Prologos  
 

December 24, 2011
Washington, D.C.
 

    Etienne Duvall poured himself a glass of brandy and got out "The Letter."  He tried not to think of it too often, but it seemed every Christmas he found himself reading it.  He was used to a world of secrets.  A CIA agent posing as a white house reporter was used to hard and fast fire-walls in his daily routine, but his alienation had been increasing in recent years.  And now he was all alone in Washington, D.C. for Christmas Eve, when almost everyone else he knew was away with family.  He tried to convince himself that it was the daily deception of his colleagues in the press that caused his self-isolation, but he knew that wasn't true.  It was "The Letter."
    He had almost forgotten about Jasper until his grandmother Minerva had died about seven years ago.  Etienne, being her only surviving relative, had gone to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State to bury her.  Jasper had married Minerva after Etienne's grandfather had died.  Among her possessions he had found Jasper's bible.
    Etienne had taken the bible with him to the funeral to read a passage at Minerva's grave side.  He parked his rental car at the cemetery and walked to the grave site.  When he started to open the bible, the letter had fallen out.  It was addressed to Jasper's brother Emerson.
 

March 7-1943
Mr. E.G. Clark   Morley Mo.
Dear Bro-

 

I will after some delay try to ans your letter
was glad to hear from you and know you was
all well  This leaves us all as well as common
hoping this will find you all well  we are
having some winter  it is cold & blustry here
now  well I was down to Mrs Dixons a few
days back  I told her that you wanted to
know if she wood sell her place  it seemed
to make her mad.  She said no.  She was
going to let it sell at her death and go to
the heirs, but was aiming for Carrie to
have the most.  So Emerson I dont know
but I think we had better go slow untill
this war is over.  As I think we are going to
have hard & distressive times  the lord only
knows what is approaching the peoples of
Earth.  but I think this war will lead us
to the fall of Babbalon & the end of
Capplistic power.  or in other words
the end of wicked rule.  it is a fight
with the beast of the earth to hold their
power and be ruler over the hole earth
and do as the dam please regadless of
rong or right.  gods word tells us that the
crooked ways will be made starait the
ruff ways will be made smoove.
what do you think  is the almity god able to
perform all things that is writen in the Holy
Bible  I think he is and will shurely conker
all nations and peoples of earth.  and make
them do the will of the father.  as it is writen
god says I will make people a willing people
How will he do it.  Through punishment. The
truth is cast down to the ground.  and all the
world is wondress after the beast. The Beast
is the money power.  So you can see where we stand
The devil is going to be cast in the lake of fire
where the beast and the falts prophet are.  a place
of torment.  that they may reap what they have
sowed.  a just reward will be given them
So let us rejoice in Faith believing the all-
mity god will perform all things that is writen
of him  Faith is the substance of things hoped for
so let us put our Faith in god believing that
he will perform all things that is writen of
                                                                  him-
 

    Etienne had stood and read the letter next to his Grandmother's open grave.  All of the facades of his life had crashed and the memories of Jasper had flooded into his mind.  But not the hell-fire and brimstone Jasper that this letter portrayed. That was the brooding Jasper, the Jasper who came out after a glass or two of bourbon.  He had known a different Jasper.  A Jasper who had been transformed by the life of the Indians of the Puget Sound.  The Jasper that Etienne remembered had changed his views.  In his later years, Jasper had come to believe that the indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest were God's chosen people, because they practiced the only remaining pure sacrament on earth, the Potlatch.
    Those at the grave side had waited patiently for Etienne to finish his reverie.  He could hear Jasper in his mind playing his fiddle and singing, "Potlatch, sonny boy, potlatch.  God left his tree to grow, and it's the Potlatch Tree."  Etienne became aware of where he was and cleared his throat.  He remembered Jasper's favorite passage in the bible, the happy Jasper's favorite passage.  So he opened the bible, looked at those gathered and read:
 

  "And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal,   proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.  In the midst   of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree,   which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every   month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the    nations."  Revelations 22, verses 1,2

 

      Etienne came back to his beltway reality and poured himself another drink.  Jasper and Minerva were long gone.  He had enough problems in his current life without dredging up old memories and conflicts.  He toasted them both and turned on the TV to catch the news.  He lasted until 12:01 a.m. and toasted himself a Merry Christmas before nodding off in his recliner.  He wondered which vision of Jasper's awaited humanity, a punishment beyond description or a reward beyond imagination.