Jason was surprised to see that well over half the students made a point of coming over to hug their teacher before leaving. At their age, Jason wouldn’t have been caught dead hugging a teacher. Before long though, he could see why. His Mom had crept into these kid’s hearts in a very real way.
The last to leave was a pretty blond who approached them shyly. Faith swept her up in a big bear-hug. “Bethany – will you remember what we decided about that situation of yours?” Bethany nodded, eyes brimming, but a smile on her lips. “Yes, Aunty Faith. I’m going to do exactly what we talked about.” She turned to leave, but swung back spontaneously and hugged the old lady again, “Thank you!” Faith kissed her on the head affectionately. “It will work out, you’ll see.” Bethany nodded, and left with a wave.
“You really love these kids, Mom.”
Faith was packing her CD’s away. “I do, Jason. It’s funny, you know. I started teaching to keep myself busy after Nicole died, and it’s done so much for me—” she thought for a moment, “—and them. For some reason, they feel comfortable with me. They share their problems, their fears, hopes and dreams with me. I talk to them about God’s wonderful purposes for them, pray them through the rough spots. It’s a real privilege.”
Jason got stuck at her off-hand mention of Nicole, and his temper flared. “How can you talk about Nicole so casually? Geez, Mom. Do you love these kids more than you loved her?”
She met his anger with a calmness that rattled his insides. “You’re not okay, Jason. Talk to me.” Agile for her years, she hoisted herself up onto the edge of the stage and patted a spot next to her.
Jason was too riled to sit. He began pacing up and down, frantically searching for the right words to throw at her. All the frustrations of the past weeks poured out. “You talk about her as if she meant nothing to you. It’s sick. She loved Jesus so much, and what did He do?” He stopped pacing and glared at her. “Sent a terrible sickness her way, and killed her. On the brink of life. And you still love Him.” The fire went out of him and he sank, cross-legged to floor in despair.
Faith slipped off the stage and knelt on the cold wooden floor in front of her son. “I can see what it looks like from your perspective. I seem pretty heartless.”
Jason’s head was down and he didn’t respond.
Faith kept talking. “Nic’s and I spoke a lot during those last weeks of her life. During her 17 years on this earth, she made a huge impact on the people who knew her. Do you remember her best friend Teresa?”
Jason didn’t look up, but nodded.
“Her folks got divorced and she took it really badly. There were all sorts of other issues in her life too. Anyway, she tried to kill herself. I don’t know that you ever knew that? Mercifully, she didn’t succeed. Do you know that your little sister, at the age of 15, loved and prayed her back into wholeness? Jason, she achieved more in her 17 years, than what most people do in a lifetime. As for me, I know that our separation is temporary. Life on earth is so short compared to the eternity that we’ll spend together once this life is over.” She reached across and took his head in her hands. Leaning her forehead on his, she continued, “I’m not saying that I never ask ‘Why?’ But if I’ve learnt one thing in my life, it’s that He knows best. His Word promises that ‘All things work together for the good of those who love Him, and are called according to His purpose.’” She paused for a moment, “Jason, if I can’t trust Jesus, who can I trust?”
There was a catch in her voice that made Jason look up. He read the pain in her eyes and it comforted him. He was not alone. Mom felt it too, but somehow managed to cling to her decision to trust God in spite of not understanding. And God was honoring that trust by making her life matter. He could live with that.
Taking her hands in his, he nodded. “I hear you.”
Mom squeezed his hands briefly, “Come, let’s go home. I’ve got a chicken in the oven. Interested?”
Jason’s stomach growled on cue. They were both laughing as he helped her to her feet. “Need I say any more? Lead on, Mom.”
***
The dishes were drip-drying in the kitchen. Dad was out helping the neighbor with a faulty oven. Jason and Faith sat on the upstairs veranda of their family home in Gonubie, admiring the sparkling expanse of ocean.
Sitting side-by-side in companionable silence, they sipped hot chocolate. After a while, Faith asked, “So what else is bothering you?”
