Story 9 – Family Comes First
“They’re coming this way.”
“And they’re going to get a surprise they aren’t expecting.”
The people we’re expecting come around the corner thinking they got away with a crime only to be shocked to find my wife and I waiting for them in the alleyway.
“Who are you two and what are you doing here? This area is restricted for the peasant class,” one of them asks before being stunned by our guns.
“You think we’re peasants? Heh, we’re more than that. You better watch your stepped fellas before you call the judgment of God upon yourselves,” I say while we make our exit.
The alarm in the area goes off, but our secret passageways allow us to avoid all the guards.
“We have your men stunned on the floor. They just called for security,” I report back to my superior.
“Good work as always.”
“You know us.”
“You’ll receive your payment at the pickup location like always. God bless you.”
“You too.”
My superior cuts off communication.
“Is the pay any higher this time?” Elizabeth asks.
“The pay is the same as always.”
“That figures. Zachary, when do you think we’re going to get a raise? We just received a child not too long ago.”
“I’m working on it. You know how it is with our section in the Church.”
“Right. I understand.”
“I hope so because we’re going to hear it at the meeting.”
Sure enough, when we get to the meeting house, the usual members bring up money and their financial situation.
“My business is in a tough situation and I have a family to take care of,” Paul says, “An eternal war with sin and the forces of Hell takes a toll on us with how much we have to keep up with to stay in the competition with the other clothing businesses.”
I say, “I understand all of your points. We have a newborn child as you know and-”
“We have four children!”
“We have ten!”
“And the Lord will provide for you, I’m sure of it, but know that we are all dealing with the same situation. If we keep reminding God and His Church of our problems, they will get solved,” I say.
“We’ve been doing this for years without any significant raise! We’re the families that keep the Church running!”
The crowd agrees with him.
“Did you forget our part of the deal? We need to stay in the peasant class with a certain wage limit, so we don’t attract the attention of anyone from the aristocrats or the other empires. This allows us to have the drop on every target we come across,” I point out.
“But our tools and access to an almost limitless pool of resources does that better than our status. Who cares if our finances are being tracked?”
“We’re still peasants. We’re still the laity of the Church. There is an order dictated by God that must be followed. Besides, without us, the Church would fall apart.”
“That’s our point! That’s why we need more to live decently, otherwise, we might as well live like the heathens and heretics in the ghettos.”
“There’s nothing wrong with poverty when God has already given us so much. Appreciate what you have, and God will give us what we need. If you lack faith in Him, then He’ll test you to remember your worth in the universe.”
“Excuse me, but we can question-”
“Are you going to suggest we defy the Church? We’ll be defying God as a result,” Elizabeth interrupts.
“N-no, I’m just-”
“Then learn your place and stay in it. That goes for all of you.”
That quieted them down. Thank you, God, for my wife.
“Thank you, Elizabeth. At least someone knows how things are supposed to be. We stick to the plan. If things continue as they are, then I’ll consider taking action, but we’re not like the Society of St. Bellarmine in that we can’t exactly do whatever we want. We’re more like Section 10:34. We do the Lord’s Will in the darkness with only Him and those in Heaven as our witnesses. That should be all that matters to us. This meeting has ended. Go home and get your rest. We have another mission tomorrow.”
Everyone starts to leave.
“These meetings always end the same, Zachary. Something has to change and soon.”
“My husband said the meeting is over, Paul. There is nothing more to discuss.”
Paul and his wife leave the room. Elizabeth and I can finally change out of our disguise uniforms. After we pick up our pay, we head home and take a breath of relief.
“Are you oka-”
I kiss Elizabeth to show her how thankful I am for being there for me.
“I’m okay now. Thank you for helping me keep things under control.”
“It’s the least I could do. I keep thinking about hitting those who don’t forget their place and using the admonishment of sinners as my excuse.”
“Heh, I’ve thought the same.”
