Gestures

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***
Jaaziah put an arm around Zechariah’s shoulders and led him into the priests’ chambers where the flame upon the lampstand waited. Zechariah handed his own oil lamp to Shelomoth and sank to the floor.

“Are you ill?” Jaaziah asked.

Zechariah shook his head no.

“Then what is the matter?” Jaaziah rubbed his chin.

Zechariah shook his head no.

“You won’t tell us?” Jaaziah persisted.

Zechariah shook his head no.

“He can’t tell us” Shelomoth smiled when Zechariah shook his head yes.

“You can’t speak?” asked Jaaziah.

Zechariah nodded.

“You’re shaking your head yes meaning you can speak, but you won’t. Is that correct?” asked Jaaziah.

Zechariah shook his head no.

“You can’t speak? Shake your head yes if you can’t speak,” said Jaaziah.

Zechariah nodded, which was accompanied by a round of ahhhs from the priests gathered in a circle, and the priests, too, nodded.

“You can’t speak and you are not sick?” asked Jaaziah.

Zechariah nodded.

“Something must have happened in the Holy of Holies,” said Mahli.

“Yes, of course,” said Jakin.

“Have you seen the Holy One of Israel?” asked Jaaziah.

Zechariah shook his head no.

“Then what?” Jaaziah smacked his hands together.

“What could it be?” asked Pethahiah. “He cannot speak, yet he is not ill. He has not seen a vision.”

Zechariah grabbed Pethahiah by the robes. He pointed at Pethahiah’s mouth and shook his own head yes.

“He’s possessed.” Jakin turned away.

Uzziel grabbed Jakin by the arm. “You cannot become possessed in the Holy of Holies.”

“Then he is demented,” insisted Jakin.

“No, it is a riddle. He did not see the Holy One, but he saw a vision nonetheless,” said Jaaziah.

Zechariah pointed a long bony finger at Jaaziah, pointed a finger from his other hand at his own nose and nodded.

“Ah, he has seen a vision, and the vision was such that he was struck dumb to prevent him from revealing the vision,” said Jakin.

Zechariah shook his head no.

“Aaargh,” shouted Jaaziah. “This is so frustrating. You observed a vision, is that correct?”

Zechariah nodded.

Jaaziah placed his hands on Zechariah’s shoulders. “And something happened during your vision and now you cannot speak?”

Zechariah nodded.

Jaaziah paced the room. “But you did not see the Holy One of Israel?”

Zechariah shook his head no.

Jakin raised his hand. “Did he shake his head no because he did not see the Holy One or no because he did see the Holy One?”

“Urrrrh!” Jaaziah stopped pacing. “Zechariah, shake your head no if you did not see the Holy One of Israel.”

Zechariah shook his head no.

Uzziel stretched his hands out from his side and shrugged his shoulders. “If he had seen the Holy One of Israel, he would have been struck dead, not dumb. Perhaps he has seen another spirit.”

Jaaziah slapped his hands on his hips. “Then shake your head yes if you encountered some other spirit.”

Zechariah nodded.

“Who did you see?” asked Jakin. As Zechariah pointed to his mouth and shook his head no, Jakin turned to the other priests. “Who did he see?”

***
To Dwell Among Us continues tomorrow.

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The Glow

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***
The crowd outside the Holy of Holies paced quicker now and murmured louder than before. “What takes him so long.” Jaaziah shouted.

Jakin raised his voice to be heard. “I told you he was too old. Pethahiah agrees, don’t you?”

“You said he was too old and I concurred,” said Pethahiah. “Jaaziah, you allowed him to take his turn. What do you say of your lot now?”

Jaaziah straightened his shoulders. “I stand by it. It’s our way. If we have to wait, then we shall wait.”

“Shouldn’t we pull the rope?” asked Shelomoth. “To see if he is all right? Aren’t we supposed to yank the high priest out if he cannot come out on his own? Isn’t that what the rope is for? No one can enter until a new high priest is appointed.”

Jaaziah glared. “Where were you when Zechariah began his work? His hair was thin and gray when I was your age. Zechariah not perform his duties? Who among us are more faithful? Or more righteous?” Jaaziah took the time to stare each of the priests in the eye. “Well, is there?”

