ext morning they came down to breakfast at seven-thirty after a long, refreshing night’s sleep. They sat near the window end of the table, and poured themselves orange juices from a jug. The dining room’s floral wallpaper, lace curtains and ornate fake-antique furniture, reminded Jeff of the bedroom. A large vase of fresh flowers, however, transformed the room into a more inviting place. A conservatively dressed middle-aged woman came in from the kitchen with a smile that matched the decor.
   “Good Morning. You must be Jeff and Amanda Croft?”
   “Hi. Yes,” Jeff looked up at her slightly puffy face.
   “I’m Barbara. You met my daughter Angela last night.”
   “Nice to meet you Barbara.”
   “Lovely flowers,” Amanda offered.
   “They’re from the altar at our church. I brought them back with me last night.”
   “Oh, how nice! They really lift the room.”
   “Thank you. Well, for breakfast, would you like granola, or fruit and yogurt? And, after that, ham and eggs or mushroom scramble?”
   Jeff looked at Amanda, who took the cue. “Fruit and yogurt and the mushroom scramble for me, please.”
   “And the same for me, too. Thank you.”
   After a while, Barbara brought in the scrambled eggs. “Do you mind if I join you, now I’ve finished cooking?”
   “Oh no, of course not. Please do.”
   When she turned back to the kitchen to get her plate, Jeff, out of long habit, and personal liking for the custom, closed his eyes, clasped his hands together, elbows on the edge of the table, and silently gave thanks. Amanda noticed, and joined in. She had often taken such opportunities to give thanks to the Earth Goddess for her bountiful gifts. They remained silent at first, but toward the end of the meal, Barbara caught Jeff’s eye and started the conversation.
   “We haven’t had many guests the last couple of days, because of the crisis, so it’s nice to see you. Where are you headed?”
   “Oh, we’re off to California to see Amanda’s parents, after visiting friends in Oregon.”
   “And you live in Virginia?”
   “Yes.”
   “You are a long way from home.”
   “And a little worried about getting back, the way things are. We’re hoping that if we stay a month or so in California traveling might be easier by then.”
   “I noticed you giving thanks for the meal earlier. Are you a Christian?”
   “Yes.”
   “And, forgive me for asking, are you born again? Do you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?”
   “Yes.” Jeff, although comfortable enough with the first question — about whether he was a Christian — had for some time been uneasy about these next two, which often came together. They seemed to exclude more people than they affirmed, which was at the heart of what was wrong with fundamentalism. But something told him to say yes this time, and with the habit of the years, it slid convincingly enough off his tongue.
   “The reason I ask, is that the Lord has put it into my mind, probably because you are so far away from your own church, to tell you about what’s been going on in Christian circles these last couple of days. It’s truly wonderful!”
   “Wonderful?” Jeff was taken aback.
   “Well, it was a shocking thing that happened, to be sure. But it is wonderful, because it’s the beginning of the tribulation. Our pastor was telling us about it last night at a special meeting after the evening service. Professors from Bible colleges and pastors from across the country have been meeting and phoning each other, and they’re all agreed: this is the beginning of the tribulation. Jesus is directing it, and has revealed himself to some of our most faithful church leaders. Jesus told one of them he would not reveal himself widely until after the earth was cleansed of the unrighteous. And the rapture! That has happened, too. It is a little different from what we all expected, but God always surprises us.”
   “So what’s the rapture now?”
   “Well, I always thought the idea of righteous Christians being raised up into the air to meet Jesus was a little ridiculous, although I went along with it, because everyone else did. No, it turns out that instead of being raised up into the air, we have been raised up to a position of authority over all the earth to help Jesus execute the tribulation, which is a cleansing of the earth of all the immorality and Godlessness and idol worship and sexual perversion and witchcraft that pollutes it, more than ever in this evil generation, so the world will be perfect for Jesus’ reign during the Millennium.”
   “How’s this going to happen?”
   “It already has. In the twinkling of an eye. That’s the way it is with Jesus. President Jones, who is a Bible-believing Christian, has established a ‘Presidential Governing Council’ which consists of a few faithful, Bible-believing Congressmen who were miraculously spared, and the most important born-again church leaders from the true Bible-based churches.”
   “We heard about the ‘Presidential Governing Council’ on the news, but what we heard is that the president is not revealing who is actually on it.”
   “And why should he? What business is it of the Godless to know what is happening to them in the tribulation? But we know, and that’s what’s important. The Presidential Governing Council is communicating with true Christians everywhere through church leaders and pastors, and we all have an important role to play in the tribulation. For the first time, America has a truly Christian government — it is being governed by the church itself. Isn’t that a miracle?”
