Authors: Rob Stennett
“Good morning,” Will responded.
“So, why don’t we start with the tornado?”
“Okay.”
“How’d you feel watching it?”
“Sad,” Will said.
“Why were you sad?”
“’Cause, um,” Will squirmed.
What’s up with the one-word answers? Amy thought. Was he getting shy? Don’t get shy, Will. You’ve got to be strong and confident
if you want people to follow you as a prophet.
“Is it because your friends were in there?” Nancy asked.
“Yeah. I mean a lot of people think just because I said the school was going to be destroyed that I
wanted
it to be destroyed. But that’s not the truth. Whoever thinks that is just lying to themselves. And why would people want
to lie to themselves?”
“I’m not sure,” Nancy answered.
“All I know is I loved that school. I grew up there.”
“If you loved the school, why’d you say it would be destroyed?”
“I was just telling everyone what the face told me.”
“The face?” Nancy asked, leaning in.
“Yeah, it’s a face that I saw one night when I was lost in Mr. Johnson’s cornfield.”
“Do you see the face often?”
“Nope, I’ve only seen him that one time.”
“Have you ever seen anything else like this face?”
“You mean like angels and demons and supernatural stuff?”
“Yeah, things like that,” Nancy said.
“Nope. I’ve wanted to. I mean, doesn’t everybody want to see stuff like that? It’s like if God’s real and there are all these
angels and demons around, then how come we don’t see them? Haven’t you thought that?”
“I suppose I have,” Nancy said. Then she asked, “So, who do you think the face is?”
“God,” Will answered. “I’m sort of like the story of Moses and the burning bush. Of course, I’ve also thought maybe the face
is an angel of God. Sometimes they came to deliver messages in the Bible. Like when the angel told Mary she was pregnant.
But I don’t think the face is Jesus. There aren’t stories in the Bible about Jesus coming back and giving messages. And my
mom has told me stories where some people say they’ve gotten a message from Jesus like his face appearing in a piece of bread
or on the side of a wall, but I think those people are just imagining stuff because they’re bored.”
“So you think some people actually have visions and other people just imagine their visions?” Nancy asked.
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Okay, so let me ask you this — how are you so sure you didn’t just
imagine
the face?”
“Um, two reasons I guess. The first reason is I know when I’m imagining something and when something is real. And the bigger
reason is what the face said came true. I mean, that school has been there my whole life, and nothing bad has ever happened
to it. And then all of a sudden it’s destroyed around the time the face said it was going to be. That’s pretty crazy, don’t
you think?”
“Yeah, I do,” Nancy said. “Let me follow up on that real quick though — why was there so much confusion about the timing of
the tornado?”
“That was my fault. I misunderstood what the face was saying. He said three days and I didn’t know when the three days were
starting.”
“Was there anything else the face told you?”
“Yeah, he said there would be three total signs that the rapture was coming. The tornado was the first.”
“Do you know what the rapture is, Will?”
“It’s the end of everything. God will take all the Christians like that,” Will said as he snapped his fingers, “and then everyone
else is going to suffer. I think there’s going to be fires and wars and Antichrists and stuff like that after the rapture.”
“Wow, that sounds pretty bad.”
“Not for Christians.”
“True,” Nancy said, seeming a little awkward about where the conversation was going. “All right, let’s go back to what the
face told you. There are going to be three signs?”
“That’s right.”
“The tornado was the first.”
“Yes.”
“And you can’t tell what the next two are going to be?” Nancy asked.
“No,” Will said. “My mom said the time’s not right. But don’t worry, I’ll tell you before it’s too late.”
“Okay, well then let me ask you this. There are still people who are doubting all of this. I might even be one of them. Why
should we believe you?”
“Because everything the face said has come true.”
“Right, but you’ve only given us the one thing the face has said.”
“And that one thing came true.”
“Yeah, sure, that one thing
did
come true. But that’s not what I’m getting at.”
“What are you getting at?” Will asked. Amy wasn’t sure if Will was asking an honest question or antagonizing Nancy, but he
was clearly gaining control of the interview.
