Powerful and Effective (Part One)

After his meeting with Steve, Joe went back to work. He was going to install the pump today, but it was still in Felicitas’ car. It could wait until tomorrow; he still had other projects to work on. Someone had backed into the fence around the dumpster and he needed to repair that. He wrote down what he was going to need and headed off to the hardware store. He got the lumber and the hardware he needed and drove back to Cherrywood. As he turned into the drive he noticed someone sitting at the fountain. He parked the truck by the dumpster and walked around to the front. The man sitting at the fountain didn’t look happy and he didn’t look like he was coming to look at an apartment. He was dressed very well, wearing a nice suit and a dress shirt. But the shirt was open at the collar and he was wearing a gold chain. His hair was combed straight back, and he was wearing expensive sunglasses. Joe had a sinking feeling.

“Can I help you?” Joe asked as he approached.

“Your name Joe?”

“That’s right.”

“Then yeah, you can help me asshole. Give me my whore back.”

“I thought I knew who you were.”

The man stepped up closer to Joe.

“Don’t matter. Charlie G gets Candy back or somebody gets hurt.”

“Candy?”

“You know who I’m talking about. Don’t even try to mess with me. She got some other stupid name now.”

“Felicitas?”

“That’s right.”

“Listen, Charlie. Felicitas is engaged to me. We are going to be married in a few months. She doesn’t work anymore, at least not in what you want her for. She’s put all that behind her when she became a follower of the Way.”

“Yeah I got all that religion crap from the big goon they sent over to scare me off.”

“Well, she’s not coming back to you, Charlie.”

Charlie’s face turned beet red, and he screamed “SHE OWES ME MONEY!”

Joe felt himself getting angry again, but he remembered what Steve had told him just hours ago. He took a deep breath. Then he took out his cell phone.

“Here’s the thing, Charlie. You are on private property. In about two seconds I’m calling the cops, and you can talk to them.”

“He’s here as my guest.” Joe heard the voice behind him and knew immediately who it was. He turned and faced Blake.

“Doesn’t matter, Blake. He threatened me and he threatened Felicitas.”

“He has a right-” Joe turned back to Charlie interrupting Blake.

“Time’s up, Charlie G.

There was a long, tense moment where he and Charlie stared at each other. Joe forced himself to ignore Blake. He felt like he was in an old western. Finally Charlie took a step toward Joe and screamed at him again.

“This aint over! I know what belongs to me. I don’t care what she follows, she’s mine. This aint over.”

Charlie spun on his heel and walked out to the street. Joe watched him until he disappeared around the corner. He turned around and walked past Blake.

“Have a nice day, Blake. Rent’s due on the third.”

“That all you got?” Blake said to Joe’s back. “Why don’t you come back and we’ll talk a while. Or, better yet, you can grab me and rough me up.”

Joe didn’t look back. He went into the office and called Polycarp. He said he hadn’t seen him in a while and he’d really appreciate his perspective on all that had happened. Polycarp said he was going to work out and then he’d come over after that.

Late that afternoon Polycarp came by and they walked over to the coffee shop. Joe was still amazed at how people reacted to this extremely large and disfigured man. Ellie looked frightened and couldn’t speak.

“Ellie, this is my close friend, Polycarp,” Joe began.

“Pleased to meet you Ellie,” Polycarp said as he extended his hand. “I’m harmless.”

Ellie laughed and all the tension emptied from her face. She reached out and shook his hand even though it completely disappeared in his.

“Can we get two coffees?” Joe said.

Ellie poured the coffee and they went over to what was becoming Joe’s customary desk.

“It’s really good to see you,” Joe said as they sat down.

“I’ve been meaning to call you, but you know how it is at the Refuge.”

“I miss you guys.”

“Guys? You miss us guys? You got me to drive all the way across town to say ‘I miss you guys?’”

“No, you’re right. I miss her so much it’s painful. In fact, that’s why I called you. I’m sure you’ve heard what happened. Well, let me rephrase that, I’m sure you heard what I did.”

“Yeah. Bad form, Joe.”

“Tell me about it. Anyway, she called last night, and I’m going to see her tomorrow and then I’m going to spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to her. No excuses, but I didn’t get any help on women and relationships and all that.”

“Yeah, who did? But listen, Joe. I’m not justifying that you basically lied to your soul mate. That’s what I meant by bad form. But this Blake guy? I’d have done the same thing, and you know me, Joe. I’d probably be in jail right now. So, shame on you, but I understand. And something else, Felicitas and I talked long into the night after she called you. Trust me, everything will be okay with her.”

“Well, that’s just it. Did she tell you what Blake said?”

“I’m not sure.”

“He told her pimp she was still working. He came by today all hot and bothered. He thinks she belongs to him.”

“Figures.”

“You know him, right?”

“Let’s say we met. I convinced him to leave her alone.”

“Do you think…?”

“I know what you want to ask me, Joe, and because we are like brothers, I will honor your request, but let me offer another thought.”

“Okay.”

“The Bible says ‘our struggle is not against flesh and blood.’ So, I could ‘have a talk’ with him again, but I don’t think it’s right.”

“How so? How is this different than the first time?”

“Well, before it was just him, you know? Just a scum bag who needed a firm hand. Well, he needed Jesus too, but he wasn’t listening to any of that. But now…now it’s something different. Now, it’s not flesh and blood kind of issue. You don’t fight the Enemy with these.” Polycarp held up his hands. “Have you ever heard of The Duck Test?” Polycarp asked.

“Are you making this up?”

“No. The Duck Test goes like this: If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Maybe we’re dealing with spiritual forces.”

“You mean like angels and stuff?”