Nearly choking on a mouthful of hot liquid, Jason swallowed, coughed and blinked away tears brought on by a scalded throat. “What are you talking about?”
“C’mon Jason. I know you so well by now. The whole Nicole thing was bothering you, but that’s not all. Talk to me.”
Jason squirmed, not sure how much he wanted to face himself, let alone share with his Mom. One glance at her piercing eyes and he knew he didn’t stand a chance. Might as well spill his guts.
The hot chocolate warmed his cold hands, but he put the cup down anyway and clasped them together to help him focus. So many strange things. “I was diving about two weeks ago, exploring a wreck. I found a sealed package that contained a portrait and a wad of love letters. The portrait was of a mom and her daughter, the love letters were all written to her by a young man from East London.” Jason glanced at his Mom. She was sitting on the edge of seat, leaning towards him intently, her drink forgotten for the moment.
Confident of her full attention, he continued. “I’ve been doing some investigating to figure out what happened. At this point I believe the mom drowned and went down with the ship, but the little girl, Rebecca, somehow survived. She’s about my age now. I’ve been following her trail across the country and it’s led me back here.”
“That all sounds exciting, but what’s bothering you?”
Mom had always been a bit of an emotional bloodhound. She never let up on a feeling scent until she’d found the source. It was rather frightening to be on the receiving end of such focused attention.
“What’s got me rattled is the voice I keep hearing in my head.” There, he’d said it. It sounded so bizarre that he wanted to laugh, but it was out now, and he couldn’t take the words back. “I keep hearing a voice speaking to me.” He looked at his Mom, expecting a reaction.
Her face remained calm, and she looked at him with her eyebrow lifted. And?
“Mom? Doesn’t that disturb you at all?”
“Not yet. What happens if you listen to what the voice tells you?”
There was so much, he wasn’t sure what to say. Floundering a little, he began, “Outside Planet Dance where I DJ, I heard the voice tell me to go and speak to a young woman who was sitting crying outside. I didn’t want to, but when I did I found myself giving her advice that just didn’t come from me. I also told her to tell her Mother what had happened to her.”
His Mom was a good listener and she prompted him to carry on without interrupting.
“Amazingly, she was the very person I needed to help me with the next step in my search for Rebecca. She also took my advice in speaking to her Mother.” He shook his head, unable to believe the results. “Turns out her Mom went through the same thing she did at that age, and understood what she was going through completely. I didn’t know that.” Faith nodded. “Mom, she would never have spoken to her Mother if I hadn’t suggested it.”
Faith nodded again, and simply said, “There’s more. Keep talking.”
“Following Rebecca’s trail, we ended up visiting a lady by the name of Maxine Rochester who had employed her four years ago. As we were leaving, I—” Jason struggled over this bit, “—I saw a man standing behind her, and her two sons. They weren’t really there, and they looked hazy, kind of like looking through a heat wave. Then I started speaking all this stuff to her about their futures being balanced on the edge of a knife, and that they needed her. That she had to go back to them. She looked all shocked, asked me how I knew this and promptly went on to tell me her life story and how she’d ended up separated from them.”
/> “There’s also this dream I had. I can’t shake it. It’s always there, lurking in the back of my mind.”
“Tell me about it.”
“Thousands of people in a desert all chained together walking into a fiery abyss. Some are covering their eyes and ears; some have keys but refuse to use them. Since the dream, I actually see the chains on people. They look completely real, but if I touch them, they’re not there. It happens with strangers and people I know. I don’t know what makes the difference.”
His Mom held out her arms, “Do you see anything on me?”
“No. You’re free. The question is why? Tina from the club had them, after I’d spoken to her, they disappeared.”
Faith pursed her lips in thought, then quoted one of her favorite verses, “Then you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Maybe the shackles are an indication of someone’s state of freedom. Believing the devil’s lies will always tie you up and render you ineffective. God’s truth is the only thing that can shatter the hold of the enemy’s lies.”
