The Long Walk

The end of the month came and Joe said goodbye to all his friends at the Refuge. It was one of the hardest things he’d done in a while. He grown to have true affection for these people and the great work they did in a harsh and hostile environment. They had a little going away lunch for him in the dining hall. Mom made tacos, the same meal they’d had the first time Joe ate with them. Of course promises were made to keep in touch and he gave his number out to everyone. During dessert Joe stood up and said: “First of all, thank you for the blessing each of you has been to me over the last few months. Secondly, I’ve asked Felicitas to marry me and she said yes. We don’t have a date set, but probably this winter.”

Everyone clapped and expressed their approval. When Joe sat down Polycarp stood up and walked behind him. He put a hand on each of their shoulders and said, “I’ve never spoken these words before to anyone, but when Joe first came to the Refuge a seed of hope was planted in my heart. That seed has now blossomed into a fine rose. I know that sounds a little cheesy, but I am so happy for the two of you. I will always be there for you.”

Just before he left Sam took him aside and said, “It’s been good to have you here, Joe. At first I wished you would have stayed here and worked with us, but I’ve since come to see that the Lord has other plans for you.”

“Thanks for connecting me with Bob. I think I’m going to love this new job, but it is hard leaving here.”

“Keep in touch. You will always be in my prayers.”

Joe already had his stuff packed up, which wasn’t much, but Felicitas helped him carry it down to the street. He was already driving the truck and they loaded his stuff into the cab.

“Sam talked to me last night,” she began. “He told me he’s bringing on a new person to replace me.”

“So soon?”

“I can work here as long as I want, Joe, but I want to be with you. Plus you said Robert wanted a couple. That’s us. That will be our ministry. Together.”

“I can’t wait.”

“I think this next four months will fly by. I’m going to miss seeing you every day, but I’ll come see you on Saturdays. In fact, Maria and I are coming over this Saturday to help you decorate your new apartment.”

“Sounds lovely.”

“It’ll be fun, I promise.”

“See you then.” Joe said. She kissed him through the window and then went back inside. Joe put the truck in gear and headed to his new life. He got about halfway across town when his cell phone rang.

“Joe, this is Bob. How are things going?”

“Actually, I’m moving my stuff over there now. I should be there in twenty minutes or so.”

“No problem. I just wanted to give you an update. I put a sign by the mailboxes that we are now officially under new management, etcetera, etcetera. But I was just thinking that it would be a good idea for you to make contact with the existing tenants. There is a spread sheet on the office computer with the names and apartment numbers of all the rented units.  It could be the beginning of a ministry if you could just stop by and introduce yourself.”

“That’s a great idea, Bob. Thanks.”

“Also, there is a list of projects on the desk in the office that I’m passing on to you. Start with what you can do and let me know if you run into problems, okay?”

“I’m really excited about this. Thanks again for the opportunity.”

“I heard from Sam that it looks like I’m going to have a couple after all. You didn’t get engaged just for this job did you? That would be kind of awkward.”

“No,” Joe said laughing, “Beside, you offered me the position as a single man anyway. I was already in.”

“Okay. I was worried there for a minute. Hey, I gotta go. I’ll stop by later in the week unless you need me for something sooner. See ya, Joe. You’re going to do a great job, I know it.”

With that he hung up. Joe drove to the apartments. He found a parking space and pulled in. Then he moved his stuff into his new home. It really wasn’t much: his clothes, his computer, a few books, his Bible and a sleeping bag. Bob had told him there was some left over furniture in a storage locker downstairs, and he could have all he wanted. He’d been travelling light so long it was strange to think of settling in. But then in a few months both he and Felicitas would be settling in here and that would change everything. He could live Spartan-like until then.

The office was right next to his apartment. Joe went in, grabbed the keys, and headed out to look in the basement. In the foyer he ran into an elderly gentleman who was checking his mailbox.

“Hi, I’m the new manager,” Joe offered as he put out his hand. The old guy smiled, shook Joe’s hand and said, “Pleased to me you, Joe. My name is Steven Watson, but you can call me Steve…or the Rev.”

