A Rook and a Chariot is a fictional children's book for ages 10 - 14
written by Robbie Hoffman. A story of a boy that's untimely passing during the hardships of adolescents. When young Rue passes on he gets to meet God and God asks him to join him in a game of chess. The two go through the process of helping each other better understand life and meaning.
The story is a philosophical & psychological weave, written to help children understand and accept the passing of loved ones and to help them process the hardships they encounter.
Chapter 1
Goo-Goofs Pond
Rue sits in the northernmost corner of the house, reminiscing about his recent attempts to perfect his famous belly flop at Goo-Goofs Pond. He blinks twice: once for delight at his sudden urge for another swim and once at the thought that his best friend, Tabbie, will mirror him. To his surprise, his adventurous thoughts dissipate, his face grows blank, and the only thing in front of him appears to be heaven’s glory. Beautiful shades of white are woven through transcendent levels of light. He can’t look away from the beauty in colors stretched across a vast, hollow space.
Awestruck, he sees an eruption of butterflies bursting into the heavenly light from the crevasses of the clouds.
“Wow, this must be heaven! So this is what it’s like. I didn’t know it would be this beautiful.” His need for reassurance surpasses the fluttering rise of all emotional baggage, grief, despair, and past episodes fraught with desires one way or the other.
Entering heaven and looking around the endless hollow levels of clouds and glimmering butterflies, Rue calls out, “Hello? … Hello? … Am I in heaven? … Anyone?”
Attentive and confused but still reassuring himself, Rue calls out for Tabbie. “Tabbie? Tabs?”
Exploring farther, he trips on what he presumes to be a cloud. One can trip in heaven? “Pickles!” In his excitement Rue calls out his past friend’s name. “Pickles—hey there, boy!” While Rue tries to pet him, Pickles leads the way through heaven.
Lurking off in the distance as he approaches the kingdom, Rue notices a woman approaching him. He says, “I wonder if I’ll meet God.”
“Rue! Pickles has never been so excited!” says the woman.
“Lord?” Rue asks.
“No, silly, I’m your guardian angel, Saint Platium. And yes, you’re in heaven.”
“I never dreamed it would be so—”
“Beautiful?” says Saint Platium with a slight giggle.
“Pickles wasn’t alone, was he? I mean—”
“Did he make friends? Don’t worry, Rue. Pickles had a wonderful time while waiting for your arrival.”
As Rue’s sigh of relief withers away, a crowd of puppies pile in around him. They are unfamiliar to Rue yet lend an air of comfort to their surroundings.
“Who’s that boy?”
“Bella’s her name.”
“Bella, the Scottish terrier? How lovely to see you, Bella. This is—”
“Rue!” Bella blurts out, “Pickles has missed you so much!”
Giggling under her breath, Saint Platium says, “I’m sorry to say, Rue, it might take a little time to meet him.”
“You mean ….”
“To meet the Lord, that is.” Her amusement has her tumbling her words. “A couple of boys were causing trouble.”
“That happens up here too?”
“How did you ever think it wouldn’t happen here? We’re only human, Rue. Don’t worry, they’re not in too much trouble. He’ll be with you soon.”
“Do dogs get married in heaven?”
“Of course, if they’d like to. Yesterday two giraffes got married.”
“Wow! Giraffes get married?”
Strolling together in heaven a short distance ahead, two young characters have an uneasy posture to them. A powerful force seems to lean down on them with a scolding demeanor. One of the boys reacts to seeing Pickles and yells out in excitement, “Pickles!”
The scolding force turns out to be the Lord. He screams fiercely, “Don’t Pickles me!”
As Pickles is jumping on his leg in excitement, Rue and Saint Platium can hardly hide their amusement at the entire scene. Never meaning to offend the Lord, Saint Platium shields her laughter by twisting slightly away.
The powerful force looks toward Rue as the two boys duck under the fire and scoot out from under the Lord’s view.
Overwhelmed and now in hysterics, Rue tries to accept what he has seen so far. He manages to ask, “My Lord, how is it that I’ve passed?”
The Lord moves his shoulders and torso to a passive drop and leans in on Rue’s broken-down moment. Before he can lend any comfort, more words abruptly fall from Rue’s lips. “I’d love to see your archives.”
“Hmm … archives?”
“Yes, your process of creating life … and, um, what the world could have been like.”
“Speaking of process, Rue, I am very fond of your chess strategies.”
“Chess? You play with diligence, no?”
“How about a game of chess, Rue? We can discuss the possibility of viewing my archives over chess.”
“Chess with you? The Supreme Being? The Lord? The Lord of creation?
Chapter 2
White Witches and Heavenly Monks
Enjoying a leisurely, modern game of chess with Tabbie wasn’t challenging, but logically speaking, the Supreme Being effortlessly makes a better fool out of anyone every day. To live in humility is to understand compassion, but playing a strategic game of chess with the Lord of creation is the equivalent of speaking the Lord’s name blasphemously.
The chessboard sits on a table that makes your local antique store’s century-old library desk look as though it came from a department store.
The inlaid squares evoke an ancient artistic character, reflecting the heaven’s light in knifelike gleams with movement of an artist’s sentimental lifetime of healing and calculating. The elegant form of each piece lies perfectly in each beveled square, all set for a serious scholarly battle.
The strategic moves of chess arrived in Europe in the twelfth century. Later changes occurred with medieval chess, perhaps with the losing player enduring a private, demented tickle torture in a musty coffeehouse cellar. In the early 1700s Philipp Stamma created the algebraic chess notation.
Rue’s next move seems redundant, but he maintains strong eye contact with the chessboard. The Lord has no other response but to physically mimic Rue’s staggeringly time-consuming pace.
Rue breaks the stiff atmosphere and the serious concentration with meaningful silliness. “Lord, I’ve always wondered: when you were originally designing flowers, did you intend to give them the ability to pee and poo like humans?”
“You’re managing a game of chess with the Lord of creation, and you’re inquiring about pee and poo?” He pauses and chuckles. “Well, perhaps I noticed their need to blossom without the smell.”
While the two of them chuckle briefly, the whimsical smiles from their audience offer a captivating Kodak moment.
