Fifth Gospel:The Odyssey of a Time Traveler in First-Century Palestine by William Roskey

Author:William Roskey
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781462028597
Publisher: iUniverse
Published: 2011-08-08T04:00:00+00:00

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds …

And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

24

I didn’t know how to say goodbye to the Jones family, the family that, in a very real sense, had become my own. Clarence was the brother I’d never had, and Marge the sister. The kids were my nephews and nieces. So I resolved the problem in a way I’m not particularly proud of; I stole away like a thief in the night. As soon as everyone was asleep on the night before Clarence and I were scheduled to leave for Oak Ridge, I crept around the house, “executing my will,” such as it was.

A large lump rose in my throat as I left my Colt .45 Peacemaker on Clarence’s nightstand, along with a note that didn’t say nearly enough. Going around to the other side of the bed, I covered Marge with my mother’s blanket. Then I went into the room across the hall and left my father’s railroad watch on Cindy’s nightstand. She’d often admired it and, even though she had only about two weeks of life left in which to enjoy it, well at least it was two weeks. As I walked out of the room, I smiled to myself in the darkness. What a grandly ironic farewell gift from me—a timepiece.

Then I quietly left the house and walked around the block to where I’d secreted the rental car. I jumped in and hit the road to Tennessee. I had, of course, no baggage, and I didn’t look back.

Road signs on the outskirts of Oak Ridge identify it as “America’s Secret City,” and so it was for years. Construction on Oak Ridge began on November 22, 1942, and proceeded at a fantastic pace. Vast resources were urgently needed to produce enriched uranium 235 and a pilot reactor for the production and processing of plutonium. The Manhattan Project had top priority from the beginning, as well as top secrecy. Even though, a scant two and a half years after ground was broken, Oak Ridge was the fifth largest city in Tennessee with a population of 75,000, it appeared on no maps. All roads to and from it were controlled by military checkpoints, and no one either entered or left the city without the express permission of the military commander. Huge fences topped with barbed wire surrounded the entire city. The perimeter was ceaselessly patrolled by men who were told to shoot first and to ask questions later. All it inhabitants were sworn to secrecy. Finally, on August 6, 1945, the existence, as well as the role of the city, was revealed. Nevertheless, it wasn’t until March 19, 1949, that the checkpoints were dismantled, the fences came down, and Oak Ridge became an open city.

I parked the car and walked Oak Ridge’s clean, quiet streets aimlessly, feeling quite sorry for myself.

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