“The Rev?”

“I’m a retired minister, so some of the young Turks around here call me the Rev. I don’t mind,” he said smiling.

“I’m a follower of the Way, also, Steve.”

“Wonderful. Good to hear it, Joe. We need to sit down over some coffee and talk about the good things.”

“I’d like that. How long have you lived here?”

“My wife and I moved in here after I retired. Never owned a home. We always lived in the parsonage.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a house the church owns where the pastor lives.”

“Okay.”

“Anyway, my wife died last year. Heart trouble.”

“Sorry to hear that, Steve.”

“Yeah, I still miss her, and I get sad thinking about it most days, but I know where she is Joe, and that makes it tolerable.” He was silent for a moment, and then he said, “You know I was with her when she died. I was standing by her bedside, holding her hand. Her breathing got slower and slower and then she just didn’t take another one. I knew. I thought, one moment she’s here and the next moment she’s looking on the smiling face of her savior. Yessir, that’s okay.”

“I’ve never heard anyone describe death in such a beautiful way, Steve.”

“Thank you.”

“Say, I’d better get going. I want to try to meet all the tenants today.”

“That’s a great idea.”

“How’s tomorrow sound for coffee?”

“You’re on. See you tomorrow, Joe. Knock on the door when you’re ready.”

Joe found the stairs and went down to the basement. He was in the back corner of the building. In front him was a hallway. Down there he found the furnace room and a work shop next to it. It had a workbench a collection of tools, and some plumbing gear. He also found a series of rooms that were divided off with cages. These must be the storage lockers Bob had mentioned. Each cage had a number over it that Joe figured matched an apartment. Some of them had padlocks on them and stuff inside. He found the locker with the leftover furniture. There was a serviceable couch and table and a couple of chairs. He was going to have to buy a bed, but there was a foam pad there that would suffice until then.

Joe went back to the stairwell and followed the basement around to his right. He unlocked a door to find a rather large room that could have been a meeting place at one time in the distant past. It had a linoleum floor. There were several folding tables set up and dozens of folding chairs stacked against a wall. At the other end was another door that led to the other side of the complex. He noticed the other stairwell. Then he went around another corner to his right and found another hallway, more storage lockers, another furnace room and the laundromat. Inside he found a block of brand new washers in the middle of the room and a bank of dryers against the wall. At the far end was a vending machine that had soap, bleach and fabric softener in it. Joe wondered if he was going to have to collect the money. He wrote that down on a little pad he’d put in his pocket. Just past the laundromat was another stairway that led upstairs behind the coffee shop. There was a sandwich board in the hallway that had “Java Judy’s painted on it in big letters. Joe went inside and found a woman stocking shelves.

“Hello?” Joe ventured. She stood up surprised.

“Oh!” she said as she stood up. “Hi. Uh, we won’t be open for business until tomorrow.”

“Not a problem. My name is Joe,” he said as he extended his hand. “I’m the new apartment manager.”

“Oh, yeah. Bob said you’d be stopping by today. Name’s Ellie. Ellie Bancroft. I’m the manager here.”

“Nice to meet you, Ellie. I was expecting a Judy,” Joe said pointing at the sign.

“Judy is my mom. She had another place, but then she retired and I took over the business. Just kept the name.”

“Well, we’re both new to Cherrywood. Anything I can do to help? What do you need?”

“Now that you’ve mentioned it. I forgot to ask Bob about parking. I need some spaces for customers and maybe a couple for my baristas.”

“I don’t think that will be a problem, Ellie. Let me walk around and see how many spaces we have. I think we can dedicate a couple right outside for you. The baristas might have to park in back.”

“That’s fine.”

“I’ll talk to Bob and get back to you, okay.” Joe wrote himself another note on his pad.

“Great.”

“I can see you’re busy. I’ll stop by later.”

“By the way Joe, drip coffee for you is free.”

“Thanks, Ellie. Let me know if you need anything.”

