The doorbell rang and Martha answered to three gentleman. “Come in Doctor. I’ve made cold lemonade for you.”
“Thank you Martha. As I’ve told you there’s a convention in town. This is Dr. Cranston and Dr. Zimmer. Colleagues of mine. I’ve told them about your abilities and they wanted to meet you.”
“Oh, I’d be happy to talk about that.”
“Tell us Martha, when did you first know that you could predict the future?”
“Well it started before I was born.”
“Before you were were born?”
“Yes. I was an angel up in heaven you know. Just one of those little ones with wings. I would fly around God. One day God said it was time to be born. I didn’t even know what that was, but I did it. Mommy was so happy. She said it was a blessing. She prayed every day. Sometimes more.”
“Did you go to church?”
“Oh yes. Sometimes three times a week. Church of the Nazarene.”
‘Tell us when you were able to predict the future?”
“It wasn’t till I was nine. I was riding my bike and got hit by a car. After that I could see the future and heaven.”
“Heaven too?”
“Yes. I would give testimony in church and tell everybody how beautiful it was. They were all very impressed. Except father.”
“Your father wasn’t?”
“No. He said; ‘That girl needs help.” Mother always prayed and defended me. I predicted he was going to leave.”
“You did?”
“Yes she would pray to save his soul at every dinner. They had these big arguments. I said; “Daddy is going away,” and he did. I said; “Don’t worry. You will find someone in church.” A year later she married Ralph. I said; “I told you so.” I called him Daddy Ralph.”
“Did you love him?”
“Yes. Way more than my real one. He was so good to me. Gave me presents and candy. At night after mommy was asleep, he would crawl into bed and keep me warm. He would say nice thing and we would play games.”
“What sort of games?”
“The best was “Doorway to Heaven.” I loved it.”
“How long did this go on?”
“Till I was 14. Then mommy came in during a game.”
“What happened?”
“She got a gun and shot him six times. It was in all the papers. I was sent to my aunt’s. It turned out to be justifiable homicide. We moved to Dallas. We lived in Tennessee before.”
“Did you ever play “Doorway to Heaven,” again?”
“No. Sometimes I wanted to with other boys. But I prayed real hard and overcame the temptation. I never got married.”
“What about your predictions?”
“It became easy. I knew when sick people were going to die, and they did. I could predict car crashes. Next day I would look in the paper, and I was right. I even predicted the 9-11 attacks.”
“How did you know?”
“I had a dream about two tall trees on fire. Those were the twin towers.”
“What about the third building?”
“Well, there was a small tree next to them.”
“Any predictions for us?”
“Well, I know that you will all die happy.”
“Thank you Martha. We have to get back to the convention. We enjoyed out talk.”
“Jesus Christ Harold, what a riot. How can you keep a straight face?”
“I’m doing a paper on “Religious Delusions.” It will come out next month.”
They were laughing their heads off when the car was crushed by an 18 wheeler.
(written Sept. 12, 2016)