Read Online Blue Star Rapture by JAMES W. BENNETT - Free Book Online Page A

told me your name was LuAnn.”
    â€œIt’s my new name in Christ. We submit to the will of the Lord in all things. The new name we choose is a symbol of that submission.”
    â€œYeah, okay.” T.J. was sure he couldn’t stand any more. The annoying smiles were everywhere like a rock in your shoe. Already, he didn’t trust the glamorous woman who called herself Sister Simone, which was nuts; he’d only just met her. “I better go now.”
    Sister Simone added to LuAnn (Ruth Ann’s) explanation: “Choosing the new name is like putting off our old self so we can put on the new self of God.”
    T.J. felt himself tighten up in exasperation. “I better get the hell out of here,” he said quickly. “No offense, Sister.”
    Simone laughed gaily, with the perfect white teeth of a movie star. “None taken,” she said. “Getting the hell out is what we do best. Camp Shaddai is a very uncomfortable place for Satan, I’m afraid.”
    He left without another word, walking briskly on the path that would take him back to the bridge. He felt foolish and regretted ever coming to this side at all.
    By the time he reached the center of the bridge, he had succeeded, through a conscious effort of the will, in focusing his thoughts on Tyron, Coach Lindsey, Bee Edwards, and the rest of the Full Court soap opera. The street agents, the rules, and how he would ever find a way to guard Ronnie Streets.
    T.J. lit one of his cigarettes and took a seat close to the edge. In the dark, he listened for the sounds of moving water in the creek bed far below, but there were none. Within a few minutes, though, he heard LuAnn’s footsteps squeaking the floorboards. It didn’t surprise him that she had followed him, but why was it he expected that she would? How could you know a person without really knowing them? he wondered.
    â€œYou must be all basketballed out,” she observed. “Maybe that’s why you came.”
    â€œI guess so.” She was taking a seat beside him. He tossed his lit cigarette butt casually so as to watch it tumble clear down to the bottom of the gorge like a firecracker.
    â€œDon’t you think Sister Simone is real spiritual?”
    â€œI guess you could call it that.” It was easier than saying what he really thought.
    â€œShe’s blessed with all kinds of spiritual gifts; mostly she has the gift of prophecy.”
    â€œDo you really believe all that stuff?” T.J. asked her.
    Her smile disappeared, but her eyes were still wide. “All what stuff?”
    â€œThat stuff about the Rapture. About joining the Lord in the air.”
    â€œOf course.”
    â€œNever dying.”
    â€œOf course. We have God’s word on it.”
    â€œBut I mean do you, like, really believe it?”
    There must have been some exasperation in his voice, because she giggled before she replied, “I guess the Lord must want you to be crabby.”
    â€œSorry,” said T.J.
    â€œIt’s in the Book of Revelation, so it’s part of God’s promise. A promise from God is easy to believe. The hard thing would be what you do, which is believe in something else.”
    â€œHow do you know what I believe?”
    They fell silent for a few moments, during which time T.J. was annoyed by a sense of his own incompetence. He couldn’t think of any real value in conversations like this one, which were basically just for taking up space.
    Politely, she asked him about his family.
    â€œThere’s just my mother and me.”
    â€œDoes she have a job?”
    â€œShe has two jobs.”
    â€œShe must be a very hard worker.”
    â€œShe is a very hard worker. On her days off, she goes fishing sometimes. She never complains and she’s never been on welfare.”
    â€œYou admire her, don’t you?”
    â€œI guess I do. She’s also enrolled in a computer course in night school. She’s trying