On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester’s Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field.
Авторы: King Stephen Edwin
‘That’s exactly what it is. We’re on a God-trip now, Sanders. Do you know what happened when God opened the seventh seal? Have you read Revelation?’
Andy had a memory, from the Christian camp he’d attended as a teenager, of angels popping out of that seventh seal like clowns from the little car at the circus, but he didn’t want to say it that way. Chef might consider it blasphemous. So he just shook his head.
‘Thought not,’ Chef said. ‘You might have gotten preaching at Holy Redeemer, but preaching is not education. Preaching is not the true visionary shit. Do you understand that?’
What Andy understood was that he wanted another hit, but he nodded his head.
‘When the seventh seal was opened, seven angels appeared with seven trumpets. And each time one blew the boogie, a plague smote down on the earth. Here, toke this shit, it’ll help your concentration.’
How long had they been out here smoking? It seemed like hours. Had they really seen a plane crash? Andy thought so, but now he wasn’t completely sure. It seemed awfully farfetched. Maybe he should take a nap. On the other hand, it was wonderful to the point of ecstasy just to be out here with Chef, getting stoned and educated. ‘I almost killed myself, but God saved me,’ he told Chef. The thought was so wonderful that tears filled his eyes.
‘Yeah, yeah, that’s obvious. This other stuff isn’t. So listen.’
‘I am.’
‘First angel blew and hailed down blood on the earth. Second angel blew and a mountain of fire was cast into the sea. That’s your volcanoes and shit.’
‘Yes!’ Andy shouted, and inadvertendy squeezed the trigger of the AK-47 lying across his lap.
‘You want to watch that,’ Chef said. ‘If the safety hadn’t been on, you would have blown my tickle-stick into yonder pine tree. Hit on this shit.’ He handed Andy the bong. Andy couldn’t even remember giving it back to him, but he must have done. And what time was it? It looked like midafternoon, but how could that be? He hadn’t gotten hungry for lunch and he always got hungry for lunch, it was his best meal.
‘Now listen, Sanders, because this is the important part.’
Chef was able to quote from memory because he had made quite a study of the book of Revelations since moving out here to the radio station; he read and reread it obsessively, sometimes until dawn streaked the horizon.'»And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven! Burning as if it were a lamp!'»
‘We just saw that!’
Chef nodded. His eyes were fixed on the black smutch where Air Ireland 179 had met her end.'»And the name of the star is called Wormwood, and many men died because they were made bitter.» Are you bitter, Sanders?’
‘No!’ Andy assured him.
‘No. We’re mellow. But now that Star Wormwood has blazed in the sky, bitter men will come. God has told me this, Sanders, and it’s no bullshit. Check me out and you find I’m all about zero bullshit. They’re gonna try to take all this away from us. Rennie and his bullshit cronies.’
‘No way!’Andy cried. A sudden and horribly intense paranoia swept over him. They could be here already! Bullshit cronies creeping through those trees! Bullshit cronies driving down Little Bitch Road in a line of trucks! Now that Chef had brought it up, he even saw why Rennie would want to do it. He’d call it: ‘getting rid of the evidence.’
‘Chef!’ He gripped his new friend’s shoulder.
‘Let up a little, Sanders. That hurts.’
He let up a little. ‘Big Jim’s already talked about coming up and getting the propane tanks—that’s the first stepV
Chef nodded. ‘They’ve already been here once. Took two tanks. I let em.’ He paused, then patted the grenades. ‘I won’t let em again. Are you down with that?’
Andy thought of the pounds of dope inside the building they were leaning against, and gave the answer Chef had expected. ‘My brother,’ he said, and embraced Chef.
Chef was hot and stinky, but Andy hugged with enthusiasm. Tears were rolling down his face, which he had neglected to shave on a weekday for the first time in over twenty years. This was great. This was… was…
Bonding!
‘My brother,’ he sobbed into Chef’s ear.
Chef thrust him back and looked at him solemnly.’We are agents of the Lord,’ he said.
And Andy Sanders—now all alone in the world except for the scrawny prophet beside him—said amen.
23
Jackie found Ernie Calvert behind his house, weeding his garden. She was a little worried about approaching him in spite of what she’d told Piper, but she needn’t have been. He gripped her shoulders with hands that were surprisingly strong for such a portly little man. His eyes shone.
‘Thank God someone sees what that windbag’s up to!’ He dropped
