Chapter 3: Little Heathen

I just monitored Frank Li's spiritual mind after that for a while, but it seemed to be sleeping almost all the time. They didn't seem interested in inspiring him to do anything and he became so bored he didn't know what to do, but slip back to the first and second dimensions in his mind after checking out every place in the third dimension I had given him.

Even his writer seemed to be indifferent to his boredom, but Frank Li found by trial and error that if he slept he would awake and realize he existed again. Then I saw the problem, for I realized his writer was just resting, himself and ruminating on what to share with his reader via Frank Li's existence. But what happened next amazed me.

A saw a young boy talking to a much larger but even younger boy in Frank's mind where they stood in the yard on the north side of the house on a cold, wet, misty, day at the big, old, gray, stucco, house at 622 Park Avenue in Bemidji, Minnesota I knew Frank Li's writer lived in until he was eighteen and again when he came home after having found the world out there oddly irrelevant to him.

The larger much younger, blonde, blue eyed, boy with a very neat, haircut probably cut by a professional barber listened while the older, six year old with brown hair, a butch cut that had a white streak in the back of it was saying proudly, “Everybody is scared of dying! I was. Are you?” grabbing Frank Li's attention as the green grass and leafless, gray, bark of the trees seemed as if they might touch the gray sky having turned brown on the sides of their branches where the wind direction had caused most of the misty air to leave more of the moisture there as Frank Li only noticed the boys when the six year old spoke as the four year old listened.

The four year old boy's eyes became as big as saucers at the mention of death, a thing it was clear he was afraid of as he said nothing but began to leave indicating he wanted no part of the conversation.

The older boy's less blue, eyes danced to think the bigger boy was afraid of even talking about the subject as he stuck out his chest and said, “I'm not! And I've got a plan to help you guys know what it's like to die,” drawing the bigger blonde into the conversation because of the other boy's completely unexpected, words. “I'm going to die!” the brown haired boy said, “And then I'm going to come back to life and tell everybody what it's like after you die!”

“You can't do that, Jacky!” the big blonde boy yelled at him.

“How do you know that, you big brat, Gregg?” Jacky said, “I can too! I already told God I wanted to too! So there!”

Gregg's blue eyes flashed with anger, “It's been done already!”

“It has not!” Jacky protested, “It was my idea. I thought of it all by myself! So there!”

“Yes it has!” Gregg bravely protested Jacky's conceit, “Jesus already did it! So, there!”

“Jesus?” Jacky said, “I never heard of him. What grade is he in? Nobody has a name like that! You just made it up!”

“No I didn't!” Gregg yelled in his defense, “He is God's Son! And he already did it a long, long, time ago!”

Jacky made a sound of disgust to mock Gregg's expertise he was no longer completely sure was only made up to get the best of him and said, “Aw! You're making that up too, Gregg! You liar! I'm going to tell your mom on you if you do it again!”

“I am not a liar!” Gregg yelled in his defense with his face turning red with anger.

“Oh yeah!” Jacky challenged him thinking he had the goods on him, “Who told you that crap then anyway?”

Gregg looked sheepishly at his boots and said softly, “The preacher at Sunday School did...”

Jacky's countenance changed dramatically. It had to be true if a preacher even said so. Didn't it? “I'm going to tell him on you!” Jacky yelled defiantly in the end.

“Go ahead!” Gregg said and began strutting toward his home kitty corner across the lawn to the northeast.

“Where are you going?” Jacky mocked him, “You lying coward!”

Gregg stopped and turned around, “I ain't lying!” Then he waved him off and screamed, “Their ain't no sense even talking to a heathen like you! You never even heard of Jesus Christ!”

“I'm telling!” Jacky screamed, “You swore!” Then he laughed at Gregg.

“I did not swear!” Gregg shouted, “That's his whole name! It's only swearing if you don't mean to bring him into it. So there! You're headed for Hell! Keep it up and see if I care either! Heathen!” Then he did storm away mad as hell!

After he left Jacky turned to Them and said, “Aw! He's just a hothead! Who names their own kid a swear word? Not You. I know you better than that!” But he felt like he was arguing as much against his doubt that some guy hadn't done it already as much as he meant to mock Gregg, so he said, “Show me what he's talking about. By the things they say, I know you are God, my God anyway. But I hope you forgive me. I don't like swearing much when I'm talking to You,” Then he thought, 'Why would They give themselves a swear word for a name? That's stupid and They're not stupid. Are you?”

Then Jacky looked out over an old, tan, Chevy on the southwest corner of the yard then that was about a year older than he was and in broad day light he saw a vision of two figures and the one on his right was dark. But Jacky thought it might represent God or the Nemesis one. And on his left was one that looked like a ghost he recognized from the St. Phillip's Catholic Church as being someone very important to them, whom he heard the cat licker's called God too. And Jacky was convicted in his soul that though he didn't understand the vision it must be that Jesus was Their son, and They were God just being called by a less offensive name.

And Jacky considered it. He didn't want to give up his idea to cure everybody's fear of dying and become famous, maybe the most famous kid in the world! But he couldn't help but know Jesus had already done it, at least that's the way he understood it and he was jealous. So he looked up defiantly at Them and said, “I don't believe that Jesus is your son!”

Then it began to snow huge sloppy snowflakes that came down like tears from the sky.

Jacky instantly understood the object lesson. God was crying. And he felt sad he had made Them cry. Then he walked back into the house, wondering if he was going to Hell because of his decision. And he didn't want to go there because He loved being around Them. Maybe he was going to die! And maybe he would come back from even that kind of death just like Jesus had? But he didn't like Jesus because he was jealous of him and if he had his way he was going to stay that way too!

Then Frank Li looked in my direction and asked, “You said that Jesus Christ was one of Them.”

“Yes,” I said, “He is the Light and he was God on earth while he was there.”

“That kid was crazy then?” Frank Li said.

“Yes, crazy with jealousy,” I said, “Just like a lot of apostates.”

“Can we even help him?” Frank Li asked.

“I can't explain how, Frank Li,” I said, “But I believe we already have.”

Frank Li was confused, but he became quiet in his spirit and his joy returned after the long loneliness. But I understood Jacky was what they called Frank Li's writer once and that he hoped it helped those who were jealous of Jesus be real.