I admire God’s gift to us, my son John, and wonder how God is going to get us at this situation.
“He’s handsome like you. Look at how he smiles at us. Doesn’t it give you hope?”
“It does. I’m sorry if I make you worry for me in any way.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll be here for you when you’re feeling weak. It’s what I’m here for.”
“And I’ll be here for you too. Always and forever just like we promised.”
“Always and forever.”
Elizabeth and I make sure that John is fast asleep after our nighttime prayers before heading to bed ourselves.
“You can’t save them.”
Who’s that?
“They’ll die because of you.”
What are you talking about?
“Defy God’s Church. You’re going to go on a mission to root out the evil in it tomorrow. Root out the corruption within it and destroy those who oppose you. You have the resources and people.”
No. No. It’s not right. You aren’t right. Begone Satan!
“Your wife will be the plaything of someone in authority and your son will be a slave to them.”
Lies! All lies! Hail Mary full of grace pray for me a sinner and protect my family and me.
“Zachary? Zachary!”
“Huh? Is something the matter, Elizabeth?”
“You’re sweating.”
“I thought you like me when I’m hot and sweaty. Ow! What?”
“Go back to sleep.”
“Okay.”
I can’t let dreams like that bother me. I can’t afford to let anything bring me down for the sake of God and my family. Waking up the next morning fills me up with energy. Elizabeth and I do our daily morning prayers and rosary with John with us. We then make breakfast together and go about our daily business as normal peasants.
The bakery we run is fairly popular in our neighborhood. Other members of the Association of Saints Joachim and Anne visit us from time to time to pick up our other “goods”. We hide them in fake cakes and ice cream tubes. Since our section is the largest in the Church, we have visitors from all people in the universe. We even get visitors from other sections that don’t know which section we’re from. They’re told that we’re only a contact and nothing more. It’s always funny to me seeing them act sneaky as if they were the stealthiest section when we’re the most unknown.
The day goes by like normal and we close the shop once the sun sets. One of our members comes over to watch our son for us while we’re out like usual before we join everyone from the association at the normal meeting place for the prayer of our section. We first sing the Apostles' Creed, Our Father, three Hail Marys, and a Glory Be. I then lead the group in prayer.
“Let us pray. Oh God, who made the family the first institution and who keeps it together, help us to keep the family of the Church together and in line with Your ways. We pray,”
“Help us to always love each other as you always love us.”
“Let us be your instruments of teaching and order.”
“So that thy will shall be done as it is in Heaven.”
“Help us to not fall into error.”
“Because we hurt each other when we sin.”
“As the family goes,”
“So goes the nation and the whole world.”
“Let women be subject to their husbands, as to the Lord:”
“Because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church. He is the saviour of his body.”
“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the church, and delivered himself up for it that he might sanctify it, cleansing it by the laver of water in the word of life:”
“That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blemish.”
“My son, keep the commandments of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother.”
“Because the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life.”
“Always be in our hearts, Oh Lord, who is truth and love itself.”
“Always and forever we shall love you.”
“Saints Joachim and Anne, Father and Mother of the Queen of Heaven and Grandparents of Our Lord.”
“Pray for us.”
“Patriarch Abraham and his wife Sarah, Father and Mother of Nations.”
“Pray for us.”
“St. Joseph and Blessed Virgin Mary, Father and Mother of Our Lord.”
“Pray for us.”
“Jesus Christ, Savior of all.”
“Pray for us.”
“Jesus Christ, Ruler of the Universe.”
“Pray for us.”
“Jesus Christ, Conqueror of Death.”
“Pray for us.”
“Use the families of Your Church, Oh Lord, as you have used countless other families to set the foundation of the coming Heavenly Kingdom.”
“Amen.”
