastor?"

"What is it?"

"Umm, the rope..."

"Calm down," said Pastor Procrustes to Dorothy, with the softness of preaching to a child. "Don't worry"

"But.."

"Rejoice. You will soon go to heaven."

"What do you mean?"

"You will ascend to heaven."

"Um, that's why..."

"It only hurts for a little while. Soon you'll be surrounded by God's kindness and the pain will go away."

Dorothy was terrified. "No way, the pastor intends to kill me?"

"Be honored to be an offering to God"

"No, no!" protested Dorothy, flapping her leg over the bed. "Why should I be killed!"

"You've seen a lot of demons before you got here. It is because mankind has lost faith. To restore the world, we must show God our strong faith. You are the scapegoat for that."

"Then you should use real goat."

"I can't do that," Pastor Procrustes shook his head quietly. "There are no goats around here."

"Find another animal! I don't want to die!"

When Dorothy shouted that, her hands and feet fluttered like a whining child.

"Well," Pastor Procrustes sighed. "Don't act like a child. My son was seven years old, but he accepted his fate and died quietly."

"Did you kill your own child?"

Pastor Procrustes' face showed no guilt, no remorse, no trace of regret. Rather proud. He thought he was Abraham, who gave his son Isaac to God.

"Not just my son. I killed my wife, the believers who took refuge here, and other travelers like you."

"I don't want to be killed!"

While Dorothy cried out, Pastor Procrustes began preparations for the ritual. He opened the package he had tucked under his side and pulled out a butcher knife. Dorothy tried to remember how Abraham sacrificeed his son Isaac. Was the weapon that killed Isaac a knife or a dagger? Did the method of killing cut his neck, strangle him, or rip out his heart alive like the Incas and Mayans? She couldn't remember. All she knew was that Abraham killed Isaac.

Pastor Procrustes wore a red-stained butcher apron over his Christian vestments. They probably want to avoid staining the vestments with the blood of the sacrifice.

"Please help me!"

Dorothy pleaded with tears. Appealed directly to the Lord Jesus Christ, not to Pastor Procrustes.

A bright light suddenly shone into the pitch-black room. The light came in through the windows, not through the ceiling. A black shadow burst through the glass window and flew into the room. It was Giles.

Giles tried to wrest the knife from Pastor Procrustes. Pastor Procrustes resisted and the two got into a brawl.

"Go, Fight, Win! Giles!"

Dorothy was disabled, so all she could do was cheer for Giles.

Pastor Procrustes tried to stab Giles down the throat with his knife. Giles resisted, putting his mouth close to Pastor Procrustes' ear and raising his voice.

"Wow!"

Giles' voice was insanely loud. Dorothy had a terrible earache. Pastor Procrustes must have had his eardrum ruptured when he heard it in his ear. He dropped the knife he was holding to the floor and grabbed his ears. Blood flowed out of his ears. Giles grabbed the wooden statue of Mary next to the bed and thumped Pastor Procrustes on the head.

"...What happened in the end?" Dorothy had no recollection of the aftermath. Leaving the church, she trudged through the desert and asked Giles again. "Is he dead?"

"I don't know," Giles replied. "I was busy untying your ropes and running away from the church. I didn't have time to worry about him."

"Well," Dorothy nodded.

Dorothy understood. It wasn't the Christian cross that Giles was afraid of. for he has entered the church. Giles feared the mad mind of Pastor Procrustes. Either he sensed it outside the church, or he saw something Dorothy couldn't see. Dorothy was embarrassed to have misunderstood Giles.

"When did Pastor Procrustes become like that? From the beginning or after the incident?"

"It doesn't matter."

"You're right." Dorothy shyly thought she had asked a stupid question. "By the way, how did you know I was dangerous?"

Giles replied with a smile. "Because you screamed so loud. I'm Pan, but you're louder than me."