Heal-Anon: A Serial.

Heal-Anon

Episode 1.

Brad was finding it difficult to concentrate on his
surroundings. The lights reflected brilliantly on the
mirror before him. Behind his eyes there was a
throbbing pain, and over his skull he was sure that
there had to be an invisible drum pounding his head into
the ground.

As he looked at his reflection he could see his eyebrows
keeping time to the pounding, his upper eye-lids
flickering in uncontrolled spasms.

He reached up to his forehead, and gently massaged his
brow, hoping to bring some relief from the pain.
He wanted to crawl away, to run, to find some place
where he could find relief and rest from his pain. He
needed to take a long time for himself, where he could
relax and lounge around with no worries or pressures or
demands without having to address all the cries for help
that were constantly thrown toward him.

Brad began to hear the music being played in the
auditorium, a sweet and gentle refrain that reminded him
of gentler and happier times. Brad knew that once again
his body was being commanded to take action, to relieve
the suffering that so many had cried out for relief.

His own pain would have to wait.

As he raised his head to see his reflection once again
in the mirror, his neck began to cramp. The sudden
demand on his attention brought only more pain. He
closed his eyes as his neck muscles strained almost to
the point of tearing. All he could do was lower his
head and wait for the cramp to cease.

Several seconds passed and still the cramp held its
grip. Brad could not help but groan as he tried to
relax his shoulder muscles. Then slowly he began to
feel his neck muscles release, and he gently stretched
his neck as they finally relaxed.

By now there was only one verse left in the musical
introduction. Brad took a deep breath, and finally
prayed, 'Lord, help me this night, for Thy glory. Amen.'

He gazed up at the mirror, he did not have time to cover
the deep dark rings around his eyes. He was only
twenty, but the image he saw was well into its fifties.

"For God and His glory", Brad whispered. He stood, and
turned toward the door. He opened it, and walked out
onto the stage with even brighter lights and louder
pounding. The Gospel Band exploded with sound and
energy. Shouts of "hallelujah" could be heard from both
the audience and the singers on stage.

The Healing Hour had begun....

Only Brad had slipped from awareness. He didn't feel
himself stumble or fall, he didn't hear the cries of
shock and dismay. He didn't know that people ran to
him, frantically calling his name. He wasn't aware that
a huge group of people huddled around him, placed their
hands on him or placed their hands on people who were
touching him. He didn't hear their prayers at all.

He knew nothing of the next four days.

When he awoke he was on a stretcher being wheeled into a
transport ambulance. His first words were, "Thank you
that someone had enough sense to call an ambulance".

The ambulance attendant heard him speak, "Mr. Willingly,
you're awake. You are being transferred to a private
facility in the Coastal mountains. Your prognosis is
good, and you are safe to travel."

"But the service...the call....is too great...", Brad
tried to put his words together.

The Attendant responded, "It's okay, Mr. Willingly you
have been sedated. You don't have to talk. You are
perfectly safe. We will be taking good care of you."

Brad gave in to his tiredness, and fell back to sleep.

Brad awoke once again as the ambulance bumped along a
windy dirt road. "Where are we going?"

"Well, we're not going anywhere now, 'cause we're here",
the attendant said. "Welcome to your recovery retreat
and rehab center."

"Rehab?" Brad was shocked, "I'm not a drug addict."

"It's not that type of rehab, don't worry, we'll help
you settle in."

"So where are we?" Brad asked.

As the Ambulance came to a halt, the back door swung
open. A woman in normal casual dress appeared saying,
'Mr Willingly, I'm Henrietta Brightcolor, the
facilitator here at Coastal Retreat and Recovery.

"We specialize in helping people with healing problems, and
you sir, fit our requirements perfectly."

"Healing problems?" Brad was confused.

"Yes, Healing problems. In short we are Healers
Anonymous, or Heal-Anon to those of us who stay here."

Brad closed his eyes.... this had to be a bad dream.
Except when he opened them again Henrietta was still
there smiling at him...


(I have been wanting to write a serial for a long time, and finally have decided on an idea that might both work and grow with the telling. This is my first installment that I hope you will find entertaining and enlightening, any comments would be welcome and appreciated.)

Episode 2.