Pethahiah placed a gentle hand on Jaaziah’s shoulder and rubbed. “We don’t question his righteousness, Jaaziah. Nor do we question the righteousness of Elizabeth. No man or woman in Israel is more righteous than these two. Nor do we say, like young Shelomoth here, that he can no longer do the work. He is old. It is time for him to allow others to burn the incense. He takes him too long.”

“Look.” Shelomoth pointed at Zechariah making his way from the Holy of Holies.
Zechariah trudged along past the priests and the crowd towards the priest’s room.
Shelomoth continued pointing. “His face glows.” 

***
To Dwell Among Us continues tomorrow.

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Gabriel

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***
Zechariah fell to the floor. His body shook. A sharp pain stabbed at his heart. Deep cold penetrated his body.

In front of him a creature floated barefoot a few inches above the floor. Zechariah swallowed hard and lowered his face to the floor. In his mind raced a thousand things thought and never said, things said and never meant.

A deep, gentle voice filled the air. “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah. For God has heard your prayers. Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son. Name him John. You will then have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice with you at his birth, for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. Don’t let him touch wine or hard liquor for the Holy Spirit will fill him, even before his birth. And he will persuade many Israelites to turn to the Lord. He will possess the spirit and power of Elijah, the prophet of old. He will precede the coming of the Lord, preparing the people for his arrival. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children. He will change disobedient minds to accept godly wisdom.”

Zechariah’s jaw dropped. Son? In my old age? He gazed at the angel with sharp eyes. His hand shook when he raised it to shade his eyes from the blinding light. But the light did not blind. Instead, the angel cast a warm glow.

With his hand protecting his eyes, not wishing to reveal his unworthy soul to the angel, Zechariah surveyed the years of prayer and hope for a son pass through his mind. But Elizabeth was barren.

We are so old. Who is this angel to speak to me of a son? Son. What a wonderful word. He turned the word over in his mind. How he had dreamed from his youth that someday, like his own father before him, he would have a son to bring honor to his household. Son. It is a simple word, but can a single word change the world? Or does this angel think a priest of the most high is to be made the fool? Does Heaven taunt me with my own weakness like Jaaziah the priest?

Zechariah lowered his hand from his face to reveal piercing dark eyes. He shook his fist at the angel. “But I am an old man, and my wife is also well along in years.”

From the angel’s eyes flames flared to the ceiling. The deep voice reverberated through the Holy of Holies, shaking the incense dispenser. Smoking incense dotted the floor at Zechariah’s feet. “I am Gabriel. I stand in the very presence of God. He sent me to bring you this good news. And now, since you didn’t believe what I said, you won’t be able to speak until the child is born. For my words will come true at the proper time.”

***
To Dwell Among Us continues tomorrow.

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Casting Lots

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 ***

“Who will cast the lots?” Mahli asked.

“Let the new priest do it,” Uzziel, another of the older priests, waved a withered hand at the youth.

Jaaziah slapped Shelomoth on the back. “So it shall be, for he is no longer a boy. He is a man among men, a member of the priestly order of Abijah.” He took the stones out of a pouch and handed them to Shelomoth.

Shelomoth pressed the stones to his chest, closed his eyes, and bowed his head in a moment of silent prayer. He released the pebbles upon the floor where they bounced and spun before stopping.

“The dark one is closest to Zechariah. We must choose again,” said Jakin.

“I agree. He is too old,” added Pethahiah.

“No, the lot falls to Zechariah and so it shall be,” declared Jaazia. “Age is of no matter.”

“Perhaps I have seen a ghost.” Zechariah reached behind his back for the rope. He tied one end to his ankle and rose with his back bent over and stiff. Dragging the rope behind him, he shuffled off to the holy place carrying his little oil lamp.

Jakin sat back against the wall to be more comfortable. “We will have a long wait.”

“How long can it take him? He is old and slow, but the task is simple and will not take so long as you think,” replied Jaaziah. “Let us carry our end of the rope and join the crowd in prayer.” Jaaziah stood up, followed by Shelomoth and then the others except Jakin.

Jakin scrutinized the others, grunted as he stood up. “Let’s get on with it.”

