Rooms - James L. Rubart [82]
“Not that game?”
“Yep, one and the same. The next day Archie confronted your dad about how he treated you. About the choices he was making. Then they talked about the Lord, your dad saying God had stolen your mom and Archie trying to explain that that wasn’t God’s heart, along with a lot of other things. Suffice it to say, it didn’t go well. Your dad hated Archie for speaking the truth and has despised all Christians ever since.”
Micah sat squeezing his knees, trying to assimilate the revelations Chris had just given. It explained so much. And Archie had tried to rescue him from his dad.
“You knew my dad?”
“No, no. Only through what Archie told me. Now you know why anyone who walks with God is on Daniel’s do-not-disturb list.” Chris leaned over and refilled Micah’s glass of iced tea.
“The puzzle pieces are falling into place.”
“That’s why your dad never let Archie near you once he moved back to the States. Shame. Shame.” Chris sighed. “If he had found out Archie was spending time with you, your dad would have made sure it didn’t happen more than once.”
“But you said Archie did meet me one time.”
Chris sat up and nodded. “One day Archie said, ‘I’m going to do something crazy and try to meet Micah.’ I said, ‘How?’ and he didn’t really answer. Just said God would help him with it.”
“How old was I?”
“Oh, you must have been around sixteen or seventeen. Archie came back and said he knew you had it in you, whatever it was. He was proud of you for taking the risk. Said you talked about laying up treasures in heaven.”
Micah’s heart pounded as a question sputtered out of his mouth. “What did Archie do in the navy?”
“Oh, he was in communications so he worked the radio and helped with letters and memos; he was a pretty good writer.”
“Did he do anything else?”
“Not for the navy.” Chris looked at the ceiling. “Only other activity of note during those years was his jumping out of all those airplanes, doing that parachuting thing with his buddy in the army. He loved it, got pretty good.”
“Did Archie ever speak with an Australian accent?” Micah felt like his heart must be hammering away at two hundred beats a minute.
Chris’s face lit up. “Now, Micah, tell me, how in creation did you know that?”
Micah’s mind reeled. So what really happened in that room in Cannon Beach? Was the skydiving real? If so, when did it happen? Did he go back in time when he went into that room, or did it all happen in the Spirit and Archie had experienced it outside of time as well? Certainly God is outside of time, but . . . Just when Micah thought nothing else could shock him about this journey he was on, something did.
Chris’s voice brought him back to the moment and forced Micah to squelch the questions sprinting through his mind. “You know, I am truly sorry to say this, but I think I’ll have to call it a day.”
Micah reluctantly agreed. “I’ve got more questions than when we started, but I appreciate the time so much.”
“You’re welcome, Micah. And we’ll do it again sometime. I know Archie would be immensely proud of you. It sounds like you’re going down the narrow path few choose.”
“I think it’s the only path without a dead end.”
“Yes, yes it is.” Chris grabbed both of Micah’s hands and smiled widely. “Thank you for coming by.”
Micah approached the front door, then turned and gazed at Chris’s sitting room once more. A series of black-and-white photos lined the back wall. One of Archie on a fishing boat—looking younger than he had on the plane—grabbed his eye. Chris stood next to him along with another man. It couldn’t be. The haircut was different, and he had on wire-rimmed glasses, but the man looked almost identical to . . .
“Who is that next to Archie?” Micah sputtered. “It looks like the twin of—”
“Let it go, Micah.” Chris took his arm and led him to the door. “Someday all the questions of this life will be answered. But not yet. If they were all answered right now, we’d forget how to be curious. And how much fun would that be?”
Driving away from Chris’s house, Micah mused on their conversation. Now he understood Archie’s motivation