Page 52 of Gideon

“Hang on a second.” A broad-shouldered man stood. “This is all very nice and cozy, but someone has to be the voice of common sense here. If we’re not careful, we’ll go all airy-fairy expecting gold dust to fall from the ceiling and fix all our woes. Sure, some people left the church over these last years, but this isn’t biblical times. God’s not raining fire and brimstone on us because we sinned. And I don’t buy in to this idea that our trouble is because of some artwork that the town put up. Sure, it was in poor taste, but sometimes stuff happens in life.” A few voices rose up in agreement.

“Come on, Steve,” Ty said. “That wasn’t just art in the square. People in this town were worshiping it.”

“I never saw anyone bowing down.”

“You don’t have to bow down to something to worship it. My neighbor isn’t spiritual at all, but she told me that every time she’s in town, she goes to the totems and touches them because maybe, just maybe, something good will happen in her life. She’s desperate to believe in something, but she won’t turn to God.”

“So we have a few kooks in the town, so what?”

“There are a lot of us who believed it,” Gunther said. “I always thought of myself as a strong Christian, but I went through some trouble last year, and I foundmyself looking at those totems and wondering—no, hoping—that they could help. That’s embarrassing to admit, but there are a lot who are like me.”

“Maybe you should stick to speaking for yourself,” Steve said. “But when a stranger comes into town and destroys public property, we should be running him out, not celebrating him.”

“Gideon is not a stranger,” Nikki said. “He grew up here.”

“Yeah, the son of Joey Stone, a real stand-up guy, right?” Steve scoffed. “I remember Gideon when he was a kid. He was nothing but trouble then, and he’s nothing but trouble now.”

Voices of protest began to erupt until a loud voice cut through the noise. “Hey!”

Nikki looked to the back and didn’t know whether to be mortified or relieved. She hadn’t seen Gideon enter and wondered how much he had heard.

“If you guys have something to say to me, here I am,” he said as he walked down the aisle. “That’s half this town’s problem. You guys are experts at talking behind people’s backs. You want to throw me out of town? Here I am.”

“Gideon,” Nikki warned in a whisper. “You can’t leave because of them.”

“What do you expect us to do?” Steve said. “We don’t know anything about you or why you came back here.”

“I came to help my dad.”

“The town drunk.”

“Yes. He is. He has a drinking problem. Which I’msure is hard for you to understand since you’re so perfect.”

“Oh, here we go,” Steve said, standing up straighter. “At least I don’t have a brother who’s a murderer.”

Nikki grabbed Gideon as the crowd began to argue. She could feel the muscles in his arm flex. Part of her wanted him to teach Steve a lesson, but that wasn’t what they were here for. Not tonight.

“Everyone calm down!” she shouted, but they only got louder. Ty whistled again, and Nikki took advantage of the lull. “You say you don’t know anything about Gideon, but he’s done more for this town in the last two weeks than any of us put together.” She had to push her voice out past the emotion.

“Not for me, he hasn’t,” Steve said.

“He’s helped me out a few times,” Deb said. “I think we should give him a chance.”

“Hang on,” Gideon said. “This isn’t about me or you or any of us. This is about God. If we can’t find some semblance of solidarity here, we may as well give up now. When a town turns from God, men like Fairfax are always ready to move in and take over in the void.”

“That still doesn’t mean we should take your side,” Steve said.

“I never asked anyone to get on my side. I never even asked anyone else here for help. I cut down those poles because I believe that was what God wanted. If you don’t agree, fine. You can get in line. And if you don’t want to hear what I have to say? That’s fine too. But I want you all to know that my plan is not to start a side. I am not standing before you saying you shouldjoin my team.” He ran a hand through his hair, and Nikki could see the uncertainty on his face. “I was reading my Bible this morning. Trying to get wisdom from God about the direction I should take.”

“Did he give you any?” Deb said.

“Sort of. In Joshua, I don’t know if you guys know the part where he comes across this big guy who turned out to be an angel of God, and Joshua asks if he’s for them or for their enemies?” He paused while a few nodded. “Do you remember how the angel replied? He said, ‘Neither. I am the commander of the Lord’s army.’ Then Joshua fell on his face and said, ‘I am at your command.’ Well, that’s where I’m at. I’m on my face asking God to tell me what He needs me to do. I’m not here to run the place or tell you what to do. I’m here doing what I’m told. And that’s all any of us can do.”

“I think you’re out of your mind, and I want nothing to do with it.” Steve pushed out of the row and left. Three people followed him, but everyone else stayed.

The room hummed with whispers, but all eyes were on Nikki and Gideon.

“That was good,” she said to him. “Did you really read that this morning?”

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