“There may be some people who are still processing what to make of the Jefferson Elementary Disaster. But does that really
mean we should honestly believe that the apocalypse is coming? A tornado equals the end of life in Goodland? It doesn’t even
make sense. This is Kansas. Tornados come all the time. And most kids have some subconscious fantasy that their school is
going to be ruined. It’s just those two things happened to line up for once. You had a lucky guess, Will, right? I don’t think
that means we should all suddenly get ready for the afterlife.”
“I’m not sure what your question is.”
“I don’t have one. I’m just saying I’m not sure I can believe you. I don’t see any reason anyone else should either,” Nancy
said, looking and sounding far more upset than Amy or anyone else had ever seen her. Normally she was always so composed,
but Will seemed to be making her unravel.
And the weaker she got, the stronger Will seemed. His eyes became steely and focused as he looked right into the lens of the
camera (it almost seemed that he had the power to look
past
the camera and into the living room of every home in Goodland). “You can believe whatever you want. I’ll tell all of you
what I know when the time is right and then it’s up to you how to react. You can believe the rapture is coming. Or you can
believe that some crazy little kid is making all of this up. But when the end comes and all the Christians are gone and there
is nothing left but fires and wars and beast marks, you might want to blame someone. You might feel like shouting, ‘Why didn’t
somebody tell me this was going to happen?’ But you know what, you’re not going to be able to shout that. Because someone
did
tell you this was going to happen. Then the only person you’ll have left to blame will be yourself. And that will suck for
you.”
The idea that the world could actually be ending came with an unintended side effect — it turned Goodland into the happiest
place in Kansas. Truthfully, you’d be hard-pressed to find a happier place in Oklahoma, Nebraska, Missouri, or Colorado either.
And this didn’t make sense to Jeff. He thought the idea of Armageddon would send all of his friends and neighbors into a panic.
And if there wasn’t a panic, he thought families would, at the very least, hunker down, lock themselves into basements and
fallout shelters, and wait to see what happened next.
But on the morning after Will’s first prophecy came true, Jeff drove to work, dumbfounded to see that the streets were bubbling
with enthusiasm. It felt like Mardi Gras — at least a really wholesome, small-town, Kansas Mardi Gras. People were grilling
out, laughing, hugging, and sitting on lawn chairs and chatting away as if the rest of their lives were going to be one lazy
Sunday afternoon.
To everyone in Goodland, the rapture seemed like either one big joke or the best news ever.
Jeff noticed a lot of the shops in town were closed for business. And he wondered if perhaps Hansley Automotive would also
be closed. But it wasn’t. The pre-owned automotive lot was swarming with people. Jeff was running a few minutes late; he’d
overslept because the last few days had taken such a toll on him, so he rushed out of the house before he even talked to Amy
or Will. And when he got to work he realized he was late on the one morning everyone wanted to buy a car. They were selling
cars off the lot as if they were hip Christmas gifts. It was as if the Lexuses, Audis, and Hummers were Tickle Me Elmos and
Cabbage Patch dolls — like every parent knew their families would be disappointed if they didn’t walk off the lot with the
new car.
Jeff couldn’t miss out on this chance to make monster commissions.
His first customer was named Marsha Peterson and she lived just a half mile away from the Hendersons. Jeff had known her for
years. And he knew that she was not the type of person he’d even picture in a brand new Hummer. Yet somehow that’s exactly
what she had her eye on: a bright, shiny, brand-new, sunflower yellow H3.
She was ready to close on it, but before Jeff would close the deal he felt that he had to ask, “Do you really think you can
afford an H3, Marsha?”
“No, absolutely not. But think how great I’d look in it,” Marsha said. She didn’t even look up at Jeff. She was just staring
at her reflection in the yellow paint, probably imagining herself driving away in the car.
“Sure, okay, that’s true. But there are a lot of other cars, affordable cars, that you would look great in.”
“Yeah, but does
affordable
really matter anymore?”
“It kind of does. But Marsha, it’s no skin off my back, I mean, I want to sell you this car. I’m going to get a lot more commission
that way.”
“Great then. It works well for both of us.”