Joe left and went back to his new office. While he was waiting for the computer to boot up he read a note from Bob on a yellow pad by the keyboard. “Joe, glad to have you aboard. FYI, the number for the apartments is on the next page. We are all set up for voice mail, but I’d like your voice to be on the message. I wrote the old message on the next page. You can use that as a sample. Just a word to the wise, only give out the business number to tenants, never your cell number. That will give you a little distance. If it’s an emergency they know where you live, or they can call nine-one-one.” Joe opened the spreadsheet Bob had mentioned. There was a listing of all the apartments, their square footage and some brief tenant information. Thirty of the fifty four units were rented. About half of those, like the minister, had lived here since before Bob bought the building. The others had moved in since the remodel. Joe printed the file and headed out to meet his new tenants. Before he left he prayed that if this was going to be a real ministry God would help him to know what to say.

Since it was the middle of the day Joe found that some of the people were not home. He put a mark by their names on his sheet and moved on. He skipped Reverend Steve’s apartment and went upstairs. Joe knocked on the door of one of the apartments and waited. He heard footsteps and then a hand on the knob. Nothing had prepared him for what happened next. The door opened and Joe was standing face to face with the mystery man.

“What are you doing here?”

“I live here, Joe,” the man said smiling.

“Well, you can’t live here,” Joe blurted.

“I’ve got a lease, Joe. Two days ago. Sorry you don’t want to extend any Christian love to a lost soul, but the law is the law. Or maybe you ought to call Bob on this one.”

“What does Bob have to do with this?”

“He rented the apartment to me. His name is on the lease. He’s the man, Joe, not you.”

Joe started to raise his voice, “But I am the manager,” Joe looked at his sheet, “Blake. You threatened me.”

“What do you mean by that, Joe?”

“You know what I mean! On several occasions, you-”

Just then a door behind Joe opened and an elderly woman came out carrying a broom.

“What’s going on here? Why all the yelling? Who are you?” she said pointing the broom at Joe. But Blake spoke before Joe could answer.

“This man doesn’t want me to live here Mrs. Green.” Blake had leveled his voice and spoke almost plaintively to her.

“Why not?”

“Let me explain,” Joe began, but he knew there was no explanation, so he just said, “I’m the new manager.”

“Manager of what?” she demanded.

“The apartments. I’m the new manager of the Cherrywood Apartments.”

“I liked the old manager.”

“Well, I,” Joe started, but Mrs. Green interrupted.

“I can’t talk about it anymore. Blake, tell this loudmouth he’s not welcome here.”

She went inside and closed her door behind her. Blake looked at Joe through his eyebrows and said quietly, “Diabolical,” and then closed his door.

Joe left feeling deflated. Just this morning he was stoked about coming to what he thought was a new ministry, and now this. He went to the next apartment on his list and no one was home. He finished out the second floor. He met a college student, a man with no shirt who smelled like booze, and a middle-aged woman in a bathrobe who looked skeptically. On the third floor was a retired machinist named Matt who asked Joe why his room was so cold. Joe wrote it down in his notebook. Next to him was a retired couple with different last names. Two doors down from them was an apartment with three men who only spoke French. Joe made a note to ask Bob about that. The last person Joe spoke with was a single mom with two teenaged daughters. It looked like she had her hands full.

When Joe was finished making the rounds it was dinner time and he realized he was tired and hungry. Even though he had appliances in his apartment, he had no food and nothing to cook with. He searched on his phone and found a fast food place a few blocks from Cherrywood. Since it was close he decided to walk and get a feel for his new neighborhood. Across the street was a park and playground. Then there was a residential area then a strip mall. If he needed to have his nails done or go tanning he wouldn’t have to walk far. On his side of the street next to Cherrywood was a Mexican restaurant. Maybe he and Felicitas could eat there sometime. Then there was a flooring company, a swimming pool supply store, a paint store and a hardware store. After that was another apartment building about the same age as Cherrywood, but it didn’t look like it had been remodeled. Then there was a pizza place and next to his was his destination. Joe got a burger, some fries and a drink and walked back to the apartments. He sat out by the fountain and ate. A couple with heavy accents and a baby came by carrying groceries. Joe introduced himself. His name was Chandra and hers was Hema. Joe remembered their names from the spread sheet. Joe sat at the fountain until the shadows stretched across the courtyard and he went inside. He went downstairs and got the foam pad out of the storage locker and unrolled it in his new bedroom. He put his sleeping bag on that. It would have to do. Then he called Felicitas.

