Chapter 20 (Going Home)

Wow, Chapter 20! If every chapter was a year, this book would be seven years older than me! And this is the last chapter too! *sniff* Nooooooooo!

Chapter 20

Ben nibbled on a piece of bread as he vacantly looked out the window at the people down below. Hans was whittling something besides him, and Tristan was taking a small cat-nap on the floor.

"Here," Hans said, handing Ben a piece of wood and a knife. "Why don't you carve something?"

Ben briefly nodded and accepted them. He took one last look out the window. And then turned away. Wait, did I saw who I thought I saw? He looked back again and leaped up in surprise.

Making their way through the traffic were Kaela, Lindsey, Erithnae--and Yeshua!

He rushed down the stairs, narrowly avoiding stepping on Tristan. Hans looked after him. "Hey, Ben? Where...what on earth?"

Figuring that the cause for Ben's excitement was somewhere outside, Hans glanced out the window. And nearly screamed in delight.

"Tristan! Tristan!" he bellowed, shaking the sleeping boy. "Wake up! It's Yeshua!"

The other followers heard Hans yelling, and then the whole house was alive with joy. Ben had never come so close to crying as he did then, but not because he was sad. Yeshua's alive! he kept on repeating to himself. Yeshua's alive!

After the hubbub had died down a bit, Yeshua smiled. "I'm sure everyone knows what comes next!" he exclaimed. "A feast!"

Josh was about to ask where the food was, when Yeshua waved his hand at the table. Instantly it nearly disappeared under food of every kind! Bread, meat, fruit, vegetables, salads, souffles, puddings, pies...every food imaginable was there.

He was wondering where he should start, when Yeshua came up to him, holding something behind his back. "Care for a suggestion, Joshua?"

Josh sniffed. "Something smells familiar...yeah, sure. What's that behind your back?"

Yeshua pulled his hands out behind him and waved a livercream pie in front of Josh's face. "Care for some livercream pie?"
--- --- ---
The feast lasted for several hours. Everything, as Lindsey noticed, tasted so much more real then other food. The fruit was more juicy, the meat more tender; she wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that Yeshua made it.

When everything was finished, Yeshua gathered everyone around. "Ben, Kaela, Lindsey, Josh--you're time in Elandai is over."

Lindsey sighed. "Man, that was awesome! Thank you so much, Yeshua!"

Josh looked a little worried. "Will we ever come back?"

Yeshua smiled in a reassuring way. "All of you will come back someday. But even when you aren't in Elandai, I will still be with you, though you won't see me. And soon after you four go, I also will go up to my father, Adonai. So say your goodbyes now,"

Ben turned to Tristan and slapped him on the back. "Well, see you, Tristan."

Tristan patted him in return. "Have fun in your world, Ben."

They all said their goodbyes to the followers, and then stood in front of Yeshua. He smiled at each one, and then suddenly--

--Ben, Kaela, Josh, and Lindsey were standing beside their creek, back in their own world.

Lindsey blinked. "Wow," was all she could say.

Josh couldn't manage much more. "Were we...dreaming?"

Kaela grinned happily. "No, we weren't. And that's the best thing about Elandai; it's all one hundred percent real!" She turned to Lindsey. "So, are you happy you guys came to the creek with Ben and me?"

Lindsey smiled sheepishly. "Definately. And I'm really sorry about the way I acted. I would understand perfectly if you hated me for life."

Kaela smiled back. "Oh, that's okay. You certainly aren't like that anymore!"

Ben waved toward the creek. "Well, I guess we'd better be getting back to the house now, guys. C'mon, this way."

He led his sister and his cousins back across the creek and onto the other bank. When they had finished, Lindsey took one last look back.

"Do you know if anyone else has discovered Elandai?" she asked. "It would be so easy to find; all you have to do is walk across the creek and you're there!"

Ben shook his head. "We do know that Mom and Dad had at least one adventure in Elandai, but other than them, we don't know."

Josh suddenly started. "Hold on. We were gone for weeks! We'd better get home now!"

"Oh, don't worry," Kaela assured him. "Elandaian time is different from ours. In Elandai, weeks for them would only be a second in our time. See?"

She held her watch under Josh's nose. "The time's exactly the same as when we crossed over. It's 9:24 AM."

Josh could only shake his head.

"When do you think we can go back?" Lindsey asked her cousins.

Ben shrugged. "It really depends. It was nearly a month after our first adventure that Kaela and I were summoned into Elandai again. But for you two it could be different--maybe a few days, or maybe a year. But we might want to go back now, this is a good season for snakes."

Kaela shuddered. "Righto. Come on, guys, let's hurry. You really don't want to run into snakes around here!"

The cousins turned and walked away. But as Ben left the creek, he knew that it wouldn't be very long before they would have another adventure in Elandai.

The End

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Whew. That was a complicated book. Some people may think it's easy to write an allegory, but it's not really. Because you want it to be theologically correct, but you don't want it to just be an exact copy of the Bible. But they're so fun to write!

Thanks for reading this everyone. Comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated. I'm never too busy for comments!

Izori