Terry Neale - Jo-el

I stood looking at the statue for some time, then walked to the edge of the parapet to enjoy the view of Rio de Janeiro. I’d visited few city vistas that compared with the majesty of the skyscape. The high-rise buildings and bay with all sizes of vessel, the mountains and hills and the ocean stretching as far the haze allowed. Truly a magnificent and fitting place for Jesus to watch over his flock.

It was crowded, so I moved back to allow others a better vantage point. Alone, against a wall at the back of the statue I called up Sally and asked her to join me. After a few minutes she came up the same steps I’d taken and stood close. She was dressed in a modest outfit, befitting the religious tone of the surroundings. She smiled warmly and we walked to the front of the statue.

“HE is majestic, isn’t HE?” I said. “I wish Mary was here with me. I wanted to share this with someone.” She placed her hand alongside my head and brought her mouth to my cheek as if to kiss me. I felt nothing but my heart sang. We stood for a while.

“How would Jesus rescue the people of our planet?” I asked with enthusiasm. Sally was quiet, she glanced up at the statue. “How do you expect me to be even a drop of water in an ocean that is Jesus Christ? What you ask of me in our world seems impossible. If it is predetermined that the earth will be destroyed by a galactic storm, isn’t it HIS decision, shouldn’t we just accept it? HIS followers and those who worship other religious icons will not leave this world. They will believe that they will be protected by HIS grace.” I stopped talking and waited, but it was unfair of me. I had no right to expect Sally or her makers to have an answer to those questions.

Her voice was soft and exuded compassion. “Jo-el, if Jesus was alive today, what would he say if he knew of the impending doom? Wouldn’t he work until his life ebbed away to save you. Isn’t that what he stood for? The earth is just one planet in a universe of a million planets. If the waters of the Jordan threatened to flood his village wouldn’t Jesus lead the people to safety?” She had made her point and she was right, as usual. The she said. “Blessed are the gentle for they shall inherit the earth.” I didn’t know what she meant by that, not at that moment anyway.

“You see that boy, over there in the dark blue shorts?” Sally said, breaking the reverie.

I turned and followed the direction of her eyes. The boy was studying his cell phone. He appeared to be a local, his black hair was messy and thick and his tan deep. He wore a baseball cap backwards. I nodded.

“He’s a pickpocket.”

“Here!” I exclaimed, truly offended.

“An older boy at the base of the statue, you can’t see him from here, is guiding him and their mother is standing around the back. She takes the wallets and purses, or whatever they steal. The husband is the security guard at the bottom of the back steps just in case something goes wrong.”

“The whole family? It’s an industry.”

“Most people are off their guard at the statue and don’t realize what’s missing until they have descended. They feel a sense of contentment by the statue of Jesus, almost as if he wouldn’t allow anything bad to happen in his midst.”

“Who are they targeting? I asked.

“Right now it’s a lady whose carry bag is open. Red blouse, white pants, by the edge looking at the view. If you request, I can stop him.” A devilish gleam appeared in her eyes.

“You need me to tell you?”

“I can’t act without instruction.”

“Why not?”

“It’s how it works.”

“I feel like a conduit for you.”

“No, don’t feel like that. I’m here to help and point out things that you can’t see. If you don’t act, I will not be offended.”

“How will you do it?”

“Knock his hand when he takes the purse from her bag, so that he drops it.”

“You can do that?”

“I fire a blast of atoms just hard enough to hurt his hand.”

“But what about the rest of whatever they’ve stolen?” I asked.

“Up to you, Jo-el.”

“Why are we doing this?”

“I want you to see what you can do. It’s part of your instructions.”

“Never ending,” I mused. “Sure, do it.” I could see in her expression she wanted to. I wasn’t sure what to make of that.

I watched the boy and after a while he moved closer to the lady by the edge. I could see her bag gaping open, the strap over her left shoulder. The boy was behind her now, he was checking to see if anyone close by was watching. We were too far away to bother him. His hand reached up and dived into the bag, I saw the purse as he removed it. Suddenly he screamed and swung to the side, grabbing his hand and dropping the purse. The lady turned around and saw her purse on the ground as the boy run off clutching his hand. She screamed ‘thief’. But no one did anything. A sense of confusion descended the crowd and after a little while most people continued what they were doing. I could see that some people were checking their pockets and bags to make sure nothing was missing. I didn’t see anyone showing concern. I turned to Sally, who was grinning like a cat.

“You enjoyed that, didn’t you?” I said.

“Just a bit of fun.”

“What’s he doing now?” I asked.

“They’re leaving for now. People are on their guard; they’ll be back in a little while.”

“Let’s get out of here,” I said.

“Where to?”

I paused for moment and then said Australia. “What’s the time in Alice Springs.”

Sally said, “It’s almost two thirty in the morning.”

“Good, darkness.”

I exchanged my shorts for jeans and my sandals for sneakers and requested a sweater, though I wasn’t sure what the temperature would be at two-thirty in the morning in the middle of Australia. The location I chose was right next to the ‘Welcome to Alice Springs’ sign. Wherever I landed I didn’t believe that anyone would be around at that time of day, so I wasn’t too concerned. As it turned out it was a lot cooler than Rio.

I wanted to practice flying and I thought it would be better in the dark so no one could see me and out in the middle of nowhere. But as it turns out Alice Springs is a pretty large town of forty thousand plus depending where you measured the edge. It was always on my list of places I’d love to visit having read Neville Shute’s best seller ‘A Town Like Alice’. But as I stood alongside the sign I wondered what I was doing there in the pitch black of the night.

After a few minutes my eyes became accustomed to the darkness and the full outline of the orange rock sign was now visible. The wind was light, I could hear the occasional croak of an animal, maybe some type of reptile. There was a serene stillness that made me feel very much alone. The stars were incredible and I stood still for a while staring up, wondering where we would all go.

I was ready, or I thought I was. It felt totally crazy to just think ‘up’. It took me a few more minutes to rebuild my courage. I kept thinking that what goes up must come down. I checked around to see if there were any other nutty people out in the middle of the night. No one had passed on the road nearby and I couldn’t see any cars coming from either direction.

‘Up’. I felt myself go light and my feet leave the ground. Even though I’d experienced this before in my family room it felt very strange outside where there was unlimited space. Just using thought I steered around for a view of the sign, which was already disappearing into the darkness. At that moment I felt horribly unsure of myself and began to worry about bumping into something. In my mind I told Sally to not allow that to happen and I received the comforting sound of her voice. “ No problem, Jo-el.” My body was vertical, which didn’t seem right for lateral movement and almost as I thought that I needed to be horizontal, sort of like Superman, I turned in the air with my stomach facing down. I’d stopped at this time, hovering like a helicopter in mid-air, not even realizing that my unconscious thought had caused me to become motionless. Then I started worrying about how high I needed to be to avoid any night eyes. Sally told me over a thousand feet should do it and that she would monitor anyone who might happen to be checking the night sky.