Rue was raised as a Christian by his Roman Catholic mother, who had no time for anything when there was time for quilting. She raised him alone. As children Tabbie and Rue studied Christianity with their aunt, Sister Tameria, at the eighteenth-century village Catholic church. After church Rue and Tabbie would pretend to chase dragons throughout the neighborhood in biblical proportions, verbally reciting and pretending to act out scenes from the book of Revelation. “An angel appeared and in his hand was a scroll –light becomes dark. The beast comes from the water with seven horns of seven nations with the symbol of death on his forehead. And his stench was of hate. And the Lord sent Saint Michael to cast him into hell.”
“Rue, if I were to say that you were not at fault and that someone else had accidentally caused the ice to crack—and it was someone dear to your heart—would you forgive them?”
Rue hesitates before answering. “When I fell through Goo-Goofs Pond, I could see the heavens through the motion of the current. It was freezing but comfortable. I could feel the water flowing past my ears, and when I was flailing my arms, I could hear the movement of water. But there was a weave of harmony … angels singing in the current. Heaven’s blessing was in my life, and one day the blessing had a purpose. We’re so scared all our lives, not knowing what death will be like—whether we’ll be lost or whether we’ll know what to do when it happens.”
The Lord looks down to study Rue’s last move on the board.
Rue continues, “Being aware of heaven’s orchestra after my encounter with drowning, I understand very well what to expect from heavenly singers and musicians alike.”
Four white witches and a crew of heavenly monks flow up around the table in harmony, apart from the energy and harmonic air of the light of heaven. They begin with what appears to be a spell or chant, but then they slowly begin to harmonize. Soon they are singing and dancing in harmony to their own beat around the table.
♬“These chairs, these chairs, these chairs.
They see, they look, they heal, they speak,
they talk, they listen, they move, they drink,
they booze, they gossip, they hear, they lean,
they wine, they dine, they fall, they creek,
they break, they fold, they seat, they tumble,
these chairs, these chairs, these chairs.
They see, they look, they heal, they speak,
they talk, they listen, they move, they drink,
they booze, they gossip, they hear, they lean,
they wine, they dine, they fall, they creek,
they break, they fold, they seat, they tumble,
these chairs, these chairs, these chairs.”♬
Goo-Goofs Pond
Rue sits in the northernmost corner of the house, reminiscing about his recent attempts to perfect his famous belly flop at Goo-Goofs Pond. He blinks twice: once for delight at his sudden urge for another swim and once at the thought that his best friend, Tabbie, will mirror him. To his surprise, his adventurous thoughts dissipate, his face grows blank, and the only thing in front of him appears to be heaven’s glory. Beautiful shades of white are woven through transcendent levels of light. He can’t look away from the beauty in colors stretched across a vast, hollow space.
Awestruck, he sees an eruption of butterflies bursting into the heavenly light from the crevasses of the clouds.
“Wow, this must be heaven! So this is what it’s like. I didn’t know it would be this beautiful.” His need for reassurance surpasses the fluttering rise of all emotional baggage, grief, despair, and past episodes fraught with desires one way or the other.
Entering heaven and looking around the endless hollow levels of clouds and glimmering butterflies, Rue calls out, “Hello? … Hello? … Am I in heaven? … Anyone?”
Attentive and confused but still reassuring himself, Rue calls out for Tabbie. “Tabbie? Tabs?”
Exploring farther, he trips on what he presumes to be a cloud. One can trip in heaven? “Pickles!” In his excitement Rue calls out his past friend’s name. “Pickles—hey there, boy!” While Rue tries to pet him, Pickles leads the way through heaven.
Lurking off in the distance as he approaches the kingdom, Rue notices a woman approaching him. He says, “I wonder if I’ll meet God.”
“Rue! Pickles has never been so excited!” says the woman.
“Lord?” Rue asks.
“No, silly, I’m your guardian angel, Saint Platium. And yes, you’re in heaven.”
“I never dreamed it would be so—”
“Beautiful?” says Saint Platium with a slight giggle.
“Pickles wasn’t alone, was he? I mean—”
“Did he make friends? Don’t worry, Rue. Pickles had a wonderful time while waiting for your arrival.”
As Rue’s sigh of relief withers away, a crowd of puppies pile in around him. They are unfamiliar to Rue yet lend an air of comfort to their surroundings.
“Who’s that boy?”
“Bella’s her name.”
“Bella, the Scottish terrier? How lovely to see you, Bella. This is—”
“Rue!” Bella blurts out, “Pickles has missed you so much!”
Giggling under her breath, Saint Platium says, “I’m sorry to say, Rue, it might take a little time to meet him.”
“You mean ….”
“To meet the Lord, that is.” Her amusement has her tumbling her words. “A couple of boys were causing trouble.”
“That happens up here too?”
“How did you ever think it wouldn’t happen here? We’re only human, Rue. Don’t worry, they’re not in too much trouble. He’ll be with you soon.”
“Do dogs get married in heaven?”
“Of course, if they’d like to. Yesterday two giraffes got married.”
“Wow! Giraffes get married?”
Strolling together in heaven a short distance ahead, two young characters have an uneasy posture to them. A powerful force seems to lean down on them with a scolding demeanor. One of the boys reacts to seeing Pickles and yells out in excitement, “Pickles!”
The scolding force turns out to be the Lord. He screams fiercely, “Don’t Pickles me!”
As Pickles is jumping on his leg in excitement, Rue and Saint Platium can hardly hide their amusement at the entire scene. Never meaning to offend the Lord, Saint Platium shields her laughter by twisting slightly away.
The powerful force looks toward Rue as the two boys duck under the fire and scoot out from under the Lord’s view.
Overwhelmed and now in hysterics, Rue tries to accept what he has seen so far. He manages to ask, “My Lord, how is it that I’ve passed?”
The Lord moves his shoulders and torso to a passive drop and leans in on Rue’s broken-down moment. Before he can lend any comfort, more words abruptly fall from Rue’s lips. “I’d love to see your archives.”
“Hmm … archives?”
“Yes, your process of creating life … and, um, what the world could have been like.”
“Speaking of process, Rue, I am very fond of your chess strategies.”
“Chess? You play with diligence, no?”
“How about a game of chess, Rue? We can discuss the possibility of viewing my archives over chess.”
“Chess with you? The Supreme Being? The Lord? The Lord of creation?