“Hey, I missed you today,” she said when she answered the phone. “How was your first day as apartment manager?”

Joe told her everything that had happened including the confrontation with Blake.

“What are you going to do, Joe?”

“Good question. I don’t even think it would be worthwhile to bring this up to Bob. Not yet anyway. I’m going to pray for him and try not to let him goad me like that.”

“I’ll pass it around. We’ll all pray for you.”

“Thanks.”

“I hear somebody calling my name. I’d better go find out what they want. I’ll see you on Saturday. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

The next morning Joe was able to meet a few more of the tenants. He was surprised to find that one of them had been the manager herself years ago.

“Name’s Helen,” she said as she shook Joe’s hand. “Ran this place by myself after Abbie died. We did it right. No screwing around.”

“How so?” Joe ventured.

“Didn’t need leases. Kept the lawns mowed. Watched out for each other. Something got broke we fixed it right away. This was a nice place then.”

“Well, I hope we can make it nice again, Helen.”

“Well, I’ll let you know. And anything else you want to know, just ask. You know where I live.”

“That I do.”

Joe walked over to Reverend Steve’s apartment and tapped on the door. Steve answered and they went to the newly opened coffee shop.

“Hi, Ellie,” Joe said as they entered. “How is your first day of business?”

“It’s been slow, but I sort of expected that. Word has to get out. What do you boys want?”

“Just drip for me,” Joe said.

“Same here, Ellie. My name is Steve. How much do we owe you?”

“No charge today. Just tell everyone how much you enjoyed this wonderful coffee.”

They sat down at one of the little round tables and Steve said, “So, tell me about your journey. How has it been for you?”

Joe gave him a shortened version of all that had happened to him.

“That’s a great story, Joe,” Steve said. “I’m glad you came to terms with the whole thing with your father. I think that’s pretty important.”

“It was a huge moment for me, that’s for sure.” Joe paused and then asked, “Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, Joe.”

“How do you maintain your walk with the Lord?”

“Well, as you’ve discovered, the Way is a journey. I think we need to view our whole lives like that. I heard someone call it once, ‘The Long Walk.’ Like any walk, there are stops and starts, but for me it’s all about a relationship. I mean, for so long I thought following the Way was about following a set of rules. But I couldn’t maintain that for very long periods. Then one day I was preparing a sermon about what it means to walk in the Spirit and it hit me. I don’t follow rules, I follow a Person. I’m not guided by a law so much as I’m guided by who that Person is. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah, it does.”

“I think we mistakenly get the idea that if we have struggles we have failed. But that can’t be true. Has anyone ever talked to you about the flesh and Spirit?”

“Not really, no.”

“In the Bible there is a short letter Paul wrote to the Galatians. In this letter he talks about how these two natures are at war with each other. The flesh is the sin nature and the Spirit is the presence of God. The struggle we all experience is between these.”

“So, this struggle is normal?”

“Joe, if you feel like you are in a war right now, you are probably where you ought to be. The fact is, we have these two natures that will always be in conflict with each other.”

“Is it sort of like Yin and Yang?”

“No. That’s a concept from Taoism. Yin and Yang are opposing forces, true, but they are parts of a whole, and necessary for each other’s existence.”

“Okay.”

“The idea in Galatians is that if you live by one, you cannot not live by the other. They are mutually exclusive, where Yin and Yang are mutually inclusive.”

“So, what does this look like?”

“In this passage in Galatians, Paul also talks about walking in the Spirit. I think that’s what The Long Walk means. We’re following the Lord, but we walk in the power of the Holy Spirit…for our whole lives. In doing that we say no to the sin nature and live in the power of God. Steve took out a little pocket Bible. “Do you mind if I read?”

