Read Online The H-Bomb and the Jesus Rock by John Manderino - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: John Manderino
Tags: Fiction
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think it was going to tell you what to do if you come across a rock that looks like Jesus—but there was some pretty interesting stuff. “Listen to this,” I said, and read out loud to Lou, from a prayer to Mary: “ The hope for peace you brought long ago to the children of Fatima is needed today more than ever.”
Lou agreed. She was still in front of the mirror, working on her veil.
The book went on about those three messages Mary gave the children. Sister told us about those.
The first one was about Hell and how we’re all going there if we don’t start behaving and saying the rosary every day to help us behave. Mary even gave the children a little glimpse of what it’s like down there. Sister said they couldn’t speak for three days afterwards, that’s how horrible it was, what they saw.
The second message was about Russia and how everyone has to pray for the Russians to believe in God instead of Communism. Sister said in Russia if they find out you believe in God they torture you to make you say you don’t believe. Kevin Bellamy asked her for an example and she said sometimes they pull out your fingernails, one by one with a pair of pliers, and nodded around at us, meaning yes, they really do that. Kevin Bellamy asked her for another example but she shook her head and said the important thing was, how many of us could stand being tortured like that without denying our faith? She told us to put our hands down, she wasn’t asking for a show of hands.
The children never told what the third message was. But the older one, Lucia, wrote it down for the Pope to open in 1960. So that was two years ago and everyone’s still waiting. I don’t know what’s keeping him.
The booklet had a picture of the Pope in a beanie praying to a statue of Mary in a crown, the Queen of Heaven. There was a dove down by her feet. That’s for peace, the dove, peace on earth. I couldn’t tell if it was a real dove or part of the statue.
Toby
I told Buster Jesus is our Lord and Savior so we all have to be good because that’s what He wants. “He wants us all to be very good,” I said, “every one of us, dogs too—Jesus loves dogs, did you know that? He had a dog when He was down here, a little dog named Pepper, that’s right, uh-huh, uh-huh.”
Buster cocked his head to the other side, wanting to hear more about this.
“Jesus loved that little dog so much,” I said, shaking my head at how much. “They were always together, even at the Last Supper. Jesus fed him scraps under the table, did you know that?”
I was getting a little carried away, but let’s face it, there’s a lot of stuff we don’t know about Jesus. Maybe He did have a dog. Why not?
I went on, “In fact? The very last words Jesus ever spoke? Up on the cross? Know what they were? ‘So long, boy. Be seeing you in Paradise.’ And then He died. For you and me...and little Pepper.”
Buster made a whimpery sound.
Then? Know what he did? He came walking up, his head hung low. He was sorry. Sorry for being a bad dog and scaring me like that. I patted him on his knobby head, telling him, “I know...I know...”
Then he turned around and trotted off, to start his new life. I watched him all the way down the block and around the corner. “Good boy,” I said, and started walking on home.
I was going to be a good boy too.
Ralph
All of a sudden, walking around, I had a scary thought: What if the Pope already opened the third message? What if he already read it but didn’t tell anyone because of what it said, because it said we’re all going to get blown to smithereens. We didn’t pray for Russia like Mary told us to, so in two more years—meaning now —there’s going to be World War Three, that’s our punishment, the whole world going up in a mushroom cloud, and the Pope didn’t have the heart to tell us. He’s such a nice old man—you could see from the picture, his face, how nice—he just didn’t have the heart.
I explained all of this
Lou agreed. She was still in front of the mirror, working on her veil.
The book went on about those three messages Mary gave the children. Sister told us about those.
The first one was about Hell and how we’re all going there if we don’t start behaving and saying the rosary every day to help us behave. Mary even gave the children a little glimpse of what it’s like down there. Sister said they couldn’t speak for three days afterwards, that’s how horrible it was, what they saw.
The second message was about Russia and how everyone has to pray for the Russians to believe in God instead of Communism. Sister said in Russia if they find out you believe in God they torture you to make you say you don’t believe. Kevin Bellamy asked her for an example and she said sometimes they pull out your fingernails, one by one with a pair of pliers, and nodded around at us, meaning yes, they really do that. Kevin Bellamy asked her for another example but she shook her head and said the important thing was, how many of us could stand being tortured like that without denying our faith? She told us to put our hands down, she wasn’t asking for a show of hands.
The children never told what the third message was. But the older one, Lucia, wrote it down for the Pope to open in 1960. So that was two years ago and everyone’s still waiting. I don’t know what’s keeping him.
The booklet had a picture of the Pope in a beanie praying to a statue of Mary in a crown, the Queen of Heaven. There was a dove down by her feet. That’s for peace, the dove, peace on earth. I couldn’t tell if it was a real dove or part of the statue.
Toby
I told Buster Jesus is our Lord and Savior so we all have to be good because that’s what He wants. “He wants us all to be very good,” I said, “every one of us, dogs too—Jesus loves dogs, did you know that? He had a dog when He was down here, a little dog named Pepper, that’s right, uh-huh, uh-huh.”
Buster cocked his head to the other side, wanting to hear more about this.
“Jesus loved that little dog so much,” I said, shaking my head at how much. “They were always together, even at the Last Supper. Jesus fed him scraps under the table, did you know that?”
I was getting a little carried away, but let’s face it, there’s a lot of stuff we don’t know about Jesus. Maybe He did have a dog. Why not?
I went on, “In fact? The very last words Jesus ever spoke? Up on the cross? Know what they were? ‘So long, boy. Be seeing you in Paradise.’ And then He died. For you and me...and little Pepper.”
Buster made a whimpery sound.
Then? Know what he did? He came walking up, his head hung low. He was sorry. Sorry for being a bad dog and scaring me like that. I patted him on his knobby head, telling him, “I know...I know...”
Then he turned around and trotted off, to start his new life. I watched him all the way down the block and around the corner. “Good boy,” I said, and started walking on home.
I was going to be a good boy too.
Ralph
All of a sudden, walking around, I had a scary thought: What if the Pope already opened the third message? What if he already read it but didn’t tell anyone because of what it said, because it said we’re all going to get blown to smithereens. We didn’t pray for Russia like Mary told us to, so in two more years—meaning now —there’s going to be World War Three, that’s our punishment, the whole world going up in a mushroom cloud, and the Pope didn’t have the heart to tell us. He’s such a nice old man—you could see from the picture, his face, how nice—he just didn’t have the heart.
I explained all of this
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