Chapter 16: Facing Figurative Giants

Moses threatened to disown Noah if he cut hair for a living. It was more anything besides the ministry than becoming a barber. The construction workers divided La Barberia into men and women's sides, while Noah learned from the video tutorials that taught Juanita. After two weeks, he was ready for the first live heads of hair, Ben Green, Aaron, Allen, Jim and Mark. Moses stubbornly refused to condone his son's choice.

"At least he's not some girly man," remarked Jim on cue.

"Amen to that," said Ben. "He can't do any worse than the barber at boot camp, and we got through that one."

"Yeah, after what we went through in Fallujah, it's all easy," Aaron concurred.

The four were there to hold Ben down if needed. Aaron was hesitant at first, but Ben then revealed that Trudy was pregnant with Merriam when they went off to Parris Island in 1997. Not only was she expecting, her father, Aaron's Uncle Jesse, was a Marine from the Vietnam War.

"I don't know, Aaron," said Ben, taking his seat in the chair. "I still say the day I faced old Jesse to ask him to marry his daughter tops that. That man ate grenades for breakfast and spit shrapnel. Now there was a real Marine."

Noah said his prayer that his hand would not tremble, and went to work with the clippers. "Is he what inspired you to join?"

Ben laughed, and admitted, "I think it was join the Corps or meet Jesus, and he would introduce me personally. The trouble is I got his baby girl pregnant, and men have died for less. I suppose that is why I always gave you such a hard time when you came over to see Merriam. I didn't want the same thing to happen to her."

Noah gulped, and he nearly jabbed Ben. "Sometimes, no matter what precautions you take," Ben continued, "God intervenes and things happen, right, Noah? Then it's the measure of a man whether he runs and hides, or stands and accepts responsibility."

"Y-yes sir," Noah stammered, suspecting that Ben knew. "How did you get married if he made you enlist?"

"The Corps don't take you if you're already dead," admitted Ben. "We made two stops that afternoon; the first was the county clerk for the license, with the preacher. The second stop was the recruiter to make sure I had an honorable job to support his girl with."

Noah prayed again, and finished by trimming Ben's moustache. He brushed the loose hair off and handed Ben a small mirror. Ben nodded, and then angled the mirror to see Noah sweating.

"Good job, son," offered Ben. "I know you'll do the right thing too, won't you?"

"Yes sir, I mean, you know?"

"Ask the question, Noah, and no, we aren't going to the recruiter today."

"I want to marry Merriam, Sir; I love your daughter, and I will be a good provider for her."

"I don't doubt that you will, Noah. I think you know the consequence if you make my baby cry; I make you cry, a lot." Ben stood and extended his hand. "I would like for you to say your vows publicly."

The other men all came to congratulate Noah and Ben. "You were all in on this?" asked Noah.

"Juanita doesn't like cleaning up blood," teased Mark. "It did take all of us to hold him down, though."

"Oh, knock it off," retorted Ben. "I just want my girls to marry a good man and be happy. Besides, we need a barbershop here in this town, no offense to your girlfriend, Mark. Now get up there and get your ears lowered."

"You're not leaving with your pastor?" asked Allen.

"My family is here, Allen, and that's where I'll stay," vowed Ben. "Yeah, I'll go to Galilee as he calls it with the bus, but when I come home it will be right down the road there. A man who casts out his own son for a different vocational choice, among other things, ought not be a minister. Terry and Naomi are staying here, too."

"So is Georgia until Charles finds where he left his brains," added Aaron. "You know Laney and I will stay in New Eden."

"I was hoping so," said Allen.

In the door came Luther, Theresa, Joe and Becky. Luther announced, "We're back, and the road to Galilee is now down. When the rains come it'll be ready to drive, all 256 miles of it."

"That calls for a celebration," said Mark, "even though we tracked you earlier with the sensors in the armory. It's great to be done with that last part. You folks should take some time off."

"Nah, we have to go back and finish the bridge over the Jordan, as Pastor Moses calls it," admitted Luther. "If we didn't have you dropping the rolls of fabric along the route we'd only be halfway done. That plane of yours sure came in handy."

"Tell me," said Ben, "did Moses ever get his prayer-powered devices to work?"

"No, we had to install the Adonai 1200 series things that he could push buttons on," replied Joe. "I think that man needs to have his come to Yeshua moment. Jared and Marcia had to build the fishing boat for them, and within an hour they ran it up on the reef."

"Moses said how hard is rowing a boat?" groaned Luther. "I conclude that nothing is idiot proof, only idiot resistant. They all need life jackets because most of them can't swim."

