The End Times and Julita Valenski
John R. Guthrie
Rev. Ian MacLeash leaned forward in his seat at the banquet table,
“Many Christians feel like the End Times are upon us. Sexual perversion!
Promiscuity! Abortion! The desecration of the Lord’s Day! God excluded from the
public schools! Darwinism!”
The dinner
was a must-go event that Monday evening for Dr. Christopher Jacques (rhymes
with “rakes”), a family physician in the town of
Austerity
is a place of great natural beauty. It is tucked into the northwest corner of
The
banquet occurred in the dining room of Austerity’s
Chris
Jacques came in late, having had to see a croupy child in the emergency room.
Still in his white clinic coat, he took the first available chair when he came
in, one near hospital pathologist Dr. Hilary Stein. Rev. MacLeash
of Austerity’s
She said,
“Hi Chris, I’m Julita Valenski--Julie.”
She smiled, an utterly charming smile, eyes violet like the twilight, jet black
hair was in a pixie cut. A couple of loose strands fell across her forehead.
Her cheek bones were pronounced, her lips full and generous.
“You’re
not from Austerity, are you?” Chris said.
“No.” She
shook her head.
“What
brings you here?”
She wore a
pleated raw silk dress in deep amethyst. From its elegant cut and drape, Chris
recognized it as a designer item. Good taste, but she also would have looked
good wearing a grocery bag.
“Hilary.”
She waved her hand in Dr. Stein’s general direction. “He’s my first cousin.
He’s also a good friend since childhood. I’m traveling from
Surprised,
Chris said, “
Her eyes
sparkled as she spoke, “I’m a rabbinical student at
Chris
nodded and said, smiling, “Aha! Doctor Valenski!
Wonderful.” Brains and beauty in a woman had always been a compelling
combination for him.
Julie
cocked her head a little to the side as she spoke of her work, “It’s been quite
an adventure. My university offers the option of spending a year at our Jerusalem
Campus. While there, I did things that I found to be absolutely fascinating.”
She leaned closer, and gesturing with both hands, said, “I went on an
archeological dig at
“Sure,
I’ve heard of
She
continued, “We actually recovered some document fragments. They were related to
the eschatological beliefs of the Essenes. They
believed the End Times had arrived over 2000 years ago.”
“Well, I’m
pleased that they were wrong,” Chris replied, smiling.
Rev. MacLeash, seated to their left, leaned forward and said,
“End times? Eschatology is a special interest of mine.”
“Oh, really?” Julie said, smiling, one eyebrow raised as she
considered this.
MacLeash continued, “Many Christians feel like the
End Times are upon us….” Here he catalogued his favorite sins.
Julie
nodded slightly as she listened.
Rev. MacLeash angled his chair toward Hilary, Julie, and Chris.
His gray hair was artfully cut, not a hair out of place. Nodding, he said,
“It’s all in the scriptures. Book of Revelations. May
I share it with you? It may change your life.”
“Uh, sure,
Revered,” Julie nodded slightly, looking doubtful now.
Dr.
Jacques nearly choked on the sip of water he’d just taken. He was in regular
attendance at
“Pastor,
have you seen the new linear accelerator Dr. Stein helped the hospital obtain?
It’s just astounding…really hi tech…”
MacLeash rolled on like main battle tank, and holding one
hortatory hand aloft, said, “I don’t mind telling you, Dr. Stein, Miss Valenski, the Jews and the Jewish state are central to
God’s plan. That’s why we Bible-believing Christians have a special love for
our Hebrew friends and neighbors.”
“Jews are
central?” Dr. Stein said, looking a bit mystified.
Chris
realized his face was flushing. He tried again, interjecting, “Dr. MacLeash, perhaps sometime we could take a walk through
radiology...”
Julie,
Chris noted, brow a bit wrinkled, looked worried now.
MacLeash’s face glowed now as he continued. He chopped one
hand into the other, “Yes! The End Times prophecies can only be fulfilled if
the Jews are in possession of all the lands given to them by God, all of
Biblical Israel and the Temple will be rebuilt on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.”
Julita said, “What about the mosque that’s been there
since 1035? Al-Aqsa”
Macleash took in a breath and chuckled. He winked
conspiratorially, “Al-Aqsa? Baked
Looking incredulous, Hilary Stein said, “Like, beamed up?”
MacLeash said, “Indeed. As God's chosen, Jews, though
left behind, are to be protected until they have an opportunity to accept Jesus
as the Messiah."
“Oh?” Julie said softly. “And if we choose not to?”
