The End Of It: A Novel by Mitchell Goodman

Author:Mitchell Goodman [Goodman, Mitchell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Military, United States, Europe, General, Germany, Special Forces
ISBN: 9781786258120
Google: OthvCwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
Published: 2016-01-18T17:44:30+00:00

As he went out into the sunlight of the piazza he knew why the war had to be. He knew why they had been brought here. The passage up through the mountains and the plains and the sacred towns was made of stages in a process of revelation. They would die so that they might rise again. They would—. But there were no more words; the words went up with him in flames; he was burning. The sun was burning. A warning of the wrath that was to come.

In the center of the square he turned once more to look at the marvelous design of the church, and raised his arms to it in gratitude. Then he walked to the jeep as an angel might walk. A voice said to him, Behold, I shall send my angel, who shall go before thee, and keep thee in thy journey, and bring thee into the place that I have prepared.

He did not say good-bye to the priest. He did not see him, he did not know he was there. His huge eyes rolled over the square towers, the somber facades of the town. The homes of the saints, the angels. We have arrived, he said. It is time.

The boy looked at him. The man from the other world. He was very tall. He was—. Was he angry?

As they drove back across the plain in the warm late afternoon (the orchards laid out as with a ruler, a ripe orange light on the fruit) he abandoned his plan for ending the war. The war was necessary. Many must die with Him, die young and rise in all their vigor. The dead would rise, all together, in their millions, at one moment. The saints would call them, and they would struggle up out of the deep beds of earth, and at the sight of them the guns would be silenced. But before it was over they would all be awakened, the living, and they would march, toward the throne where He waited. Ah, they would be made to see.

Out of the soft wind, the power of the engine under his foot—the jeep headed into the sun, his body all exposed to sun and rush of air—the voice came back. He listened, then stopped in the middle of the road to look in the Bible. Yes: It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. He read it to the boy, who had the face of an angel.

They were moving west, the sun setting, getting bigger, closer. Into the onrush of wind he shouted. “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!” But against the wind and the oncoming sun his voice would not carry.

“See? You fool, what can they see?” Suddenly angry, stiffening, he pushed the jeep as fast as it would go. “They will see!” The boy was afraid. The jeep ripped the air, as if it would finally obey him and leave the ground, rocketing into the wide red sunset.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.