Jason wasn’t convinced. “Maybe, I don’t know. I’ll be honest with you, Mom - I’m freaked out. I think my sanity is slipping away from me, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
With all his cards on the table, he shrugged and looked at her. She looked very calm for a Mother of a lunatic. In fact, she looked downright gleeful – though she was trying very hard not to show it.
Chapter 21 – A Prophet and a Hundred Rand Note
Rebecca knuckled her aching back. For the first time in four hours, she took a moment to stop and catch up on her breathing. One hundred Créme Brulee’s were leaving the kitchen on cue, the proverbial cherry on top of a very successful evening. The team she was working with was well trained, but it had still taken every last scrap of the experience she had gleaned from Hazel to stay on top of all the preparations, and one step ahead of the guest’s needs.
How she had actually pulled it off was beyond her. Tumie, the wiry, bald African grinned at her. A virtuoso on the grill, he’d eyed her sceptically for the first two hours before concluding he was in good hands, and promptly becoming as loyal as a sheepdog. She echoed his grin, her insides warm and satisfied.
“Follow me, she’s in here.” Clive Sheldon’s booming voice preceded his appearance in the kitchen. A gaggle of five press photographers flooded the kitchen in his wake. “Gentlemen, allow me to introduce the young lass that saved the day.” With flashbulbs erupting like fireworks, Clive was in his element. With a flourish fit for a queen, he gestured toward her, stopping just short of a curtsey. Rebecca’s mind completed the picture for her and she smiled broadly to stop the laughter from bubbling out. Hazel always said that her imagination was completely over-developed. Another barrage of flashlights and her smiling face was captured on film.
Clive didn’t skip a beat. “I’m proud to say that I discovered the remarkable treasure of Rachel Jonas. I’ve always had an eye for true talent, and I’m sure tonight just proved it again.” With a wink for Rebecca, he turned and led them all away to show off the moonlit ocean view from the balcony.
Rachel blinked hard and saw stars for a few seconds. Covering her eyes with both hands, she tried rubbing them to regain her sight. Tumie laughed, “You be famous now, Medêm Rachel!”
Rebecca stayed tucked behind her hands, examining the stars on the inside of her eyelids. “Ja, Tumie. With all the glamorous guests out there, I’m sure that the newspaper would want a dishevelled cook on their front page.” She shook her head, causing the stars to swing wildly. Bad idea.
After a few moments, she ventured a peep through one eye. Through the fuzzy halo framing her vision she saw Shane. He was leaning against the island worktop, amusement written all over his face. “Hello Sweet Pea!”
Genuine warmth filled her. “Hey! It’s my knight. What are you doing here?”
Shane gestured with his thumb towards her suitcase at his feet. “Thought you might need this. How is it going?”
Rebecca ducked as a waiter carrying a tray laden with dirty dishes squeezed past her.
“Just great. Tiring, but it all worked out so well. I think I’m going to be happy working here.” The words left her lips and rang true in her heart. Maybe God really did care for her after all.
Dodging an apron-clad chef, Shane squashed up close to her, shifting her suitcase with his foot. “Well, it’s a good thing you are settling in here. The guys are back, and they brought another bloke with them. He’s nabbed the couch. Would have broken my heart to see my damsel in distress relegated to the floor.”
Rebecca laughed. “The quarters here are small, but better than sleeping on your floor. Thanks for the offer though!”
An awkward silence fell as another waiter brushed past them.
Shane picked up her suitcase. “I’m in the way here. I’d better be going. Where can I put this for you?”
“I’m about to knock off. I can take it from here. Thank you.”
Shane handed it over and saluted her. “Good-bye Sweet Pea. Call if you need me.”
“Thank you for everything. I really mean it – thank you.”
Shane nodded and turned to leave.
“Shane… wait.” Rebecca dodged a string of waiters and more dirty dishes to follow him. “Why do you call me Sweet Pea?”
