The Secret of the Desert Stone (12 page)

Dr. Cooper scribbled some calculations on his writing pad, gazed through the transit one more time to doublecheck, and then ran the numbers again. “Well, the figures confirm what we've seen: The Stone has grown roughly 240 feet in both height and width.”

“And yet it hasn't changed shape at all,” Dr. Henderson mused. Dr. Cooper looked long and hard at the Stone, coming to a conclusion he found difficult. “The Stone isn't real, is it—not in the normal, material sense?”

Dr. Henderson thought the question over, then shook her head. “It's there, it's observable, and by all appearances it's physical. It's as hard as a diamond, maybe harder. It's shaking and gouging the earth. And yet, you're absolutely right: There
is
something unreal about it.” She looked at him, and he could see fear in her eyes. “I guess I'm trying to say it's not of this world.”

The village square had never seen such a hubbub. The two white-skinned foreigners turned out to be fierce competitors, very good with their feet, and their skill and determination only made the others play harder, loving every minute of it. The grownups, fascinated and amused by the sight, began gathering on the porches and along the edges of the playing area to cheer their teams on. Beset had scored a goal for Suti's team, but Lila came right back by catching a rebound off a teammate's head and hurling the ball through the goal. The score was even, three to three.

Suti took the ball out of bounds for his team as arms went up everywhere trying to block his throw. Jay scurried into the clear along the side boundary line, and Suti shot the ball to him.

Blocked! A tall, stringbean of a kid diverted the ball with his hand, and it went sailing toward one of the houses. Lila was closest and went racing after it, hoping to take possession before it went out of bounds.

Too late. The ball rolled over the line, bounced through a flock of chickens that went scurrying and flapping, then rolled under a house. Lila dropped to her hands and knees, brushed the grass aside, and peered into the dark recesses under the thatched structure. She thought she saw the ball resting near a large corner post that held the house up, so she hurried closer on her hands and knees. Yes, there was the ball, almost hidden behind the large square stone that served as a footing for the post.

She reached for the ball. It was just beyond the reach of her fingertips. She stretched further—then stopped.

The kids were eager to continue the game. She could hear them shuffling and waiting.

But for the moment, her mind and eyes were pulled away from the lost ball. She turned her head and took a second look.

A large, square, reddish stone . . .

Now the kids were hollering at her. She could hear Beset calling, “Hurry up! Hurry up!”

She brushed aside some grass with her hand. The stone was cut, chipped, chiseled into a square shape.

It was—

So suddenly it startled her, a ray of sunlight broke through the grass and shadows and lit up the side of the footing stone, making it sparkle. She spun her head and looked toward the east.

Just over the tops of the houses, through the leafy treetops, she saw the sun peeking over the top of the Stone in the desert like a fiery sunrise. One thin beam of light pierced through the trees, seeking out that one little stone right next to her.

“Jay,” she called, her voice choked with fear, excitement, awe, shock, amazement. She called again, “Jay!” and then she nearly screamed, “JAY!”

He came on the run, afraid she'd hurt herself, been bitten by a snake or spider, broken a leg, gotten pinned under the house. “What! Are you all right?”

“Jay . . .” By now she was panting with excitement, rising to her knees, pointing at the foundation stone. “Jay, look!”

Jay looked and saw the foundation stone. He didn't get her point.

And then he did. He cocked his head to one side and looked again, his eyes tracing the beam of light from the little foundation stone to the sun now rising over the Stone in the desert. Pieces, thoughts, ideas were coming together in his mind.

Lila had already put several things together. “It's a foundation stone, Jay! It holds the house up!”

By now, Ontolo and Beset had come over to see what all the fuss was about. “Lila is hurt?” Beset asked.

Lila didn't answer that question but quickly asked them a question of her own. “Do
all
the houses have stones like this?”

Ontolo looked at Beset who translated the question as best she could, but neither of them seemed sure they'd understood Lila correctly.

