The Path to Peace

I put my hand on his arm. "Jim, there's nothing to be afraid of. You are welcome here. You're welcome to be an observer for as long as you want. Get used to the way we do things here. Then, when you're ready, you can join us freely."

"Actually, Helen," Jim answered. "I am ready. I would like to join you, if that's OK with you, and you too," he said, nodding at Grace.

Grace's face lit up. She had been embarrassed and upset when Jim had left. She had felt like it was her fault. Now, with his return, and his desire to join us, it was like lifting a veil of shame from her. The veil of shame was only in her mind, but to her it was real. I had to be a little cautious.

"Jim, are you sure?" I asked. "There's no reason to rush into it. Joining means opening yourself up to the entire group. We have no secrets, and no shame. Are you sure you're ready for that level of commitment?"

"Yes, I'm sure," he answered, "I have wrestled with this for a while now. I'm sure, and I'm ready to prove it to you."

"Are you saying you're ready to go before us today, right now?" I asked.

"Yes, I am," he replied firmly.

I didn't see a good reason to say no. "Alright, grab a robe from over there," I said, pointing to the closet, "and go change in the bathroom. I'll call you when we're ready for you." Standing up, I walked towards the couches as Jim headed to the bathroom. "Guess what people, Jim is going to join us. Let's all take a seat."

As everyone sat back down in a circle, I again stood before them. I was very happy at the prospect of Jim joining us. He was about to be the first person to join us simply because of the power of the principles we were teaching. He had seen no miracles. He was being asked to take things on faith, and to use his own eyes and judgment to decide if we were right. It was a milestone, and I wanted to make sure the assembled people understood that.

"All of you remember when Jim was here last, he left hurriedly," I started, "he wasn't ready to join us. He now is ready. Before he comes out, I want to point out something to you all. Each and every one of you joined us after witnessing or being part of a miracle. It even took a miracle to convince me. I don't know if you all know this, but I have no control over these miracles. I am just a conduit for them. But, anyway, you have all been part of them. Jim has not. Jim has asked to join after hearing, really hearing, the power of our message. He has true faith. Our faith comes from being given evidence. While this is very powerful, it also limits how we can attract new members. There will not be, cannot be, new miracles for every new member.

This brings us to Jim. As I said, he has true faith. He believes, with having had evidence put before him. But, he believes because he has seen that the old way is not working. He has faith that our way can truly lead to The Path to Peace. So, without further ado, let's welcome Jim."

Jim came walking out, looking nervous. He took a breath, then, dropped his robe. The only sound I heard was a slight gasp of appreciation from Giselle. Jim was only semi-erect, but he was well endowed. Instead of sitting, he stood where he was as he started to stroke himself. He closed his eyes, and obviously was imagining himself making love to someone. He was thrusting through his hand as if it were a woman. It didn't take long till he came. Fortunately, he blocked his ejaculation with his other hand, or else we all would have worn his seamen.

As soon as his body started to relax, Grace stood up, dropped her robe, and rushed over to him. They embraced, kissing passionately. Without saying a word, they slid to the ground. Jim immediately kissed his way down Grace's body, and buried his head between her legs. For the next ten minutes we were treated to the sight of Grace receiving oral pleasure. When she came she let out a scream that shook the walls.

Grace sat up, facing the now kneeling Jim. Jim's penis was still fully erect. Grace reached out and gave it a light stroke. "We'll take care of this after the meeting," she promised him. The two of them got up and walked over to the circle and sat down.

I got up and walked to the center again. I was flushed from the raw passion I had just seen. "Does anybody else want to demonstrate?" I asked. When it was clear that nobody did, I adjourned the meeting. Almost immediately, everyone started pairing up. Nick and Virginia came walking over to me. Nick asked, "Helen, I understand that you and I can't have intercourse. I was wondering though, if you'd allow me to give you an orgasm orally?"

"Nick, that's so sweet. Are you sure, because I can tell you, I'd love it after the show we just saw."

He reached out a hand and gently cupped my breast. "I'm sure. Is it OK if Virginia takes care of me at the same time?"

A big smile crossed my face. They were really getting into this. "Of course."

Within a few minutes I found myself on my back, my brother on his knees performing cunnilingus on me while his wife was performing fellatio on him.