Chapter 2
White Witches and Heavenly Monks
Enjoying a leisurely, modern game of chess with Tabbie wasn’t challenging, but logically speaking, the Supreme Being effortlessly makes a better fool out of anyone every day. To live in humility is to understand compassion, but playing a strategic game of chess with the Lord of creation is the equivalent of speaking the Lord’s name blasphemously.
The chessboard sits on a table that makes your local antique store’s century-old library desk look as though it came from a department store.
The inlaid squares evoke an ancient artistic character, reflecting the heaven’s light in knifelike gleams with movement of an artist’s sentimental lifetime of healing and calculating. The elegant form of each piece lies perfectly in each beveled square, all set for a serious scholarly battle.
The strategic moves of chess arrived in Europe in the twelfth century. Later changes occurred with medieval chess, perhaps with the losing player enduring a private, demented tickle torture in a musty coffeehouse cellar. In the early 1700s Philipp Stamma created the algebraic chess notation.
Rue’s next move seems redundant, but he maintains strong eye contact with the chessboard. The Lord has no other response but to physically mimic Rue’s staggeringly time-consuming pace.
Rue breaks the stiff atmosphere and the serious concentration with meaningful silliness. “Lord, I’ve always wondered: when you were originally designing flowers, did you intend to give them the ability to pee and poo like humans?”
“You’re managing a game of chess with the Lord of creation, and you’re inquiring about pee and poo?” He pauses and chuckles. “Well, perhaps I noticed their need to blossom without the smell.”
While the two of them chuckle briefly, the whimsical smiles from their audience offer a captivating Kodak moment.
Rue was raised as a Christian by his Roman Catholic mother, who had no time for anything when there was time for quilting. She raised him alone. As children Tabbie and Rue studied Christianity with their aunt, Sister Tameria, at the eighteenth-century village Catholic church. After church Rue and Tabbie would pretend to chase dragons throughout the neighborhood in biblical proportions, verbally reciting and pretending to act out scenes from the book of Revelation. “An angel appeared and in his hand was a scroll –light becomes dark. The beast comes from the water with seven horns of seven nations with the symbol of death on his forehead. And his stench was of hate. And the Lord sent Saint Michael to cast him into hell.”
“Rue, if I were to say that you were not at fault and that someone else had accidentally caused the ice to crack—and it was someone dear to your heart—would you forgive them?”
Rue hesitates before answering. “When I fell through Goo-Goofs Pond, I could see the heavens through the motion of the current. It was freezing but comfortable. I could feel the water flowing past my ears, and when I was flailing my arms, I could hear the movement of water. But there was a weave of harmony … angels singing in the current. Heaven’s blessing was in my life, and one day the blessing had a purpose. We’re so scared all our lives, not knowing what death will be like—whether we’ll be lost or whether we’ll know what to do when it happens.”
The Lord looks down to study Rue’s last move on the board.
Rue continues, “Being aware of heaven’s orchestra after my encounter with drowning, I understand very well what to expect from heavenly singers and musicians alike.”
Four white witches and a crew of heavenly monks flow up around the table in harmony, apart from the energy and harmonic air of the light of heaven. They begin with what appears to be a spell or chant, but then they slowly begin to harmonize. Soon they are singing and dancing in harmony to their own beat around the table.
♬“These chairs, these chairs, these chairs.
They see, they look, they heal, they speak,
they talk, they listen, they move, they drink,
they booze, they gossip, they hear, they lean,
they wine, they dine, they fall, they creek,
they break, they fold, they seat, they tumble,
these chairs, these chairs, these chairs.
They see, they look, they heal, they speak,
they talk, they listen, they move, they drink,
they booze, they gossip, they hear, they lean,
they wine, they dine, they fall, they creek,
they break, they fold, they seat, they tumble,
these chairs, these chairs, these chairs.”♬
Chapter 3
Bamboozled
“Rue, you understand now? Your unfinished life was finished.”
“It was?”
“Chasing dragons, Rue … persuasion and purpose, and kindness … I must say, you were very kind during your time on earth, even when you were chasing dragons. It’s not what you want to do in life, Rue; it’s what you end up giving others.”
Rue sits with a look of understanding on his face, not wanting the words to become true.
“Have you thought of Tabbie since you’ve been here?”
“Tabbie!” Rue stammers.
“Your family, your friends—”
“They’re all okay? I mean, they understand?” Rue cries out in a sudden panic.
“All your choices were made by who you are. People from all nations across the globe in every culture, on occasions, will repeatedly take part in the small talk of ‘what if.’ If I could go back and do it again, they ask themselves.
“This kind of talk is pointless. During your entire life you have made nothing but mistakes and had nothing but failures, because if you didn’t, you would not have learned the things you learned when you learned them, making you the person you were, with the personality that you had. It’s not just your genes that make you who you are. The atmosphere you’re in and the lessons you learned when you learned them make you a better person. People will remember you for your honesty and kindness. Not what job you had, or what you wanted to be, or what you think you would do if you could do it again, but who you were to them and how you made them feel.
“If you could do it all over again, you would live your life the same. Because your atmosphere would be the same and your lessons would be learned at the time you interacted with the rest of the people in the village where you were raised. On top of that, you wouldn’t be the person you are today, with the love you live with today. Other people make an impression on themselves, not on you. If everyone had the chance to do life again, they would all end up being themselves. I didn’t make everyone different to go back on who they were. I made them different to have interactions and to share differences.”
Tabbie and Rue were working on a class project with astronomy. They were fascinated by the research on the creation of a star, the formation of galaxies, and using infrared light to see through the space dust to find more answers to the creation of a star. Letting light through helps in modern astronomy to find stars being born. They were also creating more understanding of themselves in the research of this project with relationships. The two became even closer than they’d been while growing up together. Tabbie was in love with Rue as well, but Rue didn’t notice, for he was so overwhelmed with being in love with Tabbie that he missed his move to tell her.
God decides it’s time to ask Rue the big question that we will all have to answer one day when we enter heaven: Why did he choose not to do the one thing that meant the world to him in his life, ultimately choosing differently and making his life unhappy?
“Why didn’t you tell Tabbie your feelings for her? You had quite the opportunity.”
Rue pauses with delight and begins to move his rook. But then he stops and turns to the Lord with a painful look of regret, hoping God will answer for him in his embarrassment.