Nodding, MacLeash continued, “The book of Ezekiel tells us there
will be a time of unimaginable suffering and horror for Jews, a people who have
rebelled against the Lord and Shepherd's rod. He will separate the perfected
ones, those who have professed Jesus as Messiah, from those who haven’t. All
who persist in unbelief will die a terrible death.”
Hilary
drew back, “A terrible death?”
Chris was
flinching as he thought, I’ve never fully realized
what a fool MacLeash is.
“Then they
will be cast in to hellfire! Hell, Miss Valenski!
There will be no relief from pain. Ever! No Morphine, Dr. Stein. Consider that
I’m saying as a friendly wake-up call Ms. Valenski.” MacLeash shook his head sorrowfully. He looked from one
face to the other.
Chris continued to listen in abject horror; Rev. Dr. MacLeash
had morphed into Dr. Mengele
“Oh,”
Julie said, “In other words, Christians are supporting us in order to abolish
us.”
“Not at all. When Christ returns and defeats the forces of evil led by the
Anti-Christ at Armageddon, any remaining Jews will be given a final opportunity
to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.”
Julie
spoke again, “Rev. MacLeash, you’re saying Christian
prophecy will not work without us, but in t1he end, we’ll either all be begging
to become Christians or die and go to eternal agony.”
He nodded,
smiling smugly as he said, “It’s God’s plan, Miss Valenski, not mine.”
Dr. Stein pushed back from the table as he spat out, “I haven’t felt so honored
since I got accepted at Harvard Medical.”
”Wonderful!”
said Dr. MacLeash, reaching for his water glass.
“Sure,”
said Dr. Stein. “But Reverend, the next time you talk to that God of yours
about his plan, please tell him to just leave Dr. Hilary Stein out of it. Good
evening, Reverend.” He stood and walked briskly out of the cafeteria, the
swinging doors ca-whumping behind him as he left.
Moody
fellow,” said MacLeash to his wife, Jeannie, who sat
to his left, a woman with a permanent smile pasted on and the demeanor of one
who has undergone prefrontal lobotomy. Reaching for his salad fork, MacLeash said, “Terribly moody, Dear.”
Jeannie, still smiling, nodded, stared straight ahead.
Julie fiddled with her napkin.
Chris took
a deep breath, then said, “Oh, my. Julie, let’s go check on Hilary.” They stood
and walked toward the exit.
Outside
the cafeteria’s swinging doors, Hilary Stein stood, unmoving, pale and visibly
shaken. He held his steel-rimmed glasses in his left hand, his award plaque
he’d received for spearheading the effort to obtain the linear accelerator in
his right hand pretending to read it.
“Hilary,”
Chris said, placing his hand on Hilary’s shoulder. “Hilary, old friend, I’m
sorry.”
Hilary sighed, “Chris, it’s not your fault.”
”Look,"
Chris said, "let's get out of here. I'd love to buy you and Julie a drink.
We could go out to the club, visit a little, grab
something to eat.”
Stein, his
color returning, took a deep breath. “I’d love to take you up on that, but I
have two post-mortems tomorrow. They are particularly complex due to legal
issues. I’ve still got to check some references this evening. Rain check,
please? Julie, you and Chris go ahead. I need to go home and get to work.”
Chris
looked at Julie questioningly. She smiled graciously. “I’d love to, Chris.”
Clearing
his throat, Hilary added sternly, “Chris, I must insist that you be on your
very best behavior with my cousin. And get her home early!”
Chris did
a double take. Hilary’s demeanor softened and he chuckled, and then said, “You
two have a good time.”
Chris and
Julie were soon sitting in the Jasmine Room, the informal dining room at the
Chickasaw Country Club. Fleming, the bartender, a youngish man with bleached
blond hair and a modest gold hoop in his right ear, greeted them warmly. “Dr.
Jacque! So good to see you again, Sir. Would you care
for a menu?”
“Good to
see you, Fleming. Sure. A menu would help. We skipped dinner.”
“And to drink, Sir?
“Korbel Brut champagne sound OK with you,
Julie?”
“Yes. And
Fleming, consider this a champagne emergency!”
Fleming smiled, “Right away, Ma’am.”
They both
ordered bouillabaisse and a Greek salad with a cheese and paté
plate to share. Julie drained her full flute of champagne. The food arrived.
“I’m starved,” she said. She sampled the bouillabaisse. “Yumm! Delicious!”
Chris
smiled. He found it satisfying to see an exceptionally lovely woman who didn’t
pick at her food. He took another sip of champagne. “Julie, when Pastor MacLeash got on his End Times kick, he embarrassed the crap
out of me. I felt so bad for Hilary.”