"Now this is wonderful," Sally observed.

"Yes it is. Nick's got good technique."

"So I see. I'm glad Jim came back. I was worried about Grace, but now she'll be fine."

I wondered, "Why was Jim so important to her? Is she in love with him?"

"No," Sally answered, "it's not that. It's validation. Grace needs to prove herself, which is why she was so fervent when trying to spread her message. Jim's return says to her that she is a valuable member of the group. It also serves to teach her that she can help attract new members without the fire and brimstone rhetoric."

"So you think she'll be able to stay away from the preaching?"

"I think so," Sally assured me, "she just needs positive reinforcement. The more of it she gets, the better off she'll be."

"I'm glad to hear it. It's been quite a day. First Nick and Virginia, then Jim. And then Jim and Grace. "

"Get used to it. As the group grows there will be more days like today."

I smiled at her, "Sounds good to me."

I came back to reality as my orgasm passed. Nick had already finished his orgasm. Virginia was sitting next to him as he finished me. I looked at them both and said "Thank you."

Moving Day 1

Moving into the house was very strange. The house, an old, rambling Victorian, was beautiful. It also still had all my grandmother's things in it. As the sole heir, they were now mine.

Moving in to the house I had help from Fred, who was planning on heading out to visit the construction site on the island as soon as I was moved in, Mike and Annie who came to show me around, and of course Nick and Virginia, who were also moving in.

Everybody else stayed back. Most everybody would move in to the residential part of Sanctuary when it was ready. Mike and Annie would have two residences, and would be in charge of maintaining the original Sanctuary. Giselle and Fred were also planning on staying put. Fred has his business to run, and Giselle had decided to go back to school for architecture. I think her rebellious years of not wanting to follow in her father's footsteps were over. Giselle and Fred would help Mike and Annie, especially when Mike and Annie were spending time at the new Sanctuary.

I really didn't have a lot of stuff, so moving in was pretty quick. Most of the furniture was beautiful antiques. Somehow, it felt comforting to be around the stuff from my grandmother. Though I never knew her, I felt a real connection to her through the things she had surrounded herself with.

Fred had done a wonderful job in the basement setting up a temporary sanctuary. The ceiling was a little low, but he had totally renovated the space. I couldn't wait for our first meeting here. Fred needed to go out to the island the day after we moved, the construction crew out there needed him to review some issues. We decided to wait to have the first meeting in the temporary sanctuary till he got back.

Mike and Annie had to get back home, so they left in the morning, around the same time Fred headed to the island. Fred took the small boat we had and waved goodbye as he headed out. He had promised to be back in time for dinner.

Nick, Virginia and I decided to explore the area a little bit. We rode into town, a little, one traffic light collection of stores on Main Street. The three of us got some interesting looks from the locals. At the diner for lunch, once Nick and I introduced ourselves as Martha's grandkids the entire place warmed up to us. This was a very small town that wasn't crazy about strangers.

We got back to the house around 4:00. I half expected Fred to be there already, but he wasn't. I realized then that we were going to have to arrange for some type of communication to the island, either get the phone company to run a line or get a cell tower, or something.

The three of us spent a couple of hours putting things away, getting organized. The next thing we knew it was after six, so we started to make dinner. We were expecting Fred any minute, so when we heard the sound of a boat we weren't surprised. Then the sound of the boat got louder, and we realized that the sound we were hearing was a bigger boat then the one we kept docked at the house. Nick and I walked down to the dock to meet the boat. We knew that the construction crew had bigger boats, so we figured Fred decided to come back in one of them.

When the boat got closer we saw that there were two men in the boat, and that neither one was Fred. One of the men was a police officer. As the boat docked, he introduced himself.

"I'm Sheriff Owens. This is Mr. Clark from the construction company," he pointed to the other man, "are you Helen Sawyer?"

"Yes, I am. What's this about?'

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but there's been an accident out on the island," the Sheriff said, pointing out across the water.

"Is anybody hurt?" I asked, panicked.

"I'm afraid Mr. Norbert fell off the roof of the building there. He's dead."

The finality of what he said was like a blow to my stomach. I suddenly had to sit down, right there on the dock.