   “Yes. Astounding. It’ll take me a while to get over my surprise. I’m glad you told me about this, because, as you said, being away from my home church, I haven’t heard of it. So tell me more about what’s happening. What’s this new government going to do first?”
   “Well, we’ve received our first commission already. God doesn’t muck around when he gets going. Since the whole point of the tribulation is to cleanse the earth of all impurity, our first job is to collect names and addresses of all those people we know who are homosexuals, adulterers, followers of pagan and idol worshipping religions, feminists, communists, libertarians, pornographers, followers of yoga and witchcraft, and all those who try to pervert Christianity into something it isn’t. We’ve been given a complete list — I may have forgotten some; I’ll have to read it carefully and memorize it.”
   “And what do you do with this list of names and addresses, when you’ve got it together?”
   “Just give it to our pastor. Jesus will see to it these people are converted or cleansed at the right time. Jesus is the prince of peace, and his dearest wish is that all these people repent and accept him as their Savior. And in these amazing times many will. But we know that some people will never repent of their wickedness. Some will have to be taken out of society to bring to a halt their evil influence on those around them. Others who are not so bad will be allowed to stay on as our servants. We will adopt their younger children, out of compassion, so that as many as possible of them can be saved. Our pastor has asked us to be prepared to receive as many as three of these ‘children in peril’ into each of our families. His view is that with strict discipline, which we shouldn’t be afraid to administer, even children as old as twelve can be saved, despite their being saturated by evil influences up ‘til then. Isn’t that a miracle? But with the Lord, all things are possible. And through faith and obedience to his church, we can be his miracle workers.”
   “When is all this going to start?” Amanda hoped she wasn’t showing her nervousness.
   “Oh, it will take some time to organize, of course. The tribulation will last longer than a few weeks! But I hope to be blessed to see the dawning of the Millennium in my lifetime . . . To start with, as I said, we just collect the names, and God’s new government will keep them in their towns, and the jobs they are doing, for the time being, and watch them, so they know which ones to treat in which ways. We are all called on to have Christlike discernment in these times.”
   “How will they keep people in their towns and jobs?”
   “Oh, check points are being set up everywhere by the army, acting on the president’s orders. Only true raptured Christians will be given passes — no one else will be able to go anywhere. We are in authority in the world now. There’s not enough gas left for everyone to be driving around all over the place, anyway. The other thing is that only raptured Christians will be able to have phones and internet access — it’s important that the wicked can’t communicate and plot with each other to try and foil Jesus’ plan.”
   “So, have you heard whether the same thing has been happening in other countries?” asked Jeff. “Have Christians been raptured into authority anywhere else?”
   “No, no. America is where it has to happen first. Then we will conquer all the world and put born-again Christians into authority in all the countries of the earth. Actually, it will only be necessary to conquer one country — the arch evil haven of communism, China. It is the dragon of the book of Revelation, and the war with China will be the Battle of Armageddon. When we have conquered China and laid it at Jesus’ feet, all the rest of the countries in the world will voluntarily offer themselves up to us, and the Millennium will be at hand. The final act, before the Millennium begins, will be the destruction of the Muslim ‘Dome of the Rock’ and another mosque they’ve defiantly built on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, so the third temple, which will last forever, can be built on the site of King Solomon’s original temple. The laying of the corner stone of the third temple will mark the beginning of the Millennium . . . And since you’re from the South, let me tell you something else.” She lowered her voice. “We’re not acting on this right away, as there are other more urgent things to do, but before the Millennium all the negroes will be returned to their God-ordained positions as slaves, so they can serve God’s chosen ones. Robert E. Lee did not fight in vain! After nearly a century-and-a-half he will have his final victory, and our inherited rights will be restored to us.”
   Jeff was filled with horror at the enormity of what this woman was saying to him, but realized it was important for him to find out as much as he could.
   “One other thing you may have heard. Since the bombing of Congress was the start of the tribulation, was it a Christian group who planned it and did it?”
   “Good glory no! God would not want Christians to have that sort of blood on their hands. But God didn’t stand in the way of the plans of the heretical Muslim terrorists, as he most surely would have if Congress had had a majority of God-fearing Christians in it. Congress had become an anathema to God, full of atheist libertarians posing as Democrats, homosexuals pushing for the right to be able to marry each other and be considered a family. Some Republicans even held out for homosexual rights. But worst of all, there was even a witch in the House of Representatives! A lesbian witch, which is what you would expect of a witch, from the Green Party. Her name was Amanda Klein — we had all been praying for her defeat in the next election. Now that’s not needed since she died in there. Can you imagine, a witch in the American Congress? No wonder God’s wrath was stirred up. I’m sure she’s gone straight to hell.”