She
replied, looking thoughtful, “Stuff like that happens occasionally. Even when
we were kids, though, Hilary was the sensitive one. He had a pet white rat
named Ruben when we were ten or so. Ruben died. Hilary cried and cried. Though
I felt sad, I insisted that we bury Ruben. We did, in the backyard. Then Hilary
demanded that the two of us sit Shiva.”
Jacques
chuckled, envisioning two solemn little Jewish kids sitting in kitchen chairs
beside the small mound of dirt that marked Ruben’s grave.
“But
there’s some other history, Chris, behind Hilary’s reaction to MacLeash’s conversion of the Jews story.”
“What’s
that?”
“My
grandmother, for whom I’m named, died in Ravensbrück
just before its liberation by the Russians in 1945. My grandfather and
Hilary’s, Isaac, ended up in Treblinka, near
Chris took a deep breath, shaking his head, said, ”And
what became of your grandfather after the war?”
She
nibbled at the French bread that came with the bouillabaisse, held up a finger
signaling the need for a pause, then swallowed and continued. “He ended up in
Chris smiled, nodding as Julie continued.
“Right up
to the end, he had to have his one cigar, a great, smelly thing called a Lord
Beaconsfield Round and a glass of Mogen David wine every evening. ‘My medicine’
he called it. He left a trust fund for all his grandchildren, Hilary and me included. Not a huge amount, but enough for me to pay my
tuition and expenses, and enough for the occasional shopping spree.”
“Wow,
fascinating story,” Chris said. “More champagne?”
Poker-faced,
she said, “Sure. My Medicine! Is there a cigar available? Lord
Beaconsfield Round?”
Chris
looked at her in consternation, then saw the smile
playing at the corners of her mouth, the dimple appearing on her cheek as she
tried to keep from laughing.
“No
cigars,” Chris said, reaching toward his pocket. In Austerity we favor chewing
tobacco. Care for a plug of Red Man?”
She
laughed in spite of herself, spewing out a bit of champagne as she did so. She
was even more beautiful when she laughed. Pausing, she wiped her mouth with a
napkin. She paused a minute, then she was somber. “I miss my Grandpa,” she
said. “He was the kindest man, so sweet to me and so funny. So much history
died with him. He loved to tell me about his first wife. I was always special
to him because I was her namesake. But at least, the Nazis finally let her die
instead of the eternal torment Rev. MacLeash
proposes.”
Chris
looked closely at her. Her eyes were shining. “Hey, MacLeash,
I hate to say it, is my preacher. That stuff is his stock-in-trade, standard
for evangelicals. I realized this evening that he’s also a nut case, and that
in a lot of ways I don’t belong in his church at all. But I like seeing my
friends and neighbors there, and I like the music.”
She
swallowed hard. “Yeah, I think I do understand. As much as I love the
tradition, I’m not all that observant a Jew, rabbinical student or not. It’s
just that so many people in this country think like MacLeash
these days and ‘love’ us Jews in the same way—their intent being that we end up
gibbering prayers to Jesus on our metaphorical Hebrew knees or go to torture
that puts the Nazis to shame any day. It’s scary, like Praying Mantis love.
When the Mantis’s are done mating, the male is decapitated.” Tears were flowing
down her cheeks now.
Chris
leaned over, put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him. She leaned
into him. Behind the bar, Fleming was pointedly looking into the distance as he
wiped glasses with his towel. Chris picked up a linen napkin and dabbed at her
tears. She sniffed, forced a smile. “Chris, this isn’t me. I’m not a crybaby,
promise. I’ve just been on an airplane for 14 hours, gone through more time
zones than I can remember, then drove from
“Some things are worth crying about,” Chris said.
“Yeah, but
I’m just jet-lagged beyond to the point of no return. As much as I enjoy your
company, I need to get back to Hilary ‘s house and get some rest.”
“It’s been
great to visit with you. You’re an intriguing person.”
She smiled, leaning against him again, nudging him in the ribs with her elbow.
“Flattery, Doctor, may just get you everywhere.”
At the
door to Hilary Stein’s house in the
“Hey, it was great. I guess you’re leaving tomorrow?”
“Yep. Gotta catch a plane to LA. I’ve a dissertation to finish.”
“I hope if
you’re ever back this way, you’ll let me know.”
“I will.
And when you’re through
She
stepped back, then reached up and kissed him on the lips, holding the kiss a
little longer than necessary for a first date good evening kiss. Then she
turned, entered the house, and for the moment at least, Julita
Valenski was gone.
May 26, 2008