Gregory A. Patrick

06/29/2021

Jaiden – Chapter 116

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Greg Patrick

 

When the guys drove up to the homes they would be living in, the beauty of the manicured lawns and the exterior designs of the houses blew their minds. The neighborhood was beyond beautiful, and the homes were exquisite. Everybody first toured the home Ginny and Gampy would be living in. When Ginny saw the interior of the house, she broke down and cried huge tears. She had never lived in such a beautiful, modern home. Gampy looked around and all he could say was, "WOW! This is unbelievable."

 

The house had three bedrooms, a den, living room, large kitchen with a breakfast nook, and a formal dining room. There was a single door from the den to the outside of the house. When Gampy looked through the door, he turned and said, "Martha, you have to see this!" Ginny walked to the door, looked outside, and then walked out on a magnificent deck. She thought the front yard was beautiful, but the back yard...it is nothing short of exquisite. She and Gampy had never lived in a house that was so beautiful, that had a deck, much less the cupola with the large wooden swing in the backyard. Ginny and Gampy were beside themselves at the home they would be living in for the next two or three years.

 

The home Granny and the Reverend would be living in was very similar to Ginny's and Gampy's but built on a reversed floor plan. Room designs were different as were the colors in the house. "Taylor, I don't know who picked out these colors, they are gorgeous and will go beautifully with our belongings. "Granny." "Yes, Jaiden." "Telephone call for you." "Who would be calling me on your telephone?" "Hello." "Mykela, why are you calling me on Jaiden's phone?"

 

"Well, Mom, your son put me up to it." "Girl, what do you mean?" "Momma, he and the guys got together and got pictures of your furniture and decorations, and Jaiden had a decorator pick out all the colors when the house was being built. They made me pick the final colors and approve them." "Well, love, you did an awesome job. I can't wait for you and Buddy and the folks at church to see this house. Taylor and I have never lived anywhere that was this nice and this beautiful. And the yards, they are so beautiful they will take your breath away when you see them. As soon as we get moved in, I'll send you some pictures on the computer." "Thanks, Momma, let me know how things go this week."

 

While Granny was talking to her daughter, everybody heard what sounded like big trucks driving up. Dale went to the living room to look out the window. "Hey, guys, the moving vans and car carrier are here. They're hear a day earlier than expected." "Dale, since they packed all the furniture from the bedrooms with the clothes still in them, all they have to do is unload the furniture, set it in place, and bring in the hanging boxes with our shirts in them. Towels and stuff for the bathroom are in boxes and labeled, so all they have to do with those boxes is put them in the bathrooms where they belong. With the cars here, we can take the rentals back to the airport and save the rest of the money we'd pay on the rental fees. It should only take a few hours to unload the vans and get the furniture inside. When we go to dinner, we can take the rentals back to the airport."

 

"Talking about dinner, Jaiden, what do you have in mind?" "Peyton, I spotted a little Italian restaurant down the street from the motel and I thought we could try that to see if it is any good. You know what the children are going to want as soon as we get them seated and they recognize the aroma." "Sweetheart, I'm game for that. Charlie, Dale, what do you guys think? "Peyton, we have enough money that we can do that tonight." "Dale, what do you mean you have enough money to do that tonight. The arrangement we have lived with for the past four years hasn't changed and it won't change until you two start working and have gotten pay checks for at least six months. We've already talked about that, and I have no intention of changing my mind, capiche?" "Capiche, Jaiden, thank you." "Like I said before and like I will keep saying, brothers take care of brothers."

 

While the moving men were getting the furniture into the house and placed into the correct places, Jaiden and Charley took the children to the backyard to play so they wouldn't get in the way of the movers. As expected, everything was in the house and in the proper places in a little over two hours. The driver of the car carrier had unloaded everybody's vehicle and parked each one on the curb in front of the owner's residence. He gave everybody their keys and drove into the sunset to find a load of vehicles to take somewhere else.

