You Only Die Twice

Chapter TWENTY-THREE





When he was finished, Ted stood over the mutilated body and assessed it with Kenneth.

“I suppose animals will come for it,” Ted said while he wiped his bloody hands on the forest floor and then on a handkerchief he kept in his jacket pocket. “They’ll have a feast.”

“And an unfortunate one. Remember Isaiah 66:17: ‘They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord.’”

“And from Leviticus: ‘And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you.’”

“Also from Isaiah: ‘For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire’.”

The two men stared at one another, each unblinking.

“We’re the fire,” Ted said.

“We’re part of it,” Kenneth agreed.

“Just to serve Him means so much.”

“To me, it means everything.” He looked down at the body. “You did well here.”

“You brought him in and killed him. I just made certain he went to hell.”

“I know we had words earlier, Ted, but I’m not angry with you. I’m just frustrated by the situation. We don’t know where she is.”

“I couldn’t avoid the moose, Kenneth.”

Kenneth moved to speak, but said nothing.

“And you couldn’t have either. It was huge. It was angry. It charged at me. Tell me how you would have avoided it.”

“I would have put my faith in God.”

“But the moose is one of God’s creatures.”

“It’s one of his lesser creatures. Do I need to remind you of Genesis 1:26? ‘And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.’ You had control over that moose. Through God, you had dominion over it. And yet you ran from it. With the full weight of God in your heart and in your soul, you should have stood firm against it. But you didn’t. Instead, you ran. He would have protected you, you know? There was no need to have run.”

He raised his hand before Ted could respond. “Look, what’s done is done. There’s no time to argue. Can we at least agree on that? Let’s just let this one go. Before long, it will be dark. We’re losing time. We need to get out of here.”

“Where to?”

“Back to the truck. When it turns dark, we can’t use flashlights. If we do, she’ll see us. So, we’ll use the goggles. That way, if we don’t find her before dark, we’ll at least be able to see where we’re going and not get lost. Better yet, because they’re equipped with infrared, we’ll be able to see her if she’s hiding somewhere. To ease your mind, we’ll also see any animal that might come around us.”

As they left the dead man and the area, Ted Carpenter followed Kenneth Berkowitz out of the woods, fully aware that by the way Berkowitz was treating him, he was actively positioning himself as the leader. Ted was, at that moment, literally following him out of the woods. This was a shift from how they usually worked. Before this job, they always worked as a team. They worked well together, played off each other’s strengths. Mistakes had been made by both man in the past, but they never had been singled out and ridiculed as Kenneth had just done to him. This was something new, but why the change?

Arrogance.

It was too blatant to ignore. He was twice Kenneth’s age, and yet he was disrespecting him. He recalled a verse from 1 Peter 5:5: “Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders.”

It was right there. He thought of it earlier, he knew Kenneth knew that verse, and yet he was going against it. He was sinning and the sin was against Him. It infuriated him. He needed Kenneth to get him to the truck, but then he would have to take charge, regardless of the costs, until he felt Kenneth was back on track and they could work as a team again.

He watched the young man move the branches aside in front of him, not holding them for him but allowing them to snap back with such force that they nearly struck him.

This is how Ted’s father was―a brute and a bully. He’d taken it from him for years before he decided he no longer could take it any longer and cut his throat in front of the bathroom mirror.

He didn’t want to do that to Kenneth, but if he continued to sin and offend his elders, he’d at least have to consider it. Or talk to him about it first. Maybe a good, strong talk would bring him back in line. He’d remind Kenneth of Proverbs 23:26: “My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.”

And then he thought of Ephesians 6:4, if only because he considered himself something of a father figure to Kenneth: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up to the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

So depending on how their talk went, discipline, at the very least, is what it might take.