Chapter 14

I had a beer opened when Geno came in and we sat at the kitchen table. “Here’s the deal to get me started. Joe wants the job of general contractor. He has a crew of men who have followed him for years and he feels responsible for them always having a job. That’s good, I think. You and I have a small company and we can’t take on any great monstrous job. I don’t think our men have the same level of experience either. Joe would be happy to work for any company that has a name.

“Everything is up in the air at this point and I laid some things out and he did as well. Nothing finalized at this point.”

“Pete, get to the point.”

“Okay. We would keep our company as it is, with just you and me as owners. He would come on board hired out to Capparelli Construction, combining our two crews together. I told him Guido was an excellent Master Carpenter and Joe said he would make him his number one man directing the work and the men. I’m not up to that level. Do you feel you are?”

“No but I would like to be. You should be the one for that.”

“No, I don’t feel I know enough either.”

“So what is it for us?”

“We would be at the management level with you in the office like you have been doing and I would be the one to figure out which houses to place on the lots and do some of the sales after they are built. I say, I’ll take that part on because it will be like we were when we first started by making sure we are not extended before the houses are sold. I don’t anticipate it will be a problem the way I have laid out the development.”

“You are good at that. Where is the money coming from to pay you and me?”

“We’ll draw our salary from Capparelli Construction the same as now.”

“Pete, honestly do you have the funds for this?”

“I do. Charlie at the bank says I do. I still have the mine that is producing ore and I have all those sales from the industrial park and commercial districts. The revenue from the apartments is unbelievable. Charlie tells me I’m not spending my money fast enough and I should buy more toys to play with. That just isn’t me. So do you think this would work? I’m ready to dig my first cellar hole before the month is out.”

“Pete, how did I get so lucky to ask you to be my partner? I didn’t tell you, but we sold another house yesterday. That’s more money in the bank. As far as this new project of yours, I would be pleased to have Capparelli Construction heading this up. See you tomorrow.”

I wasn’t surprised when Miriam intruded on my sleep sometime after Mary was asleep. I had explained much to Mary about my plans and why. “You still haven’t explained why there are a bunch of individuals who came together at that particular time in history and why we have been told about it.”

“I’m sure Miriam will explain it to either you or me before the dream ceases to continue. Joe is new to us, but he seems to be one of the main characters in all of this too. Go to sleep, I’m going to.”

Miriam began explaining immediately hardly before I was fully awake “Pete, it is almost time for me to cease talking to you. First about me as Miriam. I was a person of chance being on the road at the right time. I was only passing by when I was needed and it could have been anyone. But I was clumsy and became especially marked. I was also a woman of wealth and I have made the most of it by paying those who went out on the Lord’s business to pass the word. Enough about me.”

“I have learned a few facts: a few years before this happening there were three young men who were learning the carpentry skill. Two of you worked steadily at it and became masters. The third was a young man who did much work for his father and was often away taking up his father’s work and he soon left the trio of three men. His name was Jesus and he was special. You as Petrous and Joe as Joab became special as well with the early association with your godly partner.

“It was you two who were chosen to remove him from the field of crosses to the Garden of Arimathea and placed on a shelf of stone. Those of us who believe in “Him” is that he did indeed arise at the end of three days. That is a fact of history that has been looked and studied down through the centuries. Joab--those of his family have always been a master of carpentry and no one of them has ever cheated or sullied the name of Joab.

“Petrous, you served a different calling. It was you who marked the first copper with the outline of a fish. It was soon looked for by the bakers of the community and collected. They received a value of one loaf of bread by anyone who had hunger and it was a fair exchange when presented.

“Soon though, the coppers went beyond that and became a sign of the people who followed the Christ even before he was well known. They spread all over the world. My husband, Peter the Scribe would place three of these Coppers in every courier packet before it left his hands and it was a sign that opened up the world to a new every man’s God.

“I must say these coppers went out of favor when the price of a loaf of bread rose beyond the price of a copper. Still there were those who remembered them as a holy object and it remains so even in your day so many years after they passed from view. Every copper you pass on or fashion will have your power in it. They will heal the mind, the body, and the soul, and you will sense who you should give one to. You will not have to search for these people, for you will sense them when you should meet.

“What I know of the early life of Jesus is hearsay and I know little of the actual facts. What I know came after the time I helped load a cross with a burden onto a cart that almost immediately passed into a mist.

“I am tired of explaining why I am and who I am. Remember how I am marked and what caused these marks I wear now so proudly. That will be your answer. Now you may question me if there is more you would like to know.”

