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Ed glanced at his watch. “Good to hear. I’d stay longer, but…”
“Is that April Cooper sleeping in your car, stud?”
“Yes, and I’m dead if she wakes up. Sorry. I’ve got to run.”
Kenny extended his business card. “Wait. Take this, and call me any time you find yourself in DC. We’ll grab a beer and catch up.”
Ed felt the engraving on the card with Kenny Green’s name on it. It said the jerk had some committee job in the U.S. Senate. He put it in his wallet as Kenny returned to the gas pumps. Inside the store, he approached the counter, where a gray-haired man in a short-sleeved dress shirt greeted him with eyes that darted up and down at weird angles.
“Pack of Camel Lights, please.”
The man made no mov
e to grab the cigarettes and only stared at Ed, who glanced down to discover a blue-jeaned leg of someone else crouched behind the counter. Ed planned to walk away and call the police, but the hiding man stood up, wearing a black ski mask with a Glock 40 caliber pistol in his hand.
“Stay right there,” said the gunman.
Ed backed away from the door, inching toward the refrigerators in the rear of the store. The blast of the gun sent the store employee to the floor, leaving Ed certain the victim was hit.
The gunman spit down in the direction of the body then turned the gun on Ed. “Get face down on the ground, now.”
Ed smelled the odor of urine from the nearby restroom as he landed on his chest. The gunman’s sneakers squeaked across the wet floor, moving closer. Ed saw the blue jeans straddle him and felt the gun barrel scrape against the back of his head.
“That’s a sweet little tart you left for me in your pickup truck. May I take her if I let you live?”
He swung his shoulder to grab the gunman’s leg but missed. A second blast came from the gun. Ed’s chin struck the floor, and air escaped his lungs.
…
He found himself in darkness, facing a woman with black hair, pale skin and crystal-blue eyes. He looked up from her white robe at a ray of light, penetrating the ceiling of a misty cavern.
She folded her hands. “It’s over. Your next life begins.”
“No. I’m too young to die. April and I have plans.”
“You had plans. God made you for the next world, not the one you leave behind.”
Ed reappeared in the gas station and floated over his body as Kenny administered CPR. The woman with crystal-blue eyes stood behind Kenny with arms crossed.
“I’m not leaving April. What kind of God would snatch me in my prime?”
“The One who loved you before He created the first star in the universe.”
“If He loves me, He’ll let me live.”
“You sound like a toddler, throwing a tantrum. Lose your resentment. There’s so much you don’t understand, yet.”
Infuriated, Ed turned his back on her. “I refuse to go. Let me live.”
…
Ed coughed and gagged when he awoke to the beeping of monitors and recognized his dad’s bearded face.
“Thank, God. He’s awake. Get the nurse,” said Ed’s older brother, Stephen, a Roman Catholic priest.
Ed’s father held his hand. “You suffered head trauma, and you’ve been unconscious for a long time. The doctor is coming. Blink twice if you understand us.”
Ed spoke with a soft, slow voice. “Yes. I understand you. Where is April?”
