Fireballs & Lights In the Sky
13
Friday morning there was a package at the Post Office from Detroit, it had no return address on it and was addressed simply to: Ms Jo at Sanct-u-iry c/o Unity Church at the Post Office Oakgrove, CO A Postmaster somewhere had added the zipcode for Oakgrove and the package had somehow reached us. Inside the package were 3 envelopes and another package. The first was addressed to Lt Davey Carpenter and the word Lt had been crossed out with Rev. written above it, the second had my name on it and the last was a card with 'To that new baby boy with eyes the color of the sky' written on the envelope. I opened the envelope addressed to me and stuck the other 2 in my pocket. ### Ms Jo' "This don be the firs time we meet. I dun visited u afore this but my Sweet Jesus say I need to be sendin u this stuff before we gits there so's u can be ready." "These things be fo u onlies, Deacon will bring a whole bunch of papers that not so ole with him when he brings me so u all can see what dun start happnin already in other places just in case u ain't heard. That way everbody know how much more work we still got us to do" ### She went on to explain how her 'Sweet Jesus' had told her about me and what The Goddess had laid on my heart to do; she said Paul and I had been preparing for this for over 40 years even though we didn't know it at the time and that was why even before alternate living styles first started becoming accepted we'd quickly imbraced them along with solar and wind power and natural and sustainable living; what was often referred to as the Hippie Culture. As I read visions and memories that weren't mine appeared in my head and tears flowed down my face. I lost all track of time. The letter was signed Mother Judy. "Do you happen to know where David's at," I asked Starr looking up from the letter. "Not right off hand do you want me to send someone to find him? Is something wrong, Honey?" "You look like you've seen a ghost." "No, no, and yes. I have to go see Kevin and Amy anyway. I'll find him but here you need to read this; I least now we know who the old black lady is." ***** "You're saying this is the woman in your vision? I'm not even going to ask how she knows about Paul or his blue eyes, all I can say is she must be one powerful woman. A blessing from her has got to carry a lot of weight." Kevin said shaking his head when I'd handed Amy the card and explained about the package." David was sitting at my desk when I got back to the office. "I see you got my message, should I ask where you were hiding?" I said handing him the envelope. "Did you see the one addressed to me?" "Yeah, Starr showed me." he said tearing the envelope open. ***** "I know this woman and so does Andy, but I didn't think she was still alive. I met her years ago when we were all still in the Marine Corp. Her great grandson Sgt Washington Abraham Brown and Andy and I served together - the CO called us the 3 Musketeers because we did everything together and 1 weekend we got a pass and went up to Detroit where Pres was from, and stayed at her house. I could of sworn she was at least 90 then from the stories she told us." "Have you looked in the big one yet?" he asked holding up the packet with the words 'SIGNS and OMENS' written on the front. ***** The packet contained copies of articles from local and national newspapers and magazines someone had been clipping and saving; many dating back to before I was born. Some of them were about national and international events: everything from old murders, the KKK, the Chicago fire and the Coal Mining atrocities of Western Kentucky to strange archological discoveries and New Age articles on miraculous sightings and end time predictions; Then I found the clippings about my ancesters. The articles about the Blackwells were stacked dating from the oldest to the most recent and I read each and every one. One of the first was an article from a Boston paper dated April 7,1893 about the wreck of a fraighter owned by The Blackwell Shipping Line that had been discovered in the waters off Ireland and the scandal that followed when the skeletons of 200 men women and children were found chained in the hold of a ship owned by the outspoken abolitionist politician Colonel Ezekiel Blackwell. Towards the bottom I found an article from a New York society page announcing the wedding in 1946 of my parents: ***** Senator and Mrs Patrick McLoughlin announce the marriage of their youngest daughter Miressa Hope McLoughlin to Captain Joseph Reynold Blackwell decorated Navel Officer and the only son of Billionaires Josiah and Abiligail Blackwell. The couple will be wed on Captain Blackwell's private yacht followed by a reception in The Colony Restaurant. Captain Blackwell who is still recovering from a wound received in the line of duty and Miss McLoughlin will spend their Honeymoon in Rome before returning to the Blackwell Mansion in Colorada. There was also one in 1947 saying in Memory of their infant son Josiah the Blackwells had donated $500,000 to The Jewish Relief Fund and then another one in 1949 when Raymond was born donating $500,000 to War Orphan Relief and to help rebuild in Europe and finally in 1950 when I was born $1,000,000 to rebuild and revitalize the inner cities of America beginning in Detroit where the Blackwells held extensive interests. There was a continuing list of things my parents had supported and causes they had faught for until their death; after that I knew because I had made sure all their causes continued receiving a yearly endowment. ***** "Wow, now I know where you got this 'I can change the world' attitude of yours. Between the way you were raised and the times you grew up in I guess we should just be thankful you chose the Goddess instead of hatred and power." "Yes, well I'm not quite sure why she sent these but I'm sure I will know soon enough. Let's call it quits and go raid the refeigerators in the Community hall or get something to eat if anyone's still there." ***** I went in my bedroom to grab a sweater and was surprised to see a large group of people on the porch and standing around the yard looking up at the sky when I stepped outside. "Look there's another one!" I heard and looked up as a ball of light streaked across the sky followed immediately by two more. "It's a meteor shower, it just started a few minutes ago