 

Jaiden signed the completion forms for the movers as did Ginny, Granny, and their husbands. There was relatively nothing left to do except put the hanging clothes into the closets, so everybody piled into the three rental cars, the babies were put into the van, and everybody drove to the Italian restaurant. When they walked inside, they were shocked to see the mural with their pictures on it in the foyer of the bistro.

 

"Good evening, folks. How many tonight?" "Six adults and ten babies." "Let me get the space set up for you and I will be right back. "We have space for six adults and we have 10 highchairs for the children. If you don't mind me asking, would you gentlemen and the children be the ones in the mural?" "We are. We just got here to do our residencies at St. Jude's." When everyone had been seated, the orders were taken for the adults and the waiter inquired if the dads wanted spaghetti with the special sauce for the children. He was told they did, so he sent the orders to the kitchen on the computer.

 

The server went and got the drinks that were ordered, brought them to the table, and then made an announcement to the restaurant's guests: "Ladies and gentlemen, almost all of you have inquired about the mural on the wall, and you all know the story behind the picture. If you don't, it is printed in your menus. We are extremely blessed and pleased to announce that the individuals in the mural are dining with us tonight. They just arrived in Memphis yesterday and moved into their new homes today. As you can see, the children have grown quite a bit, but they are here and you can see them as you leave the restaurant; I am sure you will see the families again in the next few years while they are in Memphis. We ask tonight that you afford them a modicum of privacy as they dine with their families. Thank you and enjoy your evening."

 

When everyone finished their meal, they went to the airport to return the rental cars. The rental agency was surprised that the cars were being returned four days earlier than expected. Jaiden explained that the carrier delivering their vehicles arrived much earlier than expected. With the cars having been returned, everyone went back to their new homes.

 

As they saw everything in place, they decided to check out of the hotel and stay at home. When the dads got their children into their home and turned them loose, the babies didn't miss a beat. They didn't have to acclimate to the house since everything was identical to their home in Erie. The dads went to their respective bedrooms, put on their bathing suits, and took the children to their shower rooms for their evening bath. Jaiden's and Peyton's moms took Alaina Noelle to her bathroom and gave her a bath while her brothers were playing catch me in the showers with their dads.

 

When the children were bathed and dressed, they went to the den and played for almost an hour before they started getting on the couch next to their dads, and in the laps of their grandmothers, and then falling asleep. The children were put in their beds and slept soundly. The adults got a cup of coffee and went to sit on the deck and talk. Thanks to their flying from Erie to Memphis, they were not at all tired and were in good spirits. The guys decided to go to their respective places of employment the next day and do all that was necessary to be on the job by eight am on July sixth.

 

Jaiden and Peyton received a tour of the hospital and met the individuals with whom they would be working and from whom they would be learning the art of oncology and oncological surgery. Charley and Dale, on the other hand, received a tour of the building project at the hospital and were shown the mobile office in which they would be working and the project on which their initial focus would be assigned.

 

When the guys got home, they were excited to tell their parents, Ginny, Gampy, Granny, and the Reverend about everything they had seen. Peyton and Jaiden were particularly excited about what they would be doing, with whom they would be working, and the design of the unit in which they would be working and receiving specialized training. Jaiden's mom was holding back tears as hard as she could, because Jaiden was talking and sounding like his dad when his dad first arrived at St. Jude's.

 

The difference between Jaiden – and Peyton – from Jaiden's dad was that his dad did not have the positions waiting on him back home that Peyton and Jaiden have; he stayed at and worked for St. Jude's when he completed his residency. Jaiden and Peyton had not seen everything in the unit where they would first be working, and a major surprise awaits them the first day they report to St. Jude's. For now, it was time to retire for the night and everyone went to their bedrooms to prepare for sleep; at least that was the case for the moms and the children's other grandparents. The guys definitely had other ideas of `things' to do before they would go to sleep.