“Why have you waited so long to gather us all together in this community?”

“Because it is something here on earth that has to be prevented. Joab is to play a major part in this and I was waiting to make him available to join you here. Also it was costly and I had to make sure you gained wealth in some way. I used several methods in this. Twenty-eight thousands of your dollars wouldn’t go far. It wasn’t wasted because it was being used where needed until it was returned to you.

“That amount still was not enough, Pete, but you have gained in wealth in the saving of homes that were on the point of being torn down. Discovering a mine has increased your chance to finance everything.

“Petrous will gain more wealth here on the plot of land he purchased to build beautiful little loving homes. Enter Joab finally who was to build for a very, very, rich man with untold apartment houses for the city.”

“They would have been of excellent quality but, this man chanced to die and the son took over. Joab was fired immediately and the son was to have his chance to build these said apartments. He has a terrible reputation. It will come to pass that the houses he was to build will never be started by him. The city will look at the son and tear up the contract because the old man’s contract was predicated on Joab managing the building of these apartments.”

“Miriam, should this man be destroyed? I can do it by having a reporter look into some of this man’s background. I would rather not, for it would make me look cheap and mean and possibly small in the city’s eyes. The city has passed me through on a fast track getting all the permits and zoning changes I need for my own development and might spoil the future for me.

“There will be at times push back Miriam, from the citizens when the subject of bonding the expenses comes before the council and I had the council back of me up until now and those went through with only a little trouble. Going after another business owner no matter how bad won’t look good for me.”

“You’re pretty good at reading people. No, don’t touch the son’s reputation.”

Within a month, I had hired Joe Rowden as the General Contractor for the Manning Development. The apartment buildings that were unfinished previously were completed and apartments were being rented out by Gina Capparelli, the new manager.

The houses were all finished on the street of houses and the ones that weren’t sold already were on the market. Ida and Gram, my only relatives, had lifetime use of a two-room bungalow. I had the remains of the burnt house that belonged to Fred and Mildred removed and had a stone wall built in its place. This was the attractive exit and egress to the new housing development.

You could turn left onto Manning Avenue to go through the new development of houses. You would turn right to go past the back of Fred’s Garage where Randy had a room above with Sandy’s two helpers. That would change soon for Randy had proposed marriage to Sandy and was accepted.”

To enter the area, you could turn right down by the four apartment buildings or go one more street down and turn left up through the commercial district. The last street went around by the Giles wood works shop and exited past the big barn belonging to Sandra Hamilton to the highway. She who was to be married to Randy soon.

There would be to the west, two more entrances and exits to the highway where the cross streets interconnected with Manning Avenue into the housing development of small homes.

The roads were all of rough gravel during construction. The travel was mostly for items being delivered and for pickups that the workers used to get to work in. I was everywhere. I was standing watching the excavator when the first cellar hole was dug. I had shivers up and down my spine. In the back of my mind, I sensed that there was someone speaking to me.

I walked up the avenue a little distance and concentrated. It was Miriam, “Pete, It took me a long time for me to arrange to bring everyone to accomplish this togetherness of those who came into contact with me here. Your life will go forward without any major problems. That part is your reward in your time. Here in the Holy Land, the reward happened a long time in the past for you as Petrous. He did become a renowned builder and this was the reward for him supporting the master.

“However, creating the coppers with the unusual mark was what he should have been known for. Here, two thousand years into the future, millions of people will still recognize its value and how it has helped spread the word. Thus you are keeping the meaning going forward. If someone doesn’t know what the meaning of the mark of the fish on the copper, they will inquire about the mark and one more person will know and have the answer!

There is one more couple who has transitioned to your timeline. This was the hobbling boy, who was the first I gave two of the three coppers to given me by Petrous. He bought bread to feed him and his mother and shared with me what he didn’t eat. When I saw him walking and spoke, he thought I was a holy person.

“I knew it wasn’t me. I realized the power lay in the coppers which were touched by the person who had given them to me originally by (Petrous) who had wrapped the body of the Lord in a shroud.

“This realization came to me as my Peter lay discussing this on our marriage bed and Peter became known as Peter the Scribe who took up the work of copying the messages that went out by the couriers heading for countries around the world with the Word. Soon the people who gathered to hear the word became known as Christians, and so it is today.”

Our life forward was generally sweet. We donated land to build a community church on the corner lot across from the corner where the elementary school sat. Both were located at the end of the cross street where another exit was to the highway.

