But his thoughts didn’t linger on Sally and Jesus for long. What he was about to do was one of the hardest things he’d ever done. In a few minutes, David would be returning to the future with Sally and saying goodbye to Tom. He and Tom had been the best of friends and trustworthy partners for almost eighteen years. Now he had to return to the future without Tom, without his job at LightTech and without any plans for the future.
“So what now?” Tom asked.
“I take Sally back to the future and then… I don’t know what I’m going to do. But right now… We say goodbye.”
“You say that like you already know I’m staying.”
“I do know.”
Tom smiled. “You know, your knowledge of the Bible kind of takes the surprise out of things.”
David laughed. “Sorry.”
“So, what happens to me now? Is that recorded in the Bible?”
“A little, but the rest is recorded in history.”
Tom pursed his lips and nodded his head, clearly impressed with himself. “Really. So you know how I die then?”
“Yes,” David said as he looked at the grass, avoiding Tom’s eyes.
“How?”
“I believe the saying is something like: That’s for me to know and you to find out,” David said with a smile.
“As long as I outlive you, old man.”
David stood to his feet. “Old man… I suppose you’re right. We’re both old men now, but old men at the beginning of new lives.”
Tom stood next to him and looked at Jesus and Sally talking at the bottom of the hill. “For both of us… I’m going to miss you, partner.”
“We might see each other again.”
“Make sure of it.”
David lifted his wrist and shook the watch. “I might just come and pay you a visit every now and again.”
“I’ll be expecting you,” Tom said, as he extended his hand for David to shake.
David took Tom’s hand and pulled him in for a tight hug. Tom cringed in pain as his ribs began to shift. “The ribs, the ribs.”
David moved away and laughed. “Sorry! Sorry! And you think I’m old.”
The smile on David’s face slowly faded and he said, “We ought to go, or this will take all day.”
The two began walking toward Jesus and Sally.
As David grew closer to Sally, he could see her stunned expression. Her eyes were wide and her face was pale. When Tom and David stopped a few feet away, she didn’t even look at them.
“Ready to go?” David asked Sally.
“Huh? What?”
Jesus had obviously impressed her with something.
“Did we miss something?” Tom asked.
“I was just telling Sally about the future, the past, things to come that have already happened.” Jesus explained.
Tom chuckled. “You know, for the first time, I think I actually made sense of what you said.”
“Won’t be the last time,” Jesus replied and then looked at David. “You’re leaving?”
“You know I am,” David replied.
Jesus nodded. “We’ll speak again soon.”
David tilted his head. “We will?”
“Ask Sally. I told her all about it,” Jesus said before he hugged David tightly.
David took a few steps back after Jesus released him. He wanted to do this quickly. He wasn’t one to linger at goodbyes; it just made the pain worse. “Better stand back,” David said, as he and Sally set their watches.
Tom and Jesus walked fifteen feet away and turned to watch David and Sally leave. David and Sally pushed the final buttons on their watches and a bright light began to flash all around them. Whum, Whum, Whum, Boom! With a flash of light, David and Sally disappeared from the past.
Tom looked at Jesus and said, “You know, if you had pulled something like that, you might have been more convincing.”
Jesus smiled. “You haven’t seen anything yet.” Jesus put his hand on Tom’s shoulder and the two headed back toward the house where Matthew and Peter were waiting in the doorway.
“You mean to tell me walking on water wasn’t enough? Feeding five thousand men wasn’t convincing? And calming that storm wasn’t eye-opening?” Jesus said.
Tom smiled. “I guess… I was just blind.”
Jesus turned away from the house and looked out toward the horizon. Three figures approached on the path-Lazarus, Martha and Mary. They were rushing forward, toward Jesus and Tom.
Tom turned and saw only Mary, her sleek black hair bouncing with every rushed footstep. Tom turned quickly to Jesus. “Tell me she lives a good life.”
“How could she not, Didymus? She will be with you.”
“My life so far hasn’t exactly been ideal.”
“All in the past,” Jesus said. “The future is yours to write.”
Good enough, Tom thought. He sprang forward, arms extended. Clutching Mary around the waist, Tom spun her around. It was the loving embrace he’d longed for since that day in Zambia, the day that started everything.
He understood why Megan gave her life. He also knew that Mary would do the same, and he loved her all the more for it. But what stood out in his mind, more acutely than anything else, is that like Megan and Mary, he would willingly give his own life if called to do so…
He had a feeling that day might come…but not today.
TWENTY FIVE
A.D.
Somewhere
Sometime
As David strode up a grassy hill, he stared at the ominous sky, swirling with black clouds and energy. The flapping of his robe grew louder as he neared the peak. In one hand, he held Sally’s hand. She was blindfolded and following David carefully up the steep incline. In David’s other hand was a large umbrella and a 16oz. Wild Cherry Pepsi.
“Where are we, David? It smells like it’s going to rain. I better not get wet. I don’t want to get wet.”
“Patience, my dear. You’re going to enjoy this…even if you do get wet.”
“Great,” she said.
David stopped at the top of the hill and looked at the view, which stretched for miles. “Incredible…”
“What? David, can I take this off now?”
David untied the blindfold and pulled it away from Sally’s eyes. She blinked a few times and then gasped. “What is it?”
“Better get under if you don’t want to get wet,” David said, as he sat down on the grass and opened the umbrella.
Sally sat next to David and huddled under the umbrella. “Now tell me what this is.”
“Ever heard of Noah’s Ark?” he asked.
“As in the flood?”
David nodded.
“Is this?”
David nodded again. “It took me fifteen trips through time to figure out when the flood began, but I’m pretty sure it’s any minute now.”
Sally looked at the view again. Below them was a lush valley and at the center of the depression was an unbelievably large wooden boat, just sitting there on the ground, supported by hundreds of wooden planks on either side. On the side of the boat were a large open door and a long board, which served as a ramp. An old man and three younger men pulled the ramp into the boat and closed the hatch.
After twisting the cap off his Wild Cherry Pepsi, David took a sip and looked up at the sky, tilting the umbrella away from their heads. A drop of water hit David square in the forehead and he laughed. Sally pulled the umbrella back over them and the pitter-patter of raindrops began tapping out a song on the fabric.
“Here it comes,” David said.
The rain picked up quickly and each drop grew in size. Soon it sounded like TV static at high volume. Sally and David could hardly hear each other laughing. David reached into his robe and pulled out four flat, orange, pieces of plastic.
“What are those?” Sally shouted.
David put one of the objects to his lips and blew as hard as he could. The object expanded as David continued to blow. He pushed a clear plastic nozzle in and held the fully inflated object up. It was round with a hole in the middle. “Floaties…you know: water wings.” David said. “Just in case.”