I take out a map of the location we’re going to and plan out our roles in the mission. This part of our meetings usually goes smoothly since no one disagrees in getting their jobs done. Once we all know what we’re supposed to do, we set out. The government tower we’re in is the most heavily guarded building in the city and probably this world, but our exclusive access and knowledge to it make it as easy to go through as a normal house. The targets we’re after are holding a meeting for charities that are more of a money-making business than a charity. People like this make me sick because their position in the Church allows them to help people in need and instead, they spend their money on themselves and they get tainted money from heathens and heretics. Elizabeth and I jump in a meeting literally as we jump on two of our targets and stun the rest.
“It isn’t good to be doing business with heretics,” I say before knocking out the people we jumped on.
Our next targets are easily taken out by a stun grenade that we throw in their meeting room. The last bunch of targets come to us and expect to hear the results of the meeting only to meet us in the meeting room. We stun them with our guns then set them up for the authorities to pick them up. Another day another job well done. After reporting our success to our superiors, Elizabeth and I go back to the meeting house where nothing is argued about. Everyone is strangely pleasant, and the meeting goes off without a hitch. Maybe it’s because we get a weekend break and a bigger pay than the last mission. Still, I have a weird feeling that something is wrong. I just can’t pin down what it is. Elizabeth might be noticing it too.
She asks me about it before we go to bed and asks, “Do you think it’s just our imagination?”
“I hope so. I’d rather not there be a problem in our section because of our importance to the Church.”
“Me too. Maybe some sleep will make this feeling go away.”
“Yeah.”
“You’re a failure as a leader.”
What? Elizabeth? Is that you?
“You’re a failure as a husband.”
What are you talking about?
“You’re a failure as a father.”
John? No. This is another dream. Hail Mary-
“She can’t help you.”
-full of grace pray for me a sinner-
“Something bad is happening while you slumber.”
-help my family and me.
My phone’s ringing wakes me up.
“This is Zachary. What’s going on?”
“One of your members, Paul, has taken more than his fair share,” my superior informs me, “It appears that he took the money from your last targets.”
“I didn’t expect him to be this much of a fool. I apologize for my ignorance on this and will deal with him now.”
“Don’t be sorry. It looks like he did this on his own without anyone else in the know. We will have authorities on standby waiting for your call to arrest him. God protect you and help you to go through this hard course of action.”
“God protect and help both of us.”
I wake Elizabeth up and tell her what I was told.
“What an idiot! This is going to cost all of us,” she says, “We better get out there now and deal with him.”
“Let’s go then.”
Elizabeth and I put on our disguises and head out to Paul’s house. He must’ve known that we were coming for him because we don’t find him at his house. It’s a good thing that he has a tracking chip in his cybernetics that only leaders of the groups in the division like me know about. We find him not that far from his house and catch him as he’s about to take one of our secret exits out of the city area. I shoot him in the legs with my stun gun, so he doesn’t get away then hide in the darkness so we can speak privately.
“You’re so predictable, Paul, but what I didn’t expect is for you to be enough of an idiot to steal from people,” I say.
“I stole from sinners! They didn’t deserve the money!”
“We’re all sinners, Paul.”
“But I needed it more for my family.”
“The way to Hell is paved with good intentions, is it not? Now your family will have to be supported by the association while you go off to jail in a faraway place where they will not hear from you for years.”
“Please, Zachary, don’t do this to them!”
“You did this to them when you broke the rules of the association.”
“Don’t listen to the rules, listen to your God-given conscience and do the right thing!”
“I was handed this role by my family just like yours. I will follow what my family taught me. I will follow what the Church teaches. I will follow what God commands. This is the right thing to do.”
I then knock out Paul with my stun gun before calling the authorities and heading back home.
“Are you okay, Zachary?”
“I’m fine, Elizabeth, as long as I have God and you by my side, nothing will ever bother me.”
I hold Elizabeth’s hand as we head back home. It doesn’t matter what kind of challenges, how many times Satan tempts me, or how many times I fall. If I stay by God, I’ll always have a second chance. If I do what God wills of me, I will be good, and I will be right.
The End
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