The word rukh used to mean a chariot or a siege tower, which was a weapon used from the ninth century BC. In the opening of the game of chess, the rooks are blocked in by other pieces and cannot immediately participate in the game until the pieces around them have moved, allowing the rooks to move about the board.
Rue slowly drags his rook across the board, stalling his answer. The Lord, waiting, gazes down upon Rue with one eyebrow raised and a very stern look.
Right then with absolute delight in his eyes and a smile from ear to ear, Rue perks up and shouts, “That’s it! My Lord! Goo-Goofs Pond! The ponds! You made a mistake, Lord!”
God draws back quickly, and his raised brow and stern face give way to complete bamboozlement. “Huh! Mistake! That’s ridiculous!”
“The ponds, the water will rise, the great flood! Global warming enviable great flood!”
“I’ve made no such mistake, Rue. The great flood is all part of the Book of Life.”
Rue declared, “What will happen when the waters flood? Global warming together will create mass evaporation! My Lord! Too many clouds! Smog, clouds, pollution! Too many clouds will keep the light out! Your light, the light, the way. How will anyone find their way?”
“Too many clouds,” said the Lord. “Too many!”
Rue jumped from his chair in delight that he instead had found a mistake in God’s life too. As he jumped, his rook skipped off the table and onto the floor. Rue caught it, and just then his heavenly musical friends returned around the table. Four white witches and the heavenly monks engaged in another song:
“♬How do you know you’re treated like a crook (dun d dun ) like a rook,
spot a light on Saint Michael, in the middle of the night, in the middle of the night,♬
like a crook (dun d dun) like a rook (dun d dun),”
♬How do you know you’re treated like a crook?” ♬
Chapter 4
A Chariot Awaits!
“We have to get Tabbie!” screams Rue.
The Lord calls out frantically, “Send for a chariot! Tabbie’s Permeable Theory will help create a perfect cloud!
The seven-horned beast coming from the waters and plaguing the nations in the Bible is the equivalent of the dreaded start to Rue telling Tabbie how he feels. Even a seven-horned beast wouldn’t want to relive the birth of that emotion—much less the many late-night conversations of the close friends battling the same misunderstandings, grief, despair, and longing. Of course, now and then one lucky kid gets the “heart racing a hundred miles an hour tongue twisted blabber entrance of expression” to his first attempt at telling his first love how miserable he is being in love with her. Or it’s like the father that was never there or the father who produced evil instead of laughter and love; taking up pain in a young person’s world or withholding what it takes to meet their needs, especially foster children and children without parents and the ones who never find a parent to care about their needs. If you were a retail clerk in a menswear store during homecoming or prom, you might have missed the reassuring culture of caring fathers earlier in our world. Now we live in a world that seems to be full of hate and destruction.
Now knowing how much of a mistake it was not to tell Tabbie, now he has one more chance to tell her, but in the midst of a serious problem.
With Saint Platium, Rue and Pickles are sent back to earth to get Tabb to help them stop the Lord’s mistake.
Lord: “You feel it every day and see it every day.”
(Talking starting to sing)
♬ “If we build a wall, it will fall.
If we plug a hole, it will flood.
If we drain the sink, it will
(song begins ) Drought is doubt.
♬Dry is goodbye.
A plug is a flood.
It’s vain if we drain.
My Lord is gonna come.
My building is a surprise—a surprise!
I see it in the wind,
I hear it in the sand.
My chariot awaits.
My Lord, don’t pass me by.
I can feel you every day,
I need you every day.
My Lord, don’t pass me by,
A Cain stuck in the mud.
You gave your only son.
Job lost it all (out of luck?).
I need to feel this love.
My Lord, don’t pass me by.
My building this surprise—a surprise!
A wall will fall,
A flood with a plug,
A drought with a drain--
All dry in the clay.
My Lord is gonna come—a building surprise—a surprise!
The clouds are gonna break.
Your chariot awaits.
My Lord, don’t pass me by.
The wind will take you by surprise—a surprise!
I can feel you every day,
I need you every day.” ♬
Chapter 5
Everything Comes Back to the Heart
As Rue has experienced, the need to tell Tabbie he loves her never came easy. He walked through the halls of school with his heart in great pain.
“Rue, we’re almost there.”
Saint Platium with both hands gripped--
*
While Rue’s on his way, the Lord and scholars together, using Tabbie’s Permeable Theory, begin to create a permeable cloud that lets the light through, the light of the Lord, helping people find their way.
However, before Saint Platium has made it to Tabbie, Rue’s heartaches from not telling Tabbie and leaving life so soon all come together and hit him hard. Rue gets upset on the way, and Saint Platium now has the whole world and its future in her hands.
Rue blurts out, “Why would such a loving God do such a thing? Taking my life so soon? I never even had a chance to say anything to Tabbie—the only girl I ever came to love.”
“Oh dear,” says Platium. Her head and shoulders crumple forward instantly as if she’s carrying the weight of the entire world.
“Wouldn’t you know it! I’m going back to what I lost, what I never really had a chance at living in, truly … with all my heart and soul. Why would the Lord give my life such a tease? Why would the Lord of love and forgiveness drop the world out from under me right when the world finally makes sense? It’s miserable to be so humiliated.”
“Rue, this life you lived is the same as most lives. Over a Billions of people lived here before you. They all had the same hardships and lived to learn how to forgive, but in many forms and in many personalities. That’s what’s so great about life. We all started differently and all learned that our ways and words changed people. Some learned to take all they learned for the better, and some weren’t fortunate enough to figure themselves out, to search their souls and let go of their anger and their embarrassments. Rue, you’re a huge exception. You became humble and understanding, and you’ve learned not to hold on to any built-up self-anger. Many hate themselves their whole lives because of their mistakes. They blame others and never understand those they hurt. Themselves … and others.”
“I have a right to be angry. I’m a teenager. I never had a chance beyond adolescence. I feel like hating God forever.”
“Most people who hate don’t hate what they blame or what they think they hate. It turns out they hate themselves. Trillions Billions of people later, it still seems to add up to hating their embarrassment or their fear of it. That’s pretty scary stuff too: hating your own fear, being afraid of your own you and your possibilities on how to manage everything. Some people never understand how to work things out with all the millions of possibilities the Lord has given us. The one thing people never get past is themselves—especially their fear of possibilities.”
“But what about my possibilities? How could he be so cruel?”
