The Vision, pp. 271-285<\/strong><\/p>\n This section is a doozy. Remember, Magdalene\u2019s father\u2014Mr. Giles\u2014has staked out Omar\u2019s house, where Magdalene is babysitting Omar\u2019s four children. We\u2019ve been told that he plans on setting a fire. Also, he has chloroform. For what, it\u2019s somewhat unclear. But he has it!<\/p>\n So there\u2019s that.<\/p>\n Giles\u2019 van was parked as close to the house as possible without being noticeable. He climbed into the back and set up the military listening device he had purchased through the Brotherhood.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Wait what.<\/p>\n He would listen for a while and then call Magdalene from his cell phone, using the number his contact had supplied him. She might be suspicious, but she would come to the door to speak to him. That\u2019s when he would grab her.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This plan makes no sense. He doesn\u2019t even need to grab her, she told him she\u2019d go home with him. Also, I don\u2019t think listening devices work if you don\u2019t first put some sort of bug in the place you\u2019re listening in on, and Magdalene\u2019s father hasn\u2019t done that\u2014he arrived at the house\u00a0after\u00a0<\/em>Omar and Magdalene.<\/p>\n The Prattle of Little Children<\/strong><\/p>\n With his listening device, Magdalene\u2019s father can hear every word she and the children speak while she\u2019s babysitting them. He can hear the children sing Jesus Loves Me, and he can hear them chant for ice cream. He hears Magdalene read to them from the\u00a0God\u2019s Story\u00a0<\/em>graphic novel Bible.<\/p>\n Magdalene\u2019s father hears Magdalene read \u201csuffer the little children to come onto me,\u201d and he hears the kids discuss why the text uses the word \u201csuffer.\u201d The answer is that the text was translated into English\u00a0four hundred years ago\u00a0<\/em>and our word use has changed, but one of Tess and Omar\u2019s kids says it\u2019s because \u201ckids get on people\u2019s nerves when they fidget or have to go to the bathroom.\u201d<\/p>\n Listening to all of this has Magdalene\u2019s father remembering times when she was this little. And that has him feeling a bit guilty about his actions now. But he shakes it off.<\/p>\n After she tucks them into bed, the kids ask Magdalene to tell them the story of how their dad found her at the side of the road. So she does, and of course, Magdalene\u2019s dad hears every bit of it from his van.<\/p>\n She tells them that their dad was scared.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was so scared he almost didn\u2019t help me, but he knew God loved me and wanted someone to help.\u201d<\/p>\n In the back of the van Mr. Giles hunched over, studying his hands.\u00a0He was scared, was he?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Little Tina spoke up a little skeptical. \u201cWhy was Daddy scared? Did you have a gun?\u201d<\/p>\n Magdalene\u2019s laughter sounded like tinkling rain. \u201cNo, you silly bug! I didn\u2019t have a gun!\u201d<\/p>\n Her voice seemed so close, he felt it as if he could reach out and smooth her silky white blond hair. Unconsciously he held out his hand as if caressing her head while he whispered, \u201cThat\u2019s what I used to call you\u2014silly bug. You were my pride and joy, and my silly bug. Oh, Maggie, why this family? Why this family?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is so very very weird.<\/p>\n \u201cSweetie, your daddy is the bravest man in the whole world. You don\u2019t understand, but your daddy knew that if he helped me someone might get the wrong idea and maybe hurt somebody he loves. That\u2019s why he was afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLike me?\u201d Tina\u2019s sweet little voice sounded pleased with her newfound understanding. \u201cHurt somebody like me? Cause my daddy loves me very, very much.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Giles heard his daughter\u2019s voice break with a sob as she tried to answer. Then, much to his surprise, he felt hot tears trickling down his own face. How could he be crying? He roughly wiped them away.<\/p>\n It was as if he saw himself in a dream, sitting in the stuffy truck. \u201cDear God, what have I done? What have I become?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Okay but for real, how is Magdalene\u2019s father listening in on every word spoken in that house? His car is even\u00a0out of view\u00a0<\/em>for crying out loud.<\/p>\n Finally, Magdalene leaves the children to sleep, and goes to comfort the baby. Her father, having spent three hours listening to the children\u2019s happy play and conversation, is overcome with emotion. He thinks about when his kids were little, and happy and prattling on like this, before the happiness went out of his family. He sits in his car crying, asking himself what he\u2019s done, what he\u2019s become.