 

"Jaiden, if there is one aspect in our relationship that you love the most, what would it be?" "Peyton, that is a very personal issue to me, but since you asked, I will tell you. The one aspect of our relationship that I love the most is when I get to hold you, to feel your body touching mine, to rub your face and run my fingers through your hair, and to smell the scent of your hair and skin. It's the one thing I have loved since the first day we met. What makes it even more beautiful to me is when I can do that while you are not feeling particularly well. To hold you on the deck and let you sleep all night is one of the most amazing feelings I can have other than cuddling with you in bed."

 

"You are, always have been, and always will be the most amazing person I have ever known. When I see you walk down a hallway, work with patients in the hospital, play with our sons, and when you give me your wonderful hugs and a quick kiss on my lips, I think I am the luckiest man in the world. The idea of ever being without you paralyzes me with fear, and that is something that is difficult for me to deal with. And when you look at me with your beautiful brown eyes, I melt. Even today, when you go somewhere and I am not with you, I am just as anxious for you to come home and walk through the door as I was when we first became a couple."

 

"What about our sexual relationship?" "Peyton, nothing is as important to me as your happiness and your physical and mental wellbeing. If those three factors are absent in your life, in our relationship, then I haven't been the person I need to be for you. If that was the case, I couldn't live with myself, I simply love you that much. I love our sexual relationship, and I love making love to you and having you make love to me, but there are those things that are more important to me."

 

"Now, Peyton, turnabout is fair play; same question for you." "Jaiden, everything you mention is what I enjoy receiving from you. You have always had the wonderful scent of the lotion you like to use. The way the lotion interacts with your body chemistry is intoxicating to me. Your loving touches on my body - they make me tremble with ecstasy. When I look at your eyes and I see how much you truly love me, I feel blessed and honored beyond measure."

 

"When I see you playing with our sons and y'all are laughing uncontrollably, it reminds me of what an amazing person you are, always have been, and always will be. The anticipation of you getting home and walking through the door is just as strong today as it was the first day we met."

 

"You really do love me, don't you, Peyton?" "Sweetheart, more than you will ever know."

 

Peyton was standing at the railing to the deck of their new residence as Jaiden walked to him, embraced him, and gently kissed the side of his face. "Jaiden, I didn't think we would have a mountain view like we did in Erie. This is a beautiful place overlooking the Smoky Mountains; it's peaceful and serene." "It is, my Love, and I hope it brings us as many beautiful memories as the mountains of Erie have."

 

"We're going to have a lot of fun exploring the area when we have the time, and we will have the time, I will make sure of that. Imagine going to the southern mountain fairs with our boys, meeting the wonderful people who are going to cross our paths, and all the southern foods you are going to introduce to me and our boys, and you, Dale, Charley, and me getting to go trout fishing together in the mountain streams. There is so much culture we are going to be able to explore here, it is exciting to me."

 

"Jaiden, you know we have some weird foods in the south, what is one food that you've heard about that you would like to try?" "Sweetheart, first, and foremost, there isn't a chance in hell that you will get me to try chittlins. I get enough bullshit in life, and I have no desire to add pig shit to that mixture." "Jaiden, you are a nut. I won't try chitlins either. Now, what southern dish would you like to try?"

 

"Babe, Greg told me about going to Maggie Valley, Tennessee, and trying something called Liver mush. He said he wondered what it tasted like since hearing about a liver mush festival in North Carolina. He and his wife went to a popular Maggie Valley restaurant for lunch and dinner at least every other day while they were there, a restaurant that Popcorn Sutton liked. He said he ordered a side of liver mush and it was so good he had it every time he ate at the restaurant, and he craves it since getting home where he can't find the stuff. Yeah, I'd like to try liver mush since Greg said it was so good." "Tell you what, love, if I see it or hear where we can get it, I'll get you some."

 

"What would you like to do for dinner tonight?" "Let's see if we can find a true, southern restaurant where I can pick up some food and bring it home after I take our moms and Ginny, Granny, and their husbands to the dinner cruise." "Jaiden, we have the internet set up and the computers are connected, so I'll see what is around Memphis."