“No, go ahead.”

“The print in this little Bible is hard for my old eyes,” Steve said as he thumbed through the pages, “but it was a gift from my daughter and I can’t bear to give it up. Okay, here we go: when Paul talks here about the flesh, or the sinful nature, he lists things like immorality, hatred, and selfish ambition.”

“Sounds bad.”

“Yeah, but then he says this: ‘but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

“I like that.”

“But understand, Joe, these virtues are not goals to strive after, or laws to live by they are the ‘produce’ of our relationship with God.”

“That’s why they’re called fruit.”

“Exactly.”

Joe looked at the clock on his phone. “I’d better go, Steve. I’ve got some projects to work on today.”

“Let me walk out with you.”

Joe said goodbye to Ellie, put some money in the tip jar and met Steve outside.

“I don’t know if Bob said anything to you, Steve,” Joe began, “But he’s a follower of The Way also.”

“We talked a couple of times. Yeah, I knew that.”

“Do you know why he bought the building, hired me and all that?”

“Not exactly.”

“He wants Cherrywood to be a ministry.”

“That’s excellent, Joe.”

“But the thing is, I’m kind of new to all this, and I was wondering…?”

“Go ahead, Joe.”

“I need someone to minister to me. I know you’re retired, but do you think you could give me some guidance from time to time?”

“First of all, Joe, ministers never retire. Secondly, I would consider it an honor.”

“Maybe we could have coffee in the morning and talk and such.”

“It’s a deal.”

“And, could you pray for me?”

“Already doing that, Joe. Anything specific?”

“Yeah, three things. I’m getting married in four months.”

“Congratulations.”

“Thanks. I’ll introduce you to her on Saturday. The second thing is my new job. The third thing has to do with a tenant on the second floor.”

“Complaints already?”

“Not exactly. I’ve met this man before and he’s taken a dislike to me. In fact he’s threatened me.”

“Sounds serious, Joe. Let’s pray right now.” Steve closed his eyes and so Joe followed suit. “Lord, please protect Joe. Let nothing keep him from doing your work. Don’t let him be overcome by fear. Help him, if possible, to be at peace with this other man. Amen.”

“Thanks, Steve. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Later that day Joe called Bob and told him about Steve. Since it was on company time, he wanted to see how that sat with him. Bob told him that he was on salary. That meant that he was on call twenty four-seven, but it also meant that his hours were more flexible. Plus if Steve helped in the new ministry, all the better.

The rest of the week sped by as Joe adjusted to his new responsibilities. He had no negative contact with Blake even though he saw him in passing a couple of times. Blake just looked at him and pointed. Mrs. Green was a little easier. Joe managed to convince her he was the real manager and not just some thug threatening Blake. But he still couldn’t picture her baking him cookies anytime soon.

Then came Saturday. Joe got up early, walked around the building and picked up trash and then went back to the office and waited for Felicitas to show up. He looked for their new ad in the local paper and checked Cherrywood’s email for applicants. Around ten his speaker buzzed and Joe ran to the entrance instead of answering it. He could see Maria and Felicitas through the glass. He opened the door.

“Hey you guys, thanks for-“

Felicitas had dropped the bags she was carrying and threw herself into his arms.

“I missed you, Joe.” She said in his ear.

They hugged each other until Maria cleared her throat.

“Come on in, girls. I have a lot to show you.”

Joe showed them the office and his new apartment. They both commented on how sparse and male it looked. Then Joe took them around and showed off his new place of work.

“I kind of have the day, off,” Joe explained, “except I have someone coming at eleven to look at an apartment.”

“That’s okay,” Maria said. “We brought stuff to decorate. Lots of stuff.”

“It’s not all girly stuff is it?” Joe protested. “It’s going to look kind of funny until, you know, we set up house together.”

“Who’s going to see it?” Felicitas asked. “I would hope that access to your bedroom would be fairly restricted.”

“Good point,” Maria said. “Maybe we should decorate with lots of ‘girly stuff’.”

