Chapter 36
MADISON BURST THROUGH the doors of the Grinell, Kansas Catholic Parish Church like the winds of Pentecost invoking an audible gasp from those persons assembled waiting out what they perceived to be their last hours.
There was no time for protocol. Madison marched straight down the center isle and up to the minister who was in the midst of his ‘End of Days’ sermon.
Right now, Madison thought, there was more to fear than some vengeful God bent on retribution. For starters, him. He was hungry, tired, and a bit pissed off at having his whole world disrupted by some power hungry fool bent on ruling the world.
“Excuse me, Father, Madison said turning and facing the shocked crowd, but I am in need of your parishioners help. I was on my way to NORRAD when my plane was shot down. I need a car.” Madison paused and looked around the room at the blank faces staring back at him. A bit flustered, he continued, “begging your pardon, but I assumed everyone knew that America had been invaded by terrorist forces.” Still there was not a sound or peep from the crowd. Madison started again. “I thought, considering the message being delivered, that the invasion was the reason why you were all gathered here.”
“Mister ain’t no place round here called NORRAD,” yelled a man seated near the back of the room to Madison’s left.
“Jasper, you old fool shut up and stop showing off your ignorance,” shouted Cassie Hankins, a life long resident of Grinnell, Kansas.
“Mister, Cassie said, standing to her feet, you’ve got to excuse old Jasper. He’s a little out of touch. And some say he’s just touched. Now about that place you’re looking for. NORRAD? I’ve heard of it. And if I ain’t mistaken, it’s in Colorado and old Jasper over there is right. This here is Kansas. And that’s quite a ways to borrow somebody’s car.”
“Yes, I know. But I don’t need a ride to NORRAD in Colorado, anymore. There’s a similar facility close by, over in Angelus.”
“Angelus? I knew it! I knew it! Shouted Jasper interrupting again. I told you folks, he said pointing his weathered index finger at the lot. I knew them boys over in Angelus were more than farmers. You don’t use equipment the likes of what they’ve got just to plant corn. And then there’s the matter of that fence. Who in their right mind would spend that kind of money to fence in a cornfield! I knew they were Government men.”
“Shut up, Jasper, yelled the assembled mass in unison. Let’s hear what the man has to say.”
“If I can get to Angelus, I can launch our missiles at their assigned targets and that should put a stop to some of this.”
“You mean you want our help starting World War 3?”
“No. I want your help to stop World War 3.”
“Won’t firing all them nuclear missiles cause a nuclear winter?, asked another member of the congregation.”
That started a conversation amongst the members that took a few minutes for Madison to quell. “Quiet! Quiet, everyone. Let me explain. They’re not that kind of missile.”
“Then what kind of missiles are they? And how many of them are ‘planted’ over there in Angelus?” Asked Cassie, nodding in Jasper’s direction.
“I’m only going to launch five missiles. No more.”
“Five?! What’s five missiles going to do? The Lady on the News said we’ve been invaded by about ten countries. All of them fighting together against us. I don’t see how five missiles is going to put an end to that.”
“These missiles can. Have you ever heard of ‘Star Wars?’
“You mean the movie? The one with the big hairy ape?”
Again there was a noticeable murmur from the crowd.
“No, I don’t mean the movie.” Madison said, a little exasperated. I mean the Strategic Defense Initiative Program started by former President Ronald Regan.”
“That crap never worked, yelled a fairly large robust man seated on the Deacon’s Bench. It was a fairy tale dreamed up by Regan during one of his Alzheimer’s attacks.”
“You’re wrong. The Air Force scientists got it to work.”
“It’s a bit too late now, don’t you think,” yelled another man whose wife was pulling at the sleeve of his shirt trying to get him to stop talking.
“No. Not for what these missiles do. They prevent nuclear war heads from exploding, rendering even the biggest nuclear bomb, ineffective.”
“So, you’re telling us, your missiles will stop their missiles so we can nuke the hell out of them!”
“Well, there in lies the problem, said Madison shifting his body weight so that he was standing firmly on both feet. Not only will these missiles make their nuclear warheads ineffective, but they’ll make all nuclear weapons ineffective. Ours too, which is probably why the President hasn’t deployed them yet.”
“No more nuclear explosions like in Chicago? I had a brother and his wife in Chicago, The Schmidts,” yelled the man whose wife had by now stopped pulling at his shirt sleeve.
“I had a sister in California,” yelled another.
“My mother was in New York.”
“Ain’t got no car, but I got a truck!” offered Jasper.
https://onethreethirteen.wordpress.com
By
Eliza Ankum
Author of
Flight 404 (Flight with Denzel Washington)
Ruby Sanders
STALKED! By Voices
onethreethirteen 