Enriched by Words

Banned

One by one they arrived, through the back alleys and silently up the street.  Their cover and alibi were only as good as their trust in one another.  Aware of the danger, they were hungry…and determined.

Matt could hear Joshua, at the back door, murmuring to the most recent entry.  Distance muffled the words, though Matt detected tones of both excitement and fear.  He turned again to his post at the sidelight of his front door, watching.

“All clear in the back,” Joshua whispered the words from behind Matt.  “Locked up tight and all sent below.”

“Very good, Joshua, thanks.”  Matt peered down the street.  “I think the last one is coming now.”  A floral delivery van pulled up into Matt’s driveway, disgorging a woman and two men, who moved purposefully to the door, arms full of blooms and greenery.

“Good afternoon, Sir,” The floral designer used her best professional voice.  One never knew who might be watching.  As soon as she and her helpers heard the door close behind them, tension sagged from their shoulders.  “Thank you, Matt,” she said, and the trio made their way down the stairs.

Matt sent Joshua to make one more check of the ground floor as he locked the front door and set the alarm .  Where the younger man was showing signs of excitement and apprehension, Matt felt a blanket of peace settle over him.  They had survived the arrivals.

“Time to head below, my friend.”  He clapped the returned Joshua on the shoulder and guided him to the basement steps.  No casual observer would guess that the well dressed older man or the scruffy younger one were about to commit a felony with the dozen people already waiting.

The two made their way to the cellar below the basement.  Matt  had spent years cultivating the reputation of a knowledgeable wine enthusiast.  It had allowed him to create the special cellar, filled with wine cases and racks.  A bottle and glasses sat on the small marble-topped table, the corkscrew already deep.  It would take mere seconds to pop the bottle and splash the glasses.  He nodded in approval at the bunch of various flowers sitting next to the glasses.  He would have to cover the presence of the floral people. Matt always prepared the wine cellar.  Though they had not been caught, he was ready. He grabbed a single cup and bottle, nestling them in his elbow.  Their guest had brought bread.

One of the floor to ceiling cases was pulled forward, jarring the eye with its juxtaposition.  The two men slipped singly through the narrow opening.  Matt pulled the case in after them.  The dug out space beyond was cramped and smelled of damp earth.  The seating ledges packed around the perimeter hardly held the dozen people already in the space.  Matt remained standing at the entrance, one ear listening for the shrill of an alarm.  Joshua seated himself on the floor, at the foot of an older lady with luminous eyes, an old book resting between her hands and thighs.

There was a palpable buzz of expectation and nervousness as the fear of being caught mixed with the fear of doing the forbidden.  That the opportunity was available was astounding enough.  Rumor told tales of the websites being torn down, and the massive book burnings long before even their guest of honor drew her first breath.  If they were caught, they would lose everything.  The lucky ones would lose their lives.  No one doubted the tales of torture and “re-education” for those who were caught.

Peace began to invade the secret space, calming heart rates.  When the room was becalmed and expectant, the elderly woman opened the book in her lap with profound reverence.  The binding was cracked, sounding to Matt like cellophane.  He inhaled the scent redolent of age and freedom. Rare beyond belief, Matt marveled once more that this one had escaped the bookburner’s fire.

The small woman turned the pages until satisfied.  Settling the open book on her hands and her elbows on her knees, she curved over it like a protective mother.

Matt held his breath.  Until this moment they were guilty of conspiracy.  In another instant, they would be subject to the death penalty.  He no longer cared.  Like several others in attendance, death had lost its power over him.  His predominant emotion now was one of expectant joy.

The moment stretched.   Matt watched the small adjustments of body language and expression as similar thoughts trekked through other minds.  Then she drew breath.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God…”

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