“Yeah, but I’m going to feel really guilty in a couple of months when the bank comes and takes the car away.”
“It won’t really matter by then, will it? We’ll all be raptured before that,” Marsha said, smiling and sincere.
A little while later Jeff had a big commission and Marsha had a giant Hummer which, granted, she did look good in. But she
had to spend her life savings and take out a second mortgage on her house just to make a down payment. She didn’t seem to
mind. “If the rapture is coming, then, for just once in my life, I want to drive a really great, expensive, flashy car,” she
told Jeff as she signed the contract.
“But what if the rapture doesn’t come?”
“You’re not serious, are you? You of all people should know it’s coming. Your son’s been talking all about it.”
Jeff didn’t say anything.
“Oh, I see — you’re a doubter.”
“I’m just saying it’s
possible
, Marsha. He could be wrong.”
“You’ll understand the truth soon. But by then it will be too late for you to buy a Hummer.”
And as soon as Marsha drove off with her new Hummer, Jeff turned around and saw a line of people waiting to talk with him.
This had never happened before. Jeff never imagined he’d see the day when there were
too many
people who wanted to buy cars. But that day was here. And it presented problems. This was a car lot, not the DMV. There was
no line to get in or number to be drawn so the customer could make sure they got their new car in a timely and orderly fashion.
So, in most cases, the most aggressive customer got to be next. And the most aggressive customer in Jeff’s case was a man
named Phil Donald. Phil was one of the leading real estate agents in town and not the type of person Jeff would have assumed
would get caught up in the rapture hype. He was a rational, calculating, smooth businessman. If Phil was drinking the Kool-Aid,
then everyone else surely was as well. And as Phil was looking at a brand new Audi S8, Jeff walked up to him and said, “Let
me guess. You’re buying a car while you still can.”
“I guess you could say that,” Phil replied.
“Are you worried about this rapture stuff too?” Jeff asked.
“No, of course not.”
“Then why buy a new car while everyone else is?”
“Because I’ve been making all sorts of real estate deals since yesterday. There are a lot of people who want to get their
dream homes before things
come to an end
,” Phil said. And Phil said
come to end
so Jeff could hear the italics or sarcasm or quote marks in his tone. And even though Jeff was relieved that Phil didn’t
believe the rapture was happening, he was still somewhat uncomfortable that Phil was taking it so lightly. Then Phil leaned
in, as if replying to Jeff’s thoughts, and said, “Honestly Jeff, I don’t know if anyone believes any of this doom and gloom
stuff or if everyone’s just using this whole thing as an excuse to buy all the things they’ve always wanted.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Either way, doesn’t really matter to me. All I know is at the office they’re saying the real estate market is up about 2000
percent.”
“Wow.”
“I should send your son a thank-you note or a bottle of wine,” Phil said. “He’s making business really take off for me.”
“Yeah,” Jeff said, wanting to get the subject away from Will as quickly as possible.
“So here’s what I’m thinking, while I’m making all of this extra money I want to get something nice to drive around in. Maybe
a nice new ride will even help me get a little extra business.”
“Maybe so,” Jeff said.
“So what’ve you got for me?” Phil asked.
A half hour later Jeff sold him the most expensive Audi on the lot. And the whole day was a whirlwind like this for Jeff.
By that afternoon he had sold a total of ten cars, and on any other day this would have been an all-time record at Hansley.
But on that day it was just enough to put him in the middle of the pack. Jeff couldn’t compete with Kevin Grabowski who became
the day’s top salesman. Jeff overheard Kevin as he was trying to make sales of his own, and Jeff noticed that Kevin always
greeted the customer by saying, “What do you think about all this rapture business?”
Kevin’s question was usually met with one of two responses. Some people would say it was such an honor, they would say what
an incredible thing it was that Goodland had been chosen for the end of the world before anywhere else. If the customer said
this, Kevin would mimic the customer’s mood and everything he said, and from that point forward the conversation would have
an air of reverence and awe to it. He would say things like, “We are blessed,” and, “I just can’t wait to be a part of the
glory myself,” and, “How beautiful it will all be,” before going in for the sale.