“Okay, what about the billions of people who never got past the world of unprecedented possibilities? Rue, the Lord lives through you, as you. You’re his creation, so in other words, he’s you. He’s right there with you—always. You can’t make mistakes. It’s your view of a situation or what the possibilities are—or your lack of belief in what you can do with it all. In all those trillions billions of lives, countless people feared their own possibilities and their own view of possibilities. And would you believe it, the Lord never closed the door on anything they ever did wrong. He forgives and gave every one of them the same opportunities to believe in unprecedented ways of solving life’s issues. Do you know how many people are still living in purgatory thousands of years after their passing? Never getting over themselves? Too many, Rue. Too many.
“If life had been made perfect, no one would have lived to find their own true love—their own true love of understanding and helping others through their own mess.”
“My love for Tabbie can never be shared.”
“It already was, Rue. Through scholars in the heavens and through the eyes and hearts of the billions of people before you. They all know your love. They all know truth. They lived with what you lived. And a scholar is just that: you, Rue. You living in belief of endless possibilities.”
Chapter 6
Perseveres with Gallop
If a chariot could be on one wheel while ripping through thin air, this chariot is definitely dancin’.
As scholarly minds frantically organize the options of a permeable cloud, Saint Platium’s chariot arrives at Tabbie’s school.
Rue’s pain at seeing Tabbie again—together with all his love for her while understanding the Lord’s means and juggling the pain of losing his life so young—is quite a mountain to leap. Surely many teenagers can relate to the feeling of being so much in love that the power of their pain makes the rest of their life seem empty and meaningless.
Now Saint Platium has three major objectives to weave together at the same time. Tabbie won’t be at ease with seeing Rue after his passing, and the future population of the world is at stake. Finally, she must help Rue get over his anger at the Lord’s meaning in taking him so soon.
As they arrive, the chariot reaches ground, bouncing back and forth from one wheel to the other. As the chariot comes to a halt, there in front of Rue for the first time since his passing is the love of his life, all his worth, and everything he has come to know. Gracefully bending over her high school research laboratory table stands Tabbie, focused but with a deep warmth on her face as she slowly looks up in mild confusion, still caught in her research trance. Her eyes lock with Rue’s. Saint Platium can feel the energy between them. Now the question is how to make sense of what’s happening.
In a flash Tabbie spots Pickles panting at her feet and emerges from of her confusion. “Pickles! Pickles!”
While she reaches down to pet Pickles in excitement, Saint Platium speaks out: “Tabbie, I’m Saint Platium, Rue’s guardian angel. This will be difficult to understand … but after Rue’s passing, he found a mistake in the Lord’s plan for life, the Book of Life. The Lord agreed he had make a terrifying mistake, and we were eagerly sent back here to you. Temporarily, you’ll come to heaven with us and help the Lord organize your creation with your research of the Permeable Cloud.”
Tabbie’s and Rue’s eyes are still locked on each other in passion and amazement. Tabbie smiles, humbled. “You mean the Lord likes my research?”
Rue begins, “There’ll be too much evaporation and smog with the carelessness of pollution and global warming. The Lord’s light will not be able to shine through. Tabbie, you have to come with us. We need to create the Permeable Cloud. For the Lord’s light! The Lord’s grace will not shine in!”
Frantic about the future, overwhelmed with Tabbie’s presence, and obviously bewildered, Rue feels his heart begin to pound in his chest. “Tabs, I’ve missed you. I—”
“I love you, Rue! I’ve missed you too.” She smiles at this long-delayed release of tender affection.
“Tabbie, I’ve needed to tell you … I’ve needed to tell you for some time—”
Saint Platium cuts in. “Rue, our Lord is waiting. It’s dire, and we must begin soon. We can talk on the way. Tabbie, your chariot awaits. The Lord awaits your arrival. “
Kicking hooves anxiously, the horses make a display of expectation to add to Tabbie’s realization of the Lord’s powerful call. Again and again the horses nicker at one another as Tabbs climbs aboard her chariot. Dust and dirt kick in the air, and their chariot to heaven dances off the ground.
Chapter 7
Checkmate
Dancin’ and passing, the beats keep boppin’.
♬Hiccup, my Lord,
We’re running out of time.
Hiccup, my Lord,
A hiccup in your ways.
The sky is turning gray.
Hiccup, my Lord,
Tthe night might stay.
When it comes to the days,
Your lights gotta shine.
Rues proven you.
You’ve proven Rue.
When it comes to the days,
You might just pass.
Hiccup, my Lord,
A mistake in time.
We’re running out of time. ♬
Rue’s urgency and insecurity settle deep in him. You can see he’s ready to split in two; it’s written all over him. Without a second’s chance of passing, Rue turns to the amazed and bewildered Tabbie and says, “Tabbs, I need to tell you something … before it’s too late again.”
“Again,” Tabbie answers and is even more taken aback.
“This love I have had for you—the depth and amount of pain I have experienced by not telling you … it’s urgent that I explain how much you mean to me.”
The three of them are being whipped through the air back and forth, their hair smacking them in eyes and face, just blowing wild. And Saint Platium is doing her best, her best to know how hard it is for Rue to be experiencing all this at his age.
As the four of them plow through clouds, smiling in the wind, Tabbie feels her realization of what’s going on settling in. Her smile and newly glowing face tell of the recent empty place in her heart. Rue and Pickles have just made the love of a lifetime and the memory of its pain worthwhile. In every season of life there is a moment when time slows down for a second or two, and you can take all the hardship in for what lies underneath—the love the Lord gave you while witnessing earth.
They rip through the clouds of heaven, and the chariot comes to a halt. The Lord can be seen frantically darting across the heavens with clouds tearing away around him. It’s a beautiful sight because of the pure grace and masculinity the Lord exudes without abandoning his gracious humility. Tabbie arrives in a world she’s never glimpsed, and with her first sight of the heavens, she witnesses the Lord of creation in complete humble masterminding hysterics, not missing a beat of grace. All the scholars of our history are deep in concentration hovering around the Lord’s movements with years of research and ancient documents clutched in their masterful hands, spectacles drooping on their noses, and tendrils of clouds misting through their ancient beards.
Suddenly the Lord calls out, “We got it!” Just then he notices Tabbie arriving. His eyes widen on her. “We got it! We got it, Tabbs, the finishing touches on your permeable cloud! Your astounding research! How will I ever thank you?”
