They stared a moment, Guillermo’s smile broadening. Jason felt faint and almost knocked over the aquarium.
“Someone get him a chair.”
Raul brought one over and Jason fell into it.
Guillermo pulled up his own and sat in front of him. “Where did he go?”
“S-s-spring break. Panama City Beach. Bunch of guys.”
“You’re doing great,” said Guillermo, patting an arm that flinched at the touch. “When did they leave?”
“I don’t know. I mean, they called me from the road. I think it was a last-minute thing.”
“Where are they staying?”
Jason’s mouth opened, but no sound.
“I know they told you the hotel.”
Jason nodded.
“It’s very important we reach him. What hotel?”
Jason still had trouble getting his mouth to work.
Guillermo leaned. “Whisper it.”
Jason did.
Guillermo stood. “Now, that wasn’t so hard.” He noticed a clip on Jason’s belt. “Give me your phone.”
“Why?”
“Give me your phone.”
Jason handed it over, still shaking. “What are you going to do to me?”
“Do to you?” said Guillermo, flipping open the cell. “We don’t have to do anything to you.”
Jason’s expression said he didn’t understand.
Guillermo wrote something on a paper scrap. “You’re a college student?”
Jason nodded.
“Well then, you must be pretty smart.” Guillermo gave the phone back. “So you probably figured out that when we want to find someone, we don’t stop, no matter how long or far.” He patted his wallet, which now contained Jason’s license. “And if you make us want to find you again, it’ll go differently.”
Jason’s chest heaved.
“It’s smart to forget we were ever here.”
The men left.
Jason slowly rose on unsteady legs, then jackknifed over and threw up in the aquarium.
Guppy heaven.
PANAMA CITY BEACH
Three youths crowded around Serge in a church activities hall. A fourth came over. “I got your coffee.”
“Thanks.” Serge blew on it and took a sip. “The thing about evolution is needless bickering among groups who should be enjoying life together. I’ve noticed some people making a creationist end run with the Trojan horse called intelligent design. Except they accidentally stumbled onto something without realizing it. What you need to be marketing is self-organization.”
“What’s that?”
“Evolution only makes my faith stronger. Except the problem with evolution-and this is where I totally understand your objection-is emphasis on the godless randomness of natural selectivity. Like those Galapagos turtles with the longest necks were the only ones who could reach higher leaves and survive when low-hanging food was gone, so now they all have long necks. That’s true, but there’s more. Much more.”
The youths leaned with rapt attention.
“Many evolutionary scientists subscribe to an additional component of their theory. Anyone?”
“Self-organization?”
“Shazam! Anti-religious types would have you believe that the universe follows the ol’ axiom ‘Given an infinite amount of monkeys, typewriters and time, one of them will eventually write
They shook their heads.
“There were some dead ends along the way, hence natural selectivity. But for my money, the rest is God in a Darwin costume. So if you can wrap your brain around self-organization, then evolution
They got up for another pastoral visit.
“I think we’ve been wrong about evolution.”
“What on earth’s going on over there?”
“He has a lot of good points. I’ve never felt my faith so strong.”
“You’re supposed to convert him, not the other way around.”
They returned.
Serge smiled again. “Warned you about going off the reservation?”
“Eternal life is only possible through belief-”
“Glad you brought that up,” said Serge. “Let’s talk about eternal life…”
The pancake feast hit its peak hour as students felt that empty beer rumble in their tummies. The pastor stood at the entrance, welcoming waves of newcomers.
“Now everyone close your eyes,” said Serge. “This is what I want you to imagine…”
More and more students came pouring in. The pastor was smiling and shaking hands when suddenly, hysterical shrieking erupted from the far side of the hall. Everyone turned.
Serge frantically raced around the table, grabbing shoulders of uncontrollably sobbing youths. “Guys! It’s all okay! Forget everything I said!”
The pastor ran over. “What did you do to them?”
One of the tearful kids looked up. “He said many people believe in God only because of the selfish reward of eternal life…”
Another blew his nose. “So in order for our faith to be pure, we have to
“What!”
“Only temporarily-just long enough to imagine eternal darkness…”
“… Then, once we could handle that, we were free to return and believe selflessly.”
“… My belief’s never been stronger.”
Serge grinned awkwardly. “Harmless experiment. I hear they do it all the time in college philosophy classes.”
The pastor shot him a steely glare.
“Give me one more chance,” said Serge. “I promise you won’t be sorry.”
Chapter Seventeen
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
Cars poured out of Gainesville in all directions, past the football stadium and brick dorms.
In one of the rooms:
“Who goes north for spring break?” asked Melvin Davenport.
“We do,” said his roommate, Cody. “It’s Panama City Beach! MTV’s there!”
