[Dean's World] J.A. Eddy: *Methuselah's Daughter*, Part 4 Chapter 32

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Posted by J.A. Eddy:
*Methuselah's Daughter*, Part 4 Chapter 32
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1197252580.shtml


   Excerpt:

   He didnât look amused. Instead his eyes narrowed, then he slumped
   forward, his forehead resting in his hands. He looked exhausted and a
   little embarrassed. âSo what do you believe she is?â he asked, not
   looking up.

   I didnât say anything because I didnât know. Instead I thought about
   it. How did I get involved in this, anyhow? Sheâd played to my ego and
   to my needsâmy family had been fighting the financial beast for years
   with no end in sight until she showed up and dropped a yearâs salary
   in my lap. I was still wrestling with that when Joshua spoke again.
   This time his voice was darker and he still wasnât looking up.

   âMy mother is a Presbyterian, but my father, he was a Baptist through
   and through. Any time mother would let him heâd haul us off to his
   church to listen to old Pastor Fisher preach the gospel. One thing he
   taught always stuck with me: The war between good and evil is purely
   spiritual and itâs fought on the battlefield of the soul. Evil doesnât
   show up on your doorstep and make you rob banks or kill people. No, it
   invites you out for a soda pop, or an ice cream. It offers you help by
   showing you easy solutions to difficult problems. It helps you to take
   the things you did and find ways to justify them. âEvil,â heâd say,
   âleads us to Hell in baby stepsâ. I look at the way she has worked her
   way into our lives. I see the way everything we do, and everything we
   care about, is slowly but surely being twisted into tools that serve
   her purposes.â

   He stopped, then went on. âI step back and I see how sheâs bound my
   family and this town to her, emotionally, financially⦠and I see how
   I helped her do it⦠and all I can hear is that old preacher.â

   He finally looked up and fixed his steely gaze on me, waiting. Finally
   I found my voice. âOkay, but whatâs she asked you to do thatâs bad or
   wrong? So far you havenât said anything⦠and sheâs never, not even
   once, asked me to do anything bad orâ¦.â

   He shook his head. âSo far, nothing even remotely sinister. Yet sheâs
   obviously got these plans she isnât always clear about, and sometimes
   she has a way of changing the subject⦠and if she is this ancient
   thing, and sheâs lying to us about her desires, about her purposes,
   thenâ¦â He paused dramatically. âIf sheâs lying we are all of us well
   and truly damned.â

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                       Methuselah's Daughter, A Novel

References

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