In the empty chamber of the priests, the tiny flame upon the oil lamp hanging from its stand burst into a hot flare shooting to the high ceiling of the room. In the light of the flame, a dark shadow filled one of the walls. It vanished as the flame died down to nothing. The shadow dared stay no longer in this sacred space.

***

To Dwell Among Us continues tomorrow.

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To Dwell Among Us Begins Today

Today marks the beginning of To Dwell Among Us, my series of blog posts featuring the prequel to my suspense novel, Fulfillment.

In the City
A course, wrinkled man fell back against the stone wall of the interior Temple room with a thud. An onslaught of arthritic pain combined with the raising of what little hair remained at the back of his neck set him on edge. The small lamp he carried splashed oil on his blue and gold linen robe. 

The sudden gust of air extinguished the flame on the room’s other light, atop a tall iron lampstand. Before he could relight it, the lamp flared sending flame and smoke to the high ceiling. The flash settled down as quickly as it had exploded into life. It sat upon the lampstand waiting while flickering amidst the ominous glow and dancing shadows.

The old man leaned back against the wall for support and sank to the floor. He passed a wrinkled, swollen-knuckle hand through his thinning hair. In the damp coolness, he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. He placed his tiny lamp on the floor in front of him, and like the shadows dancing in the flame of the oil lamp hanging from the lampstand above, he waited.

The other men drifted in, the elders before the younger. They sat upon the stone floor in a circle around the old man’s tiny lamp.

“You look as though you have seen a ghost, Zechariah,” said Jaaziah.

“Perhaps I have,” replied Zechariah.

“What does he mean?” asked Shelomoth the youngest among them. His voice trembled.

Zechariah’s face lit up as he came out of the shadows and into the meager light cast by the lampstand and his little lamp on the floor. “I mean what I say and I say I have seen a ghost.”

He pulled upon his beard, wrinkled his brow, and moved to within a locust’s length of Shelomoth’s nose. His broad smile revealed two yellow, plaque-encrusted, decaying teeth on his top gum and one stump of a molar on his bottom gum.

Zechariah rolled his tongue about as though in search of a word and then, finding the right one, whispered, “The wind nearly extinguished the flame.” He pointed up towards the faint light on the lampstand.

Young Shelomoth’s dark eyes followed Zechariah’s arthritic, bending finger.

“Then as the flame diminished…” Here Zechariah raised his voice to a shout, “…another wind came and the lamp flared into flame and fury…” Once again he lowered his voice above a whisper and placed both hands on Shelomoth’s shoulders, “Yet the lamp I used to light it, the very one sitting here on the floor, did not feel so much as a gentle breeze and did not flare or hardly flicker.” Zechariah released Shelomoth and settled back into the darkness.

Shelomoth swallowed hard and whispered, “But how… how could a wind come in here?”

“Zechariah brought it with him.” Jaazia laughed. “Do you understand, my young one? Zechariah makes the wind. Zechariah makes the ghost himself. With such a wind, we all will soon be ghosts.”

The others snickered at Zechariah’s expense.

***

Read the next installment of To Dwell Among Us on Monday, November 12, 2012.

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Announcing Fulfillment

This holiday season I will be promoting Fulfillment, my suspense novel about the first Christmas. It’s the story of the birth of Christ but with a horror suspense spin to it. In this version, I ask the question: What was Satan up to while God was going about the business of sending his son to save the world?

Fulfillment Story Summary
Mary lived in happy ignorance. Then in the roar of the beast and the hideous faces of the angry demons scampering across her bedroom floor, she became the central figure in a drama beyond her understanding. Her engagement to Joseph should have been joyful, but instead the secret concerning the baby in her womb attracted evil spirits, a king, soldiers and a would-be lover all bent on destroying her. Mary’s journey, while steeped with betrayal and the foul stench of the ultimate demon, is a setup for an even bigger tale. She discovers a lost love found, the promise of a newborn king, and a wealth of new friends, from a dwarf with the heart of a warrior to the young mother whose husband and children are murdered in a bloody massacre.

Fulfillment is the first century suspense drama with a huge twist of horror when Satan discovers he isn’t messing with an ordinary teenage girl. This kid has moxie and connections in high places.

If the thought of Satan out to get you isn’t enough to keep you awake at night, how about reading Fulfillment? It will.