Lila scrambled to see for herself. She ran around to the rear corner of the house, swished the grass aside, and found another reddish, square stone just like the first. Jay went with her, and soon they discovered that not only this house, but also just about every house, was sitting on the same, reddish, square stones.

“Ontolo,” said Jay, his voice broken with excitement. “Ontolo, why?”

Ontolo's face said,
Why what?

“Beset.” Jay beckoned to her urgently. “Beset, why are the houses built on these stones?”

She understood the question, but shrugged as if it held no importance. “Houses . . . stay strong. Houses not sink.”

Lila and Jay exchanged excited looks.

“I think I'd better go and get Dad,” Lila said with a trembling voice.

Jay concurred. “I think you're right.”

Lila took off running through the village square, out of the village and out over the grasslands.

But no sooner had she left when there was a rustling and babbling in the crowd and Jay looked up to see the chief and Bengati returning from another direction, along with Dr. Cooper and Dr. Henderson.

“Dad!” he called.

Dr. Cooper and the other three could tell something was brewing. The chief asked immediately, “What happen here?”

Jay beckoned to them and then pointed to the foundation stone Lila had uncovered. “Bengati, why are all the houses built on these stones?”

Both the chief and Bengati chuckled as if they'd heard a silly question. Bengati answered, “To keep the houses from sinking into the ground. Long ago, it rained much, and then the ground would become soft and the houses would sink and the posts would rot. So we learned to build upon these stones.”

“But . . .” Jay wasn't getting the answer he wanted. “But every house is built this way. Is this, you know, another tradition?”

Bengati was translating for the chief, who explained as Bengati interpreted, “Yes. It is something taught us by our forefathers. The rocks are like our God, you see? Our God is like a solid stone under our feet to keep us from sinking. When I stand on a large stone in our meeting hall, and when we build our houses this way, it shows us how we must build our lives upon our God.”

Jay pointed at the foundation stone. “Why are they cut square?”

Bengati and the chief exchanged puzzled looks as if they'd heard another silly question, and then Bengati ventured an answer. “So they will not roll. So they will stand there and not move.”

Dr. Cooper was already looking to the east as Jay said, “Look, Dad! Look at the Stone! It's cut out, carved, just like the foundation stones. It's square, and flat, and solid, and doesn't roll away.”

Jacob Cooper was also figuring it out. “The wise man . . .” he murmured as he looked at the huge Stone in the desert and then at the small foundation stone. “Matthew chapter seven: ‘Everyone who hears these things I say and obeys them is like a wise man. The wise man built his house on rock. It rained hard and the water rose. The winds blew and hit that house. But the house did not fall, because the house was built on rock.'”

Bengati translated the words to the chief, and he nodded. “Yes,” he said through Bengati, “this is our tradition.”

Dr. Cooper's voice was hushed with awe. “In a way, the Stone
is
speaking!”

TEN

T
he chief and Bengati drew near as Dr. Cooper removed his hat, nervously ran his fingers through his blond hair, and bored holes in the ground with his eyes. Jacob Cooper was thinking, formulating, riddle-solving, overwhelmed by the thoughts now streaming into his head.

“The Stone,” he muttered, “a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense . . . signs in the wilderness . . .” Then he stiffened as if hit with a bullet—it was actually another thought that came to him with the
force
of a bullet. “Water from the rock! Water from the rock,
of course!”

Dr. Cooper dug out his notebook and pen and started scribbling down his thoughts even as he spoke them, mostly to himself, but also to Dr. Henderson and Jay. “God spoke in special ways in the Bible; He used object lessons like . . .” Scribble scribble. “The tabernacle in the wilderness . . . the brass serpent Moses raised on the pole . . . the sacrificial lamb, and Abraham almost sacrificing his son Isaac . . . the Passover feast before the Hebrews left Egypt . . . Jonah in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights . . . the stone that brought forth water when Moses struck it!”

“I don't get it,” said Dr. Henderson.

Dr. Cooper was getting excited. “These people have been seeking after God. Their chief went into the desert and asked God to reveal Himself, and now I'm convinced that God has answered that prayer. He's been showing Himself to these people.”

