Behind the Closet Door
a short story
This is what happened:
"There are tables in my closet," the child was saying. "Big, long tables,
all piled up high with some kind of stuff."
The child's mother, Linda, was still almost asleep and hoping to return to
that gentle bliss completely in a moment. She answered, "That's alright,
Honey. It was just a dream. You don't have room in your closet for
tables."
But the young child was not consoled. She was crying, her eyes still fixed
on the closet door, which was slightly ajar. "It wasn't a dream. I saw
them.
I saw all the people walking around the tables. I saw the mountains and
the
sky. I saw it all."
Linda heard little of what the child was saying. Sitting on the edge of
the
bed in the warm semi-darkness of her daughter's small bedroom, she kept
dozing, her head drooping downward, even as she tried to hold and comfort
her child.
But then she heard a small sound, a slight creaking of the closet door
behind her. Adrenaline shot throughout her entire body. The murky fog of
interrupted sleep was instantly and forcefully driven from her mind,
leaving
a dull throb in her head.
Linda looked down at her daughter's face, which was still a mask of tears
and night terror. She ****fted herself on the bed, so that she could see
the
closet behind her. Slowly she turned, not knowing what to expect. In the
shadows of the room, Linda could see the closet door. It was still open
only
a little. Nothing was moving, and she heard no other sounds.
But everything inside of her told her to take her child and get out of the
room, right now. Her heart pounded inside her chest, and she tried to
control her fear. She did not want to add to the torment her daughter was
already feeling. She tried to think clearly of the best course of action.
"Come on, Honey," she said quietly to the child. She stood up and reached
for the girl. "Let's go into Mommy's room. You can sleep in my bed for the
rest of the night."
Linda was about to lift her daughter from the bed when she very clearly
heard another small pop of one of the dry hinges on the closet door. It
was
followed by a short creaking. Turning her head, she saw the closet door
move. She saw it with her own eyes. It had clearly opened about another
inch.
Momentarily frozen by the experience, the mother now stood, half bent over
her child's bed, staring at the closet door. What if someone has broken
into
the house? And with Tom gone for another three days... What if someone
means
to harm us? What if...
Resolutely, the young woman stood up straight, lifting her small daughter
up
and onto her left hip. Silencing her fears, she determined to know what or
who was in the small closet. Slowly, Linda walked across the room to the
narrow white door. Reaching out with her right hand, she grabbed the
brass-colored handle as her child buried her face into her mother's
shoulder.
The door handle felt slightly cool in her hand. It felt normal. The air in
the small room was warm and still, comfortable and normal. The small lamp
by
her daughter's bed gave only a very dim light, adding to the coziness of
the
bedroom, inviting sleep. In fact, the whole house was quiet and peaceful.
It
all felt completely normal. She gave the handle a tug.
Pulling the door open, Linda held her breath for several seconds, not
aware
that she had stopped breathing. As the door came open, nothing in the
bedroom changed. No eerie green light spilled from the closet. No dark
mist
or cold air came seeping into the room. But as the door was fully opened
so
that she could see inside, her eyes struggled to focus on the contents of
the tiny closet beyond the doorway. Her mind struggled to comprehend.
Her very first thought was that she must still be back in her own room,
lying in her own bed, sound asleep and dreaming. She could not be seeing
what her eyes told her was there. Linda's mind told her that this was well
beyond all that is reasonable and possible and real. Then she felt on her
face a gentle breeze coming through the closet doorway. And she could
smell
the sweet scent of the blooms and blossoms that were everywhere before
her.
Looking through the closet door, Linda now saw what the child had already
seen. There were spectacular mountains on both sides of a wide and fertile
valley. High overhead whole flocks of birds were flying across an an
incredible, perfect sky. She could hear the chirping and chatter of those
birds and the many other animals that were visible everywhere.
And there, stretching out in front of her, were many tables. Huge banquet
tables. Hundreds of them, or maybe thousands. And they were all of them
piled high with what appeared to be luscious fruit and vegetables and
breads, fine and exotic foods of every kind. And there were people. It
seemed as though all the people in the world had gathered here, in this
beautiful place, to have an incredible feast that was truly fit for kings
and queens.
Just then Linda noticed that a man was approaching. And she also noticed
that he seemed to be ****ning, glowing as though with a light from inside.
And when she looked back again at all the people milling around the
tables,
all of them gave off the same kind of glow.
The man's clothing was bright, foreign looking, and not really modern. And
yet it almost looked futuristic. Linda tensed as he neared, realizing that
he seemed to be looking right at her. He wasn't simply walking nearer, he
was headed for her and her child.
Linda ****fted her daughter over to the other hip, and held her tightly,
ready to slam the door shut and run. The man was smiling a gentle smile.
But
Linda's heart was racing, ready to fight, ready to run.
"Please, do not be afraid," he said, stopping a few feet beyond the
doorway.
"I've come to tell you what all of this is that you are seeing."
His voice was so strange. It was loud enough and clear enough to be heard
for a very great distance, yet also filled with a kind of peace and
mildness
that made Linda think of the sounds of the surf cra****ng over the rocks on
the north Pacific coast: loud and forceful, yet forever soothing, quieting
the troubled soul.