"Moses wanted us to swim out to the boat, fix it, and bring Jerome and Charles back," added Joe. "I told him to strike his staff on the water and part the seas."

"Let's all make enemies already," said Allen sarcastically. "Isn't the fabric resistant to damage?"

"Resistant, yes," replied Luther. "When they keep hitting the same rock over and over, it eventually breaks through. How were they going to survive church camp if there were boats there?"

"Stay away from the lake, I suppose," offered Ben. "They're rap musicians trying to jazz up Christian music. If they had any real talent, we'd actually have a praise team like they do at Grace Harmony. Those folks are a joy to listen to."

"Their baby mommas got together and shamed them into coming on the trip," recalled Aaron. "Then Pastor Moses got them a gig at the camp pavilion Friday night for the teens. Well, The LORD put that on hold indefinitely."

"If it wasn't for Ramona and Cassie catching the little things off jetty, they'd be going hungry," opined Becky. "One of them caught a lobster, and you should've heard the screaming. Joey tried to teach them to catch flounder, but Charles tossed the rod in because it had both eyes on one side and it freaked him out."

"They are down to three of the six fishing outfits that came from Adonai," revealed Luther. "The preacher says he can catch fish, but he thinks it's beneath him."

"He can lose more lures than anybody I ever saw," said Ben. "I never saw him catch a thing that didn't have branches on it."

"I believe it," replied Joe. "Say, do you have time to work in a couple more haircuts?"

"Yes sir, I do," answered Noah. "Who's first?"

(Galilee on the Sea)

It was yet another day before Ben could drive the bus across the last 25 miles of the new road. Allen brought the crew back the following morning in the Mark 7, along with some fruit and vegetables, bread and beef jerky. He picked up two pounds of sea salt to take back that had a lot of beach sand in it.

Jared met the plane and begged Allen to take Marcia, Theresa and Becky back to New Eden. "If I didn't have that shotgun, two of them would've dragged her off last night. As it was I didn't get any sleep."

"He's a lying racist," countered Charles. "We just wanted to chit chat."

"She's a married woman, and you have no business taking her from her husband," said Allen. "Where is your wife, Jerome?"

"I don't have a wife," spat Jerome. "My woman is back at the other place until the bus comes."

"I thought Cassie was here," countered Luther.

"She left him," said Jared, "five days ago with the kids. I'd have gone after them, but I didn't know until last night."

"Okay, everybody on the construction detail get in the plane," advised Allen. "We'll come back when we can insure the safety of the crew."

Moses came over to protest and swung a pipe at Allen, who dodged it. Moses called him everything but a human being. Allen produced his shotgun and took the pipe from the preacher. That backed the group off enough to get airborne. "I'm going to let Aaron and Ben deal with this issue, lest we really louse things up. Everyone keep an eye out for that woman and her two kids. I have a really bad feeling about this."

"I think all our dragons and pterosaurs left," replied Joe. "If she has water and some food they should be okay."

"I think the beasts are the least of our worries," reasoned Luther. "I wouldn't put it past Charles and Jerome to do away with them to justify taking new women."

"No, they're not exemplary citizens," agreed Allen, "but I really don't think they'd kill them. I'm more worried about the fallout from splitting the New Eden Colony."

Fifteen minutes into the near hour-long flight, Marcia called out, "There they are, down by the rocks."

"Okay, I'll set down and we'll distribute the emergency water and rations," replied Allen.

"At least you have a road to land on this time," remarked Luther. "Theresa and I will stay there until you can get back and pick us up. You better bring her and those kids in and have Pat check them out."

"Becky and I will stay, too," offered Joe. "Taking off with 7 adults aboard a 6-place plane with a 3,600-foot runway is one thing, but you have maybe 1,200 here. You'd have to drive the plane back."

"Or fly really low," admitted Allen. "If we take the back seats out, we could fit everyone inside and I could still make 100 knots."

"No, no, and heck no," countered Jared. "Those tires aren't made for sustained road use at high speeds. What are you thinking?"

"Sorry, I'm a bit pre-occupied about our new colonists," admitted Allen as he touched down on the paved road. "I consider Aaron, Ben, and their families as my friends, and yet it bothers me when others are quick to hang the racist banner on you. I didn't like Prescott a bit, and he was white."

"That's right, you are an equal opportunity hater," mused Jared. "I say let them be, and when starvation sets in, they'll either work or they'll die. They don't even mind their gardens, or make the women they won't marry do it; small wonder she left."

Allen taxied to where Cassie and her two kids sat exhausted beside the road. He shut the plane down and everyone got out. He explained that he would take her, the kids, and the three women back to New Eden.