The Ambulance attendant reached for a duffel bag that
what sitting next to Brad's stretcher, and handed it to
Henrietta. "These are Mr. Willingly's clothes and
personal items," he said.

Henrietta took hold of the bag, and waved for Brad to
come out of the ambulance.

Brad was sitting on the stretcher by now, and lifted
his legs over its side, and stood up into a crouched
position walking slowly to the rear of the vehicle.

When he got to the edge of Ambulance the attendant held
out his hand for him to take hold of, but Brad simply
jumped to the ground. The attendant smiled at him.

It had been four days since Brad had felt the warmth
of the Sun shining on him. The air had a wholesome,
unpolluted feel as he took in a deep breath. As he
turned around to survey the world around him, he could
hear the birds chirping merrily in the gentle warm
breeze that enveloped the grounds.

"So Bradley," Henrietta was saying, "For the next
little while this will be your home. There are
currently about twenty-five residents who are staying
with us. Every one here has their private quarters, a
place where you can be alone if you wish. We have
plenty of activities which anyone can join in on
throughout the day, and in the evening after chores we
get together for a sing-a-long and sharing time."

As Brad listened questions began popping up in his
mind. "Henrietta, I'm not really sure why I'm even
here. Who is paying for all this, and why do I need to
stay here when there is so much work to do at home?"

Henrietta looked at him for a moment. "You were
referred here by your Doctor and the release forms were
signed by....." Henrietta turned a sheet of paper on
her clipboard ".... Angel Willingly...your mother."

"My Mom? She lives on the other side of the country,
how could she have signed me in here?"

"The wonders of fax machines, scanners, and computer
technology... all your papers are in order. Are you
okay with this Bradley?" She looked at the Ambulance
attendant who was still next to them as if to say, "You
didn't get his approval before transport?"

The Ambulance attendant shrugged, "He was still
sedated".

"Well, then, Bradley why don't you spend a little time
with us before you make up your mind. This is neither a
prison or a hospital. You don't have to stay if you
don't want to, its completely up to you. There are no
guards, gates, or fences to keep you here. This is a
place for you to rest and recharge and you can stay here
for as long as you need to." Henrietta gave him a warm
and winsome smile. "Okay?"

Brad remembered the agony he was in before he had
passed out, if a four day slumber could be called
"passing out". Actually he hadn't been told what had
happened, just that his prognosis was good. He didn't
even remember talking to a doctor.

"Do my church and school know that I'm here? I don't
want to lose touch." Brad asked.

Henrietta checked the form on the clipboard once
again, "Yes, we have your work contact as Deacon Brown."

That made sense, since Pastor Channelsburgh was on
holidays for the summer, which was why Brad was filling
in for him for the services.

'Well, if this is where God wants me to be for now,'
Brad thought, 'who am I to argue.'

"Okay, let's give it a go for a day or two, and see
what happens." Brad finally agreed.

"Fantastic, I think you will really like it here,"
Henrietta reached out and took his right hand, giving it
a hearty shake.

***

As they were walking up to the main building
Henrietta began talking about the history of the center.

"Back in 1957 a group of five ministers of different
denominations got together and began to talk about the
needs of Pastors, Missionaries, and laypeople who were
becoming overwhelmed in their ministries. As they
understood the great responsibilities of leading and
serving people in a vastly different world, they
realized that ministers would come under increasingly
difficult periods in their lives where they would need
to rest. They recognized that as families fragmented
all around them ministers would almost instinctively
take on the hurts and pains of those with whom they
worked and served. Not only would they face greater
educational demands but also further encroachments upon
their time with God. The Pastor's role was changing
from under-shepherd to CEO, a role change which was
unnatural to the Pastoral heart. The stresses of
politics in the church would overrule their passion for
Christ and ministry.

"One solution they came up with was this retreat,
this recovery center, where God's servants could come
and rebuild their hearts and passions for ministry more
in line with why they entered ministry in the first
place."

"You mentioned earlier that you called this place
'Healer's Anonymous'? Brad asked

"That is more of an unofficial name, we are all
healers here, in one way or another helping to cure the
pain and suffering around us. Healing is not a bad
thing, but sometimes healing becomes our task, our role,
rather than our heart's spiritual passion."

They had reached the front door of the main house.
"So, Bradley, are you ready to go in?"