"Ms. Sawyer, are you going to be all right?" the sheriff asked, concerned with the way I had suddenly sat down.

"But her was just here this morning. He said he'd be back for dinner." I hadn't really processed the information.

"Can we go inside to talk, please?" The sheriff helped me up, and the four of us walked inside.

We all sat down in the living room. Nick went into the kitchen to get me some water. Virginia was still making dinner. I heard her gasp, then she rushed into the room.

I asked Mr. Clark, "What happened?"

He answered, "Mr. Norbert went up on the roof to check a problem we've been having. You see, being on the water, we've been having leaking problems at the edge of the roof, where it meets the wall. I don't think he realized that the rubber roofing gets slippery, which is one reason we put gravel on top. But there wasn't any gravel in the area he was checking, cause of the leak. I was on the ground, and we were talking, me pointing out where the problem seemed to be, him looking up top. Well, he turned around, and then he just slipped. One second he's up there, the next he's in the air. He landed sort of head first..." Mr. Clark's account sort of trailed off.

Tears were slowly working their way down my face.

Sheriff Owens continued, "We've had a team out there for the last few hours. Our finding will be that it was an accident. I'm told he has a daughter. Do you have a number where I can reach her?"

"Oh, my God, Giselle. I've got to call Giselle," I realized that she I should be the one to call her.

"Ma'am," Sheriff Owens said, "if you want to be the one to tell her, that's OK, but we need to do it now. And, she'll need to come to claim Mr. Norbert's body. We can only release it to the next of kin."

"I understand, but," I asked, "I'd like to call another mutual friend first. I can have him head over to place, and then call me when he gets there so she won't be alone."

"OK, that'll be alright."

I called Mike. He and Annie had gotten home just a little while ago. He was surprised to hear my voice. When I told him why, he immediately told me he'd head over to Giselle's place. I told him we'd wait for his call.

"Would either of you two like something to drink?" I asked Sheriff Owens and Mr. Clark. "It'll probably be half an hour before Mike calls back."

They both asked for some coffee. We sat there drinking it in silence. Suddenly the phone rang. It was Mike. "Giselle's here with me," Mike told me.

"Put her on." I was dreading what I had to tell her.

"Hey, Helen," Giselle's perky voice came through the receiver, "what's so important that you couldn't call me yourself?"

"Giselle, I'm here with Sheriff Owens. There's no easy way to say this. Your father slipped off the roof of Sanctuary today."

Giselle gasped on the other end of the phone, "Is he OK? How badly is he hurt?"

"Giselle, I'm afraid he's dead." I hated saying the words. Simply saying them seemed to make it true.

"Oh no. It can't be," Giselle said as she dropped the phone. Mike picked it up, "Helen, I'll call you back in a little while," he said.

"We'll be here," I answered.

While I was on the phone the sheriff was on his radio. When I hung up we talked for a minute. "Tell Ms. Norbert to come to my office in town hen she arrives. I'll have his personal effects, and we can arrange where she'd like the body sent."

"I'll let her know when she gets here," I answered.

"Mr. Clark, you can head back," the sheriff said, "another officer will be here in a minute to pick me up."

As we waited for the car, I asked Sheriff Clark, "Is there anything else I need to do? I feel helpless."

"No ma'am. There's nothing else to be done. I'm sure OSHA will send out an investigator, but as near as I can tell there were no violations. It was just a stupid accident."

His car arrived, and we said goodbye. Mike called back, and told me they'd be here the next afternoon.

That night I lay in my bed, crying. How could this happen? How could God allow this to happen? I was sad and angry. Fred was a good man. He had people who loved him. And, he was doing work for us for nothing, donating his time and resources. This was his reward? It didn't make sense. It wasn't fair. There was an urge in me to talk to Sally. The urge was so strong that I began to realize that it probably wasn't coming from me. Sally, of God, was making me horny just so I'd masturbate and talk to Sally. She couldn't talk to me any other way. But I didn't want to talk to her. I didn't want to hear that Fred was all right. All I could think of was Giselle, without a father. I cried myself to sleep.

The next morning, Mr. Clark returned. "I'm sorry to bother you, Ms. Sawyer. We haven't heard from the company about what to do. For now, we're waiting."