   Jeff glanced at Amanda. She was as white as a sheet of paper, and looked as if she was about to vomit. He had to get her out of there. Barbara noticed, too, and said,
   “Never mind, dear. I’m sure you are shocked at that witch having the same name as you. But you shouldn’t be worried. Amanda is a lovely name. And I’ve met other good Christians called Amanda. I’m sorry if I upset you. These are shocking times we live in, but God will protect you, and even exult you, along with all true Christians. So take heart my dear — everything will be all right.”
   “Well thank you for telling us about all this. I’m sure Amanda will be all right in a while. All this is quite an emotional overload. It’s making my head spin, too. They say even good changes in your life are stressful, and this is an enormous change in all our lives. It’ll take time for us to come to grips with it. And time is flying by — nearly nine o’clock. We have to get going. Thanks for the lovely breakfast.”
   “Give me our room key, Jeff — I want to go up and get ready to leave.”
   “Sure.”
   As Amanda walked up the stairs, Barbara said to Jeff, “Just one more thing. I’m sure you know of some people who should be cleansed — witches and homosexuals and the like back home where you live. If you’d like to use my phone to call home to your local church to report them, that would be perfectly all right.”
   “Oh, don’t worry. All this has just been such an overload. We’ll need to think about that as we drive along today. We can always phone up from our friend’s place in Oregon.”
   “Yes, you can, can’t you. I’m sure that’s the best plan then. God bless you in your travels.”
   “Thank you. And God bless you, too.” Jeff had to restrain himself from running up the stairs. Amanda was sitting on the bed, pale and teary.
   “Are you all right?” he asked.
   “I just threw up my breakfast.”
   “That was shocking. Really shocking. As soon as you’re ready, we’ll get right out of here.”
   “Confronting my enemy face-to-face like that brought all the horror of the situation home to me. It was nauseating. But I’m feeling a little better now.”
   “Can I give you a hug?”
   She nodded and stood up, and Jeff put his arms around her and stroked her hair, and she broke down and cried some more. After a few minutes, she said,
   “OK. I’m all right now. Let’s get outta here.”

   As they drove along in the bright healing sunshine, Amanda said,
   “Man oh man! You sure were right about this being a fundamentalist take over, and about what they would do.”
   “Except I didn’t imagine the half of it. Bringing back slavery! And what she was saying was shocking enough even without that. I wouldn’t have believed any human beings could be that ruthless, and cruel, and self-righteous. Except maybe Hitler or someone like that.”
   “I felt so trapped in there. I was sure she was going to figure out who I was. And if she had . . . She probably would have pulled a gun on me and called the police.”
   “Yes, I’m sure she would own one.”
   “I can see now that this is why my intuition was warning me to leave D.C., even though you were right, of course, that the new government will succeed in blaming the bombing on Muslim terrorists.”
   “Absolutely. They probably wouldn’t have even bothered with having a good excuse to lock you up, they’d’ve just gone ahead and done it on the flimsiest pretext.”
   “Exactly. Well, it’s good to be putting the miles between us and that woman. But I want to warn everyone about what’s happening, so they can get away. What can we do?”
   “Well, first we have to get away ourselves. There is still the Oregon border to cross. We’ll get there mid morning. Should we try to cross it as quickly as possible, or should we wait intil after midnight? — that’s what I’m concerned about.”
   “I think that we should try and make it through this morning. The longer we leave it, the worse it’s likely to get.”
   “OK. So if we’re stopped, you are my girlfriend, and we’re traveling to Oregon to visit some of my friends, and then to California to visit your family? And you have your California driver’s license, right?”
   “Yes. Sounds good.”

   Coming into Weiser, they turned left to cross into Oregon, and just before the bridge crossing the Snake River was a lone police car, staring them down. An officer emerged from the car and waved them over.
   “You’re a long way from home.”
   “Virginia? Yes.”
   “I’m supposed to prevent cars with Idaho plates leaving the state. But what do I do with someone from the East Coast?”
   “My girlfriend’s from California.”
   “Oh? I guess I’d better see your licenses.” They handed them over, and he had a good look at them. “As you say. Virginia and California. So, you’re heading down to California?”
   “Yes. To stay with her folks. And we’re visiting friends of mine in Oregon on the way.”
