An Hour in the Darkness by Michael Bailey Read Free Book Online Page B

like a mad man, and wishing he’d lived his life differently. Listen, Michael, we all wished we’d lived our lives differently.
    Jenny used to sing that song about a million times a day until it just about drove everyone crazy. I sure would love to hear her sing it one more time though. Boy, I think I started loving
The Muppet
Christmas Carol
about as much as Jenny did, sitting next to Old John like that. I looked for the man with the red scarf again, but he’d disappeared and I got real scared because I thought he must have jumped. Then I saw the scarf again, blinking, through a patch in the mist, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I sure as hell didn’t want to tell Jenny that old Scrooge from
The Muppet Christmas Carol
had jumped off the top of Old John, because it would have broken her heart.
    I sure felt close to God up there. I don’t know. I got to thinking that maybe God lived inside Old John and so I started to stare real hard at the door in case he suddenly came out. And then he did come out, and he came and sat next to me, and it was real spooky, and religious, and pious, and my heart was beating like crazy.
    Listen, I wasn’t crazy
.
I knew at the back of my mind that it wasn’t God, it was only the man with the red scarf, but I so wanted to be a believer back then, okay? I wanted this guy to take away my sins or something. I don’t know. And when God came and sat down next to me, we chewed the fat for a while and I sort of felt glad he was there. Jenny told me that I only thought it was God because of the bang on the head, and I suppose she was right. Listen, Jenny is usually right about these things, okay?
    Anyway, old God asked me if I was feeling alright, and I said I was and thanked him for asking. I think he knew all about the bang on the head, what with him being God and everything. He asked me if I realised I had been talking out loud to myself about
The Muppet Christmas Carol
. It was all a little embarrassing, even for me. I told him I did that sometimes. I said I was glad he’d pointed it out though and I sure as hell would try not to do it again in the near future. Obviously I didn’t use the word hell in his Holy Presence; give me some credit. I asked him if I could stay and talk to him, so that I didn’t look strange if anybody else came along. He smiled and said he didn’t mind at all. I suppose that’s his job when you come to think about it. He was listening to his flock. I sure was glad he was there though because there were a few things I wanted to ask him.
    â€œWhat’s your name?” God asked me.
    â€œFranklin,” I said.
    You couldn’t lie to old God like you could to Ronnie. I figured old God knew my name anyway and was just testing me.
    â€œDo you live around here?” he said.
    â€œI was born in Birstall, but I’m living in the city at the moment. I’ve left home, you see, God. I live near the Angel Gateway.”
    He didn’t seem to mind me calling him God like that and saying it quickly to catch him all off-guard, and everything. I thought it was a good idea to mention the bit about living near Angel Gateway too. He smiled and nodded his head in that godly way of his and I figured he was pretty damned pleased that I had chosen to live there.
    â€œDo you miss your parents?” he said.
    Boy, that sure took me by surprise.
    â€œYeah sure, everyone misses their parents when they leave home, don’t they?”
    â€œHave you spoken to them since you left?”
    Boy, old God was sure interested in my parents all of a sudden.
    â€œNo, sir, no, siree. I haven’t seen them much, make no mistake. I saw my dad though. I think I blinked too much. I sure am a disappointment to him. Say, do you know why that is?”
    I think old God was impressed when I addressed him as sir like that, all of a sudden and out of the blue.
    God sure didn’t look how I imagined he would. If you ever meet God