When Life Turned Purple (21 page)

“There aren’t any ideal solutions, are there?” said Russ.

Lia gave him a soft smile and shook her head again.

“Well,” Russ said with a teasing laugh, “I guess that’s just how it is at the End of the World.” But even as he joked about it, his chest tightened. How much longer would all this go on? And what would happen? Was it really the End of the World? Even though he saw those pods floating silently in the sky and he saw what they could do, he still couldn’t believe it. A part of him kept hoping that they’d just leave and never come back—like all this was just a temporary bad spell, like a terrifying epidemic that wreaked its devastation and then disappeared as mysteriously as it came.

Lia circled her hands around his arm and gave it a squeeze. “It’ll be okay, Russ. We’ve prepped as best we could, and now we can only live one day at a time. It becomes impossible to predict the future. We don’t even know what the end of each day will bring, let alone tomorrow.”

Russ nodded and put his hand over hers. “Okay,” he said. “So that’s it, then. Let’s give her the go-ahead.”

They knocked before entering and Russ took the phone to give her nephew directions.

“Hey, there,” said the nephew. “I totally cannot thank you guys enough for what you’ve done for my aunt. She’s all—she’s all I really have in the world.”

His voice sounded familiar, but Russ couldn’t think from where.

The guy paused, then said, “I don’t know if I could have done the same thing for a stranger. I just—I mean, no words. I have no words.”

Russ didn’t reply. He didn’t want to make the guy feel too comfortable with the thought that he and Lia were the type of people he could turn to as the world started to end.

“And especially
you
, man,” the son continued. “I mean, you’re like Rambo with angel’s wings.”

Russ smiled at the description, but still didn’t reply.

“If there’s something I could do to repay you…?”

Russ paused, then said, “Well, I don’t know what. Everything’s tight now. What can you do for us? I don’t know. I guess in these kinds of situations, all you can is just—just pay forward.”

The guy didn’t answer right away, then he said, “Yeah. Yeah, you’re right, I guess. Anyway, you’ve shown the way, if you know what I mean. Now that I’ve seen that it can be done, maybe I could do it too.”

Russ gave him their address and directions.

Then they all waited.

In the meantime, Lia printed out diagrams of acupressure points and wrote stuff down for Mrs. King’s continued treatment.

In under an hour, they heard a soft knock on the door.

Russ strode over to the door and peered through the peephole. A familiar-looking guy stood there alone. Russ didn’t see shadows that would indicate other people. He had his gun on him just in case, but he’d already learned that it was better to be safe than shooting.

Lia slipped into one of her long, flowing skirts over her sweat pants. Outside, she still wore long skirts and sleeves, but inside the house with Russ, she wore sweats or leggings and a T-shirt or sweatshirt in flattering colors from designer brands.

Russ opened the door a crack and looked around. Really, the guy was alone. Russ opened the door wider to let him in.

As the guy stepped into the apartment, Russ remembered him.

It was the taller one of the guy couple—the one he’d gifted all those supplies to.

Russ bolted the door behind them, then realized he should have checked the guy for weapons—yeah, even this type. Better safe than sorry.

But his hands rested in his pockets and he looked from Russ to Lia with clear eyes.

“Hey,” he said. “My name’s Cody, by the way.”

“Hey, Cody,” said Lia.

But Russ clapped him on the shoulder in reply, motioning toward the bedroom.

Cody winced when he saw his aunt, but Mrs. King’s eyes softened and a smile spread across her face when she saw him.

He strode over to her and gently hugged her head so as not to jar her bruised body.

“Hey, Aunt Pam,” he said.

Lia’s eyes teared up and Russ’s own eyes stung and ached, though he wasn’t sure exactly why. He cleared his throat and kept screwing each of his eyes up until the sensation went away.

Lia gestured to Russ to leave the room, presumably to give Cody and Mrs. King their privacy, but Russ gave her a firm shake of his head no. So far, he didn’t regret what he and Lia had done—on the contrary, he was glad they’d done it—but he didn’t think they should be too generous at this point. He didn’t know what would be in the future.

