Chapter 11

John was sitting watching Willy and the others playing with their New Mexican friends. Lucy and the twins along with Ben were there also. Thiago was Willy’s shadow. There were three boys and a girl, perhaps nine or ten years old that apparently had been north to the states sometime in their life. They were acting as interpreters and ... sort of like protectors. Suddenly there was a level of excitement among the young people. They were getting into line. Willy was counting on his fingers.

It all started on the day Ben was being honored at school for his quick action. A man had gotten hit crossing the street. Ben got to him and transported him to Jenny’s office. The Principle wanted to use this incident to teach all the students the modern-day version of First Aid or maybe Quick Aid. An hour later, the man was fine and, on his way, again. John was working with the twins on their math. Lucy and Willy were watching and even Ben and Sally were at the table with their own homework. Everyone realized that Willy and Lucy were answering faster than Fanny and Terri. Ben and Sally got in on the action and Willy and Lucy held their own until they got past 12 X 12. They had been watching several old VHS tapes on English, Spanish and of course, Math, while everybody else was in school. Willy touched Ben’s Black Lanyard and asked “Fifty?”

John had five of them hold up ten fingers. Willy pointed to Ben and said “10.” Then to Sally, “20.” Jenny had volunteered to clean up the kitchen as everyone else worked on learning. She sat down once she had the dishwasher going. She held up ten fingers. “30.” Then to Terri, “40.” Finally, to Fanny, “50.”

Jenny asked, “What are we doing?”

When she was told, she rolled her eyes up in her head and giggled.

“Mr. President, what is he doing?” Sam was sitting next to John, asking quietly.

“My guess is he is getting ready to go to God with 50 kids.” John shared.

“What do you think we should do Sir?” Sam asked.

Tony with Willa and Peter were sitting to John’s right, “Tony, Willa maybe you two can go with him. Just to observe, make sure he is alright. Please don’t disturb his really big achievement.”

“When the student is ready the teacher will appear.” Tony shared.

John and Sam both looked in Tony’s direction.

“Sorry dad, he’s been hanging around me too much.” Peter laughed, “I get it from Master Sun.”

Everyone laughed.

Jenny and Renata were coming out of a tent. Demetri and Sally had proceeded them and was searching for anything that might not be okay. Renata was carrying a little bundle. Her husband caught up with her and the two were laughing as they approached. Patty and Beth were following along behind. The new mom was moving kinda slow but seemed to be without any pain.

Willy looked over at John with his index finger on his right hand pointing upward. It was near his chin with his head tilted slightly. John had seen this look before when Willy wanted to ask something important. John smiled and nodded his head. Willy smiled and 50 of the children disappeared. Before Tony and Willa could follow Willy, there converged hundreds of kids that wanted to go too. Tony and Willa talked, then looked over at John. Tony also pointed to the heavens. Right hand over his head making a small circle. John laughed and nodded again. Tony responded, “Uno, Dos, and TRACE!” Hundreds of children disappeared.

“Mr. President, what on earth did we just see?” Sam asked.

John looked at Sam, then to Peter and Patty. Peter had moved over and was next to John with Patty sitting on his lap. Sam was to John’s left and Peter and Patty to his right, “I believe the kids knew where they were going. God is eliminating reasons for us not to accomplish things today!”

Sam looked around then sat back down, “No one seems to be concerned.”

“The children of Mexico have a bit more freedom than their counterparts up north,” John stated.

When Jenny came up, John was in deep thought about the last two weeks.

“Hey, Mr. President, what are you thinking about?” Jenny asked as she sat on his lap.

John looked at his love, “I’m still processing Liz.”

“Once upon a time, you thought you could make a life with her. You do realize you were with her before I was born.” Jenny hugged John.

“I just hoped she wouldn’t have gone into the sun. I knew from the bottom of my heart that was going to be where she ended up. It just hurts to have loved someone and see them go to hell.”

“John, I wouldn’t expect anything less from you. To see what you witnessed has to be up there with seeing a parent go into the sun.” Jenny comforted.