“Alright,” Joe said smiling, “You win. Decorate away. But no pink soap in the bathroom. I have to draw the line somewhere.”

Just then his speaker buzzed and Joe answered it.

“Hello?”

“I’m here to look at the apartment for rent.” The voice said.

“I’ll be right out.” Joe let go of the button and said to Felicitas, “Seriously, I trust you. I was just kidding. Have fun and thanks for coming over today…both of you. Oh, the store is delivering a bed today. If it comes while I’m out just sign for it and we’ll move it later.”

Joe grabbed his keys and met two sisters at the front entrance. He showed them the apartment, walked them around the building and then back to the office. He told them about the lease and gave them an application. They wanted to fill it out right then and so Joe waited while they did that. Afterward he told them he’d check out their references and give them a call, probably in a couple of days.

When Joe went back to his apartment Felicitas and Maria were hanging up curtains in the bathroom.

“They look good, and not too girly,” Joe said as he entered the room. But Felicitas looked at him and Joe knew something was not right. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know if anything’s wrong, Joe,” Felicitas said as she stepped down from a chair. “A guy stopped by while you were gone. He was kind of creepy.”

“Who was it?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t leave his name.”

“Was he looking for me?” Joe asked.

“He didn’t say he was. He just started talking and smiling.”

“Was he about five foot ten, black hair, little scar on his forehead?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s the guy.”

“What guy?”

“The mystery man. The guy Jake was looking into.”

“Really? What was he doing here?”

Joe gave a big sigh. “He lives here. He moved in before I took this job. I’ve already had a minor confrontation with him. Did he say anything to you? Threaten you or anything like that?”

“No, nothing like that,” Maria said. “He was friendly, but that’s it. His smile had no warmth. Kind of hard to explain.”

“I understand, Maria. I don’t know if he’s a threat or not, but let’s not let it spoil our day. When you two finish here, we’ll get some lunch.”

The rest of the day went by with no sign of Blake. Even though Joe showed two other apartments that day, he got to spend most of his time with Felicitas and Maria. In fact they stayed until dinner. They went to the store and Maria made fajitas for them. Then they all took a glass of wine and sat in the courtyard and talked until it got dark.

“What are you going to do about the fountain?” Felicitas asked.

“Bob wants to fix it. I’m going to take a look at it this next week. I don’t entertain any hopes that I can do it myself, but I’d at least like to find out what to do.”

“This would be such a nice area with that fountain,” Maria added. “I mean it’s nice now with the trees and all, but it would be like a park in here with the sound of water in the background.”

“I suspect we’ll have to put it on a timer. It will probably be too loud at night.”

After that the girls had to go. Maria went out to the car and Felicitas lingered.

“I wanted to talk to you about something, Joe.” She said.

“Maria knows. She’ll wait. I mean it’s not a huge thing, but, well, I want to hear what you think.” She paused. “We’ve set the date, and I’m okay with that, but I don’t think I want to be away from you all week. So, I talked to Sam and he thinks it’s a good idea. What if I quit at the Refuge and started to work here every day? I mean,” she said quickly, “I don’t want to move here. Sam said I can stay there as long as I want and help out in the evenings, sort of like you did, and-”

“It’s fine,” Joe interrupted. “I’ll talk to Bob, but I’m sure he will be okay with it.”

“I won’t be able to do this until Sam can find someone to replace me.”

“That’s fine too.”

“Kiss me, Joe,” she said as she turned her face up to him. “Right here in front of everyone.”

Joe kissed her and they said goodbye, and as he watched her drive away he started counting the minutes until he would see her again. He went back into his apartment. Felicitas was everywhere: her smell that still lingered, the framed rock poster in the hallway, the pen by the phone she’d forgotten; all of them gentle reminders of this woman with whom he’d fallen in love, and with whom he’d soon share this home. He got ready for bed. He sat down on his new mattress, and just before he turned out the light he noticed a picture on the table he was using for a night stand. There she was smiling at him. Pretty soon it wouldn’t be just a picture.