Episode 3


As Henrietta lead Bradley on a tour of the main floor
Bradley found that he was a little surprised at how much
it reminded him of a normal house. Yes, the rooms were
bigger to accommodate more people but otherwise it
reminded him of his own home. There was a living room,
a TV room, a study with several computers, a dining area
with two large tables, a large kitchen with a breakfast
nook, and a laundry room with two washing machines and
two dryers.

After the tour Henrietta lead Bradley up to the third
floor which housed the men who were staying there. At
the end of the hallway she opened the door to a small
bedroom which had a freshly made single bed, and a three
drawer chest. The bedside cabinet had a lamp and a
small fold-out shelf for writing.

"So, this is your room. We ask that you try to keep
it clean, and wash the sheets at least once a week. I
hope you don't mind the southern exposure, it can get
pretty warm during the summer with the sun shining in
all day, but during winter it can also be a real bonus."

Bradley was still trying to understand how and why he
came to be here, but for now it felt like things were
simply opening up for him, and he had no real reason as
to why he would question it.

"It's about 3:30 now and dinner is at 5, so I will
give you a chance to unpack and settle in before I
introduce you to some of the other residents. The Men's
washroom is three doors down on your left, you may want
to shower before supper. There should be a fresh towel
in the top drawer of the dresser, and soap and shampoo
are in the washroom. If you hurry, there should be a
fresh cup of tea waiting for you when you come down
before dinner."

It felt like Henrietta had been talking for such a
long time that Bradley found himself only half
concentrating on what she was saying, so when she asked,
"Any questions?" Bradley almost missed the place where
he was supposed to respond, and when he did respond, all
that came out was "No, not really."

"Okay, see you in a bit," Henrietta smiled as she
left the room, and closed the door behind her.

Bradley's head still felt foggy, and his eyelids were
heavy. With the door closed he fell on his bed to shut
his eyes for a few minutes before he unpacked...

... He awoke to a heavy knocking on his door. Brad
shook his head a little, rubbed his eye-lids and sprung
up to a sitting position on his bed.

"Yes?" He called out. He still felt disoriented from
sleep.

"Hello? Bradley?" An unfamiliar voice came from the
other side of the door.

"Yeah? That's me." Bradley answered.

"Hi, may I come in?" asked the voice.

"The door's not locked. I'm decent."

Brad heard a laugh as the door opened. A middle-aged
man peered in with short greying hair, and round clear
glasses over his eyes.

"Hi Brad, my name is Andrew Caphital. I am the person
in charge of male care and support here at Heal-anon.
It's Seven-thirty in the evening and if you would like
to come down we have some left-overs from dinner if you
want to have something to eat."

"Seven-thirty?" Brad looked at his watch which showed
seven-thirty-two. "You sleep for four days and all you
can do is sleep some more," Brad half-chastised himself.

"Henrietta mentioned that you had been sedated just
before coming here, so it's no surprise. That's why we
let you sleep through dinner."

"Okay, uh, let me put on a clean shirt, and I'll be
right down."

Andrew smiled enthusiastically, "Great, we are also
going to be starting our Care and share time in a few
minutes, I'm pretty sure nobody will mind if you're
eating and listening in. If you want to share you can,
but sometimes people find it a little overwhelming the
first day. Nobody will fault you if you're happy to
just listen." Andrew turned around and closed the door
as he left.

Brad took a deep breath. "Lord? Where am I?" He could
hear people beginning to talk below him, with some
laughing happily.

He opened his duffle bag and found a shirt that did
not look too creased and crumpled, as well as a pair of
jeans that looked clean. Once he had dressed he found
his toothbrush and toothpaste and went to find the
washroom. It turned out that the door to the washroom
was labelled "Men's", and when he entered he saw his
reflection in the mirror.

He had half a week of stubble on his face, and his
light brown hair was sticking out all over the place.
Brad shuddered at his appearance. Luckily there was a
comb next to the sink as well as a drawer labelled
"toiletries". He opened the drawer where he found a bag
of disposable safety razors, and a can of shaving
cream.

Once he washed his face and hands, brushed his teeth,
shaved and combed his hair his reflection was a lot more
pleasant to look at. Brad smiled at himself, wiped the
counter and took his toothpaste and brush back to his
room. Tossing them onto his bed he turned around, went
down the hallway, and descended the two flights of
stairs to the main floor.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs his way was
blocked by two ladies sitting on the bottom step talking
with two men who were standing off to the side. Taking
the initiative Brad said, "Hello, I'm Brad".