 

"Jaiden, BB King's Blues Club has traditional fare I think you will like. We can get a couple of orders of fried dill pickles as an appetizer. For dinner, they have true Southern Fried Catfish that has a cornmeal batter and comes with Southern coleslaw, tartar sauce, and comeback sauce. They also have Southern style meatloaf that I know you will love. You can get catfish nuggets and French fries for the boys and we can let them try the fried dill pickles. It'll be interesting to see their faces when they bite into a fried dill pickle." "I bet. We'll have to take a picture of the boys trying them and send it to our parents; they should get a kick out of seeing that."

 

"Peyton, what is comeback sauce?" "I guess the best way to describe it is to say it is a jazzed up, peppered up ketchup. It's peppered up with aged Cayenne pepper." "Would you like to have that for dinner?" "Sounds good to me, fried catfish is a Southern favorite and I haven't had any since we've been in Erie." When I take mom and Granny and Ginny and husbands to the cruise, call and order what you want and I'll pick it up on the way home. What about bones in the catfish the children will get?" "Catfish only has a backbone, no small bones like other fish." "Good. Order enough for the four adults and all ten children."

 

"Mom. Peyton, Dale, Charley, and I have made arrangements for dinner tonight for you, Mom Riley, Granny, Ginny, Gampy, and the Reverend, so don't plan anything." "Son, what did you arrange for us to do for dinner?" "Everybody will know when we get there. Beyond that, Dale's coffee sure is good, Jaiden said as he smiled and took a sip of his coffee. Him doing that irritated the snot out of his mother, but she couldn't say anything because that is what she does to him when she has no intention of making any comments regarding the subject at hand.

 

"Jaiden, at least tell me what time to be ready and what I need to wear." "Mom, seven this evening, comfortable slacks and a blouse. You'll be eating Southern middle class poor folk's style food in a historical environment off a Memphis side street to nowhere." "Jaiden, you sure make it easy for someone to figure out what you have planned for an evening out." Again, a sip of coffee, a smile, and not a word said.

 

At 6:15 pm, Jaiden loaded everybody into the Navigator and headed to the pier where the paddle wheel dinner boat was moored. On the way, Ginny asked him where they were going. "Ginny, if I had a cup of coffee, I would take a sip, smile, and not say a word. You'll know when we get there."

 

They arrived at the pier on the Mississippi River promptly at 6:35 that evening. "Jaiden, exactly what do you have planned?" "Mom, I have plans to have you, Mom Riley, Ginny, Gampy, Granny, and the Reverend on that paddle wheel boat by 6:45. After that, you'll have to ask the crew about the rest of the evening. I'll be back at nine tonight to pick y'all up."

 

"As soon as y'all are on the boat, I am going to BB King's Restaurant and pick up dinner for Peyton, Charley, Dale, the children, and me." "What are y'all going to eat, Jaiden."

 

"Ginny, we are going to eat some foods we normally wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole just to see what real Southern food tastes like. We are going to start with an appetizer of fried green tomatoes, batter-fried and boiled chitlins, barbecued ribs, and homemade peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream."

 

"Jaiden, I'll tell you this: fried green tomatoes with Louisiana hot sauce are delicious; you lied about the chitlins; barbecued ribs are off the chart good; and the children will love warm homemade peach cobbler with the ice cream." The Reverend chimed in and said, "Son, the Lord doesn`t like to hear lies. I doubt even He would eat chitlins, I know I surely won't." Everyone chuckled at that statement.

 

"Jaiden, Charley and I are going to the grocery store to get things we need in the house." "OK, Peyton, be careful." "I will. I love you." "I love you more."

 

While Dale and Peyton were gone, Charley and Jaiden took the children outside to let them play in the backyard. It was nice that when the house was built, a hurricane fence was put up in the backyard for the children's protection. St. Jude's even had the builders to build a small fort with slides, swings, and a sawhorse for the children.

