Mountain Top(34)
“Here are the verses Papa gave me to share with Myra Cordell,” Sam said to Muriel. “She was thinking about killing herself. How is she doing?”
“Better. Her daughter has moved back from St. Louis to stay with her for a while.”
“Get back to your notebook,” Mike said.
While Mike sipped his tea, Sam kept turning the pages.
“Tell me about the photos on the wall,” Mike asked Muriel.
Muriel gave him a brief family history.
“Matthew dying overseas was a hard blow,” she said. “Losing a young-un is one of those things you never get over. Now we’re praying for Anne Marie, one of my great-nieces. She’s battling leukemia.”
“I’ll put her on the prayer list at my church.”
Mike entered her name in his PDA.
“Ah, take a look at this,” Sam said. “Down at the bottom of the page.”
He handed the notebook to Mike, who examined the heavily stained and wrinkled sheet of paper for a few seconds.
“I can’t read it. What’s that brown stuff?”
“Coffee, I guess. I must have spilled a cup on it while I was writing the letter at the kitchen table.”
“Can you make it out?” Mike asked.
Sam squinted at the paper. “Some of it. What I do in the night is write down a few words that remind me of other things in the morning. Have you started keeping a notebook by your bed?”
“No.”
“You should.”
“Let’s see,” Sam said. “I remember it was nighttime in the dream. There was a hatchet, a box of finishing nails, a baseball bat, and a tree. They were all standing up and talking like men. I could see Cohulla Creek behind them. The baseball bat gave a man I know named Larry Pasley a string of glass beads. They were pretty, but I knew they were worthless. Larry seemed happy, but I knew he was being duped. They didn’t know I was watching because they didn’t believe I could see in the dark. But day and night are the same to Papa. And here in the margin are the verses I sent, Ephesians 5:11–14.”
Sam looked up at Muriel. “What does that passage say?”
“It’s about the deeds of darkness. I’ll get the Bible.”
Muriel left the room and returned with a black Bible that showed signs of heavy use. She touched her index finger to her tongue as she flipped through the pages.
“Here it is,” she said. She read slowly and deliberately. “‘Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is the light that makes everything visible.’ ”
“Yep,” Sam said. “That’s it.”
“What does that mean?” Mike asked.
“Exactly what it says. Papa always tells it like it is.”
“I know, but why would you send those verses to Jack Hatcher at the bank?”
“’Cause he was in the dream. Papa often uses pictures to speak to me.” Mike stared at the sheet of paper.
“Jack Hatcher was the hatchet.”
“Yep.”
“Who are the other people?”
“I’m not sure.”
Mike continued to stare. “Maxwell Forrest.”
“Yep, that might be right, but there was only one tree. A forest has a bunch of trees.”
“I’m doing the best I can,” Mike answered. “Who is a box of nails and a baseball bat?”
“I don’t have a clue.”
“How did you know it was Cohulla Creek?”
“They were standing near a spot along the creek where I like to pray when the weather is nice. There is a rock that sits out in the stream. I can sit on the rock and enjoy the view in both directions. Praying by a creek, listening to the voice of the Lord in the waters—it restores my soul.”
“Did you put all the symbolism in the letter?”
“What?”
“The pictures. Did you tell Jack Hatcher that you saw him as a hatchet in a dream?”
“No, he would have thought I was crazy. That part was for me, not him.”
“The crazy part makes sense. How can you interpret this stuff and claim God is communicating to you?”
“After you eat a lot of peaches, you know what a good one tastes like.”
Mike gave Sam a puzzled look.
“Check the fruit—the change in a person’s life or things turning out exactly like Papa showed you. Have you counted how many dreams are in the Bible?”
“No.”
“Me either. But there are hundreds of them.”
Mike’s face remained skeptical. “So what did you write?”
“I don’t remember exactly, but I think I warned him not to take advantage of Larry, who owns property along the creek. It looked like Larry was getting the bad end of a land deal.”