September 12th 2012, 5:25 pm, Hickory Grove, Wisconsin
The pig-pile that ensued upon Jed's entrance into his home was a pleasant diversion from the twelve hour inner debate he had been having with himself as to whether or not Sage had infected him with evil spirits. He was pretty sure that Christians, technically, couldn't be demon possessed. But, he was also pretty sure that Christians, technically, couldn't spew lightning from their fingers, either.
The Hospital had shortened his twenty-four hour period of observation to twelve hours, due to overcrowding, and Jed couldn't have been more relieved. He gathered Amanda and Triple-J into a great, double bear-hug on the carpet floor and delightfully weathered the rapid-fire barrage of communication that was hurled at him. "Daddy, we missed you!"
"Daddy, did you bring us anything?"
"Daddy, I have another loose tooth!"
"Daddy, can you play with us?"
Jed playfully wrestled with the children, taking extra care to protect his hidden bandages, and doing his best to answer each question that he could and deflect the ones that he couldn't. Twenty minutes later, Naomi called them all to the table for a hastily prepared supper, before which Jed performed the nightly family ritual of selecting which child would bless the meal.
"Triple-J, would you pray for us tonight?"
Jed Jr. beamed and nodded his head eagerly before folding his hands, closing his eyes and bowing his dishwater-blonde head.
"Dear Jeeesus ... Thank you for Daddy and food and Mommy and crabs ... Amen."
Jed opened one eye and peered at his son.
"Crabs?"
"Mommy took us to the pet store yesterday!" answered Amanda, laughing. "We saw a crab and liked it. But Triple-J wouldn't touch it!"
"Neither would you!" said the three year old with all the conviction of a cross-examining trial lawyer.
"Ok, kids," intervened Naomi, smiling over at Jed. "Let's eat our dinner before it gets cold."
Dinner was set against the backdrop of the beautiful, but unceasing, questions and chatter of small children. Jed thought that he had never heard anything so beautiful in all of his life.
Wrestling and hide-and-seek, followed by even more wrestling, occupied both Jed and the children up until 7:30 bath time, leading into 8:00 bedtime, leading into 8:01 story time, leading into 8:11 prayer time, leading into 8:12 second story time, finally leading into 8:15 and 8:16 random and unnecessary question time (hosted by Triple-J, who had mastered the finer art of prolonging the moment when he was actually expected to go to sleep).
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By 8:30, the kids were silent and Jed and Naomi were able to quietly remove themselves to their own bedroom and close the door. Naomi, intending to celebrate Jed's homecoming in a different way now that the kids were down, took one look at Jed's face and knew that all such celebrations would have to wait.
"I take it that we need to talk about 'the elephant in the room' right now?" she asked inquiringly, coming over to sit by Jed on their pillow-topped bed and beginning to rub his shoulders.
Jed waded right in. "Not trying to be insensitive to what you went through back there, N'ome."
"... but, I just really need your help unpacking my own little contribution to the party."
Continuing to knead her husband's knotted shoulders, Naomi pursed her lips thoughtfully for a moment before answering. "I saw the 'taze' as Gary called it," she finally said. "It was definitely the same type of phenomenon we saw Sage manifest, although I didn't notice any 'foot-fire,' so to speak." She shrugged, "I guess I was a little preoccupied at the time."
Jed shook his head and stared at the bed's plush, down comforter. "I don't know ... it happened so fast and I couldn't control it. The thing just leapt out of me in the same way that it leapt in. I didn't feel anything either good or evil about it. It just ..."
Naomi stopped the massage and answered thoughtfully, "So, what do think it was, Jed?"
He pulled away from his wife's embrace and turned to look her in the eye. "I've gone over it, both experientially and theologically, all day Babe. It was either a miracle or magic. It if was a miracle, then I need to be on my knees tonight thanking God. If it was magic, then I need to be on my knees tonight begging for forgiveness and deliverance. I just don't know."
Sidling up next to him, Naomi wrapped her arms around Jed and sympathetically placed her chin on his shoulder. "There was only one person who could have given us the answers we're looking for, Jed, and he can't help us anymore."
Jed nodded, thoughtfully, fighting off the lump that was quickly developing in his throat.
"I cannot help," said Jed, huskily, after taking a moment to gather himself.
"What was that?" asked Naomi, softly.
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After clearing his throat, Jed answered, "Remember, I told you that Sage whispered those words to me the night before he died? At least, I thought that's what he said."
"I cannot help ..." repeated Naomi, trailing off. "Then who can?"
Jed just let himself be held by his wife for the next few moments before a thought began to form in his mind.
"Abby Mellor," he said, softly.
"Who?"
"Sage's last words to me; 'Abby Mellor' or something that sounded similar to that," said Jed.
Naomi nodded her head before responding. "I remember you telling me about that now, but I never considered that it might be a name."
"Well, it's not his daughter," replied Jed, "That's about the only thing that Sage ever made clear to me."
"Then who is it?" asked Naomi.
Jed shrugged and took a deep breath. "I guess it's time to let Uncle Google shed some light on the mystery," he answered. "I've decided that my brain is always going to obsess about something, whether I want it to or not. I might as well pick the obsession, for the time being."
Jed started to get up from the bed, before Naomi gently held him in place.
"Jed, can we do one other thing, first?"
"Sure, Hon, what?"
