This, That, and the Other

Dean had been planning the day for months. Everything, down to the last detail, had been accounted for. Because anything short of perfection would be failure.

The only wildcard, the one thing he couldn’t control, was the weather. Sure, he had a backup plan in case of rain, so that if Mother Nature didn’t cooperate, all would not be lost. Other than the perfection he was seeking, of course. But he knew that if it did rain on that day, it would have been an act of God that was responsible, nothing that he did wrong.

The good news was that summers in that part of the country were generally mild and dry. Rainy days were few and far between, so the odds for a dry, sunny day were clearly in his favor.

As the day approached, Dean double-checked and triple-checked every item on his list. He placed calls to everyone involved to make sure they all had their ducks in a row. Everything and everyone was lined up. Nothing was left to chance. If only it wouldn’t rain.

When the day he had been so meticulously planning for finally arrived, he could barely contain his excitement. Even the forecast called for sunny skies, with no rain in sight.

The period of tribulation had begun a few years earlier with the appearance the Antichrist riding down the escalator and with his subsequent rise to power. All of Dean’s careful calculations, all of the signs — the deceptions, the disputes among nations, the devastation, and the persecution of believers — pointed to the fulfillment of the prophecy on this day.

It was finally time for the Rapture, the instantaneous transformation of his body, and the bodies of the Lord’s other faithful servants, to be lifted to join God and Jesus for eternity in heaven. He was ready and it would be perfect.

By nightfall, though, when nothing had happened, doubt began to creep into Dean’s thoughts. Had he miscalculated? Had he misread the signs?

But then it started to rain, and Dean knew that God was sending him a sign, telling him that, as He always does, God works in mysterious ways.

Written for Rachel Poli’s Time To Write prompt.