but it's seems like a big one." Mike said. The light show increased in intensity for about another 10 minutes or so before it started winding down. By this time it was full dark and the temperatures were dropping. Everyone said their goodnights and started dispersing to their homes David and Lizzie went over the kitchen to grab some food and I invited everyone in for something warm to drink. Andy pulled up just as they were coming back and we all gathered around the fireplace with hot chocolate and sandwiches and some leftover chili from dinner. "What's this about a letter from Pres? Last I heard from him was 2 years ago at Christmas, he was in New Mexico." Andy asked stoking up the fire. "Actually it was from his Great Grandmother Judy she said Abe had gotten married and they were planning a visit here as soon as possible, seems she's on her way too. She's the woman Ms Jo saw in her vision." "Do what! You two want to let the rest of us in on this?" ***** We talked so long that Mike and Starr had stayed the night. The next morning before the cleaning people arrived we were sitting in the kitchen while Mike was out feeding the animals and supervising the early morning chores when the new Deputy Sheriff drove into the yard with his lights flashing. Andy was downstairs in uniform before he could knock on the door. "What is it Matt? I couldn't make out anything on the 2-way but Brian's tone was urgent." "Sir. there's been an accident or something over at the Whitaker Place; the ambulance is already there. Deputy Kerne said pick you up. Oh, and electric's out in town again." "Matt, turn those damn lights off you're panicing everyone. Tell Beth I'll be back later and I'll let you know something as soon as I can." Andy said heading for the patrol car. We explained to everyone who had started gathering in the yard what we knew and then went inside to wait while Bobby and the twins rode out to the holding trailers taking one of the 2-ways with them to power up the old Hamm set and see if they could find out anything else abut last night's events. ***** The everyday business of operating Sanctuary went on as usual outside the main house but for the people gathered inside each minute seemed like an hour while we waited for news. Ben and Cora Whitaker were friends from the early days and had been the first of the original Gathering to decide to stay. They had attended the Dedication of all the Jorganson children and had helped build Unity. They were family. "I can't just sit here, as their Paster I should be there and as their friend I want to be; Cora and Ben are like parents to me." David said jumping up. "We all feel the same way, but the last thing they need at the hospital is 20 people sitting in their waiting room. You're right though David; as THEIR PASTOR you should be there but I don't think we should send more then 3 people right now so who will be the other 2?" "I'll go; they're my Godparents and with the blackout in town they might be able to use another law enforcement presence." Danny said. "Count me in, a face from the old days and The Goddess's representation might be welcomed and you're needed here." Lizzie said looking directly at me. "Alright then, that's settled take 2 cars though so someone can drive back with any news as soon as there is some." Ashara said. "I'll drive up to their place with a couple of the men and feed the animals and check on everything." Mike said after the 3 of them left to get dressed. "Take Suzie. She's become very attached to both of them and probably needs to feel like she doing something to help." Starr said. "I suggest the rest of us get dressed and and eat something then try to get on with what has to be done while we wait. I need to go help Brother Ben there seems to be people waiting in front of The Chapel already." Ashara said looking out the door. ***** A couple hours later after Mike and the men had got back from The Whitaker's bringing a newborn lamb they had found in the cabin and the dogs a delivery truck from Meyers Grocery pulled up with Danny driving an Oakgrove patrol car right behind them. "Where do you want this stuff, Sir?" one of the boys I recognized from Unity asked. "Take it in the Com kitchen, there should be someone in there, if not let me know." ***** "Ben had a heart attack, he's in critical condition. Seems one of their yews was attacked by a wild animal yesterday. He managed to save her lamb and took it up to Cora then went back to bury the Mother." "Cora said when he got back he was acting strange but just shrugged it off when she asked him if he was okay. He was still sitting in the chair when she went to bed saying he'd be in later after he'd fed the baby but a little while later the dogs woke her up with their howling and she found Ben slumped over in the chair." "Laura Marshall was outside watching the meteor shower and heard the dogs barking like something was wrong and then heard Cora scream and went to check while Steve drove into town to get the sheriff." "Doc Davis says he can't have any visitors until they can move him out of ICU but David and Lizzie are going to stay with Cora for awhile." ***** "Bob Meyers sent you this," he said handing me a letter, "someone tried to break into the store last night." "He says he'd rather give it away then have someone steal it and everyone knows that Sanctuary is self sufficient and always willing to give help to anyone. Besides it's just going to go bad without electricity." "It's not just the perishables he's sending. He wants us to send some trucks up there today to pick up everything: he's shutting down - says he's getting too old for all this and would like to join us here at Sanctuary since most of his customers already shop here with their vouchers. Almost all he has to do now a days is order stuff for us and bring it down here so he might as well save himself time and just order for us." We talked for a few more minutes and then Danny went off to eat something and spend some time with Tina and the kids before getting some sleep saying he was going on patrol with Andy that night. ***** The boys had come back about 11:00 to eat bringing the Radio Set with them and were in the old smoking room with the door locked. All they said when someone asked was it was more convenient for now. When Andy was dropped off he stopped on the porch to talk to Amy and Beth who were