Lena is trapped in the prison with a violent lunatic.
Our communication officer.
She’s smart and she’s tough.
But no expert at unarmed combat.
Unlike The Wrecker.
The Captain forbade any of us to go in after her.
I’m sorely tempted to disobey.
Lena is…. special to me.
But The Captain is not one to be disobeyed.
And I’ve never known him be wrong… yet.
Suddenly I hear a voice.
Madeline, our toughest commando.
Talking at the top of her lungs.
Her southern accent even more outrageous than usual.
I turn to look.
My eyes bug out.
She is dressed to the nines.
Talk and statuesque, like a cross between Madonna and Wonder Woman.
Her red dress and over-the-top makeup make her into a character from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
“Don’t worry, Lena.
Aunty Madeline has come to help.”
We watch in rapt horror as she crosses the no man’s land between us and the prison.
Still talking up a storm.
The Wrecker probably won’t shoot her.
The gunfire would give away his position.
Bullets and personnel would swarm all over him.
But Lena is his ace in the hole.
As long as we knows she’s there
He knows we won’t try anything rash.
However, if Lena tried to escape he’d kill her in a heartbeat, knowing he’d nothing left to lose.
Also, The Wrecker has had a grudge against her family for generations.
I am filled with a cold sweat.
When I even think about what he might do if he catches her alone and helpless.
The waiting is unbearable.
Suddenly I hear a voice.
“That stupid little ungrateful b***h.
I can’t believe I came all this way for her.”
The tall blonde woman in the red dress stalks angrily
And apparently fearlessly
Away from the prison
Toward us
We tense
Awaiting the fatal crack of the rifle
But The Wrecker seems to be weighing the odds
Losing Madeline leaves him no worse off than before.
Better, even; not having to worry about her sneaking up behind him.
But as she gets closer
I notice something is off
Her voice
Her face
Her tears
Omigod.
It’s Lena.
Somehow Madeline switched places.
Nobody moves.
I resist the urge to rush to her.
Lest we give away the ruse.
She makes it across the line.
into the crowd.
The angry curses slowly fading away.
For many long minutes
Nothing happens
Suddenly there is a disturbance in the crowd.
Improbably, an old woman with a cane emerges and starts walking slowly toward the prison.
A man in the uniform of a prison guard calls out through a bullhorn.
“Do not shoot.
Repeat. Do not shoot.
This is the warden’s mother.
She has met with The Wrecker before.
She believes she can negotiate with him.”
This is insane.
It has to be some sort of ploy.
But what I can do?
Run out to tackle an old woman
Breaking all her bones?
Then a sudden breeze blows
The old woman’s skirt flutters up briefly
Revealing a very shapely calf
With a knife strapped to her ankle.
Without thinking I hurdle the barrier
She notices me approaching
Gives a very un-old-lady shriek
Hurls the cane at me
And takes off running
It is a dark windowless room
A woman lies under a tarp
Sobbing quietly
But not too quietly
The door opens
A large figure is silhouetted against the light
He enters and walks toward the huddled figure
“At last
You are mine
We have been waiting generations for this
Ever since your great-grandmother spurned my great-great grandfather. “
He steps closer.
“Don’t be afraid.
It will hurt, yes.
But this is how things were meant to be.
You might even enjoy it.”
He holds a gun in his right hand
While his left reaches down to rip off the tarp.
With one smooth fluid motion
Madeline uncurls from the floor
Grabs the gun
And kicks him in the face.
He staggers back, bleeding.
Madeline tossed the gun over her shoulder.
“Why, yes,” she drawls, pulling out a pair of nunchucks.
“I do believe I will.”
Reflection
Is this how we use spiritual warfare to set free those we love?
Watch and pray while Christ takes their place?
Hold the boundary so nothing interferes?
Radically Happy 
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