oak door at the end of the hall. “Come in and meet the old man.”
Steve hesitated, half expecting flames to shoot out of the room.
I am Oz!
Indeed, the most prominent feature in the room was the fireplace. It was the first thing Steve saw. It could hardly be avoided. It was maybe six feet high, with an ornate mantel of white stone. In the stone was a bas-relief Steve couldn’t quite make out. It looked intense, like the fire crackling in the fireplace.
Another in a seemingly unending collection of huge antlers hung above the mantel. There were two further sets of antlers on the far wall, just above a wooden bookcase packed with neat, leather-bound volumes. A leather wingback chair faced the bookshelf. Steve saw the top of a head in the chair, and smoke swirling up from in front of it.
“Pop,” Johnny said, “here he is.”
The head did not move.
The chair did. With a whirring that sounded just like a—
Wheelchair.
Eldon LaSalle was in a the biggest, plushest wheelchair Steve had ever seen. A control panel with joystick—they did call them joysticks, didn’t they?—took up the right arm of the chair.
Eldon LaSalle wheeled forward.
He was dressed in a red flannel shirt and black suspenders. He might have been a farmer, or a mortician on his day off. In his mouth a black briar pipe smoldered, the smoke framing his head like a halo of haze. His face was long and equine, his ears too big for the head. Gray, owlish eyes peered at Steve through the pipe smoke, the kind of eyes that miss nothing. Steve guessed him to be in his late seventies.
He put his hand out. Steve met him halfway, right in front of the roaring fire. He took LaSalle’s hand. It was bony but strong and seemingly covered with leather, just like the chair. When he tried to let go, LaSalle kept the grip. He still had his pipe in his mouth. Steve could smell the blend now. It was a deep woodland smoke, something fit for a wizard.
“I’ve heard a great deal about you,” Eldon said in a deep, resonant voice. Almost too much voice for the thin body.
“Good, I hope,” I said.
“There is none good, but God alone.”
All this while gripping Steve’s hand and staring straight into his eyes. Steve felt like the cobra looking at the charmer.
Finally Eldon let go of Steve’s hand, removed his pipe, and smiled a mouthful of yellow teeth. On his lap was a red, leather-bound book. He held it up. “Plato,” he said in a deep, resonant voice. “You know Plato?”
“Not personally,” Steve said.
“He got as close to God as one can get without revelation. Quite an accomplishment.” He held the book out to Johnny, who took it and walked it to the bookshelf.
“I’m happy to welcome you, my son,” Eldon said. “For that is what you are. A brother to Johnny.”
Steve swallowed, nodded.
“And what do you think of my home?”
“Quaint. A little vacation getaway.”
“Far from it. This is Beth-El. The House of God. ‘And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there, , and make there an altar unto God.’ Do you know your Bible?”
“Um, not really.”
“Ah, the riches that await you.”
Steve smiled weakly, and looked again at the bas-relief on the fireplace. He could see it clearly now. Some figures in ancient garb, with serious faces and raised arms, loomed over a pathetic looking man on the ground. He cowered, about to receive something very unpleasant.
“Do you like it?” Eldon LaSalle asked.
“Gets your attention,” Steve said.
“I had it commissioned. It is the stoning of Achan.”
Steve tried not to look overly befuddled.
Eldon paused, then waved a spectral hand at the artwork. “A division of Joshua’s army was defeated by the city of Ai. Joshua rent his garments, for he thought the Lord was with him. But Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things. A trespass before the Lord.”
Steve had no idea what Eldon LaSalle was talking about. He looked to the side, at Johnny, who smiled with a go-with-the-flow look.
Eldon continued. “So Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan and the accursed things, and his sons and his daughters and his oxen and asses and sheep, and his tent, and all that he had, took them to the valley of Achor. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire.”
“Ouch,” Steve said.
“The commands of