A Voice In The Night by Brian Matthews Read Free Book Online Page B

she’s the first grandmother in the world.”
    “Too bad we’re not back home. They’d really love to have you around.”
    “Thanks, but no thanks. Mom would wear me out running to baby stores. But it’s nice the way we talk now. We’re real buddies all of the sudden.”
    “Well, you moms have something in common.” Luke paused before what was next.
    “Jake’s writing a book. Wants my name on it along with his. All about the visits and everything.”
    “Jake? You’re kidding.”
    “No, and it’s really good. That goof can write his ass off. He’s a really brainy guy under all that spastic stuff.”
    “So are you gonna put your name on it? You are the focal point of all of this.”
    “Yeah. I couldn’t write it. I can’t write a letter, much less a book. And I’m too close to it, anyway. But I can give Jake some ideas. He’s real mellow with that.” Eileen felt a rush of relief. The book proceeds could pay for a comfortable life when Luke walked away from the maelstrom. Her family would be safe and secure.
    The visits continued regularly now. Whenever he came, they would shut down the other callers so the phone system wouldn’t crash. “What is it like in what we call heaven,” Luke asked.
    “Everyone will know quite soon, now. The time is near for the merging of the physical and spiritual worlds, but you mustn’t be afraid. It will be very beautiful and endless. It’s happened many times before. Your scientists have witnessed it and described it as dying stars. But they’re just seeing the physical energy being released.”
    “But, could you describe it?”
    “Think of all the things in your life that you love to do, the people you love to be with, the ones who’ve passed on, the places you want to be, the adventures you long to have. Now think of these without the effort, pain and suffering that can come with them.”
    “And you say the time is near?”
    “It is very close now.”
    “How will we know?”
    “Because I will return.”
    Luke and Jake locked eyes. The visitor was gone. The air was dead. Jake broke the silence into Luke’s headset. “That was the big one. Say something. You’re on the radio, man.” Luke clamped his eyes shut to close off the moment, to give himself a place to think. “Please stand by.” It was all he could manage to say.
    “This is The ABC Radio Network coming to you from KOGO in San Diego.” He was vamping for time.
    Jake was on the headset. “Bishop Noonan on line twelve.” Luke punched him on. “Bishop John Noonan of the Diocese of San Diego is on the line. Your eminence, what do you think of what we just heard?”
    “Well, Luke it’s frightening and wonderful at the same time. Did you notice what he said, about the merging of the physical and spiritual?”
    “I guess I didn’t quite get the significance.”
    “This is very different from the traditional teachings. He’s saying that heaven and life as we all know it will become one thing, one plane of existence. It’s a comforting vision, when you think about it.”
    But the vision offered no comfort to many, and the callers were bordering on hysteria through the rest of the night.
    Bishop Noonan could barely make himself heard over the transatlantic line to the Vatican. Hisses and howls of interference frustrated his attempt to report the night’s developments. Finally, Cardinal Guglieamo understood. “Yes John, I’ll go to the Holy Father now. He’ll want to issue a statement in a matter of hours. Thank you, John.”
    The bishop sank back in his chair, choked with disappointment at the matter-of-fact way Guglieamo had received the news. Perhaps he hadn’t understood what he was saying, the joyousness of the announcement. He raced over the conversation again. Then he knew the cardinal had understood. Giuseppe sat staring at the telephone long after the conversation. He ran through the facts carefully, to grasp all the details. But he was oddly troubled by his own emptiness at the