From a novel-in-progress. Bit title: Hugh Ruminates By James Daniel Bowman III In mid-September, 2001, Hugh Hall “knew” that a showdown with Satan was near-at-hand. All his life, the religious leader of the always-growing Palm Branch Bible Church (allegedly non-denominational but really rather Baptist) had fought to save his parish, his community, from the encroachment of dark forces. And now The Devil, as a preliminary step in the direction of another cosmic battle, had dispatched troops, this time to New York. The forty-something-year-old pastor scrubbed pollution. He descended into his basement to seek guidance and inspiration from the Lord. Above him, in his modest but classily-decorated house, his wife, Fran, was. In a special spot in the basement. Pastor Hugh Hall promised God an offering. No more pornography…. For a while at least. A passing thought seemed to descend into his head like a fallen leaf, then seemed to ascend and move away, as if carried in a gust of wind. The passing thought was not linguistic in nature, but could be translated thus: “Will the recent attacks in New York change sex with my wife (the way they’ve changed everything else) and, if so, will I even be able to tell?” He hadn’t had sex with Fran for months. If a change did seem to enter into their sex life, there would be no way to know whether it was September Eleventh-related or not. In prayer, Hugh seemed to receive a vision of an America defeated, piece by piece, U.S. citizen by U.S. citizen, of many bearded men in turbans landing like grasshoppers into the midst of American day-to-day life, and tearing us (or, if not us, all we believe in) asunder. (He would need to share this vision with his parish at Palm Branch Bible Church on Sunday.) “How will we be ready, in Your name, Jesus Christ, for something of this scale? Good God in Heaven have mercy on is all.”
