Chapter 1: Waking Up!

November 16, 2020, Monday:

John’s body hurt so bad. He moved, through eyes still squinting he saw a flash of light and he realized his computer screen woke up too. There on the computer screen was his latest book crying for attention. He took a deep breath and screamed. That only made it worse. The level of pain was tremendous. Whatever I did, don’t do that ever again. It took him forever to muster the will to open one eyelid again. It was ridiculously hard to focus because somebody was beating his head like a drum. The world looked to be a blurry cold day. John moved and now he understood how the world would feel after a 10.0 earthquake. The snow made everything bright outside. His legs had gone to sleep. How many days had he been in this chair? Everything HURT! His body informed him that he was going to need a pit stop NOW!

He got back to his chair at his desk in the home office. He sat there thanking God. For what, he did not have a clue. His memory was gone for the last week or so. Why was he drinking? He only drank to celebrate success.

He eyed his coffee cup. It looked like it had been there for a bit. He picked it up anyway and took a sip. One-part stale coffee and three parts scotch hit his stomach which informed him he was going to need another pit stop NOW!

After twenty minutes of his life that he hoped to never repeat, he was once again sitting at his desk.

He wondered when did he buy a half-gallon of Scotch?

What happened to me. He found his glasses on the floor. He put them on and found a letter from his landlord. As he read it, he realized his subsidy from the County assisting his rent had been stopped. He had to move by the 15th. Move to where was the question. A knock on the door brought John to his feet. Everything spun for a minute. He grabbed his pants and got them on. He opened the door to the terribly angry Dawn.

“John, you should be gone already.” Dawn the Apartment Manager informed.

“My a ... my PTSD’s must have jumped up and knocked me down. I’m back at it, can’t believe it’s snowing. How much time can you give me?”

“John, it’s been snowing for two days. Where have you been? Today’s Monday at 10:00 AM. I’ll be by every day. If I see progress, I’ll give you till Wednesday at 10:00 AM.” Dawn said then asked, “Any idea where you are going?”

“NO! This was home until they dragged me out.” John looked at his hands, “I was told during the 1980s, that I walked with Christ 2,000 years ago in another life. I asked God for guidance. Maybe this is his guidance. The beginning of an adventure.”

Dawn started to cry, “This maybe is my fault, John. The Housing Authority wanted a list by acceptability and then I read in the newspaper that the Federal Government was cutting their housing program by one-third. We have three here on the Housing Program. John, I listed you as number three on that form.” Dawn was in John’s arms, “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay Dawn. It’s been six almost seven very good years. This may be my karma. I have had to evict a dozen or so residents in my life too when I was a property manager. Let me get something to eat.” John shared as he pushed Dawn away. John was concerned that he was going to toss his lunch again. “Let me get back at it.”

Dawn turned away; I’ll see you tomorrow John.”

“Okay, Dawn. Thank you.”

John turned and went back to his apartment. He found a trailer on the internet that he could pull with his Nissan Truck. 5’ wide 7’ tall and 10’ long. It took John an hour to get to the rental place. Between the truck and the trailer, he would be able to load all his worldly possessions. The man wanted a thousand dollars to rent the trailer for a month. John talked him into a quarter ounce of silver as a deposit. “You a Vietnam Vet?” He asked.

“Have you ever heard of a place called Van Tuong?” John asked. He had volunteered as a gunner on a convoy from Red Beach to Van Tuong. He had done that a few times. He had never come under an all-out attack by the Viet Cong before. His timing was perfect, he got out of the hospital and was discharged within a few days of when he originally was scheduled.

“1969?” The man at the rental place asked.

“I earned a purple heart during that battle. My buddy and I both got hit just at the light of the day on the fourth day. He carried me out of there to the medivacs where he collapsed. It was not a good day.”

“Did your buddy make it?” The man asked.

“Yeah, I went to his memorial last year, he had a good life.” John looked at the concern on the man’s face, “I’ll bring your trailer back Christmas Eve, or I will bring you another quarter ounce.”

The man looked at John then he turned the paper, “Sign here, and here is the key to the padlock.”

John attached the trailer and headed down the road. The snow was now 8” to 10” deep and still falling. John thought and said aloud, “It looks like the Grand Solar Minimum trumps Global Warming. Facts and figures don’t lie, but liars sure can manipulate the numbers for their benefit.”

He got to the apartment building and worked his way in. He had stopped and bought two snow shovels and eight more 12-gallon totes. The heavy-duty plastic totes were easy to handle and would have a bit of waterproofing with all this white stuff. Sam who lived upstairs came home early, and John loaned him one of his snow shovels to dig out a place to park. Sam and Mary got married two years ago and were hard-working, go to church every week kids. John gave them twenty ounces of silver when silver was $18 an ounce. Now at $6,645 and climbing in price for an ounce the couple smiled whenever they saw John. They were the ones a few weeks ago that told him the banks would cash silver and gold coins now at market prices. The long-term prediction by some was that gold may see twenty thousand and silver may see fifty thousand on the world market. John had over twelve hundred ounces of silver.

Sam and Mary said they would help him load up. Sure, enough they were down by 4:00 P.M. and the three had the trailer half-loaded by seven.

“Come eat with us!” Mary demanded.

“Okay. Let me get things locked up.” John said. Ten minutes later he was up knocking on their door.

“Go wash up.” Mary pointed to the bathroom. At 20 Mary had learned to be the boss of the household.

