Famine

Chapter Eighteen

  The Hagars stayed longer at Sonny's house while young Sean and Jonah went for a walk in the backyard.  They played pitch and catch, something that Jonah told Sean that he hadn't done in well over a hundred years.  They both then tried out the playground swings before sitting at their picnic table and talking.

  It had been a long time since Jonah had spent time with kids.  Sean as interested in what most every boy liked.  Who would win the World Series?  Would it be the Tokyo Braves or the Brooklyn Dodgers, who returned to their original New York home some seventy-five years earlier.  Sean was wiser well beyong his ten years.  He had to be.

   "Do you like school, Sean?"

   "I like the other kids, but I have to be careful not to talk all about our family and what we were dong today.  I get mad when we have to go the First Amendment Museum and hear all of those lies.  My family are not murders or cruel to people, but my teachers say we are all the time.  I try not to think about it.  My friend Bill is also a Christian. I know because on the playground he and I once drew the fish together in the dirt.  The other kids don't know, and we just keep it to ourselves.  It's good to have another special freind, but I can't visit his house in case someone is watching."

   "Sean, you are very brave."

   "Jonah, you don't look as old as my daddy says you are."  He pulled out his pocket knife and started to whittle a small stick.  It was a simple pleasure that Jonah had forgotten all about doing as a kid.  "But you remind me of Granddaddy Hagar. "

   Jonah smiled at Sean and leaned toward him.  "Where is he now?"

   "He died," Sean said with a trace of a tear.

   "You mean that he was near death and was frozen?"

   "No," Sean answered. "He said to me that a hundred years was long enough for him to live.  He had to get special permission to die at home without beingsent to cryogenic storage.  We couldn't all come at once for fear of being caught.  They would suspect something religious.  They believe that a man should die alone if at all.  They usually suspect someone who doesn't want to live for a thousand years.  They watched granddaddy's house for weeks after that."

   "Did you see him die?" Jonah asked.

   "Yes, Jonah."  Sean brushed away a tear. "I was at his side and he told me how much he loved me and how happy he was for me to know he would be in heaven.  He then asked me to hold his hand,  I knew it might be his last moment, but I wasn' afraid and he knew it.  If I had been afraid, mother would have kept me out of his room.  He smiled at me and asked me to pray with him.  When I finished, he was smiling but staring into the ceiling.  He was with God and enjoying peace at last."

   "You loved him so much, didn't you?"

   "Oh, yes, so much, but he's in a better place."

   Jonah smiled and put his hand on Sean's shoulder as they walked to the edge of the yard.  Sean paused and turned to him again.

   "Granddaddy was brave and proud to be a Christian.  He wanted every to know he was a Christian and always wore his armband on the streets.  He was real big and the mob was afraid of him.  He did nothing more when they ganged up on him but keep them off of him.  He'd never really hurt anyone, not even because of his beliefs."

   "How long did he wear his armband?"

   "An old lady met him one day.  She was real important.  She thanked him for wanting to wear it with pride, but she said that the church needed him to take believers underground and start a new cell.  He always admired her.  So he did.  He spent hours telling me how brave she was.  He would do anything for her.  Daddy is now leader of our cell now."

   It had to be Michelle, Jonah thought.  His heart leaped within him just to think about her.  "Yes, Sean, I heard of that great lady myself."

   Sean changed the subject.  "One night when mother had to be out of town, and daddy was working all night, I stayed with granddaddy.  There was a storm that night, and I had a nightmare.  Boy, I was scared.  In my dream people were after me.  Granddaddy came and stayed with me all through the storm.  He said he would always be with me when I needed him."

   Sean was leading up to something.

   "Now that granddaddy is in heaven, will you come to me whan I need you, Jonah?"

   Sean woke up a father instinct in Jonah, one he never even suspected he had.  It was a total surprise that he wanted a son for himself.  The feeling ran deep as he looked on his new friend.

   "You can count on me, Sean."

   Jonah put his hand on his new best friend's shoulder and walked with him back to the house.