Another story written by the same author.
THE NEW WORLD--MORE THAN JUST A DREAM!
"It's almost time for service." I heard those words spoken softly in my ears. I had to reply, "What?" "It's almost time for service, sweetheart," she said again. It was the voice of my sweet lady. But I was just in service talking to a little fat man with a yapping dog about Hell Fire. Is this a dream? No wait, that was a dream. This is real. This is now. I am here in my bed. YES! I AM IN JEHOVAH'S NEW WORLD! After all these years I sometimes still have to wake up and remind myself why I feel so good.
I started to crack open my eye lids. My eyes became flooded with the soft light bouncing off her shiny face as I broke into a smile like I always do when she bats her big green eyes at me. "You've got your N.R. class this morning, remember? You don't want to keep those Newly Resurrected ones waiting now, do you?" She said teasingly, with a sing-song tone in her voice. "My God and my Lord! You are looking more beautiful every day," I said to her with a big grin plastered on my face. "You know," I added, "you don't look a day over a hundred and twenty nine!" She squealed with a playful laugh. She put down the big glass of fruit juice she had for me and pounced on me. "I will be a hundred and twenty nine pretty soon, and guess how old you will be?" she replied, as she poked her finger in my chest. I laughed and I rolled her over on her back and gave her a warm soft kiss. Then I asked, "Say, what are you doing today?" She gave me a big smile and said, "I'm working at the Resurrection Center. And that's going to work out real good because Debbie's father is coming back today and she wants me to be with her. She is so emotional!... And I should talk" she continued, "Like I wasn't emotional when Dad came back." "Oh, that reminds me," she said. "Jeff called. He is on the Housing Committee now, you know. He said that your mother's house is ready for you to put on any personal touches if you want. He and all the other brothers on the committee send their congratulations. He said he didn't remember your mother, he was just a boy, but he is going to be at the reception. In fact, he and Karla are going to be at the reception hall early and help get everything ready. He is going to pick up the wine too." I swallowed hard. Only two more days... "Where is the remote?" I said. "Turn on the TV. It's time for Morning Worship. Do you know if the 'Spiritual Thought' for today is from the new Scriptures or one from the original?" "It's one from the original," she answered. "It's from Ezekiel 18 something and guess who is giving the commentary?" I scratched my head. "I don't know. It's too early to guess. Tell me." She reached up and stroked my beard. "Ezekiel." she said. "Ezekiel is giving the commentary on a Scripture that he wrote in the first place. This has got to be good." It was good! "You know," I said to her as she was getting up, "Bob and Tanny were at the convention where Ezekiel was resurrected. Bob said he is a real robust man."
"Really?" She replied, "I'm sure glad we had Elijah at ours. What a fireball! Who could have been better for our first resurrection? For as long as I live ... (I still say that) .... Anyway, I will never ever forget that convention. I still get tears..." Her voice trailed off as she left for the kitchen. I bounced out of bed and went to the window. I sucked in a deep lung full of crisp morning air. "Whoa Baby" I shouted. "Look! That big old grizzly bear is back. He came across the creek and he is right outside scratching his back on our apple tree. Is that the one you named Max?" She came running back to the window and gave me a squeeze. "Yes, that's the guy," she exclaimed full of delight. "I'll go hand feed him some left over pancakes." As she got to the door, she stopped and turned back to me and said, "You better get going or you will be late. But you better put on some clothes first," she said with a giggle, "No one has reached perfection yet, you know." By the time I got to the Kingdom Hall for my N.R. class, I had reviewed in my mind the 25 Scriptures that the class was required to learn this week and their 20 review questions as well. As I walked in, I saw Cindy and Tara working in the front office. They gave me their usual cheerful greeting. Cindy asked, "Do you want to go on an outing next weekend? A bunch of us are going hiking in the morning and then we're going to swim across Deer Lake. We will have a picnic waiting there for us and then we'll all run back and play tennis until it gets dark." I didn't have to think much about that. "Count me in. We'll be there," I answered as I went towards the stairs. I was assigned upstairs in one of the new classrooms. It really went well that day. One young sister had been blind most all of her past life. She is so humble, eager to learn and enthusiastic. She just can't get enough. I'm sure she will reach perfection before any of us. All of them love the "Proclaimer's" book. What a treat it is, going through it with them. This is almost too fun. However, we were told that we're just getting warmed up. The real challenge will be when the General Resurrection starts. After that, I went by myself to the house prepared for my mother. As I walked up to the front door, I remember thinking, "What a cute little house. I'm sure she is going to love it. For her first house, this will be perfect." The inside was so cheerful. The basic house was constructed before the Great Day of Jehovah. But, nothing was built to last in those days. Things sure are performed different these days when we think in terms of forever and everybody wants nothing less than the best for everyone else. I walked up to the dining room table and I placed her centerpiece right there in the middle. "Will she ever be surprised," I thought. I don't know how it survived the Great Day or how I managed to save it all these years. I remember it on the table all the years I grew up. I wondered how long it would really last. Before I left, I placed a few more items I had for the house. I hung my favorite picture on the wall in the living room. It is the one portraying tiger kittens playing in the foreground with a cute little girl sitting on the mother tiger behind them. Later that day I was relaxing at the deli when my oldest friends, Norm and Trudi, came in. "Norm," I said, "I heard you worked a long day last week." They sat down. He put one elbow on the table and with a twinkle in his eye he said, "Well, I'll tell you what. When I sleep, I sleep hard. When I play, I play hard. And when I work, I play hard." We had a hardy laugh and then Trudy said, "Are you going to be ready tonight?" "Sure," I said, "Did you decide where we are going?" Her eyes lit up as she answered. "Yes, Norm and I are preparing an authentic Old World Italian dinner and then we are going to go to the Big Screen." "The Big Screen?" I replied, "That sounds great, what is playing tonight?" Norm gave me a friendly punch in the shoulder and said, "The Ragged Heart. It was written and co-directed by Jonathan. It is heavy drama and plenty of action. It's mostly about his life with David. I heard it's just great." And it was great!