As one of my reviewers on Amazon commented: “This may be the most unique version of the Christian Nativity story ever written. Demons and people who are instruments of the Devil are primary characters.”

Read To Dwell Among Us, the prequel to Fulfillment for free on this blog starting tomorrow
If you are familiar with the original Christmas story as it is told in the Bible, you know it doesn’t begin with Mary. It opens with an elderly priest named Zachariah. He’s the father of John the Baptist. John grows up to become a prophet who prepares the people for Jesus’s ministry. To Dwell Among Us is the brief prequel to Fulfillment that tells the story of Zachariah using the same suspense novel style as Fulfillment. It makes a great companion piece for reading Fulfillment.

You may begin reading To Dwell Among Us right here on my blog beginning November 10th. I’ll add a new section every day for the next couple of weeks.

Read Fulfillment Now
To jumpstart the Christmas season, try reading Fulfillment. You may purchase the Kindle version now by clicking here. And if you want to wait a few weeks, I’ll be giving it away free on Amazon the week of November 26th, right after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Have you had a chance to read my modern-day horror thriller, Hags? Available for your Kindle reader by clicking here.  The paperback version is available by clicking here.

Don’t have a Kindle reader? Download the free version for your computer, tablet or smart phone from Amazon by clicking here.

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First Responders Are Our Heroes

Once again in a time of national disaster, the firefighters, police, and other emergency workers have stepped up as our heroes. In this case, the first responders in the path of Sandy’s destruction have shown the courage and fortitude to follow in the wake of Sandy’s fury to save lives.

While I live in the Chicago area today, I grew up in the Philadelphia area and began my career there. I know firsthand many of the places mentioned in the news. At one time or another, I’ve done business in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chester, Baltimore and Washington. I’ve enjoyed vacations and holidays on Long Beach Island, Ocean City, Wildwood and other Jersey shore locations. Most of the people I have known through my first thirty years of life are or were East Coasters. So for me, the first responders are more than heroes because they have responded in places close to my heart. And they have helped family members, friends, former classmates and old acquaintances.

Here’s how you can be a hero, too!
1. Thank a first responder. How about you? Who do you know on the East Coast who has benefited from a first responder? We owe these heroes our gratitude for services rendered in the most difficult of circumstances. They deserve our support. And the people of the East Coast deserve our support. Fortunately, FEMA is there to help along with the Red Cross, Salvation Army and other charitable organizations. I’m offering my thanks right now with this blog post. We can all thank the East Coast first responders through our postings on social media. It may not raise money, fix broken lives or restore a crushed business, but it will move hearts by showing we care. And while we’re being thankful, let’s include our own local first responders who serve in our community.

2. Volunteer. In the coming months, we can expect a repeat of the volunteer effort that followed Hurricane Katrina to cleanup New Orleans, except this time, it will be a call to cleanup and rebuild the East Coast. Volunteers from around the country will travel east to do what they can in the massive cleanup effort.  Obviously we all can’t get away from our jobs or other obligations, but those who can, should. Will you be among them? Will I?

3. Take an East Coast vacation next summer. If you are not able to volunteer your time to help in the cleanup, here is another suggestion. Next summer, the Jersey shore will reopen for the tourist season. By then, the boardwalks will be rebuilt and the attractions will reopen. Of course Atlantic City, with its bustling casinos, will be an obvious choice for many. But there are other places along the Jersey shore that are just right no matter who you are. For example, Ocean City was founded as a family-friendly Christian resort. Even today the town is dry and family-friendly. Wildwood is a delight for teens and  young adults. Each shore point has its own unique character and appeal. My suggestion is for you to invest your vacation budget on the East Coast next summer. If the shore isn’t your thing, how about the mountains of Pennsylvania? Or New England? Prefer an urban getaway? Choose an East Coast city. Let’s become the heroes who invigorate the East Coast recovery with our vacation dollars next summer.

And for your reading pleasure, may I suggest my new novel Hags where you’ll meet a different kind of hero. You may read a healthy chunk of Hags free by clicking on the book cover icon after you click over to the Kindle version on Amazon. Available for your Kindle reader by clicking here.  The paperback version is available by clicking here.

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