 

The sawhorse isn't like the old type where when one of the children jumped off one side, the child on the other side went crashing to the ground. This sawhorse had a mechanism in it that slowed each side as that side was headed toward the ground. Chuck and Nathan Robert especially loved that ride. The rest of the boys liked the fort and the slide and Alaina Noelle commandeered the swings. None of the boys dared to get in the swing she most liked.

 

The children were playing in a relatively small area of the yard, so Jaiden was not as focused on them as he normally would be until he heard Nathan Robert yelling Dah, Dah, and then very loudly yelling Daaaaaaah! Jaiden stood up and said, "What is it, Nathan?" "Dah, DAMN cat!" as he pointed toward a cat about to jump the fence into the backyard. "Nathan, it is OK to just say cat, you don't have to say the other word too, OK? "K, Dah."

 

"Jaiden, do you ever have the feeling that Nathan is going to be just like Seth and say whatever is on his mind?" "Charley, that fear is very real to me, especially around pretty women. Every time Nathan Robert goes by a pretty lady, he says, "cute, Dah." Seth was with him one day when Nathan said that. He looked at me and told me that I might as well get used to it because, just like it is with him, I know it is going to happen again. He was right in what he said, and I know it is going to be a struggle to get Nathan to not comment about women that way."

 

"As long as he is a little boy, women won't mind him saying that." "Maybe not, Charley, but they will certainly look at Peyton and me as the ones who taught him to say it. I am not going to lie to a lady and tell her you taught Nathan to do that - although it may be a viable alternative one day - to get myself out of trouble." "Surely you wouldn't do that, Jaiden." "Maybe, maybe not." "Think of it this way, Jaiden, saying cute about a lady is better than him pointing at a boy and saying, "cute butt, Dah." "Charley, so help me, it you teach him to say that..."

 

By the time Dale and Peyton got home, Jaiden and Charley had bathed the children and put them to bed for the night. Jaiden was sitting on the deck looking like he was lost in a fog of thought. Peyton walked out on the deck and asked, "Jaiden, what has you looking so intense?"

 

"Peyton, I was thinking about a movie titled, God's Compass. It was written and directed by a man named Stephan Schultz. The story was built around the story of Eli and his little sister, Naomi, and an older lady by the name of Mrs. Suzanne Waters, and she made sure to emphasize Mrs. over MS, even to a judge in Juvenile Court."

 

"Mrs. Waters was a high school principal who was retiring. Eli came into her life because of her daughter-in-law. As Mrs. Waters was giving a retirement speech to the school's students, she told them, "For everyone fortunate enough to reach this day knows it is coming. One day I woke and realized this day is here. So, I would like to leave you with this: God has plans for you; don't waste the valuable time you have chasing what doesn't matter. Arguments never win battles, it is the priorities that go on that matter; you can do better. God's North for you only needs your courage to be realized." When Mrs. Waters said that in the movie, it hit me in the face like a ton of bricks, and that is why I am the way I am."

 

"Eli, the young mix-raced boy who came into her life had been orphaned when he was ten years old. By the time he was sixteen, he had been in and out of trouble and in and out of the juvenile detention system for numerous thefts including grand larceny and more juvenile probation infractions than any one person should ever have. Of all the foster homes he lived in, the longest stint at any home was three months."

 

"What people never realized - and never tried to find out - was why such a young boy was committing so many offenses against the state, the citizens of his community. What nobody realized, and apparently didn't care to realize, is that the boy was fighting for survival the only way he knew how to survive. He wasn't fighting only because of his hunger and needs, he was also fighting to take care of a sister ten years his junior. They were homeless, yet he built a lean-to shanty where she had a bed and they could stay dry in the rain, warm in the winter, and cooler in the summer. He had a kerosene lantern for light at night, and he got food from where ever he could."

 

"The way he came into Mrs. Waters' life was when he had been chased by her son after he committed an offense against his wife and him while they were on the way to the hospital for the delivery of their child. Mrs. Waters' daughter-in-law, Jessica, got mad at her husband, and Mrs. Waters' son, David, for chasing Eli - whom he did not know at the time. She slid into the driver's seat of the car and started driving toward the hospital. When Jessica started having pain problems related to the birth of the child she was carrying, she pulled into the lot of a truck stop and laid back in her seat."

