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wasn't growing where I was."

Chaim was relieved to see that Sheree had started to re-tie the halter strings. "Bobbi said you stopped hearing from God after I left," he said.

"Yeah, but I'm back to listening now," Sheree reported. "That's how I got here, remember? I've been seeing some wonderful things for us in the future."

"Us?" asked Chaim.

"Us. You and me. Nothing is going to stop us."

Chaim did not like the sound of this.

"Where are you staying?" he asked.

"I'm not," she said. "I just arrived in Sydney this morning. My suitcase is under the bed."

Chaim looked around the room. "As you can see, I only have one single bed, and hardly enough room to move around it. You won't be able to stay here."

"Ah, but there's another room out in the back. I've been checking the place out. I could stay there."

She was right. It was only an empty toolshed, but if she was prepared to stay in it, what could he do to stop her?

"Well, let's get you set up there before it gets any later," he said. "I was hoping for an early night. I have a big day tomorrow." He dragged the suitcase out from under the bed, picked up the candle and trudged around to the back of the building. The rest of the house was inaccessible, apart from this one room and the shed at the back.

Chaim carried out his mattress to get Sheree through the night, and then retired to his room once again. He was thinking, for the first time, about putting a lock on the door.

 

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Co-operation

Chapter Twenty-Six--Co-operation

Chaim's first instinct was to run. He could just pack up and leave, right then, or at any time in the future. But if she could find him once, what would stop her from doing it again? He was pretty sure that her voices were no longer coming from God, but he also believed God had allowed her to find him for a reason.

Not least amongst his thoughts as he lay awake on the floor that night was the possibility that Sheree could succeed in distracting him from what he had been called to do. She had lost something spiritually, but her appearance was much improved; and she was right about Chaim's attraction to her.

It was very late when Chaim fell asleep; and he was no closer to a solution than when he had first laid down.

The next morning, he was awakened by a quiet tapping on his door. He answered it with a sheet wrapped around himself. It was Sheree, and, like her tapping, she seemed much more timid than she had been the previous evening.

"I'm sorry, Chaim. I can come back later," she said when she saw he was not dressed.

"That's okay. Just wait a tick," he said, and he turned to slip into some slacks before opening the door to her.

He offered her the one seat at the table, and fetched the chair in the corner for himself.

"It must have been quite a shock to you, finding me here like that last night," she said. Chaim just lifted his eyebrows in response.

"I don't want to cause problems for you; I just want to be near you," she said.

"About that," Chaim returned, "I want to be very clear that I'm not interested in a sexual relationship. I've stayed single this long, and I don't want to change now."

"I understand," said Sheree. "But if we could just be friends... I could maybe help you."

Chaim thought that if she really wanted to help, she would have stayed in Japan and patched things up with Bobbi instead. Still, it wouldn't be so bad, if she could keep from throwing herself at him, like she had done the previous evening.

"Well, you're here now," he said. "Let's just take it a day at a time."

And that's what they did, with Sheree spending that day and the next fixing up the shed, to make it more liveable. She stayed out of Chaim's way, and he was able to go off to "work" as he called it, without further interruption.

On Sunday, she asked if she could go to meeting with him, and it seemed pointless to refuse. Friends would take note of them arriving together, but they would think little more of it. They might even see it as a hopeful sign of him settling down.

Sheree picked up a casual job doing telephone sales, and when she tired of that she letter-boxed pamphlets. She shared with Chaim much that she was able to get by compromising with the system.

It wasn't long before Sheree was inviting Chaim out into the backyard occasionally (and then more than occasionally) for evening meals around a table that she had set up there. There were no further attempts to seduce him, and the overall effect was more seductive than anything else she could have done. He really liked Sheree as a friend, at the same time that he weighed up constantly what effect this would have on the rest of the movement.

Every few months she would make some attempt to influence him in spiritual matters, but whenever he resisted, she would settle back into a less threatening relationship. Often she would disappear for days or weeks, and when she returned she would be in bad shape physically, like she had been living out on the streets. Chaim's presence seemed to be enough to restore her sanity, and to get her taking care of herself once again.