   “Well, you sure have a problem — she’s headed the right direction, but you are going the wrong way.” He handed their licenses back.
   “Why’s that a problem?”
   “Well, the army wants everyone back in their own state as soon as possible, so in each state people cleared to travel can be given a pass. Idea is to help track down the culprits of the Congress bombing, and help prevent the movement of other would-be terrorists, and make the whole country safer for everybody. Trouble is, you’re going to get caught in California without a pass.”
   “If I drop off Amanda in L.A. and head straight back to Virginia, do you think I’d get through?”
   “Well, if you were heading toward home, that might work — especially as you don’t look too much like an Islamic terrorist — but don’t take my word on that.”
   “Does that mean you are letting us through?”
   “I probably shouldn’t, but I’m going to.”
   “Thanks.”
   “You’re welcome — safe trip.”
   They drove slowly over the Snake River, then a big smile lit up Jeff’s face.
   “Hey! We made it to Oregon.”
   “You did well.”
   “We did well.”
   “And now?”
   “I’ve got no idea what we’ll find.”
   “I know what I’m going to find.”
   “A store where you can buy some clothes?”
   “You guessed it.”
   “We could go through Baker City.”
   “Thanks.”
   Jeff had something on his mind, which he didn’t quite know how to raise with Amanda. But a half hour or so later, after a few minutes silence, he overcame his hesitation. “There’s one thing I want to ask you.”
   “Go ahead.” There was a tinge of apprehension in her voice.
   “Are you actually a lesbian, or was that just a fabrication of those religious right people?”
   Amanda cleared her throat. “I was kind of hoping you missed that — so I could tell you myself. I am a lesbian. I was going to tell you . . . Hell that sounds lame.”
   Jeff was silent for half a minute, which seemed like half an hour.
   “You’re upset with me, aren’t you?” Amanda asked.
   “No. Not upset with you. After all, there was no reason for you to mention it . . . Not unless things . . . ”
   “Got more intimate?’
   “Well, yes. But then again, since you’re a lesbian they wouldn’t have got more intimate, would they?”
   “You could have tried to persuade me to ‘change teams.’”
   “Would you do that?” asked Jeff, missing the slight edge of scorn in her voice, because of his wish that it might be true.
   “No.”
   Then he realized his mistake, felt embarrassed and hurt, and fell into a long period of awkward silence. She, too, felt awkward, and a little annoyed. How absurd that she was here with this man, anyway. She just wanted to get away from him. She wished she had a great big coat she could shrink inside and disappear into. It was a slow trip into Baker City. As they entered town, Jeff broke the silence.
   “Does that look like the right sort of store?”
   “Yes.”
   He pulled into the parking lot. “I’ll go buy a few things too. Only be fifteen minutes, then I’ll just be waiting in the car.”
   “Sure.”

   An hour later Jeff was wondering whether Amanda might have just taken off on her own and left him there, when she appeared around the corner wheeling an elegant new suitcase, and carrying two large plastic bags. He opened the trunk and helped her fit her new things in it. Inside the car she looked at him, abashed.
   “Jeff, I’m really sorry I was so rude to you. You had every right to ask me about my sexual orientation. And it was mean of me to talk about ‘changing teams’ when I had no intention of doing so. I realize I have, unconsciously, got more caught up than I want to be in an extreme feminist outlook on men — with all its scorn and righteous indignation. I need to step back from that.”
   “That’s OK.”
   “No, it’s not OK. Acting like that made me feel wretched. I realized while in there shopping that I need to look at things in a new way. I also realized your friendship is important to me.”
   “Thank you. Friendship is important — the most important thing, really.”
   “Sex is important, too . . . I must say I’m pretty confused, emotionally, at the moment.”
   “But one can separate them — sex and friendship.”
   “I know. I think I can most of the time. But can you, in this situation?”
   “Well, on one level, I can. And on the other level I can try.”
   “I guess you are physically attracted to me?”
   “Yes . . . As well as to who you are.”
   “I’m sorry . . . I really am very sorry about that. I’m attracted to you as a person, but male bodies just don’t . . . do anything for me. You know it’s not personal?” And just as she finished saying it she found herself wondering whether this, too, was just a prejudice, but she didn’t think so.
   “Sure. It’s OK. I’m glad you explained all this to me. It makes me realize you care about me, and that’s nice.”
   “I do care about you. Jeff, the last thing in the world I meant to do was hurt you.”
   He smiled, a little poignantly, and she did, too, with slightly moist eyes. She leaned her shoulder against his, then put her arms around him, and pulled his head down against her breast. It felt very nurturing to her.