 

"Eli had his sister with him at the truck stop when he thought he was going to be able to steal a BMW and sell it to a chop shop to make some money. He jimmied the door lock with a slim-jim tool and opened the door. As he opened the door, he didn't realize Jessica was lying back in the driver's seat until she coldcocked him in the mouth. He became intensely distracted and didn't know whether to run, to drag Jessica out of the car and take it, or to help her by calling the police, an ambulance, or by driving her to the hospital in her car."

 

"Eventually, he turned and yelled several times for his sister to go home. Then he had Jessica slide over to the passenger seat in the car and he began driving her to the hospital. When they got there, he summoned emergency room personnel to help get her out of the car so she could get the attention she needed. Eli wanted to stay with Jessica until he knew her husband was there and that Jessica was OK. Unfortunately, two police officers in the emergency room who knew Eli, and knew there was a warrant out for his arrest, didn't want to hear anything he had to say, arrested him, and took him to the juvenile detention center."

 

"While Mrs. Waters was visiting with Jessica, she asked Mrs. Waters to find the boy who brought her to the hospital. Doctors told Jessica that if Eli hadn't done that, her baby would have died. When the baby was born, he was in critical condition because of a defect called Blue Baby Syndrome where blood vessels were swapped during the growth of the fetus. The baby would need relatively quick surgical intervention to survive."

 

What was so beautiful about the situation was that when Jessica asked Mrs. Waters to find out who the young man was, and where he was, she felt that Hashem gave her a calling at that moment to do what Jessica had asked her to do. When she inquired in the emergency room if the staff there knew the young man, a nurse told Mrs. Waters that she understood the boy had been arrested and taken to juvenile detention."

 

"She got in her car and headed for the juvenile detention center to see what she would need to do to get him out of confinement and under her supervision, and that is when people started trying to throw roadblocks in front of her. Nothing the people did shook her resolve to help the young man responsible for saving the life of her grandson."

 

They eventually wound up in front of the Juvenile Court Judge where Mrs. Waters pleaded for her to be allowed to get the boy out of jail and under her care. The judge didn't want any part of allowing that to happen until he asked Mrs. Waters why, and she replied, "because it is what Hashem, God, wants me to do."

 

"The judge acted like he had a corncob up his ass and set bond for the boy at one-hundred thousand dollars." "Mrs. Waters made the bond, Jaiden? How?" "Mrs. Waters put the home she shared with her husband up as collateral for Eli's bond." "Did Eli abide by the conditions of his bond?" "No, and that is where everybody thought a problem came up." "What did Mrs. Waters do?" "Peyton, she kept the faith, and when she walked out of the house a few mornings later, Eli was sitting on the front steps of the Waters home."

 

"Years earlier, Papa Waters, Reverend Waters, went into renal failure and needed a kidney transplant. Right after Eli was incarcerated, Mrs. Waters started going through her husband's possessions she retained after his death. She found a box that had a compass in it with the inscription, "God has your north." She pulled it out and laid it on the bed next to her as she laid down to read like my mom does. There was one other thing Mrs. Waters pulled out of the box that made clear to her that she had indeed done precisely what Hashem had told her to do."

 

"What did she find?" "A picture, Peyton. She looked at the photo which she had never seen. When she turned it over, it was a picture of the family of the man from whom Reverend Waters had received the kidney donation that saved his life. The sad thing is that the donor had lost his life in a car wreck, and that is how the kidney donation came about. When Mrs. Waters turned the photograph over, it had the name of the man, his wife, and their two children's names on it. The children were Eli and Naomi. Hashem had brought everything full circle in the most miraculous of ways."