Several times Chaim thought about letting others in the movement know that she was there. At first he held back because he was certain that it would be temporary; but later he held back because it was not, and because he did not know how to explain it. Not even Molly and Bess, up in Newcastle, knew where he lived now, and Sheree was happy to stay in Sydney on the rare occasions when Chaim would take a trip to Newcastle to see them. Sheree became Chaim's little secret, and even though they remained only friends, he still had a feeling that it was more a "dark" secret than an innocent one.

Over the next two years, life for the entire movement progressed smoothly. There were the inconveniences of trying to do business without using money; but apart from that, they encountered few difficulties. Growth in numbers had come to a halt, giving individual cells an opportunity to organise themselves better, and to develop a clearer picture of what was happening and what was going to happen.

The rest of the world was still adjusting to the mass movement of so many Americans, but the general mood was one of continuing prosperity. Americans, many of them with skills and experience that could be used to build up local economies, became the Twenty-First Century version of slaves, harvested from an overnight war. With all the profits staying in the rest of the world now, people were starting to realise just how much they had been missing during those years when all of the world's luxuries had been sucked down the brain drain that led to the West.

Xu Dangchao's charisma had bedazzled the entire world. His role as Secretary General was now one of ex officio world ruler. Governments were not conquered (apart from America, and to a certain extent, Britain) but rather they were enlisted in Dangchao's many efforts to unite the world. Never in modern history had there ever been such a period of total peace, prosperity, and co-operation.

By the time that Chaim and Sheree were celebrating the second anniversary of their meeting at the little squat in Strathfield, Chaim estimated that there were just seven months left before things would change.

 

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Betrayal

Chapter Twenty-Seven--Betrayal

It was January, and time for Yearly Meeting once again. This year it was to be held in Perth. Chaim decided not to go, but Sheree wanted to attend, and so she asked for and received clearance from the local meeting in Sydney to do so. Anyone allowed to attend Yearly Meeting could participate in business meetings as well as most other sessions.

Chaim met Sheree as she stepped off the Indian-Pacific at Strathfield Station on her return from Perth.

"Welcome back," he said, as he greeted her with a hug, and reached out to take her bag. "How'd it go?"

"Oh it was great," she said, with a little less enthusiasm than he had expected. "Everyone was nice. They treated me just like I was one of them."

"I told you they would," he reminded her. "But you're acting like something's wrong. What is it?"

Their relationship had progressed to the point where he could almost read her mind.

"I'm worried that you might be upset with me," she said.

"Why? What happened?" Chaim had the feeling she was looking forward to telling him.

"At one of the sessions we discussed the Peace Testimony. I mentioned something you did, just to get their view. It wasn't very good." She looked up to gauge his reaction.

"You what? What did you tell them?" Chaim was shocked.

"I asked them if it's okay to kill someone, if you think God has told you to."

"What does that have to do with me?" Chaim asked, feeling cautious as well as shocked.

"I said that you would kill someone if God told you to. You would, wouldn't you?"

What was most surprising about this was that Chaim had never had any such discussion with Sheree. Where was she getting this? Did she know something about the three men in the cave in Yutang? No, that wasn't possible.

"Well... would you?"

"Would I what?" Chaim had become lost in thought.

"Would you kill someone if God told you to?"

"C'mon, Sheree! That's not fair. Besides, how could you tell them something like that if we've never talked about it ourselves?"

"I'm trying to talk about it now, and you're avoiding the subject," Sheree argued. Of course she was right.

Chaim went silent as they walked from the station to the squat. On arrival, he left her to unpack and headed off to the library, where he could be alone. What he needed was time to think. Not about whether he would kill someone if God told him to, because one might as well say that he already had... and not about whether Sheree was aware of it because he was sure she was not. But more about what his attitude should be toward her, under the circumstances.

She obviously knew what her disclosure would do to his acceptance amongst Friends. It was like she had gone there for the express purpose of betraying him. But the truth in what she had said was the biggest part of the hurt he was feeling.

Who could he turn to for counsel on how to deal with something like this?

That was when he decided to email Rayford. A full disclosure of his relationship with Sheree went into the email. He didn't go so far as to say what had happened in the cave, but he did say that there was some truth in what Sheree had said.

It was still a few hours before Rayford would be awake in London, but he hung around the library waiting. During that time he pondered and prayed, but his mind was racing so that he could not get anything through listening. Three hours later, he received a reply from Rayford.

"Thanks for writing," Rayford began. "The important thing is that you've opened up and shared what is going on. These kind of