"It's OK Mr. Clark. Tell the crew the site will be closed for at least a week. Consider it a paid period of mourning. We'll talk to who ever will be running the company and let you know what will happen after that."

I called the sheriff's office and told him that Giselle would arrive in the afternoon. He agreed that she could wait till the next morning to come on in to his office.

Giselle arrived with Mike around 3:00. As soon as she saw me she started crying again. We hugged for about five minutes. Her sobbing subsided, "Why Helen? Why?" was all she kept saying. The problem was, she wasn't asking in a general way, she was asking me, specifically. Usually when people ask why when somebody dies, they don't expect and answer. Giselle did.

"I don't know," I told her. "I'm not sure there is a reason," I answered honestly.

"You've got to ask Sally," she insisted, "I've got to know. We're involved in this great mission to bring peace to everybody, and God allows this to happen? I want to know why"

"Giselle, I'm not sure I can find out. There may not be a reason."

"Please try. For me." Giselle was pleading now.

I couldn't say no. So, even though the last thing I wanted to do was to talk to Sally, we all went down into the temporary Sanctuary together. We all got into our robes. Nick, Virginia, Mike and Giselle sat on the edge of the mat Fred had installed. I stood in the middle, and was going to say something. But, I couldn't think of anything to say. Nothing I could think of would make it any better, so I just lay on the ground and started to masturbate. It took longer than usual, but finally, I was there.

"Helen, I'm so sorry," Sally started.

"I'm sure it's not your fault, Sally," I answered, "but I don't understand what happened. Fred is helping us, doing as you've asked. And he dies in a stupid accident! I've got to tell you Sally, it makes us all wonder if we're doing the right thing."

"I understand," Sally said, "but give me a chance to explain. You remember what I told you abut Satan. He's the one who managed to sow the idea that sex was bad."

"Sure I remember."

"Well, he's not just going to take your founding the Path to Peace lying down. He's fighting back. He's good at subtlety. Killing you makes you a martyr. Killing just about anyone else is a tragedy, but it has limited implications. Killing Fred, on the other hand, ripples to the very foundation of The Path to Peace. If Giselle decides to leave the group because of this, as she's considering, that puts Sanctuary at risk. She's now the one who controls the majority of the business.

And, if she leaves because of this, there is a risk that others will follow her. She will become a counter force, against you. She may use her money to discredit anything you do. There is a real possibility that Satan will win this round simply by causing one accident. "

"You've got to be kidding me. How am I supposed to comfort Giselle, and keep her in the fold? Do I tell her 'It's OK. Satan killed your father. Stick with me, we've got God on our side, even though he can't protect us.'"

"It's not a question of protection. You are still looking at death as final. Fred's body is gone. He is not. He's here, with us. Giselle hasn't lost him. You just need to convince her that their separation is temporary. He has ascended to the next place. She will follow, someday, and be able to see her father again."

"Every religion promises that. How do I convince her that I'm right?"

"She has witnessed your miracle. Tell her Daddy says 'I'll keep a light on for you.'"

"Why?"

Sally seemed to listen for a moment, then said, "She'll know."

I came out of my orgasmic bliss feeling a little better than I had going in. As soon as it passed, Giselle rushed over to me. "Well," she asked, "what did Sally have to say? "

I told her, and the others there, what Sally had told me about Satan's plan. She wasn't convinced. "Helen, you're starting to sound like a TV evangelist. 'Follow me because I'm right.' Right now, I don't believe you. My father is dead for no reason. I've got to go home, alone, and try to figure out what to do with his company and with my life. "

"You have to do what you feel is right. I wish I could make it all better, but I can't. Before you go, though, I have to tell you one more thing. " Once again I found myself relying on Sally completely, "I have a message from you from your father. He says 'I'll keep a light on for you.'"

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, Giselle's body language changed. Tears once again started to flow down her face, but this time it was different. There was just a hint of a smile on her face. Giselle explained, "When I moved out of his house, Dad said to me 'I'll keep a light on for you.' It was his way of saying I always had a home there with him. Then, every time I visited, when it was time to go he would say it again, 'I'll leave a light on for you.'"

"I guess he's saying the same thing now," I said softly.