 

"Mrs. Waters' son, Dr. David Waters, a surgeon, had taken Eli to the shanty to help him look for Naomi. It was while they were at the shanty that Eli learned David was trying to help him because he wanted to - and not for any other reason. He related that fact to David Waters and then said, "You don't know, do you?" A few words after that moment, David Waters realized that it was Eli's father who was the donor who helped to keep his dad alive. Both Eli's and David's perspectives on everything changed, and David realized his mother really had obeyed a directive from Hashem, and she had given the compass and the picture she found to Eli - which he had shown to David. It was after that moment that Eli was re-incarcerated for the probation violation filed with the judge by the probation officer because Eli wasn't at Mrs. Waters' home when the probation officer went there for a scheduled home visit."

 

"When Eli was released pending sentencing by the court, David had spoken to the pastor of a church known for helping people like Eli. The pastor mobilized a large contingent of volunteers to make a sketch of Naomi and to place that sketch throughout the neighborhood. They began canvassing the area going door to door asking residents if they had seen Naomi. They walked to the front of one house and Eli pulled out the picture of his family and held it up in front of David."

 

"David looked at Eli and said, "this is the house you grew up in, isn't it?" He told Eli he didn't have to go up to the house that he could get someone else to ask the resident about Naomi. Eli walked past him, went up to and knocked on the door several times. The lady at the house finally came to the door, and she seemed like a total nut job. First, she said she didn't have anything they could steal – two black men, one older, one younger. Talk about racism!"

 

"Then the lady said if they were selling something, she didn't want it and then tried to close the door, but David stuck his foot in the door to get a chance to show the flier to the lady. She said she had beans on the stove and didn't have time to talk. `It's my secret recipe with bacon, butter, and salt', she said. That's when David showed her the police sketch of Naomi and she said yes that she had seen her, that she was sitting on the couch in the living room. Eli shot past the lady, while being lightly scolded by David, grabbed Naomi and hugged her with every ounce of love he had."

 

"Naomi, why did you come here? Eli asked. Naomi looked at him and said, `you told me to go home.' While Eli meant for her to go to the shanty they had been living under and to wait for him there, she had gone to the only place she knew as `home'. Shortly after finding Naomi, Eli had to go back to court to receive his sentence on the grand theft charge involving his trying to steal an automobile."

 

"The judge told Eli that because of all the efforts of Mrs. Waters, he was going to sentence him to four years of supervised probation, and that if he violated any conditions of that probation, he was going to receive five years imprisonment that he would have to serve in an adult prison. When I heard that judge say that, I thought, what the biggest burning bag of pontificated bovine fecal matter I have ever seen put on someone's doorstep on any morning."

 

"The beauty of everything is what the judge said next. "There is another matter the Court needs to attend to before the Court adjourns. Are the adoptive parents present. Mrs. Waters didn't know anything about what was to occur. Her son, Dr. David Waters, stood up and said, `we are here, your Honor.' Eli got up, took Naomi's hand, and walked before the judge with Jessica and David. The judge asked a few questions and then commented that Mrs. Waters didn't know what was happening and asked her to come forward as well."

 

"When everyone walked out of the courtroom, Eli was still free thanks to the efforts of Mrs. Waters. Eli and Naomi had a new, loving family with a beautiful home to stay in instead of living under a shanty next to a vacant mill building. Mrs. Waters had two new grandchildren, and Jessica and David had two new children they loved beyond any measure."

 

Those two new children, Eli and Naomi, were the biological children of the man who died and gave his kidney to save Reverend Waters, Mrs. Waters' husband - and David's father."

 

"When Peyton and Dale got home from the grocery store, and Peyton went out to speak with Jaiden, Dale could tell the two had been crying, so Dale asked Peyton what had happened. After Peyton related the story to Dale and Charley, all four of the guys had tears streaming down their faces."

 

The rest of that evening was very somber and quiet as the guys sat with their spouses and watched the movie about which Jaiden had spoken.

 

When the guys finally bedded down for the night, the conversations in each bedroom were the same: "Peyton, would you please just hold me tonight?" "Dale, would you please just hold me tonight."

 

Four lives were changed forever that night by one of the most important, most loving movies ever filmed: God's Compass!