There were no great numbers of each persuasion to attend and the church wasn’t that big. The basement was the largest area and small rooms big enough to accommodate the different protestant congregations, the Muslims, and a small synagogue for those who followed the Hebrew faith. Most of the people who were of the Catholic persuasion went into the city where all the members prayed.

I did construct two chapels where the residents could walk into to commune and pray if they wished. These were built with the lumber I had purchased from Sandy shortly after we met. I hired two wood carvers, one who carved with mallets and chisels to carve religious symbols in some of the heavier lumber. The other wood carver had a carving machine that could replicate with cutters as it passed over an object and recreated a design. He actually carved scenes that told stories taken from the Bible.

There was always a print of the painting that was installed in my living room at home in each of the chapels. These prints were valued by many, but vandals often stole or trashed them. As soon as a print copy disappeared, I had another placed in the chapel.

Mary and I began going to church when PJ reached ten years, We would take his six-year-old sister with us. Mary was asked one day to fill in for a Sunday School Teacher. When it was story time for the children, Mary gave a brief version of a woman named Miriam traveling along a road one late afternoon who helped two men load the cross, which held Jesus onto a cart to be safely installed in a cave. This changed Miriam’s life and she went on to be of service to the Christians.

Mary stopped the story of Miriam to her mixed congregation when she said she met the boy who was hungry and said she would continue her story and the travels of Miriam on another day. Mary announced at the beginning of the story and at the end that this was a folk tale and might have no basis of fact. She said a woman she had met actually told her the story. This was for the adults in the room who listened in. They questioned Mary. “It was a fantasy dream I have made up to entertain the children.”

I wondered how this was going to end. I asked Mary to skip the part of the story she was making up about her hands getting blood on them, bathing and finding she was covered with Stigmata on her chest.

Mary and I became friends with a protestant minister who had a very small congregation and used one of the rooms in the church where I had reserved a plot to build the community church. Ultimately we were both baptized. It was a glorious feeling walking into church, knowing we were part of something special.

Mary and I still were claimed by Ricky as his aunt and uncle. He would drop in unexpectedly. He was fifteen when he asked if he could see the picture of the field of crosses again. “I know I am the boy in Mary’s dreams. She used to tell me about her travels when I was small. Then my foot got well and she stopped telling me about it. You know I like to draw and sketch. I’ve tried to remember every little detail in the picture so I can sketch it.”

“You were only four or five when that happened.”

“It doesn’t matter. It was a miracle whatever age I was. I’m trying to talk Mom and Guido to send me to art school next year. A couple of years under a good teacher would do wonders for me. Come over to the house and I’ll show you my work. I think I’m good. My art teacher at school says she has done all she can for me.”

“Do you want to do it now?”

“Sure, Mom is working and Dad is with her at the restaurant. I think Aunt Mary is with them too. Dad is watching the kids.”

“Sure. Just a question, but why now?”

“Because I had a dream that some vandals would see the painting and destroy it. I can’t let that happen. That picture and the copper penny in the corner were what made me well.”

“Yes, that would be a terrible happening and unthinkable. We’ll take the painting with us and you can study it at your leisure. It is here behind this plain wall hanging.”

I took it down. “Uncle Pete, may I glance at it before we go? You know I didn’t expect you to let me take it. What will Aunt Mary say?”

“She won’t mind.”

Ricky took the painting and examined it gently turning it to see all four sides of the frame and the back. He found what he was looking for. “That is something I was looking for. It says this is a reproduction. I remember you saying this when I didn’t even know what a reproduction was. I don’t feel bad about that, either. I’m sure I could never match the original and that would be a crime. I will mark mine the same way.”

“The picture has so much detail and expression Ricky, it hits me right in the heart and soul. I wish I had the story of the early years of Christ. There isn’t much in the Bible about him until he picked up doing work for his father. You know, I mean how he lived and worked. I’m pleased it does. Mary and I both have the same feeling about it. Of course she was there as Miriam. I thought some of her image was placed there after the original.”

Ricky looked closely, “No, I don’t think so. Maybe after the original was painted but not put on after this copy was painted. The picture as painted is completed by the same artist.”

“Ricky, Mary may have started something teaching Sunday school, lately. She is telling about some dreams of hers in the story. They are based on the painting and what follows. You had better help her if you can. Some of it isn’t appropriate for young children. I’d back you and her in that. So far I have cautioned her she might talk herself into trouble.”

“Aunt Mary did make up stories when I was bored. She said they were dreams. I remember she told as story of a boy who had his crippled foot get well. I thought It was about me, especially since I did get well when I rubbed the penny in the corner of this painting. No one is rubbing this one now for it has turned dull again. Is it okay for me to rub it when I get home? I wonder if it will feel as good for me now as it did then.”

