Page 35 of Gideon

Pulling to the side of the road, he let their inert shape take root until the morning light descended on the square, touching the tip of the tallest pole and dragging the illumination in a silent progression that obscured the faces, devouring the shadows until the contrast was dissolved.

You know what you need to do.

It wasn’t the surprise at hearing God’s voice that made Gideon flinch. It was the certainty of the words. For the past hour, he’d been striving to remove the images from his dream. But the whole time, the dream had been the instruction. If there was going to be any change in this town, they would have to go first. All doubt had been removed. He knew these poles represented everything that was wrong. They were the embodiment of the abandonment of God and His ways.

But Gideon wasn’t big on destroying public property. Not since he was a kid. No matter how confident he was about God’s instruction, before he was ready to do something crazy, he’d need a second opinion.

Nikki reached for her foot from behind and pulled it into a stretch. Her quads were tight this morning. She did her calves next, then finished her stretch routine with her arms, shaking them out longer than necessary. She’d been unsettled more than usual over the last few days and couldn’t discern if it was God stirring her or if her own weaknesses were taking their toll.

She opened the front door, stepping light on her toes as she let out a quick breath and jogged down the steps and onto the sidewalk, where she stopped. Gideon’s truck was parked across the road. He was sitting in the front seat with his arms crossed, and it looked like he was asleep.

She approached cautiously. His window was open, but his eyes were closed, and she didn’t want to startle him.

“Gideon?” she said softly.

He blinked and looked at her. “Hey.”

She looked up and down the road. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, sorry to turn up like this.” He got out of the car. “You going for a run?”

“I was, yeah. Unless you need something?”

“Well…” He squeezed the back of his neck and smiled awkwardly. “I did. Now that some time has passed, I’m changing my mind.”

“How long have you been out here?”

“About an hour.”

A million ideas about Gideon’s purpose for being here wrestled for attention, but she pushed them allaway. She’d made enough assumptions about him already. “Is everything okay?”

“I don’t know. A lot of really weird stuff has happened. I was hoping to get your perspective on it, but I’m pretty sure you’ll think I’m nuts.”

“Okay.”

“I—no. It’s not important. You go for your run. I’ll find you later if I need to.”

He turned, but she hurried to block the door. “No way.” She laughed. “You can’t say something like that and not tell me.” Her first impression of Gideon had been that he was a slightly brooding, cynical guy who’d seen too much bad in the world but meant well. The last thing she ever expected was to think he was crazy.

“You had better be sure.”

“I’m sure. You want to come in for a coffee?”

“I’d rather walk.”

“Your leg can take it?”

“Yeah.” He made a strange face. “My leg’s fine.”

“Good. Shall we then?”

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and followed her back to the sidewalk.

After walking several minutes in silence, she wondered if he was waiting for her to speak first. “How’s business?” Maybe he needed a primer question.

“It’s good. Busy. I wasn’t expecting to work so much, but I’ve been bringing my dad along most of the time, and I created a sling that will help him do a few more things. Not as much as I can do, obviously, but it means he can help more people.”

“That’s great.”

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