Liz, the second wife of John from 1990 to 1995 had entered the bank Monday morning. A few minutes after 8:00 AM. John lined up his day with the kids going to school and was there twenty minutes to 8:00 most mornings. Jenny also scheduled appointments from 8:00 AM on every day. John could drink a cup of coffee and get a lot done before 10:00 when the tellers started their day. Often once or twice a week Marvin West would come in with his newspaper or meet with a friend at John’s work table and just talk quietly. John had seen Maiden Nation join Marvin as they talked about vegetables for the next year. So, it was that Marvin West and Maiden Nation with three other farmers were making plans for this next year when in walked Liz. John did not even recognize her. When she stood before his desk, he glanced up, “I need just one more minute please to finish this home loan. Help yourself to the coffee.” John’s intuition screamed at him. He ignored it as he signed the document. Another family would have their own home again. This one was a little different, instead of a half-acre of land, they would have ¾ acres. Their three boys would grow up with their backyard full of Apple Trees. The mom was pregnant again and stated, this had better be a girl because this was it for her on having babies.

“The funny thing was when Liz fired five bullets at him, he wondered if his coffee was bad since she had gotten herself a cup.” John had simply stopped all five rounds, having them fall to his desktop with several clunks. He took her to God and watched as she entered the sun. When he returned to the bank, Marvin asked him if he knew a Liz Wilkins. John realized who that had been. He was stunned. Marvin showed John an old Washington Driver’s License.

Like on Monday, Jenny turned his face and brought him back with a deep soul-searching kiss.

The kids are back. They had been gone a half hour and came back with noisemakers, tricycles, bicycles and all sorts of other things. Everything seemed to have a loud noisemaker or two. Thiago had a firetruck that he could sit in and peddle. He also had a red fireman’s hat and was turning a device that made a loud sound like a real fire truck. One of the other little boys was sitting in the back seat of the fire truck also wearing a fireman’s hat ringing a real silver bell. Thiago drove the fire truck over to his parents. He asked if he could give his new little brother a ride in his fire truck. His parents explained, yes, someday when brother grows up a little bit.

The energy spread throughout the 40,000. Conversations were interrupted, and the story repeated a thousand times, “Where did you get that?” was the question asked. The answer was “God gave it to me!” The men from Poncho’s army and the mission were able to explain and prepare everyone for what was about to happen after the Thanksgiving Dinner.

It took a while for everyone to make their way through the buffet. Cookie and Carlos and their men worked hard to keep the lines moving and serving trays full. The many little mountains of food on the 100 tables disappeared, filled again and again. Finally, a few thousand were making do as they filled their mess kits for the second time. The officers filled in behind them as the kitchen crew consolidated everything onto 20 tables. It was noted by thousands of the 3rd Division that the US President and the two Bautista Generals were last to get in line for dinner. This was never the case with the old leaders and the men sat a little taller, felt appreciated for their position in life. John had been in management all his life. He felt he never did anything special for his employees, but he treated those that worked for him as he would like to be treated. On many occasions in his life, he had past employees more than willing to work for him again and again.

Dinner is done, and they were only a half hour behind Patty’s schedule for the day. John was up on the elevated dais again. Gloria was with him. He spoke in Spanish, “My friends and neighbors. I have a letter to read you. It is from one of your senior citizens.” John paused.

“My family has just returned from Omak, Washington. They have heard you speak then witnessed the results that fulfilled your words. Things that are important to an old man such as FREE healthcare and FREE schools. I might add your health system is not caring but curing. Like Mexico, the US has been enslaved to the medical and pharmaceutical industries for decades. The difference in Mexico is the drugs are from the drug cartels where in the US they are both the legal and illegal types that are enslaving your citizens. You must help us put a stop to this. I ask that you consider having Mexico become one of your states. I also ask that you send some volunteers to assist us in eliminating the drug cartels.”

John announced who had written the letter, “Jose’ Hernandez”. The man’s name was a president of long ago. He had returned to Mexico and was killed by a new drug lord in his home area. Jose’ Hernandez had been forced out of office by a scandal that was not of his doing. The sons of Mexico reacted. Some positive, some negative. John asked, “Do you agree with Jose’ Hernandez? Please stand if you do.”

A few stood, then a few more. The ones standing were encouraging others to stand. John watched as the new daddy stood and shouted, “The man is right, let’s clean up Mexico! For our CHILDREN!”

“For our CHILDREN!” Became the chant.

Willy did not know what to do. He was supposed to do his ‘sit on daddy’s shoulders trick’ when his daddy said, children. He looked over and made eye contact with John. His daddy was nodding. Willy took a deep breath, landed and hung on to John’s head.

The Chanting stopped.

John turned on the loudspeaker, “This is my son, Willy Taylor. He is special as your boys and girls are special. You just got to witness one of his special little tricks. Willy took 50 of his new friends, your children, to GOD just before dinner. That qualifies him to wear the black lanyard, signifying him as a master of our martial arts.” John held up a smaller version of a black lanyard. Willy took it with both hands, holding it up for all to see. He then put it around his neck.