One of the ladies looked up at him. She got up
saying, "You probably want to get through, don't you?"

"That's the plan," Brad responded cheerfully.

One of the men responded, "the best laid plans of
mice and men..."

"...are one of the things that make God laugh," the
other woman finished.

The first lady explained, "One of the things we do
for fun is rework famous quotes. Some times the results
are actually funny."

"Far out," Brad answered and then asked "The
kitchen?"

"That-a-way," the second man pointed.

"Thanks," Brad answered as he picked his way through
them.

When Brad entered the kitchen he found several people
there who were finishing their chores, along with
Henrietta and Andrew sitting at the breakfast nook.

Andrew looked up at him and said, "The sleeper is
awake!"

Brad smiled in response, "and he is very hungry."

Henrietta got up and cross over to the refrigerator,
where she pulled out a plate laden with food and covered
with plastic. She went over to a microwave oven and
heated the plate of food up. In less than a minute the
food was heated, and the plate was placed on the table
ready to be devoured.

Brad said a quick short prayer of thanks and dug in.
Several minutes into his meal he noticed that nobody was
talking. He looked up at Andrew who had a placid smile
on his face watching him eat. "This is really good,"
Brad offered.

Andrew answered, "As is His blessing."

Episode 4.


As Brad continued to eat, one of the ladies who were
finishing with the dishes and cleaning the kitchen came
over to sit with Henrietta, Andrew and himself.
Henrietta moved over a little as she sat down.

"Hi, I'm Sarah," she introduced herself.

"Hi, Brad." Brad responded, offering his hand.

Sarah's grip was solid, and Brad returned equal
pressure. "A good firm handshake. None of this floppy
fish stuff for you, huh?" She said.

"Only if I was asking you to "Ixthus" me for eating
while you're sitting here," Brad answered.

"We'll be starting our Care and Share time in about
five minutes, Sarah," Andrew said.

"Five minutes guys," Sarah called out loudly.

"We heard you," somebody called back from the main
room.

"So, what part of the world did you come from?" Sarah
asked.

"Midtown," Brad answered.

"Really, what do you do there?"

"Study, help out with services."

"Still a student?" Sarah asked, and then gave a short
laugh, "I know, once a student always a student."

"I guess," Brad answered. "Apparently we never stop
learning. God and the universe are pretty big
subjects."

"And the universe..." Sarah repeated thoughtfully.

"Yep, to boldly go where no man has gone before", Brad
joked.

"From five year to continuing missions," a man in his
thirties who was getting a glass of water interjected.
"At least then you know you have something to work with.
The short term stuff is more like babysitting."

"Scott's a missionary," Sarah informed Brad.

"Yep, a true lifer." Scott said.

"Okay," Henrietta interrupted as Brad finished his
meal. "It's time to start." She gently pushed Sarah up
from the table, letting Andrew out as well.

"I'll take that for you," Sarah said as she took
Brad's plate and glass. She walked over to the sink,
rinsed the plate and put it and the glass in the
dishwasher in a single motion.

Andrew led Brad into the large living room which had
several sofas and a lot of chairs all facing each other.

Brad took a seat and Sarah sat next to him, while
others were coming into the room and getting settled.

"I didn't ask which school you went to," Sarah said
with a questioning inflection at the end of the
statement.

"Midtown Bible University, entering my fourth year."
Brad answered.

Henrietta stood up, "Good evening everybody. As you
might have noticed we have a new person with us this
evening, Brad, and hopefully you will all have an opportunity
to help him feel welcome during his stay. A few quick
announcements. Whoever put the tennis balls in the
dryer, I ask that you not do it again. You were
probably wanting to give our laundry a bouncy fresh
feeling, but if I hadn't caught it in time, the whole
house would have smelled like burned rubber."

A few people laughed and snickered.

"Please, you are adults, not children." Henrietta
continued. "And we are going to need some help tomorrow
with the barn's roof. There is a section which needs
fixing from the last storm that we had, and it is better
to do the work now than wait until the next storm comes
through." Henrietta paused, "Any volunteers?" She
asked.

