Page 75 of Samson

“World War One. A lot of Christians were murdered. My whole life my dad has had this expectation that I would save persecuted Christians. Particularly Armenians.”

“I didn’t know Christians were being persecuted. I mean, not here.”

“You don’t see it here like in other parts of the world. When I was a teenager, I went on a few missions trips trying to figure out what God was calling me to, but nothing stuck.”

“When did your abilities turn up? Were you still young?”

“Yeah. And imagine a young man with lots of testosterone pumping through his veins. I got suspended a couple of times.”

“Did you enjoy getting into fights? Or did you just need an outlet?”

“Mostly it was for beating up bullies. I think I used my purpose as an excuse. I told myself that God made me that way, so I had a reason to act out.”

“I don’t see that as a bad thing.”

“If it was only about helping people maybe, but there was more to it.”

“Like what?”

“Showing off, not controlling my anger.”

“What about now?”

“Now I’ve lost my chance. I left God behind a long time ago.”

“What does your dad think?”

“As you can imagine, my dad disapproves of my lifestyle, seeing as I’m supposed to be this upright, righteous person saving believers.”

“But something happened. That pain I saw.”

He chewed on his lip, then decided he may as well go for it. She knew everything else, she may as well know this. “My wife.”

Delilah jerked in her seat. “You’re married?”

“I was. She died.”

“I’m so sorry.” She closed her eyes for a second. “It was the loss of your wife that sent you over the edge.”

“Yes, but not in the way you’re thinking. I was already falling off the rails before that. Tanya and I were in the process of getting a divorce when she died.”

“Oh.”

“I was never unfaithful to her.”

“Okay.”

“It’s important to me that you know that. I won’t say I was a very good husband, but when she had an affair with my best friend, I kind of lost it. Then, after the car crash…that was it for me. I started drinking a lot, and women were an easy way to forget. Or to pretend.”

“Pretend what?”

“That it wasn’t my fault.”

“The crash?”

“Yeah.”

“Look, I know that must have been a really hard time, but how can you blame yourself for that? Were you driving?”

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