Shane shrugged, “You’re a true princess.” With a wink, he left.
Rebecca stared after him, brow furrowed, “Gee, we certainly cleared that one up. Thank you Shane.”
***
“Jason, the things you’ve just told me don’t surprise me at all. In fact, I’ve been waiting for something to emerge in your life. I wasn’t sure when or how, but I knew the day would come.” The breeze from the sea was picking up, threading through Faith’s grey hair with increasing vengeance.
Jason’s mind back-flipped. “I don’t understand. What are you saying?”
Faith brushed a stray lock from her eyes, sat forward and clasped her hands. “Two things happened while I was expecting you. There was an old man in our church, Oom Willie. He walked so closely to God it was scary. He tended to be prophetic, even though back then, I didn’t understand what that was or what it meant. I slipped and fell badly when I was about five months along. All I remember was waking up in Hospital threatening miscarriage. I prayed so desperately. We’d struggled for five years to conceive, I couldn’t bear losing you.” Faith stared out over the ocean, tears coming to her eyes at the memory. Then she smiled at Jason, and briefly cupped his cheek in her palm.
“I’m assuming that you didn’t miscarry—”
“No dear. Oom Willie came to see me in hospital, saying the Lord had woken him up to pray at about 2am. He’d prayed for us until about 4o’clock, when the Lord gave him a scripture and told him to come and speak it over you while you were still in my womb.” She closed her eyes and quoted from memory, “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. Isaiah 42 verse 6 and 7.”
Faith turned back to Jason, face aglow, “The bleeding had stopped before he’d even finished speaking. Your life was safe. From then on, I knew that you were special.”
Jason stared at his Mom, eye’s wide. “You never told me this before.”
“You weren’t ready to hear it yet.” She eyed him up and down once before turning back to the ocean. “I think the time has come.” She cleared her throat and continued, “The second thing was how we arrived at your name. The week before you were born, three different people came up to me and told me, they felt that I was carrying a “Jason”. Now I’m talking about people completely unconnected to one another. I went to the Lord and asked Him about this. I felt Him nudge me to find out what ‘Jason’ means.”
Jason found himself perched on the edge of the deck chair, trying not to loo
k too interested and failing miserably. “What does it mean?”
“It means ‘healer, quickened in spirit’.” She let the words sink in. “Can you see why your strange life doesn’t surprise me? You’re just stepping into what God built you for. He’s shown you the Kingdom keys to freedom.”
Jason shoved himself back into the deck chair with a snort. “Come on, Mom. You know I’m no saint. You can’t tell me that God can use a life so buckled out of the shape of his original plan. I am nothing like what God originally planned, I’ve seen too much and done too much.” He sliced the air with a hand, “Rotten to the core.”
“I’m the first to agree with you. I don’t understand how God can use you when your life isn’t right yet. But the Bible says that His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are higher than ours! For His own reasons, He’s chosen to reveal Himself to you in this way. Give me your wallet.”
“What?”
“I just want to show you something. Give it to me.”
Jason handed over the wallet looking dubious. Faith rifled through, before extracting a brand new Hundred Rand note. Tossing the wallet back to him, she held up the note and asked, “What is this?”
“That’s a stupid question, it’s a Hundred Rand note.”
“Humor me. What can you buy with it?”
Impatience thinly veiled, he answered, “A good few pizza’s, maybe a CD? Lots of stuff. What’s your point?”
Faith said nothing, but proceeded to scrunch the note up into a tiny ball. Holding it out in the palm of her hand, she asked again, “What is this?”
“It’s still a Hundred Rand note.”
“What can you buy with it?”
“Same stuff as before.” Puzzlement replaced impatience.
Faith took the tiny balled up note, and dipped it in Jason’s cold coffee. Then she tossed it onto the wooden slats of the deck and proceeded to grind it underfoot.
Jason’s mouth hung open. “Mom!”
Faith was laughing as she held up the soggy, screwed up note. “What is this, Jason?”