Two men and a lady put up their hands. "Great, thanks
Bill, Howard, and Jess, you will be getting together
with Andrew after Breakfast to see what needs to be
done, and put together what you need to do it."

"That's about it for now. John, would you please lead
us in a word of prayer."

The man named John stood up, "Let's pray", he said.

Instinctively everybody in the room bowed their heads.

"Our Father, we thank you for this wonderful day, and
all the joys we have had spending time in celebration of
Your rest. We ask that you would reach in to all of our
lives that we will rejoice in your goodness and love.
We ask that we would come closer to Thee, and find true
sustenance and life in the joy of Thy spirit. In Thy
Son we pray, Amen."

A number of people responded, saying, "Amen".

When Brad opened his eyes he noticed that two guitars,
a set of bongos and a tambourine had appeared in the
hands of four of the people in the circle. Everybody
joined in as they sang several choruses and the hymn,
"Nearer to Thee".

When they finished the hymn there was a short pause.
Then one of the ladies began to speak.

"I'd like to share some of the things I have been
learning during my reflection time over the last week,"
she began.

"I have been feeling very frustrated and angry for a
very long time, long before I came here. I know, you
normally see me joking and laughing, and I love you all.
But this is my oasis, and real life is so much more
difficult. I get so tired of everybody expecting me to
be perfect, and when I'm not its like a thousand barbs
ripping into me. Not only when I mess up, but for
months, sometimes years afterwards people still point
out those faults. You know, those little tiny things,
that we wish we could forget, and simply let go of. I
know God forgives us, but so many times people forget
that the worse thing about messing up is that we hurt
ourselves so much more, because we expect our selves to
be perfect. But we're not. We're normal people. We're
..." she paused, and took a deep breath.

"...We're children who put tennis balls in with the
laundry. Before God we're children who want to play,
who never want to have to work, who never want to worry,
or strive, or be responsible. Yet we live in a world
that demands that we be adults, that we be responsible
to the point that when we mess up we are criminalized
even for the smallest things.

"But then I think of Jesus, and how he was
criminalized for not doing anything wrong. How He took
our failings, our messes, our sins, and freely took upon
Himself the chastisement of our sin, our punishment upon
Himself. And I think about how Jesus said, "suffer the
little children to come unto me," and "Except you become
like one of these little children", and I realize its
okay. Its okay to make mistakes, its okay to mess up,
because even though others might condemn us for the
silliest of things, and though we may want to punish
ourselves for whatever it is that we have done, we can
come to God, we can come to Jesus, and He takes us in
His arms and tells us, "it's okay, I've taken care of
it. You're going to be okay. Don't worry, Don't Fret.
You're with me."

When she finished, the room was quiet, and as she sat
down several people said, "Thankyou, thankyou Jenny for
sharing".

After a moment they began to sing once again, softly
and worshipfully, "praise God from whom all blessings
flow..."

Episode 5.


After the meeting had finished, several people came
over to Brad to introduce themselves, including Jenny
who had shared at the beginning of the share time.
Jenny looked like she was in her late twenties, with
light brown hair draping along her shoulders and bright
blue eyes.

"Hi, and welcome, Bradley. I hope the reason why you
came here was not too serious," she said with a warm
smile.

"I really don't know to be honest," Brad answered.
"One moment I was getting ready to preach and the next I
was in an ambulance, and the next I was here."

"This time of the year some of us go out for a walk
along the road to the country store before it gets too
dark. Would you like to come along?" Sarah was asking
both Brad and Jenny at the same time.

"I feel like a good walk, I've been sleeping for
almost five days straight, and I have to burn off some
of this penned up energy," Brad agreed.

Jenny nodded as well, and turned to the two others
standing next to her, "You guys feel like going as
well?"

"Sounds good. Brad, I'm Bob, and this is Todd," Bob
agreed.

"Hi Bob, Hi Todd," Brad answered, giving a quick
salute in their direction. Bob and Todd nodded back.

Todd then turned to Bob and in a loud whisper said,
"Should we take him out to see the dead body?"

Bob looked back at him with one eyebrow lifted
questioningly, "It's a thought."

Brad stared at the two men trying to see if they were
serious, and then Jenny and Sarah, "Are they serious?"
He asked.