"Pray?" she said tenderly, trying not to sound pushy or super-spiritual.
A little chagrined that he hadn't thought of it first, Jed answered, "Sure, N'ome. Would you mind doing it?"
Naomi nodded twice, embraced Jed anew, and spoke out gently.
"Lord, we don't understand what's going on. You know that we want to please you in every way. Whatever is manifesting itself in Jed, we submit it to you. If it's of you, then please reveal to us its purpose. If it's not of you, then please set us free from it. We're at a loss to know what to do in so many areas of our life, right now. But, you've promised us that if we trusted in you with all our heart, then you would direct our path. Please, direct our path in regard to this strange power within Jed, this mental battle he wages, and my own spirit in relation to all of these things. In Jesus' name, Amen."
"Amen," repeated Jed just before lightly kissing his wife on the forehead.
As Naomi began her preparations for bed, Jed sat down at the desktop computer in their room, pulled up Google Chrome, and typed the words "Abby Mellor" into the search window.
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With Naomi at work, the kids in school and himself on administrative leave, Jed had plenty of time to obsess over the identity of "Abby Mellor" over the next few days. It began, that first evening, with a simple word search for the name. Without being exactly sure of the interpretation of Sage's garbled and whispered words, it was impossible for Jed to nail down an air-tight pronunciation and spelling. Beginning with his best guess, he landed several Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, email address, White Page listings, and Wiki hits. To the individuals that could be reached electronically, Jed sent off quick messages asking if any of them recognized a man fitting Sage's name and description. As one day led into the next, this same practice was expanded to different spellings of the name; Mellar, Meller, Mallor, and Maller being among them.
Jed pursued the social network avenue for the better part of two days. Most inquiries went unanswered, but the few individuals who did respond, all responded negatively. Day three of Jed's search produced an unexpected paradigm shift in his research approach. While continuing to browse hits for the spelling "Abby Mellor," he noticed a Twitter post from the account "Hexham Abbey" commenting about a recent choir they had hosted at their church named the "Mellor Parish Choir." Although each of the titles contained only one portion of the name that Jed had been searching for, and although there was no obvious organizational relationship between Hexham Abbey and the Mellor Parish Choir other than the performance listed; Jed couldn't help but think that maybe he had been approaching this thing all wrong.
His interest suddenly revived, Jed jumped mental rails and narrowed his search to the spelling "Abbey" instead of "Abby." For good measure, he also opened a new tab and brought up the Mellor Parish Church homepage. The site turned out to be unhelpful, just as searching for the new spelling "Abbey Mellor" didn't produce any better results than any of his previous attempts. But, on a whim, he reversed the words in the search window to "Mellor Abbey" and was immediately rewarded by two recommended searches by Google: a website for The Mount Melleray Abbey, located in County Waterford, Ireland; and a second website for New Melleray Abbey located in Peosta, Iowa.
Jed sat back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. His hope was renewed for the first time in days, but the nagging voice in the back of his head couldn't help but wonder whether or not all of this wasn't just a colossal waste of time. Jed thought back to the events of last week. Had Sage been really trying to give him coherent information before he died? Or, had Jed just heard the random firing of neurons in the final throes of death?
He reached for his cup of coffee, took a sip, and stared at the two, blue hyperlinks on the screen before him.
, he insisted to himself. .
Pushing the doubts aside, Jed set down his coffee cup and switched back into research mode. He debated with himself as to which of the two Abbeys would have been the most likely destination that Sage would have been trying to direct him to.
He read the description of Mount Melleray Abbey, first.
Mount Melleray Abbey is a community of Cistercian [Trappist] monks. The monastery is situated on the slopes of the Knockmealdown mountains in County Waterford, Ireland.
He took in the pastoral landscapes and beautiful buildings displayed on the site and was momentarily transported to another time and another place. But, snapping out of his brief reverie, Jed strongly questioned whether Sage had been trying to direct him toward Ireland. In what snatches of conversations they had shared in their brief relationship, no mention had ever been made of any international travels.
, he thought.
Opening up a new tab, Jed brought up the second of his two options: New Melleray Abbey in Peosta, Iowa.
, thought Jed.
He hurriedly opened yet another tab and Google-mapped the distance between Hickory Grove and the obscure town of Peosta. He was surprised to discover that the distance from Hickory Grove, Wisconsin to Peosta, Iowa was only a little over three hundred miles. Clicking back to his former tab, he read the brief bio on New Melleray Abbey.
New Melleray is a Cistercian (Trappist) monastery that was founded in 1849 and is located in the rolling farmland south of Dubuque, Iowa. We support ourselves by farming and making wooden caskets (visit us at Trappist Caskets).
, thought Jed as he read on.
Currently, about 30 monks live, work and pray at the Abbey. We hope that you will find one of Cistercians' best-filled missions is providing hospitality to guests.
The monks of New Melleray are Catholics, professing the Rule of St. Benedict in the spirit of the founders of Citeaux, as handed on in the tradition of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, within a community wholly orientated to a contemplative life of prayer.
At the bottom of the page, Jed found a simple address and phone number for the Abbey, located in the neighboring state to his west.
? he thought as he smiled, reminiscing about the many Badger/Hawkeye football games he had enjoyed with his father during the crisp, fall afternoons of his youth.
"Only one way to find out," said Jed out loud as he picked up his iPhone and dialed the ten-digit number that stared out at him from the computer screen.