When John came out there was a plate with a large portion of pasta. Chicken with a white sauce. It smelled divine. Next to it were some homemade coleslaw and some homemade bread. The plate was on an upside-down box and the chair next to it was a fold-up chair like the one John had from Wall-Mark. “You guys need a table. Please take my table until you have something better.” John waited until his hosts were seated. “May I say grace for the meal and the day?”

“Yes, please proceed, Father John,” Sam said.

John took a big breath and opened up his chakras, “Thank you, Father, for these friends and the wonderful food they have prepared before us. Thank you for all that has been accomplished today.” John took from his bag a tube filled with 20 ounces of silver coins. John set the tube between Sam and Mary, “Can you two watch out for me until Wednesday at 10:00 AM?”

Sam lifted the tube of coins and said, “John, that’s way too much.”

“I bought that for $280. I want you two or three to be safe. It’s going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better.”

“You know. How?” Mary asked.

“I see auras and there is a little ball of blue light coming from your tummy Mary. He is excited to be part of the family again.” John was laughing as he watched Sam almost drop the coins.

“We have an appointment with the doctor,” Sam whispered.

Mary had a mouthful of food as she wore a million-dollar smile on her face. Her eyes told of wanting to scream for joy. She was thinking about sitting on Sam’s lap.

John looked at her and whispered, “Go for it!”

Mary got up and sat on Sam’s lap. She kissed him long and hard not realizing her thoughts were being heard.

While the two of them were cuddling and whispering John ate his meal. It tasted great and the ice-cold apple juice washed it down just fine.

“John, we’ve been buying silver. This will put us over 100 ounces.” Mary giggled as she said it.

“I’ll stop worrying about you three.” John giggled. “Once you get a nest egg, continue to be thankful to God. Add to your nest egg, pieces of paper with your hopes and dreams. Teach others how to grow a nest egg.” John was laughing, “Silver will be $10,000 an ounce soon, maybe this year. Only God knows how high it will go. Be very careful with your trust with banks and bankers. You turn in your silver, I bet they will only pay you cash when you want to take it back out.”

John’s phone rang. John looked at the number of the incoming call, “Excuse me, let me get this call.” He opened his flip phone and said, “John Taylor here, what can I do for you?” John looked at his phone and put it on the speaker.

“Hi, buddy. This is Bill Collins. Remember in the fox hole just before that VC hit us with the M-79 round, you and I said that maybe someday you and I might work together?”

“Yes, what have you got?” John was more than a bit shaken up. This friend that was calling him was dead.

“I got ten kids that need a mentor. They have all been in programs of some kind and they all have run away from them. My guess is they all have IQs off the scale. They are from 8 to 16 and just need someone to love them and point them in the right direction. I got them food enough for today and tomorrow.”

“Where is it, Bill?” John Taylor asked.

“West Seattle. SW California and Hanford. You’ll have to look around to find the entrance. It is under the church. Part of the old building under the new building. Somewhere in the ‘50s or ‘60s, it was designated as a bomb shelter. Now it is just a bunch of cold open space. The kids have made it their home. It is separate from the church because there is no way into it except for that one entrance from the east parking lot just west of the building. You’ll know it when you see the twelve steps going down to a set of double doors.”

“Bill, is there a room for me and a bed?” Taylor asked.

“No bed, but you have one of your own. Excuse me for a minute.” Bill was talking to someone else, “Taylor, I’m with hospice care sort of. I was going to offer you a job when you’re ready to move on, but I was just told you already have an important position. Got to go, I’ll get to work with you when you get there.”

“Where are you at Bill?”

“You already know that. Got to go! Bye Taylor, take care of the kids. They are your disciples.” The line went dead.

John Taylor was white as a sheet. He sat there looking at his plate trying to digest what he had just heard.

“Who are you?” Mary demanded.

“The real question is who was that. I went to his funeral last year. Who am I is simple, I’m Reverend Johnathan Taylor, a simple carpenter following in the steps of another carpenter of long ago?” John saw a nasty mark on Mary’s left arm. He reached out and gently took hold of her hand. “May I heal it?” Mary nodded. As the three watched, the wound about 3” long and a half-inch wide, caused from a bad burn from the oven when she was fixing dinner, healed with only healthy skin showing, “I have been told I walked with Jesus once.”

“Will we see Christ again?” Mary asked.

“Yes!”

“Will we see you again after Wednesday John?” Mary asked.

“Yes. You want a home with a fenced-in yard with 6 bedrooms?” John asked to confirm.

Mary said, “Yes.”

Sam started laughing, “You’re the Comforter Jesus said he would send!”

John had a look of fear on his face. He crossed his chest with his arms. He even brought his knees together.

“You don’t want anybody to know yet?” Sam asked, “You’re hiding in plain view!”

“How can that be?” Mary asked looking from John to Sam.

“The planet is going through the change from third to the fourth dimension or as we wrote during past lives 2,000 years ago, Heaven on Earth! The last few days of the third will look very much like the first few days of the fourth. Those that make the ascension will have the degree necessary to become a Christ. Like graduating from high school or college, Jesus told us to follow him, he meant for us to follow him through the ascension process.” John explained.

“What do we need to learn?” Mary asked.

“Nothing. It is time for the caterpillar to become a beautiful butterfly. You know everything you need to know. Live by the Golden Rule. Treat others as you would like to be treated. Love your neighbor, love your family, and love yourself. Judge not or you will be judged. Say the Lord’s Prayer every day. Thank our Father often.”