“I’m glad you could get here, Cody,” Mrs. King said in a warm gravelly voice.

Then Lia showed Cody the paper bag of things she’d prepared: the diagram print-outs (“Since you have the book,” said Lia, “you don’t really need these, but just take them anyway”), some plastic containers of soup, several capsules of mumio, and several of tablets of over-the-counter painkillers.

Russ frowned at the last. He’d told her not to do that. What if he and Lia needed it? Stuff wasn’t so replenishable anymore, and chances were that Cody and Mrs. King had anti-inflammatory painkillers in their own homes.

Cody glanced at Russ out of the corner of his eye and said to Lia, “We’ll skip on the pills. We’ve got that at home.”

“Even the mumio?” said Lia.

Mrs. King had also glanced at Russ’s face and she said, “I think my bones are okay. I’ve got calcium at home and I’m sure that’ll be just fine.”

But Lia bit her lip and shot a troubled look at Russ.

He lowered his head and looked back at her from underneath his brow.

Yet as their staring match continued, a thought suddenly popped into Russ’s head:
Give it to them—give it to them now, and in that merit, you won’t need it later.

Russ shook his head and let out a huff, then said, “Nah, go ahead and take the mumio. It’s too dangerous now to remain with a fractured rib. We probably won’t be needing it.”

Something inside Russ warmed and relaxed as he said it. After the words left his mouth, he realized that it really was the right thing to do.

Cody and his aunt gazed at Russ a moment, then they thanked Russ and Lia.

Turning to Lia, Cody said, “By the way, thanks so much for the books. They—they totally changed my life.”

Lia’s face brightened. “I thought that was you,” she said. “You look a lot better than the last time we saw you.”

“Yeah,” said Cody. “Well, I was after a big fight with my boyfriend, and my face took the brunt of it.” He paused, then took a deep breath and said, “You know, it’s hard getting to the truth of things. Everyone’s saying something else—and really pressuring and insisting on their version of reality. It’s like the whole world is living in one big solution of brainwash.”

Lia nodded her head vigorously. “Yeah,” she said. “That’s how I feel too.”

“I never realized that my being into guys had so much had to do with my father. I just—I just wanted him to hold me in his big, strong arms. Just feel safe and loved. And I wanted to hear those words from him.” He squirmed and swallowed. “So I just threw myself out there into any big strong arms that would have me. I didn’t even realize what was driving me. It just felt like lust, ya know?” He wore an awkward smile and though he faced Lia, he cast an eager glance toward Russ as if asking permission to talk about it.

But no, Russ didn’t know.

“In my own talks with God,” said Lia, “I realized that lust—any kind of lust— is really just the distorted desire for deep and genuine connection. It’s really a longing for love and a lasting bond. The highest form of that is connecting to God Himself—well, as much a human being can, anyway.”

Russ frowned. The way Lia was talking—that sounded like what priests and nuns did. They “married” God, right? He chewed his lower lip as remembered all of Lia’s wackiness: the hanky-panky moratorium until they were officially married—not even a kiss or a hug until that had happened, her switch to figure-concealing clothes....

Russ frowned. It had been bad enough that she had been so totally abstinent before marriage—was she going to get all celibate on him now too?

But Cody nodded thoughtfully as Lia spoke, his eyes focused on her face.

“Regardless of your gender or who or what you’re lusting after, it’s a form of despair,” she continued. “Without even realizing it, you’ve given up any hope of a real, lasting connection with anyone. So you just go for the pure physical enjoyment of the thing—because that’s all you think there really is.”