"Am I dreaming?" Linda asked.
"No. You are fully awake."
"Is this real?" she asked. "I mean, how can any of this be here?"
The man smiled, and then turned slightly, waving a hand to include all
that
was around and beyond him, saying, "All of this is real. In some ways, it
is more real than the world you live in now. It has always been here. And
some day, you will be here as well. In fact, there you are, right over
there."
Linda looked in the direction that the man was now pointing. At the
nearest
table, a figure stood that did look a lot like Linda. And when the figure
turned to face them, the face was unmistakably her own, although it had
been
somehow transformed, and was glowing like the others.
Linda gasped, her free hand flying up to cover her mouth. "That can't be
me," she said. "How can that be me? I'm right here, standing inside my own
house, in my daughter's room."
The ****ning man smiled again, understanding her confusion. He said, "Yes.
You live within the realm of time, and so you do not understand the things
which are beyond time. This is God's creation, the new creation which will
be, and has always been, and always will be, for those who belong to Him."
Now Linda felt a dizziness that buzzed all around inside her head.
"But I am not even religious," she said. "I'm not a Christian or a Jew or
anything like that. I'm not even sure that I believe God exists. How can I
be standing over there now, if I'm here now. And how can I belong to God
if
I don't even know who He is?"
"Exactly," said the man. "This that you are now seeing has always been,
for
an eternity. This is the reality toward which you are still moving. For
you,
this is the future. As for how such things can be, they cannot be, except
that God makes them so. And so it is, for it pleases Him. The day will
come
when you will see and understand the truth that you are still seeking.
Until
then, you will be wondering how this world and your world can both be real
at the same time."
Linda shook her head. None of the words she was hearing made any sense to
her. The whole thing must be a dream, or some kind of hallucination. She
was
sure that reality was not this hard to get a hold of.
Just then her daughter tugged at Linda's gown, saying, "Look, Mommy! The
sun's coming up!"
Linda looked and saw the beautiful brightness that began to transform the
entire scene. The sky had already been bright as daylight before, but now
it
was made all the brighter by the rising sun.
"Actually," the man said, correcting the child, "It's not the sunrise, but
the Son and Savior: the Lord Jesus Christ. For there is no more need for
the
sun or moon in this place."
And even as he spoke, Linda could tell that the light moved closer and
closer, into the center of the scene before her, and not higher into the
sky. The light moved toward them as a man might walk.
"It's late in the night for you," the ****ning man was now saying, as he
stepped closer. "You must go now and return to bed. Do not worry. You will
not forget anything that you have seen here tonight."
And with those words, he reached through and pulled the closet door shut.
But just before she lost sight of the incredible world beyond the doorway,
Linda caught a glimpse of the face of the Savior in the center of the
perfect Light. He was looking right at her, over all the distance that
still
remained between them. And in His eyes, there was welcome. Linda knew
instantly that she would never be able to put into words what she had felt
when she saw those eyes.
Standing there facing the closed door for a moment, or for how many
minutes
she didn't really know, Linda tried to sort out the experience. Then she
took hold of the door handle and opened the door again. But it was dark
inside, and she could just faintly make out ****rts and dresses and jackets
hanging there in the closet.
She carried her sleeping child back to the small bed and tucked her in.
Then
she returned to the closet and looked in again, pulling the clothing
aside,
and looking beyond. But only the blank wall was there.
Suddenly, Linda felt very sleepy. Checking on her daughter one last time,
the mother turned the small lamp off and made her way back across the hall
to her own room, her own bed.
It had all been exciting, to say the least. And there was much to think
about in the days to come. But for now, she could only think of sleep.
Before giving in completely to her exhaustion, Linda sat on the edge of
her
bed a few moments.
There was one more thing she needed to do. Opening the small drawer of
the
bedside table, she took out paper and a pen. Then she wrote a note to
herself. It was a note she doubted she would really need in the morning.
It
said simply, "Church" in scrawled letters. She turned off the lamp by her
bed and collapsed into the pillows and downward toward deep sleep.
Tom's folks were always inviting the young couple to church gatherings in
their home, or at the park, or on the beach. Almost every week they said
something about a meeting or special event. Linda's answer had always been
a
polite but very firm, "No."
Now, however, she knew that she would say, "Yes." She would go and gather
with the Christian believers. And she would listen, and she would learn
what
all of this belief in Jesus is about.
Slipping off into the depths of sleep, she kept seeing the eyes of the
Lord,
inviting her and welcoming her to the great celebration. And she also
remembered the conversation she'd had with the ****ning man. She remembered
asking, "How can I belong to God if I don't even know who He is?"
"Exactly," the man had said.
"Exactly."
"By the tender mercy of our God, the Dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to
guide our feet into the way of peace." - Luke 1: 78,79 NRSV
Jim
www.goodwordusa.org
Behind the Closet Door ©2004 Jim Sutton
all rights reserved
originally published at
www.jimsdesk.com
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