Point of No Return (48 page)

“It's payback time,” Joe said.

“What would Jesus do?” Matt asked Jack.

As if to say, “Come and get it,” Jack spread his arms. “Turn the other cheek,” Jack said.

Joe and his gang closed in on the two boys. But any enjoyment they might have had with their revenge was robbed by the maddening way Jack and Matt kept laughing.

Whit and Tom sat quietly at the counter of Whit's End later that night. Whit was about to lock the front door, but he enjoyed the silence of the building so much that he didn't want to move.

“It's nice when it's quiet like this,” Whit said as he sipped his coffee.

“Yep,” was Tom's only reply.

Whit glanced down at the newspaper again, then casually flipped the pages over. It didn't appear as if he was looking for anything special, but it turned out that he was. “Here it is,” Whit said and spun the paper on the counter so Tom could see.

It was an obituary for Raymond Clark. Christine had provided the newspaper with an older photograph of the man. He looked healthy and robust in the posed family portrait. Whit figured it was taken several years before, in happier times.

“Well, that's something,” Tom said as he pointed to a line in the obituary.

“What?” Whit asked and peered over to look.

“It says here that he was an employee of Ballistic Printing until they laid him off a few months ago.” Tom clicked his tongue. “Amazing.”

Whit thought about it for a few minutes. “What are we supposed to think about that?” he wondered aloud. “Ballistic Printing fired Raymond Clark, so he came to Odyssey where he died. Because of him, we made promises to do what Jesus would do, which is why Karen decided to expose Mr. Laker rather than hide the truth—the truth about the very company that had fired Raymond Clark in the first place.”

“It boggles the mind,” Tom said. “Coincidence, you reckon?”

“I don't believe in coincidences. Just God,” Whit said with a smile.

P
AUL
M
C
C
USKER
is a Peabody Award-winning writer and director. His works include the multiple award-winning audio dramatizations of
The Chronicles of Narnia, Amazing Grace
, and
The Screwtape Letters
.

McCusker is also a writer and director for the long-running children's program Adventures in Odyssey, writing not only over 250 audio episodes, but also scripting 2 of the animated video series and 22 spin-off novels.