sitting there with Carl while they watched the girls play Jacks and then came inside as Katy ran off and the women followed him in. ***** "Mac over at The Ledger managed to pull some news off the wire service before their power went out.Thank God he had the sense to check with us before posting it. I think everyone needs to hear this so Katy's rounding up the Council members." "Also Ben is still in critical condition and they're not expecting him to make it, but Lizzie said to tell you he woke up long enough to make Cora promise if anything happened she would come down here and stay and he wants to be buried on the ridge when the time comes since he doesn't expect to be able to be cremated. I don't think it'll be much longer. I also brought copies of the last faxes we recieved at the station since the machine's not hooked up to our generators." "I'm afraid nothing I have to say or show you is good news." Andy said when everyone was seated; repeating what he had just told us he handed around the sheets of paper he held in his hand. We were praying and discussing what needed to be done when Roy and Bobby came out and whispered something to Danny and Andy. They went with the boys and locked the door behind them. People came and went all afternoon while others talked quietly or prayed in small groups around the room and over in The Chapel. Then just before dinner started the boys posted a notice announcing an open meeting after dinner on the Community Board and the doors to The Chapel and main house while Andy pulled the Board members into another private meeting. Bob and the trucks had already arrived and left. Bob stayed. ***** Andy stood up and walked to the front of the comunity hall. "Thank you all for coming, in the event you haven't heard the intire region is under an Orange Alert and the probability - according to one of the last faxes received at the Sheriff's office is that we should stay that way for a while." "The recent increase in activity on the sun has caused some rather large solar flaring leading to several major problems with the grid, not only here but nationwide and overseas as well causing brown outs and in some cases total blackouts." "This in turn is causing other problems. Looting, rioting and an increase in violent crimes is a problem in many cities. Even our own little town of Oakgrove has felt it's effects. There was an attempted breakin at Mr Meyers's store last night." "This morning 3 of our boys were working with the Hamm radio trying to get some news about the meteor storm last night. Most of what they managed to pick up was pure static but they did get a garbled message from somewhere in Canada and could make out a few words: FIRE, ATLANTIC, FLOODING. They packed the gear up and brought it back to the main house to continue searching." "Most of the day they got nothing, a few words here and there but about 3:30 they tried reaching the operator from Canada again and despite a bad connection through the stactic and everything they managed to piece together that a couple of larger pieces from the fire storm had actually hit the Earth: 1 had touched down somewhere in Tibet and 1 off the coast of New York in the Atlantic, another is rumored to have fallen in the Saudi desert. The operator didn't know anything about the 2 of them but the one that hit the Atlantic has caused a title wave and severe flooding along the East coast. Water damaged some transformers and put the entire Eastern Seaboard in total blackout. There seems to be major fires burning in New York and Washington and many other coastal cities even as far south as Charleston and people are paniced." "He also mentioned The Northern lights which have been visible in parts of Canada for the last 3 nights - this may not mean much to a lot of you yet but by the time you leave here tonight you should understand." "Danny has volunteered to help patrol Oakgrove and Sanctuary and the outlining areas tonight along with some of the townspeople so everything should be fine there and the twins and Bobby are going to keep eyes out here. Tomorrow at 3:00 we will discuss setting up regular patrols, now if you'll excuse us Danny and I need to go." "Ms Jo, do you want to go next?" ***** "Before I start we need to take about 20 minutes so anyone that needs to leave to finish something up or put children to bed can. If for some reason you don't make it back someone can fill you in in the morning if you're interested." I walked over to the table where the women had set out pitchers of ice tea and koolaid along with pots of hot coffee and water for tea and hot chocolate and slices of cakes and pastries from Meyers. ***** "So are we finally going to hear the whole story behind all this?" Bob said waving his hand. "I guess the time has come, but you probably know a lot of it already." I answered. "All I know is you're a good person and David would trust you with his life. Most importantly though The Lord told me I should do anything I could to help. That's enough for me." he said putting his hand on my shoulder. "Thank you all, I actually had you take a break because I needed a few minutes to collect my thoughts. You see this story actually started several years ago before Paul died. Some of you know part of the story, a few of you even know most of it; but now it's time for the whole story to be told - you're free to leave any time you want." I said when I walked up front. ***** I began at the beginning with the dreams that started shortly after my parents died and progressed quickly to the time around Paul's death when the dreams became more vivid and the visions started. Finally after almost 2 hours I came to the part where Sanctuary actually became a reality. "Recently I received a vision of an old black woman and one from the Goddess at about the same time-----" I said continueing with my story. "The last words of Her message were: 'When the light show starts: Be Warned'." "In light of last nights events and what you just heard from Andy I'd say time is short." I said stepping down and leaving without speaking to anyone. Starr stood up and said, "Now you all know the whole story behind Sanctuary so you can make your own decision as to what you want to do next. This meeting is officially over but some of us will be sticking around if anyone wants to talk."
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