The next day I worked very hard finishing up some projects I had been working on, since I had all next week off to spend with my mother and family. It was indeed a full day but also quite fulfilling. In particular, it brought me great satisfaction to turn in my design of the new water system before my week off. At the meeting that night we started going over the new inspired letter from the Heavenly Kingdom. It was quite exciting, but I have to admit I was having a hard time concentrating. The anticipation of the next day was surging up inside me like a head of steam in a pressure tank.
Our friends and nearest neighbors, Randy and Shelli picked us up and took us down to the Resurrection Center. "I'm so happy for you," Shelli said as she gave me a hug. "My Brother will be here in two weeks, the first of Tishri and this is helping me prepare myself. I'm feeling just what you're feeling." That made me take a quick check on my feelings. I swallowed the lump in my throat. I was becoming quite exhilarated.
As we walked up to the R.C. the reality of it sort of hit me. I thought I really had this all under control. Why were the floodgates in my eyes about to burst open? I looked up at the big brass doors as we walked up the marble steps. "I don't remember fighting back my tears this hard when she died," I said to myself. As we went in, Brother Ranch, the R.C. overseer, approached me with a big smile on his face. He shook my hand and at the same time gave me a hard pat on the back. Overwhelmed with emotion, I looked around at all the unbelievably beautiful artwork on the walls there in the huge foyer. Each of them were pleasing to our senses by depicting a different aspect of beauty in this enormous, luscious world. There was beautiful orchestra music coming from everywhere. It was cheerful, happy music. I was thinking it was a good thing it wasn't real emotional music. I recognized the tunes. I hadn't heard them for quite a while. They were our old Kingdom Songs. They were just perfect for this occasion.
"This will make mom feel right at home," I thought to myself. We went into the receiving room. Everybody was there already, my siblings, my cousins, my friends. I think the whole congregation was there. As soon as I saw somebody else with tears, my emotions started streaming down my cheeks too. "Jehovah did indeed wipe away all the bad tears from our eyes. But he didn't say anything about replacing them with all these good tears of joy," I said to my sister. We laughed.
"Brother Ranch, can I talk to you a minute?" I asked. "Sure, come with me," he said as he put his arm around my shoulder. We went into his office where there was a little conference area. "I want to ask you something too," he said. "Would you like to wait in the receiving room with the others or would you like to come in and witness the Glorious Formation? You can, you know." "I want to go in and see everything," I replied, "that's what I wanted to talk to you about. I just don't know how she will react. What if she starts getting real excited? I mean, what if she starts getting real upset when she realizes what all has happened? I don't know if she even knew she died ... or was going to die. You know what I mean. She always got upset real easy." He put his hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry about a thing," he said, "I have been doing this ever since the Special Resurrection started. They all seem to come back with a natural sedative in their system. It takes about an hour for it to wear off. You will notice she will be quite calm. In about an hour you will see her being her old self." I took in a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh. "That helps a lot," I said. "Well, come on," he said excitedly, "it's almost time."
We went into the sanctuary. The lighting was soft. There were even more stunning pictures well arranged on the walls and ceiling. There in the middle I saw the rectangle pedestal, overlaid with beautiful carved gold. On top was a bed of some strange substance, I don't know what it was, covered with a partly frosted glass bubble. Brother Ranch led us in a prayer, heard by everyone in the reception room too. Just after he said "Amen" we heard the sound like a stiff breeze. Then right before our wide open eyes, under the glass we watched as she started to materialize. Soon we saw a female form. I looked at her face, and there she was with her eyes closed. She had shoulder length hair. I didn't remember her with shoulder length hair, but that's the way it was in her school pictures. It was her, all right, but I hardly remembered her looking that young. Of course I wasn't around the last time she looked that young. My heart was in my throat. I was leaning over studying every curve of her face when her eyes blinked open. I jumped back a little. She was looking me right in the eye and her face began to light up with a smile. Right away the glass was opened and the sister in attendance gave her a pretty robe. She said, "Where am I?" We said, "Hi Mom. It's a long story, but you're just fine, and everyone is here to see you. We've been waiting for you."
She was happy to hear that. She was a little confused as to why everyone had been waiting for her. She couldn't seem to remember where she was last, but she thought she must be late. She was always late. She said, "I sure feel good." She was giving us all hugs. Nevertheless, she didn't understand why we were all crying and hugging her with so much enthusiasm. Since we were, she cried a little too. It took us longer to get our composure than she did. She was fine. We had to sit down. We all talked for a while and slowly she began to realize what had just happened. "Is it really so?" she asked. "I can hardly believe it!" Then she made this gesture where she hits herself in the forehead with her open palm, just the way she always used to do whenever she was bewildered. Next she started asking questions so fast we couldn't answer them. We were all laughing and crying and talking and hugging all at once. I was sure this was the most unforgettable moment I would ever have in my life. We finally went out to the receiving room where everyone was waiting. As I opened the doors, we saw everyone gazing at us intently, hushed in anticipation. As soon as I introduced her everyone came rushing over with hi's, hugs and handshakes. It sure was a happy day!
Afterward we all enjoyed a banquet at the reception hall. We sang and danced outside by the river, even on into the moonlight. A good time was had by one and all. It was yet another day in this new world when we all had to say, "Jehovah is indeed very much to be praised!"
(Theocratic Fiction)
By Mark Tjernell