“You can find out shortly.”

Ricky led me to his room. “Mom gave up on picking up my room. I have paper everywhere with some of my scratches on them. I call them scratches because the fish on one side was what identified the coppers. Dad just looks in and shakes his head and walks away. No one really looks at them. I’m getting pretty good at doing faces. Would you like to look at some?”

“I would.”

Ricky opened a drawer and handed me one. It was a woman in a long robe. She was aged and there were two children on the ground before her.

“What is this one? Did you copy it from a book?”

“No, it was one I dreamed of one night. Another woman came by and handed two of those coppers to buy some bread. This woman blessed and thanked her and went on her way.”

“Do you hear what they are saying?”

“Sometimes, but not often. Here is one of Aunt Mary. It’s only a sketch but I think I have her just right, I didn’t do anything but her face because I had never seen Aunt Mary dressed like she was.”

“You said you have sketched the painting?”

“Is it okay to open it and compare it to the real one?”

“That’s what you have it for. I’d like to see your sketch.”

“Okay, but it isn’t that good. This one I used colored pencils. I tried water colors, but it was a mess,” Ricky went to the back of the room and dug out the last sketch leaning against the wall in back of others. These in the stack weren’t really framed but made of some wooden scraps to keep the paper spread.

The colors weren’t as well defined as the original canvas one we had just brought in. The figures themselves were much the same and didn’t deviate that much.

“Don’t tell me that you drew this from memory?”

“I’m sorry to say I have peaked at it several times at your house. I needed to get the positions just right or I would haven’t had enough room and everything would have things squished on one side to get them all on the page. It’s funny, but when I was sketching, I knew as soon as I put pencil to paper that it wasn’t going to come out any good. Then again I would know at times I was correct.”

“Well, I think this is excellent. I should say you should give all your attention to your senses. They are a big help. Is most of what you dream are of people dressed like this?”

“No, of course not. I dream I’m on the roads a lot and I meet people who are poor and some people have servants and obviously rich. There are even crowds out on religious days or when people are mad at someone. Those are mobs. I dreamed of a mob one time and saw a man being stoned. My dream ended before he was rescued. If he wasn’t, he surely died.”

“Have you talked to your mother or Guido about your dreams?”

“No I haven’t. Can I talk to you about them?”

“You can talk to both me and Mary. You know Joe Rowden who is our construction boss, don’t you?”

“Yes, he is very friendly. Sometimes he looks like he is ready to ask me something, but turns and walks away.”

“That may be because I suspect he is a kindred soul.”

“What does kindred soul mean?”

“It means like you have dreams and he has dreams and he senses it. It would be nice if the four of us could discuss this sometime and we may want to talk about it. We’d have to ask your mom before we did, though.”

“Oh, Mom would let you. She loves you. I don’t mean in a sexy way, but like ... oh, I guess like ... well you know what I mean.”

“I do, Ricky. I would like to look at all your sketches some time.”

“Anytime, Uncle Pete, here take a bundle of them with you.”

I left Ricky studying the painting and comparing his dream sketch to the other. He had to have been proud because he had all the details correct. I began looking at the bundle of sketches and here I was amazed even more. The boy was right on when he did a face. There was little background, but you would get the idea if the person was on a road traveling or in field working. He had one of a crippled boy near a well with the mother in the background. Another was when he received coppers from Miriam. I stood there shaking my head in wonder.

Mary and Chloe came in. Guido had remained in the car. “Mary and Chloe, please sit down, we have to talk about Ricky. Call Guido in to hear what I have to say, he is the boy’s father.”

“What’s this all about, Pete?”

“It is all about you making up stories of Miriam’s travels in the Holy Land, and of this boy specifically at the well. I found out today that Ricky has much the same dreams as we and has done sketches to show what he in his dreams has experienced. Chloe, have you seen this sketch?”

“No, I haven’t. I know his room is a mess but I finally gave up entering because he doesn’t want me in there.”

“Look at this then, Ricky gave me some of his sketches to look at. Mary will recognize it, but you probably won’t.”

Mary took it into her hands, exclaiming, “That’s Miriam and that’s the boy with no name and his mother. Miriam is handing the coppers to him to buy a loaf of bread because he and his mother were hungry.” Chloe opened the door and screamed for Guido to come in. Mary and I began speaking at once.

Finally, I let Mary explain, beginning at the start of Miriam’s travels. It took an hour to get Guido and Chloe to pay enough attention to what we were trying to say—not to believe really, but that Mary was a little different and had some dreams that both she and Ricky had experienced. I told them that I was really impressed with his sketches that he had made of his dreams.