Rue stuggles to take it all in and is humbled at the presence of what he was meant to be a part of. He glances down and swallows. As he raises his head, grace and humility cut through his goose bumps at all the commotion and excitement, while the reality settles in of what happened on the day he fell through Goo-Goofs Pond.
Tabbie, Saint Platium and the scholars are busy celebrating the permeable cloud and the future of life on earth. All but God. God turns to Rue and notices something’s wrong. The Lord takes a moment’s break from the excitement when he notices Rue’s downcast face.
“Rue, why so glum? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” The two are talking off to one side of the excitement.
“My Lord … Goo-Goofs Pond? When I fell through, the siege tower had moved. It moved on—and I moved on.”
God’s brow eases, with even more humility. He knows Rue has figured it all out.
Rue continues: “Tabbie’s research? Goo-Goofs Pond is the default to our upbringing. Tabbie’s research led to my falling through, didn’t it? You asked me if I would forgive if another was at fault for my fall through the ice. You asked me right before I moved my rook. The siege tower had fallen through … so that I could be here for you? To see about the needs of others? I had fallen through because of Tabbie’s research? She was cutting ice to do her pollution research.”
A smile takes over the Lord’s ancient face.
“Tabbs is wonderful, my Lord, isn’t she?”
“Mm-hum.”
“A childhood of swimming in Goo-Goofs Pond and chasing the seven-horned dragon from the book of Revelation? We’ve beaten the beast, my Lord. We’ve beaten the centuries of beasts.”
There’s a moment of silence and humble awe.
“What I wouldn’t do to have one more earthly day—a day to sit with her and tell her of her beauty, inside and out. One more day to tell her I love her. A real day of reckoning.”
“Reckoning?” Confused but understanding, the Lord gives Rue a pause to explain.
“Yeah, a day of reckoning my years of heartache.”
Bamboozled
“Rue, you understand now? Your unfinished life was finished.”
“It was?”
“Chasing dragons, Rue … persuasion and purpose, and kindness … I must say, you were very kind during your time on earth, even when you were chasing dragons. It’s not what you want to do in life, Rue; it’s what you end up giving others.”
Rue sits with a look of understanding on his face, not wanting the words to become true.
“Have you thought of Tabbie since you’ve been here?”
“Tabbie!” Rue stammers.
“Your family, your friends—”
“They’re all okay? I mean, they understand?” Rue cries out in a sudden panic.
“All your choices were made by who you are. People from all nations across the globe in every culture, on occasions, will repeatedly take part in the small talk of ‘what if.’ If I could go back and do it again, they ask themselves.
“This kind of talk is pointless. During your entire life you have made nothing but mistakes and had nothing but failures, because if you didn’t, you would not have learned the things you learned when you learned them, making you the person you were, with the personality that you had. It’s not just your genes that make you who you are. The atmosphere you’re in and the lessons you learned when you learned them make you a better person. People will remember you for your honesty and kindness. Not what job you had, or what you wanted to be, or what you think you would do if you could do it again, but who you were to them and how you made them feel.
“If you could do it all over again, you would live your life the same. Because your atmosphere would be the same and your lessons would be learned at the time you interacted with the rest of the people in the village where you were raised. On top of that, you wouldn’t be the person you are today, with the love you live with today. Other people make an impression on themselves, not on you. If everyone had the chance to do life again, they would all end up being themselves. I didn’t make everyone different to go back on who they were. I made them different to have interactions and to share differences.”
Tabbie and Rue were working on a class project with astronomy. They were fascinated by the research on the creation of a star, the formation of galaxies, and using infrared light to see through the space dust to find more answers to the creation of a star. Letting light through helps in modern astronomy to find stars being born. They were also creating more understanding of themselves in the research of this project with relationships. The two became even closer than they’d been while growing up together. Tabbie was in love with Rue as well, but Rue didn’t notice, for he was so overwhelmed with being in love with Tabbie that he missed his move to tell her.
God decides it’s time to ask Rue the big question that we will all have to answer one day when we enter heaven: Why did he choose not to do the one thing that meant the world to him in his life, ultimately choosing differently and making his life unhappy?
“Why didn’t you tell Tabbie your feelings for her? You had quite the opportunity.”
Rue pauses with delight and begins to move his rook. But then he stops and turns to the Lord with a painful look of regret, hoping God will answer for him in his embarrassment.
The word rukh used to mean a chariot or a siege tower, which was a weapon used from the ninth century BC. In the opening of the game of chess, the rooks are blocked in by other pieces and cannot immediately participate in the game until the pieces around them have moved, allowing the rooks to move about the board.
Rue slowly drags his rook across the board, stalling his answer. The Lord, waiting, gazes down upon Rue with one eyebrow raised and a very stern look.
Right then with absolute delight in his eyes and a smile from ear to ear, Rue perks up and shouts, “That’s it! My Lord! Goo-Goofs Pond! The ponds! You made a mistake, Lord!”
God draws back quickly, and his raised brow and stern face give way to complete bamboozlement. “Huh! Mistake! That’s ridiculous!”
“The ponds, the water will rise, the great flood! Global warming enviable great flood!”
“I’ve made no such mistake, Rue. The great flood is all part of the Book of Life.”
Rue declared, “What will happen when the waters flood? Global warming together will create mass evaporation! My Lord! Too many clouds! Smog, clouds, pollution! Too many clouds will keep the light out! Your light, the light, the way. How will anyone find their way?”
“Too many clouds,” said the Lord. “Too many!”
Rue jumped from his chair in delight that he instead had found a mistake in God’s life too. As he jumped, his rook skipped off the table and onto the floor. Rue caught it, and just then his heavenly musical friends returned around the table. Four white witches and the heavenly monks engaged in another song:
“♬How do you know you’re treated like a crook (dun d dun ) like a rook,
spot a light on Saint Michael, in the middle of the night, in the middle of the night,♬
like a crook (dun d dun) like a rook (dun d dun),”
♬How do you know you’re treated like a crook?” ♬
Chapter 4
A Chariot Awaits!
“We have to get Tabbie!” screams Rue.
The Lord calls out frantically, “Send for a chariot! Tabbie’s Permeable Theory will help create a perfect cloud!