Thiago was sitting on his daddy’s shoulders like Willy. Thiago screamed “Wil-ley! Wil-ley! Wil-ley!”

The chant “Wil-ley!” was being repeated by 40,000.

Willy waved and put his head on top of John’s. This was a bit overwhelming even for Willy.

Poncho and Jose’ had climbed the dais and the two men played who is going to tell them for a few seconds. Finally, Poncho grabbed the microphone to the loudspeaker, “Your general has some very good news to tell you.”

General Jose’ Bautista took the microphone and bowed to the wishes of Poncho.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this man next to me has made arrangements for us to get paid. First thing after breakfast. Where is Sargent Thiago Bargas?”

“Down here sir.” Thiago’s daddy said.

“Sargent, congratulations on your new son. Is it possible for you to set up and start paying everyone starting at 8:00 in the morning tomorrow?”

Thiago senior looked to his wife Renata.

“Thi, I’m feeling fine. Pay these nice men, and let’s clean up this land of ours.” Renata smiled, “For Thiago and our new little boy.”

Thiago senior looked to the General, “Yes sir! May I ask what we are paying the men with?”

“5 ounces of silver and one ounce of gold Sargent Bargas.” General Jose’ Bautista smiled, “Everybody, Officers too!”

“Thank you, sir, I will see it happen.” Sargent Thiago looked to his wife as she held their new son, “I need to get things ready for tomorrow.”

“Go, I need to talk some more with the President’s wife.” Renata kissed her husband, then watched him move quickly towards the mess area.

Sargent Thiago did not get very far when General Poncho got on the loudspeaker announcing that everyone was going to God. He turned and moved back to his wife and sons.

Gloria led everyone in the Lord’s Prayer. As it ended, Sargent Bargas picked up his oldest son and took his wife’s hand.

Jesus was on the dais and did his “Uno, Dos, Trace” with his right fist over his head pointing up with his index finger. In a blink, everyone was there except for the three that did disappear into the sun. Sixteen others had done similar crimes, but at some point, in their lives, they had been on their knees asking God to forgive their sins. Apparently, God had. No one knew who the sixteen were, but it was obvious when one gazed upon a man on his knees thanking God with tears streaming down his face.

The 3rd division all got new uniforms and the Remington R-15. Their uniforms matched General Jose’s. Some men got a new rank. These people took to God with the “Of Course” attitude. Being able to touch our Father and ask questions and get heartfelt answers back made perfect sense. The children going and returning had removed all fear from the experience for the adults.

Willy was asleep on his daddy’s back. His right hand was holding his black lanyard. Sam finally heard the story of Willy and Skut stopping bullets. Willa and Sally were there confirming each step of the way as John told his version. Demetri loved to hear it again.

As the clock hit 8:00 PM in Omak the Taylors and friends said their goodbyes in Mexico. They made promises to see each other on Christmas Day if not sooner.

The next morning, the Taylors awoke in Omak. While the payroll was being distributed to the now enlarged Poncho’s Army of 30,000 troops. Training was underway with 37,500 tennis balls bouncing off new shields.

Poncho brought his officers together for a briefing. The six from Omak were there along with Jesus. Before it started, Poncho asked the six from up north to turn their collars over.

Tony paused, “Our role here is as advisors and teachers. Our rank came from the promotion from the success we had in Russia.” Tony and Willa showed their collars, revealing their Gold Maple Leafs sewed into their collars designation the rank of Major. Peter and Patty did the same showing their rank as Captain and Lieutenant.

Patty pulled her pink mandala attached to her black lanyard, “This has far more importantance to me than my rank. I’ve gone through all of the training as a healer and I have been very successful at it.”

Brad and Gloria showed their Captain stripes, “These did not come from President John Taylor. They were voted on by our volunteer army called the Minute Men and Women. They recognized us for our courage and devotion for standing with Tony and Willa against the 99 convicts.” Gloria shared in Spanish.

“Have you taken an oath?” Poncho knew the answer but wanted them to share.

Tony looked around and was about to speak. He was surprised when Willa answered the question, “I live in two worlds. My native blood binds me to a separate people. A separate nation even. It is, in theory, a separate country onto its own. My husband gave me the greatest gift of all when he felt I had the right independently from him to choose to vow to uphold and protect the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That is the only oath that I know of. I was surprised when I heard President John Taylor also say the exact same words when he took the oath for his office. We vow to protect an idea, a set of rights that protects the people.” Gloria had translated all that Willa had said.