They knew he was into sketches but didn’t realize that the sketches had a point. I explained when I showed them the sketch of Miriam giving money at the well to two who were hungry.

“And who is Miriam?”

“Chloe, look at Miriam’s in the painting of the woman’s face and at Mary. “Who would you say it was?”

“It is Mary.”

“Yes it is. Miriam is the one telling her story two thousand years ago to herself two thousand years in the present time.”

“Why and what is the point?”

“Not sure, but this was at the time that Jesus was beginning to preach to the world which became the start of Christianity. As far as we know there are few of us here in the present to relate these facts. The facts may not be believed by many but for some reason it is necessary to have them related. Ricky is drawing sketches to tell the story of interacting a small part of what turned out to be a major one which I suspect is the beginning of Christianity.

“So far there is Mary, Ricky, me, and one other who has dreams of Jesus’ early life. There is not much detail on Jesus until he took up his father’s work. I know who the other person who dreams the same ones Mary and I do. I will see if he will relate his dreams to Ricky who can draw sketches to show the people and times in the beginning.

“Chloe, you have seen the marks on Mary’s chest. Those marks or stigmata come from Miriam wiping the blood of Jesus on her shawl when she helped load the cross and body onto a cart to move him to the cave that he eventually arose from.”

“And Pete, how do you fit into this?

“Miriam in a dream told me I grew up and worked with Jesus as a child and man with one other who all worked as carpenters until he went about his father’s business. I as Pete don’t remember much because my dreams have been more of the present. I hope this other person will remember more than I do about that aspect of that time.”

“You want me to talk to you and Ricky and of course Mary about dreams? I guess we could. It is like I have neglected my own child not knowing what he is up to.”

“Don’t feel that way. Chloe, you nourished a child when he was crippled until he became whole. I would say that Ricky has you sketched into the background as one that stands out in that particular crowd in the sketch I showed you. Many of his sketches apparently come from his dreams. Here look at it again and ask him about it Sunday when we talk.”

“Pete, the boy is too young to get involved in this.”

“Maybe, but rubbing that copper piece in the corner of the picture made it so he could walk, Chloe.”

I dug into my pocket and handed her the copper I carried. “Wear slacks with a pocket until Sunday and you will be with us. It will make you curious enough to come. Later, I will make you a clasp where the copper touches your skin and you will be protected from sickness and mishaps forever.”

“Oh, alright Pete, I know you are right.”

“Chloe, take some time and go in and ask Ricky if you can go in to see his sketches. They are amazing. Many of these are of the people who he dreams about. Have him show you the picture that Mary and I kept behind the curtain I have over there on the wall. Ricky asked to take it earlier today and he has it in his room to match the one he drew to compare. He is also hoping he can go to art school this coming year. His art teacher here says she can’t teach him any more than he knows right now.”

Guido observed, “That’s going to be costly?”

“Yes, but it will be worth it. I have a few thousand that some former girlfriend borrowed and has paid back laying around somewhere.”

“No, Guido and I have the money and I can see how serious you are about this art class thing. Dammit, Pete, you keep coming up with things to make me love you. We will see you Sunday.” Mary and Guido had heard this expression of love for me and thought nothing of it. Ricky was able to walk and this was attributed to me in her mind, so why wouldn’t she love me?

I passed a few more of the sketches around and everyone marveled at them when they recognized someone Ricky had sketched that they knew. Suddenly Chloe burst into tears. “I have neglected my son so badly!” Guido just held her until they could escape out the door.

Mary turned to me. “I think we all have neglected Ricky.”

PJ spoke up from the doorway. “I haven’t neglected him and neither has Sis. When we go over to Aunt Chloe’s, we go into Ricky’s room and talk while watching him draw. He always seems glad to have us there.”

“Well good, for you. I’m sure Ricky doesn’t feel he is neglected because you were there for him.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

I excused myself and called Joe, “Hey Joe, I want to ask you a personal question. You know the boy Ricky who is with me a lot? He pointed out something a little strange about some of us who are working close together and know each other. Do you ever have dreams about life and people from long ago?” There was silence.

The silence lengthened. “Joe, if you do, who sends them to you?”

“No. I mean, yes. I do have dreams and you are in them with me. Jesus of our youth was there as well. We played together. Jesus would leave us to play and go off and think about things and would never tell us what he was thinking about. Amy was always with us and her name was Anika when we played together in these dreams. Anika is the one who sends the dreams to both me and Amy now.