We Are the Light(26)
“Okay, Lucas,” Jill said, ignoring Eli’s repetitive pleas for heat vents, and then smiled at me. “I’ll follow your lead.”
“You two wait here,” I said, and then got out of the truck. As I walked toward the Majestic Public Library, I thought about how it looked like a cross between a hobbit house and something out of a Harry Potter movie, as it was built with cobblestones in a magical Tudor-house-meets-medieval-castle style. There was a thick turret on the left side of the building, which looked like it belonged in an Arthurian legend—as if Merlin were casting spells inside. “Here we go,” I said, and then pulled open the heavy, iron-studded wooden door.
Inside, Robin Withers greeted me with perhaps the biggest hug I have ever received from anyone in my entire life. She rubbed my back and said, “It’s so good to be with you in this moment, Lucas. You have no idea how we’ve all missed you.” Even though I appreciated the gesture, I remained focused on the goals of the evening, which did not include collecting long hugs and compliments from my fellow Survivors.
So—after what I felt was an appropriate amount of time, enough so that her large hoop earring made a temporary dent in my right cheek—I gently untangled myself and said, “Do you trust me?”
“Of course,” Robin said, before adding, “I trust you with my life,” which made me feel a little sick, although I’m not exactly sure why.
“May I have your attention!” I yelled across the library. “May I please have your attention!”
Everyone turned and faced me.
“I’m running a very important meeting here in the library tonight. I have to bring in a prop, which I will hide in the meeting-room storage closet. But it’s very important that no one sees this prop, so I’m asking everyone to close his or her eyes so that I can move my prop under the cloak of secrecy. I apologize for the inconvenience, but this is of the utmost importance and perhaps it’s best to rest your eyes for a few moments anyway after doing so much reading.”
Everyone—including Robin—stared back at me.
“It will only take a minute!” I assured them. “Okay. Close your eyes now!”
People looked to Robin, who nodded and kind of patted the air in front of her with open hands, at which point everyone closed their eyes, including Robin.
“Okay. No peeking!” I said, and then ran to collect Eli and Jill, who helped me quickly guide the sheeted monster through the parking lot and into the library. “Please keep those eyes closed! It’s very important!” I yelled as a reminder and was relieved when I saw nothing but compressed eyelids.
Once I had Eli safely in the meeting-room closet, I stuck my head back into the general common area of the library and yelled, “You may open your eyes now. Thanks so much for your cooperation, which has aided our important mission!” before closing the door and then arranging my prepared notes on the metal podium.
“You should tell Eli to take off the mask so he doesn’t get too hot and pass out in the closet,” Jill suggested, which was a good idea, but when I opened the closet door, I found that Eli had already taken off not only his mask but his feather gloves and booties as well. His hair was soaking wet and all of his exposed skin was dripping with perspiration.
“I’m roasting,” he said, panting audibly, so I lifted up the springbok backpiece and pulled down the wetsuit zipper, exposing the naked flesh of his sweaty back, which had also turned bright red. “I think,” he added, “maybe the suit might be a size too small, because it’s really hard to breathe with it zipped up. But don’t worry. I can lose weight before the shoot. I’ve probably already lost five pounds just wearing this suit today.”
The wardrobe malfunction was not good news, especially considering how much time and effort and money we had already put into perfecting our monster costume, but there was no time to think about that, because it was almost showtime.
“I’ll get Robin to turn up the air-conditioning,” I said, and then did just that.
“What exactly do you have planned for us?” Robin said as she tapped the thermostat, dropping the library temperature by seven or so degrees. I didn’t spill the beans prematurely, but I promised it’d be worth the wait, and that—thankfully—seemed to placate her.
Back in the meeting room, I found Jill pacing. After I closed the door behind me, she put her hands on my shoulders, looked me in the eyes, and said, “No matter what happens, I want you to know I’m proud of what you’re doing with Eli and we’ll find a way to continue this work regardless of the reaction tonight.”
Before I could respond, Bess and Isaiah entered the room, and then the four of us were holding hands and Isaiah was using his church voice to ask his God to be with us tonight and move the hearts of our neighbors so that we might unite and contribute to the healing of our town, putting hearts back together and lifting up the weary. He went on and on with a lot of beautiful church language that I can’t quote verbatim because I was so worried about the presentation that I had trouble listening. But I think it’s not so much the actual words that moved me but the genuineness of Bess and Isaiah’s belief. When they pray with you, you do not doubt that every fiber of their beings wants the best for you, which is probably why Isaiah is my best man friend and I love him like a brother. I love Bess too. And I, of course, love Jill. I love Eli. And I also love you, Karl, very much.