“Whoa,” said Cody with a short laugh and round eyes. “That’s—that’s totally it in a nutshell. Now that I’m talking to God too, and trying to get in touch with my deeper needs—my
real
needs—and also trying to get some insight into healing from everything that’s happened to me.” He paused and glanced out toward the window, where everything outside remained lit up by a violet glow that was so subtle and had gone on for so long, they’d all gotten used to it. “And with all the God-talk I’ve been doing, those pods are suddenly not as threatening as they used to be.”

Russ crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. He didn’t care if Cody wanted to take vows and enlist with the priesthood, but he didn’t like the direction of this conversation.

But Cody slipped another glance toward Russ, then straightened up and said, “Well, let’s get my aunt into the truck and we’ll be on our way.”

Mrs. King gave a wry smile and said, “Most people are more open-minded nowadays, Cody. I don’t care who you are, just as long as you’re happy.”

Cody turned to his aunt. “I know, Aunt Pam. The problem is that most people’s minds only open one way. They still can’t hear anything they aren’t programmed to hear. I’m starting to realize that keeping an open mind is just a politically correct way of being narrow-minded and self-indulgent—and then evading responsibility for it.”

And with that, Cody put his arm through the paper bag’s handles and he and Russ helped Mrs. King out to Cody’s truck. Lia stood watch in the stairwell and then from the window once they got down to the parking lot.

They got Mrs. King as comfortable as possible, then Russ hurried back up the stairs and into the apartment.

“That was amazing,” said Lia. “God doesn’t always let you see the full circle of your actions. But He did just now.”

“Lia, baby,” said Russ. “We need to talk.”

“Yes,” said Lia, “we do.”

“I think you’re taking this God stuff too far. I think that ‘marrying’ God or whatever isn’t the right way to go.”

Lia’s head jerked back as her brow furrowed and her eyes widened. “It’s not possible to marry God, Russ.” Then she leaned toward Russ. “I mean, that whole idea of ‘marrying’ God is a pagan concept. That’s why you have all these belief systems that either prize permanent celibacy or incorporate sex ceremonies. But both extremes are total distortions of Divine connection, which end up distorting one’s soul, too. Systems that idealize either extreme tend to be very corrupt. True connection with God takes work and rigorous honesty. Without even realizing what they’re doing, people get lazy and give up, which leads to the distortions.” She arched her eyebrows. “Why would you think I’d be into
that
?”

Russ felt so relieved, he hadn’t listened much beyond the point she had stated that it wasn’t possible to marry God anyway. So he just exhaled and said, “Well—you know—I didn’t really think about it like that. I just thought with everything you were talking about with him—you know, the evils of
lust
and all that—”

Lia laughed again and Russ felt even more relieved.

“Okay,” she said. “I get it. Look—of course, there’s physical desire when you really love someone. Ideally, marriage is about connecting on all levels—heart, mind,
and
body. And I guess that includes lust, in a sense.”

At that, Russ felt even better.

“But that’s not how I really meant it in that context,” Lia continued. “I mean, obviously, the physical intimacy in a relationship can be based on lust, but it can also be based on the desire for a deeper connection to your spouse.” She sobered. “Even people married for years can be afraid—or subconsciously have lost any hope—of being truly intimate with their spouse. They can just keep looking for cheap thrills and use their spouse as an outlet. But eventually, they’ll end up looking outside their spouse for that relationship.”

Russ mulled that over, then said, “They think their spouse doesn’t really love them?”

“It could be that,” said Lia. “But lots of times, at the core level, they’ve simply lost hope for themselves. You have to cheapen yourself—your very concept of yourself—before you can cheapen your relationships with others. People don’t even know what they could really be, so they don’t even try.” She cocked her head to one side and added, “All those love songs are actually the soul’s expression of connection to God. No human being could really give everything those lyrics demand in the name of love. I mean, whether it’s a jazz song that demands a kiss of such power that it can fly you to the moon and show you what Spring is like on Jupiter or Mars, or whether it’s pop songs crooning about how she fears nothing when you’re together or endless love and all that, these are qualities that only God has.” She laughed. “No human being can ever show you a Jovian or Martian Spring.”