The seven-horned beast coming from the waters and plaguing the nations in the Bible is the equivalent of the dreaded start to Rue telling Tabbie how he feels. Even a seven-horned beast wouldn’t want to relive the birth of that emotion—much less the many late-night conversations of the close friends battling the same misunderstandings, grief, despair, and longing. Of course, now and then one lucky kid gets the “heart racing a hundred miles an hour tongue twisted blabber entrance of expression” to his first attempt at telling his first love how miserable he is being in love with her. Or it’s like the father that was never there or the father who produced evil instead of laughter and love; taking up pain in a young person’s world or withholding what it takes to meet their needs, especially foster children and children without parents and the ones who never find a parent to care about their needs. If you were a retail clerk in a menswear store during homecoming or prom, you might have missed the reassuring culture of caring fathers earlier in our world. Now we live in a world that seems to be full of hate and destruction.
Now knowing how much of a mistake it was not to tell Tabbie, now he has one more chance to tell her, but in the midst of a serious problem.
With Saint Platium, Rue and Pickles are sent back to earth to get Tabb to help them stop the Lord’s mistake.
Lord: “You feel it every day and see it every day.”
(Talking starting to sing)
♬ “If we build a wall, it will fall.
If we plug a hole, it will flood.
If we drain the sink, it will
(song begins ) Drought is doubt.
♬Dry is goodbye.
A plug is a flood.
It’s vain if we drain.
My Lord is gonna come.
My building is a surprise—a surprise!
I see it in the wind,
I hear it in the sand.
My chariot awaits.
My Lord, don’t pass me by.
I can feel you every day,
I need you every day.
My Lord, don’t pass me by,
A Cain stuck in the mud.
You gave your only son.
Job lost it all (out of luck?).
I need to feel this love.
My Lord, don’t pass me by.
My building this surprise—a surprise!
A wall will fall,
A flood with a plug,
A drought with a drain--
All dry in the clay.
My Lord is gonna come—a building surprise—a surprise!
The clouds are gonna break.
Your chariot awaits.
My Lord, don’t pass me by.
The wind will take you by surprise—a surprise!
I can feel you every day,
I need you every day.” ♬
Chapter 5
Everything Comes Back to the Heart
As Rue has experienced, the need to tell Tabbie he loves her never came easy. He walked through the halls of school with his heart in great pain.
“Rue, we’re almost there.”
Saint Platium with both hands gripped--
*
While Rue’s on his way, the Lord and scholars together, using Tabbie’s Permeable Theory, begin to create a permeable cloud that lets the light through, the light of the Lord, helping people find their way.
However, before Saint Platium has made it to Tabbie, Rue’s heartaches from not telling Tabbie and leaving life so soon all come together and hit him hard. Rue gets upset on the way, and Saint Platium now has the whole world and its future in her hands.
Rue blurts out, “Why would such a loving God do such a thing? Taking my life so soon? I never even had a chance to say anything to Tabbie—the only girl I ever came to love.”
“Oh dear,” says Platium. Her head and shoulders crumple forward instantly as if she’s carrying the weight of the entire world.
“Wouldn’t you know it! I’m going back to what I lost, what I never really had a chance at living in, truly … with all my heart and soul. Why would the Lord give my life such a tease? Why would the Lord of love and forgiveness drop the world out from under me right when the world finally makes sense? It’s miserable to be so humiliated.”
“Rue, this life you lived is the same as most lives. Over a Billions of people lived here before you. They all had the same hardships and lived to learn how to forgive, but in many forms and in many personalities. That’s what’s so great about life. We all started differently and all learned that our ways and words changed people. Some learned to take all they learned for the better, and some weren’t fortunate enough to figure themselves out, to search their souls and let go of their anger and their embarrassments. Rue, you’re a huge exception. You became humble and understanding, and you’ve learned not to hold on to any built-up self-anger. Many hate themselves their whole lives because of their mistakes. They blame others and never understand those they hurt. Themselves … and others.”
“I have a right to be angry. I’m a teenager. I never had a chance beyond adolescence. I feel like hating God forever.”
“Most people who hate don’t hate what they blame or what they think they hate. It turns out they hate themselves. Trillions Billions of people later, it still seems to add up to hating their embarrassment or their fear of it. That’s pretty scary stuff too: hating your own fear, being afraid of your own you and your possibilities on how to manage everything. Some people never understand how to work things out with all the millions of possibilities the Lord has given us. The one thing people never get past is themselves—especially their fear of possibilities.”
“But what about my possibilities? How could he be so cruel?”
“Okay, what about the billions of people who never got past the world of unprecedented possibilities? Rue, the Lord lives through you, as you. You’re his creation, so in other words, he’s you. He’s right there with you—always. You can’t make mistakes. It’s your view of a situation or what the possibilities are—or your lack of belief in what you can do with it all. In all those trillions billions of lives, countless people feared their own possibilities and their own view of possibilities. And would you believe it, the Lord never closed the door on anything they ever did wrong. He forgives and gave every one of them the same opportunities to believe in unprecedented ways of solving life’s issues. Do you know how many people are still living in purgatory thousands of years after their passing? Never getting over themselves? Too many, Rue. Too many.
“If life had been made perfect, no one would have lived to find their own true love—their own true love of understanding and helping others through their own mess.”
“My love for Tabbie can never be shared.”
“It already was, Rue. Through scholars in the heavens and through the eyes and hearts of the billions of people before you. They all know your love. They all know truth. They lived with what you lived. And a scholar is just that: you, Rue. You living in belief of endless possibilities.”
Chapter 6
Perseveres with Gallop
If a chariot could be on one wheel while ripping through thin air, this chariot is definitely dancin’.
As scholarly minds frantically organize the options of a permeable cloud, Saint Platium’s chariot arrives at Tabbie’s school.
Rue’s pain at seeing Tabbie again—together with all his love for her while understanding the Lord’s means and juggling the pain of losing his life so young—is quite a mountain to leap. Surely many teenagers can relate to the feeling of being so much in love that the power of their pain makes the rest of their life seem empty and meaningless.
Now Saint Platium has three major objectives to weave together at the same time. Tabbie won’t be at ease with seeing Rue after his passing, and the future population of the world is at stake. Finally, she must help Rue get over his anger at the Lord’s meaning in taking him so soon.