“Exactly,” said Jay.

“He's been speaking in symbols, stories, object lessons: the story about the Lady and the snake, the account of the tribal chief who brought his people here and struck a rock that brought forth water, the Man in the Tree, the stones they build their houses on, and now . . .” Dr. Cooper took several steps across the square and extended his hand toward the mountainous Stone that towered like a sentinel over the village. “The Stone in the Desert! The greatest, mightiest Stone of all! A stone of stumbling, a rock of offense . . .”

“What?” Dr. Henderson exclaimed. “Would you mind decoding all this for me?”

Jacob Cooper was becoming jubilant as more scriptures came to mind. “Remember Jesus quoting the Old Testament scripture about the stone the builders rejected becoming the cornerstone? Jesus was referring to Himself. He was calling Himself the cornerstone, the stone upon which we build our faith, our very lives!”

“But for those who don't believe,” Jay recalled, “he'd be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. He'd only get people upset.”

“Like His Excellency Nkromo and his bunch on the other side,” Dr. Cooper said with a wink.

Bengati translated all of Jacob Cooper's words, and as the people all around the square heard them, they were spellbound. The kickball game was forgotten. The children and fathers and mothers and warriors and workers began to draw closer, wanting to hear more.

Now Dr. Cooper turned to the Motosas and said, “People, I believe you are right about the Stone. I believe your God sent it.”

Dr. Henderson sniffed a little chuckle. “Well, that's what you should have told them all along.”

“For
your
God is also
my
God.”

That turned her head. “But hey, take it easy!”

Dr. Cooper continued to speak as Bengati translated. “Your God has spoken to you through stories and traditions,” he said, “and through the Man in the Tree. Now He speaks through this mighty Stone that He has sent!” Dr. Cooper thought of another scripture. “In the Bible . . .” He thought he'd better explain what the Bible was. “Uh, God's words, written for all to see—”

The chief broke into a glowing smile and made the opening-a-book hand gesture. “My dream, Dr. Cooper. Remember my dream!”

That got Dr. Cooper all the more excited, to the point of preaching. “The words of God say that the stone is precious to those who believe, but will be hated and rejected by those who do not believe. Well, we were always wondering why you were never afraid of the Stone when the people who live in the east are terrified. Now we understand. No one has to be afraid of the Stone if they know the Savior it represents. Chief Gotono, we know this Savior! We know His name! He is—”

Just then, everyone heard a distant scream coming from the desert.

“What was that?” Dr. Henderson asked, alarmed.

Dr. Cooper knew his daughter's voice. “Lila!” He looked around immediately, verifying she was not present.

Jay suddenly came to awareness. “Oh man, in all the excitement I forgot! She went into the desert to look for you!”

“What?”

“She saw that stone under the house and made the connection and ran to get you to tell you and . . .”

“And she's still out there?”

Chief Gotono had heard the scream as well.“Lila, your girl?”

“Yes!”

The chief bellowed the information to his people, and there was an immediate babble of concern. Some of the kids were ready to run right out and find Lila but were held back by protective parents. Several warriors, better skilled for the task, ran for their spears.

“We go,” said the chief. “We find the girl Lila!”

Dr. Henderson grabbed the stick she'd been using as a cane. “And I'm going too.”

Dr. Cooper and Jay, Dr. Henderson, Chief Gotono, Bengati, and six warriors hurried out of the village and across the grasslands, calling Lila's name, fanning out, heading for the desert.

Chief Ontolo sent his warriors in several different directions, some south and north across the grasslands and some straight into the desert. Then he, Bengati, Dr. Cooper, and Jay ran straight ahead, toward the Stone, calling Lila's name. Dr. Henderson followed as quickly as she could.

They came to the place where Dr. Cooper and the others had set up the transit and done the surveying and calculations. It was the most likely spot where Lila would have come in her search for them, but she was nowhere to be found.

The chief shouted in a voice with the power of a ship's horn, “LILA!”