Jenny was scowling at Bob and Todd, while Sarah said,
"You guys are going to scare him off." And then looking
back at Brad, "Ninety-Nine point Nine percent of the
time, No."

For the first time since Brad had arrived he felt
unsure of what was going on. Was this the point one
percent when they weren't joking? Was there an actual
dead body?

Sarah could tell that Brad was processing something
because his gaze had fallen toward the floor and he
seemed to not be fully aware of his surroundings. "When
you live out in the country, you have to set traps for
rats and mice. Every once in a while these idiots will
try to freek people out with talk of dead bodies. They
did it to me about a month ago. It took a week before I
could get a good night's sleep again."

"Sarah, way to ruin it," Bob complained.

"Yeah well one day your chicken soup might not
actually have chicken in it," Sarah responded.

Brad drew a breath of relief, and smiled weakly at
Sarah.

"It's okay, kid, you're with us now," Jenny said
warmly. "Now, what about this walk."

.......


As the group of seven people walked down the winding
country road, the Sun was still shining the last of its
rays through thickly leaved trees. In the beams of
light tiny insects could be seen circling and darting
through the long browning blades of grass which lined
the sides of the road. As they walked westward through
a line of trees they could see the flat fields of
farmland on their right. On their left there were thick
brambles of Blackberry bushes beyond the grass, and
beyond that a mixture of Maple, Pine and Fir trees.

Two other people had joined Brad, Jenny, Sarah, Bob
and Todd for the walk. A man who looked to be in his
late thirties and a woman of similar age, Tom and Mary.

Tom was telling a story about how he used to hide in
the branches of the trees near where he lived as a
child. "Back then there wasn't a tree I couldn't
climb," he was saying. "When I was smaller I preferred
the trees that were about thirty feet tall. The reason
was that their branches were low enough for somebody who
was only four foot tall to hop up on at the base. Also
the branches were close enough together that it was more
like climbing a maze than a tree. You had to figure out
how to work through the branches. Now when trees get
taller, particularly pine, fir, and cedar, they tend to
lose their lower branches. That's why with Old growth
forests there won't be a single branch until about the
forty foot mark or higher. You see, there's no point in
the tree keeping the lower branches, because the lower
ones are below the canopy where the sun can't get too."

"Why do I feel like I'm in school?" Todd asked.

"I don't think I will ever see..." Bob began.

"A poem as lovely as a tree," the three ladies chimed
in together, laughing.

"Hey, I remember that poem from way back when I was
in the third grade," Tom said quickly adapting to the
new subject. "Mrs McCready was my teacher back then.
Pretty good at her job too, she got us working with her
not against her. No yelling, no threats, just honest
learning."

Bob responded, "I remember grade three, they tried to
make us learn French. There was this special teacher
and everything. 'Le pencil, la pen,' over and over. It
would have been okay except the way she wanted us to
pronounce the "e" in pen. It felt more like trying to
push a booger through our nostrils from the back of our
throat".

Todd burst out laughing. In unison the three women
shouted "GROSS!", along with other mixed exclamations of
horror and disgust.

"It's called a nasal fricative, you idiot." Todd said
gently cuffing Bob on the upper back.

"Who you calling a nasal fricative, you idiot?" Bob
retorted, lifting his cap off his head and gently
slapping Todd on the side of the head with it. Todd
responded by taking hold of Bob's head and vigorously
messing up his hair.

"Stop it! You two!" Mary scolded, "You're men, now act
like it."

"Men?" Jenny exclaimed. "That's definitely a matter
for debate."

"Men?" Todd mimicked Jenny, saying, "That's definitely
a matter for debate," while he held his hands on his
hips and wobbled his head back and forth.

Brad almost laughed, but stopped himself as he saw
fury in Jenny's expression. It was there for only a
second, then her eyes softened as she saw the warmth in
Todd's eyes. Quickly Brad realized that Todd wasn't
showing any spite in his humour, and that Jenny had
realized it as well.

"Almost there," Sarah called out as they rounded a
curve in the road and could now see a Grocery store with
two gas pumps ahead of them.

"Allright," Bob said, "Race you Todd."

"What?" Todd asked, "You know I always win," he called
out as he sprinted to the Store.

"Falls for it every time," Bob said, as he walked
slowly along with the rest of the group.