As they arrive, the chariot reaches ground, bouncing back and forth from one wheel to the other. As the chariot comes to a halt, there in front of Rue for the first time since his passing is the love of his life, all his worth, and everything he has come to know. Gracefully bending over her high school research laboratory table stands Tabbie, focused but with a deep warmth on her face as she slowly looks up in mild confusion, still caught in her research trance. Her eyes lock with Rue’s. Saint Platium can feel the energy between them. Now the question is how to make sense of what’s happening.
In a flash Tabbie spots Pickles panting at her feet and emerges from of her confusion. “Pickles! Pickles!”
While she reaches down to pet Pickles in excitement, Saint Platium speaks out: “Tabbie, I’m Saint Platium, Rue’s guardian angel. This will be difficult to understand … but after Rue’s passing, he found a mistake in the Lord’s plan for life, the Book of Life. The Lord agreed he had make a terrifying mistake, and we were eagerly sent back here to you. Temporarily, you’ll come to heaven with us and help the Lord organize your creation with your research of the Permeable Cloud.”
Tabbie’s and Rue’s eyes are still locked on each other in passion and amazement. Tabbie smiles, humbled. “You mean the Lord likes my research?”
Rue begins, “There’ll be too much evaporation and smog with the carelessness of pollution and global warming. The Lord’s light will not be able to shine through. Tabbie, you have to come with us. We need to create the Permeable Cloud. For the Lord’s light! The Lord’s grace will not shine in!”
Frantic about the future, overwhelmed with Tabbie’s presence, and obviously bewildered, Rue feels his heart begin to pound in his chest. “Tabs, I’ve missed you. I—”
“I love you, Rue! I’ve missed you too.” She smiles at this long-delayed release of tender affection.
“Tabbie, I’ve needed to tell you … I’ve needed to tell you for some time—”
Saint Platium cuts in. “Rue, our Lord is waiting. It’s dire, and we must begin soon. We can talk on the way. Tabbie, your chariot awaits. The Lord awaits your arrival. “
Kicking hooves anxiously, the horses make a display of expectation to add to Tabbie’s realization of the Lord’s powerful call. Again and again the horses nicker at one another as Tabbs climbs aboard her chariot. Dust and dirt kick in the air, and their chariot to heaven dances off the ground.
Chapter 7
Checkmate
Dancin’ and passing, the beats keep boppin’.
♬Hiccup, my Lord,
We’re running out of time.
Hiccup, my Lord,
A hiccup in your ways.
The sky is turning gray.
Hiccup, my Lord,
Tthe night might stay.
When it comes to the days,
Your lights gotta shine.
Rues proven you.
You’ve proven Rue.
When it comes to the days,
You might just pass.
Hiccup, my Lord,
A mistake in time.
We’re running out of time. ♬
Rue’s urgency and insecurity settle deep in him. You can see he’s ready to split in two; it’s written all over him. Without a second’s chance of passing, Rue turns to the amazed and bewildered Tabbie and says, “Tabbs, I need to tell you something … before it’s too late again.”
“Again,” Tabbie answers and is even more taken aback.
“This love I have had for you—the depth and amount of pain I have experienced by not telling you … it’s urgent that I explain how much you mean to me.”
The three of them are being whipped through the air back and forth, their hair smacking them in eyes and face, just blowing wild. And Saint Platium is doing her best, her best to know how hard it is for Rue to be experiencing all this at his age.
As the four of them plow through clouds, smiling in the wind, Tabbie feels her realization of what’s going on settling in. Her smile and newly glowing face tell of the recent empty place in her heart. Rue and Pickles have just made the love of a lifetime and the memory of its pain worthwhile. In every season of life there is a moment when time slows down for a second or two, and you can take all the hardship in for what lies underneath—the love the Lord gave you while witnessing earth.
They rip through the clouds of heaven, and the chariot comes to a halt. The Lord can be seen frantically darting across the heavens with clouds tearing away around him. It’s a beautiful sight because of the pure grace and masculinity the Lord exudes without abandoning his gracious humility. Tabbie arrives in a world she’s never glimpsed, and with her first sight of the heavens, she witnesses the Lord of creation in complete humble masterminding hysterics, not missing a beat of grace. All the scholars of our history are deep in concentration hovering around the Lord’s movements with years of research and ancient documents clutched in their masterful hands, spectacles drooping on their noses, and tendrils of clouds misting through their ancient beards.
Suddenly the Lord calls out, “We got it!” Just then he notices Tabbie arriving. His eyes widen on her. “We got it! We got it, Tabbs, the finishing touches on your permeable cloud! Your astounding research! How will I ever thank you?”
Rue stuggles to take it all in and is humbled at the presence of what he was meant to be a part of. He glances down and swallows. As he raises his head, grace and humility cut through his goose bumps at all the commotion and excitement, while the reality settles in of what happened on the day he fell through Goo-Goofs Pond.
Tabbie, Saint Platium and the scholars are busy celebrating the permeable cloud and the future of life on earth. All but God. God turns to Rue and notices something’s wrong. The Lord takes a moment’s break from the excitement when he notices Rue’s downcast face.
“Rue, why so glum? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” The two are talking off to one side of the excitement.
“My Lord … Goo-Goofs Pond? When I fell through, the siege tower had moved. It moved on—and I moved on.”
God’s brow eases, with even more humility. He knows Rue has figured it all out.
Rue continues: “Tabbie’s research? Goo-Goofs Pond is the default to our upbringing. Tabbie’s research led to my falling through, didn’t it? You asked me if I would forgive if another was at fault for my fall through the ice. You asked me right before I moved my rook. The siege tower had fallen through … so that I could be here for you? To see about the needs of others? I had fallen through because of Tabbie’s research? She was cutting ice to do her pollution research.”
A smile takes over the Lord’s ancient face.
“Tabbs is wonderful, my Lord, isn’t she?”
“Mm-hum.”
“A childhood of swimming in Goo-Goofs Pond and chasing the seven-horned dragon from the book of Revelation? We’ve beaten the beast, my Lord. We’ve beaten the centuries of beasts.”
There’s a moment of silence and humble awe.
“What I wouldn’t do to have one more earthly day—a day to sit with her and tell her of her beauty, inside and out. One more day to tell her I love her. A real day of reckoning.”
“Reckoning?” Confused but understanding, the Lord gives Rue a pause to explain.
“Yeah, a day of reckoning my years of heartache.”
Copy Right Robbie Hoffman 2017