“I mean like demons. That’s what I mean by The Duck Test. If it seems demonic, it might very well be demonic. In other words, Blake, and by extension Charlie G., are tools of the Enemy. That, I think, is the kind of fight we are in.”

“How do you fight against the Enemy?”

“Prayer. It’s a spiritual battle, Joe.”

“Okay. I can see that the way I reacted was all wrong, but what about Felicitas? She was really scared yesterday.”

“I promise to look after her, Joe. You two are like family to me. Trust me, we’ll see this through together.”

“I do trust you, my friend.”

“Now on to other things. Are you prepared to be humbled?”

“What?”

Polycarp took a deck of cards and a travel-sized Cribbage board out of his pocket and put them on the table.

“Ellie, would it be okay with you if we played cards here?”

“I, uh, no. Sure. Do you want more coffee?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Joe won the first game and Polycarp won the second, but before they dealt the third Ellie said:

“I’m going to close in a few minutes, but you can play until I lock up.”

“You know I’m getting famished.” Polycarp said. “Want to go grab a bite and do the rubber game later?”

“Sure.”

“Nice to meet you Ellie,” Polycarp said. “Great coffee.”

“Thanks. Come back and bring your friends.”

After dinner Polycarp dropped Joe off at Cherrywood, and Joe went to bed that night looking forward to seeing Felicitas tomorrow. The next day Joe was cleaning the glass in the entry way when he saw her. He put down his spray bottle and opened the door. She grabbed him and pulled him to her.

“We have to quit meeting like this,” Joe spoke in her ear.

“Someday soon,” was all she said.

“I love you. I’m sorry.”

“You already said that, Joe. Why don’t we put that in the past and move on?”

“Fair enough.”

“Did you hear about yesterday?”

“Yeah.”

“How do you feel about that?”

“Well, it bothers me. I hoped for a clean break. I don’t understand why he’s making this issue now.”

“I think I do. Steve talked to me about how Blake wants to destroy the work God wants to do through me. I think he’s behind the whole Charlie thing. If he can stir up that pot to his satisfaction he ruins your ministry, mine, and Bob’s. Kind of like a trifecta of evil.”

“Trifecta of evil? Really?

“Well I suppose someone more mature could have put it better, but that’s all I’ve got and I’m sticking to it.”

“I love you, Joe.”

“Bad word usage and all?”

“Of course. So, how do we deal with this? Do you think he might come back here?”

“Polycarp said I need to pray. This is a spiritual battle and prayer is critical. I was thinking we should spend a few minutes each day praying together. Don’t you think that would be a good place to start?”

“Yeah,” she said emphatically.

“On the other hand, it may be a moot point. I don’t know if I’ll have this job for long.”

“Well then, there is our first prayer concern.”

They went into Joe’s apartment and spent a few minutes in prayer. Both of them prayed for the job at Cherrywood, protection and their lives together. They were interrupted when the phone rang. It was Bob.

“Joe, this is Bob. I didn’t want to leave you hanging. Listen, I don’t want to fire you. I like you a lot and I think you can learn from this. In fact, it might make a better manager out of you in the long run. If you want to stay, I want you to stay. Are we back in business?”

“Definitely. Thank you, Bob. I won’t let you down.”

“I’ll call you in a couple of days.”

Joe hung up the phone. “Did you hear that?”

“I think that was the quickest answer to prayer in the history of answered prayers.”

“You know it just humbles me to think of how gracious God is.”

“This is great news, Joe.”

“It is. Now I guess we ought to get to work.”

“So, what needs to be done?”

“I was cleaning all the windows in the entry, but if you wanted to take over that job I have the fence by the dumpster to finish. Then, if you brought the pump with you, I can work on the fountain.”

The next several weeks were some of the happiest days of Joe’s life. Felicitas came every day and their love seemed to increase as they anticipated their wedding day. Blake backed off when it became obvious he wasn’t going to get Joe fired. Joe would see him from time to time, but he reminded himself that anything Blake said to goad him was an attack against God and he avoided anything serious.

After some trial and error Joe got the fountain running. He knew fall weather was right around the corner, so he decided to have an end of summer barbeque and grand opening. It was a great success. They put lights up in the trees and hung paper lanterns across the courtyard. Joe hired a cook to come and make hamburgers and hotdogs. Blake even made a showing for a while. They had music playing on a boom box and a few people danced. They signed up four new tenants that night with six more applications on Joe’s desk. Joe and Felicitas stayed up late cleaning and putting things away. Already they were making plans for some kind of Christmas celebration. At about midnight they sat down happy and exhausted.

“I’d better get going,” Felicitas said finally.

“How many days now until we don’t have to say goodbye every night?”

“Just five weeks, Joe.”

“Five weeks, let’s see, that’s thirty five days, eight hundred forty hours, fifty thousand four hundred minutes and…”

“How do you know that? Are you some kind of math genius or something?”

“Calculator on my phone.”

Felicitas got up, came over and sat in Joe’s lap. She put her arms around his neck.

“Calculate this. You are my man. I have never loved, nor will I ever love anyone but you.”

“I love it when you tell me you love me. I love you, Felicitas.”

Suddenly Felicitas said, “You know, Joe, I think I’d better go.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to stay.”

“Wouldn’t that be nice.”

“Fifty thousand something or other minutes from now it will be.”

Joe walked her out to her car, kissed her again and watched her drive off into the night. He went back inside with a feeling of contentment and hope unlike anything he’d felt since he came down off the mountain. He went into the bathroom and undressed. He brushed his teeth. He climbed in bed and turned out the light. The last thing he saw was Felicitas’ smiling face in the picture next to his bed.