<\/p>\n It was always going to end this way. It also makes no sense. If it were this easy to make an abuser confront the harm he\u2019s caused and transform his life, we wouldn\u2019t have nearly as many abusers.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not this easy. Outside of Debi\u2019s book, that is.<\/p>\n Enter Derek, Perfect Specimen of\u00a0Manhood\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n But hark! What is that sound!<\/p>\n Behold, it is a knock on his van door!<\/p>\n It\u2019s Derek!<\/p>\n \u201cYou ready? I\u2019ve been wanting to get them little<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Nope that\u2019s it, I\u2019m not going to repeat all the racist words Debi includes here. Not going to do it.\u00a0Holy shit there are\u00a0a lot of them.\u00a0<\/em>Jesus Christ.\u00a0Yuck yuck yuck. Nope nope nope.<\/p>\n Skipping over that, we have:<\/p>\n \u201cOh! Forgive my bad manners. My name\u2019s Derek. The judge sent me to give you a hand. I love to burn. I\u2019m\u00a0good\u00a0<\/em>at burning and can gar-ruhn-tee there will be no investigation\u2014not even insurance trouble. You ready?\u201d<\/p>\n Giles stood half in and half out of his van, sizing up the loathsome man. \u201cNo, not yet. My daughter\u2019s in there, and I\u2019m thinking of doing something else. I just don\u2019t feel like burning is the right thing. Not tonight.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Derek isn\u2019t impressed, and tells him that the Brotherhood comes before family and that his daughter has been consorting with \u2026 more racist words \u2026 so she\u2019s guilty too.<\/p>\n What\u2019s funny is that in the hands of a more competent writer, Derek would be motivated to make sure Magdalene is finished off because otherwise, he\u2019s in trouble. If Mr. Giles found out Derek kidnapped and tried to rape his daughter\u2014and Magdalene\u00a0would\u00a0<\/em>tell him\u2014he\u2019d probably kill Derek. But Debi\u2019s writing does not suggest that this knowledge is motivating Derek\u00a0at all.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Anyway, Magdalene\u2019s father tells Derek that he has\u00a0definitely\u00a0<\/em>changed his mind, and Derek says it\u2019s too late\u2014that he\u2019s already \u201cdoused the place with juice and gotten her going.\u201d<\/p>\n Saving the Children<\/strong><\/p>\n Magdalene\u2019s father runs down the road in a panic to find the house already ablaze. He starts screaming Magdalene\u2019s name, and she appears at the window. \u201cNever in his life had he ever hated his sin more than in this moment. In this awful instant he realized how much he loved his golden girl.\u201d I mean. Sure.<\/p>\n \u201cJump, Magdalene! I\u2019ll catch you!\u201d<\/p>\n Magdalene leaned out the window holding the baby. She screamed, \u201cI won\u2019t leave the children! Daddy, will you catch the baby? Please, Daddy, please help the children!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n She tosses the kids out the window one by one; the older ones knock Magdalene\u2019s father to the ground as he catches them. Once all four children are out, he tells the oldest child to take the baby and his sisters and get to the van around the corner, and lock themselves in.<\/p>\n Then he tells Magdalene to jump. And she does. But as she does, a gunshot rings out. It\u2019s Derek. He\u2019s shot her. Magdalene\u2019s father catches her, and he holds her, sitting in the grass with her as she dies.<\/p>\n You know, now I\u2019m wondering if Derek\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>meant to be motivated by not wanting Magdalene to rat him out. He tells Magdalene\u2019s father that \u201cshe would have talked\u201d\u2014but of course, he\u2019s talking about the house burning. I still don\u2019t see any direct reference to the fact that Magdalene could have told her father what Derek did to her. That would have been so easy to stick in here as a reminder.<\/p>\n Derek says they have to kill the four kids now, and that Mr. Giles better get with the program. Mr. Giles is not impressed.<\/p>\n Quick warning\u2014this gets rather graphic.<\/p>\n \u201cYou filthy, murdering\u2014\u201d He was screaming as he pulled his gun. The pistol cleared leather, bucking and roaring in his trained hand as if it were a part of his arm. Derek never had time to consider his soul or tighten his finger on the trigger of his riffle. The first bullet took him right in the sternum; the second and third took him in the neck and face. He crumbled like a dropped towel. Giles unloaded three more shots into his head. Derek\u2019s body flopped and jerked while behind them the house continued to burn hotter and hotter.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Well that escalated quickly.<\/p>\n I feel gross now.<\/p>\n Asher the Drag Racer<\/strong><\/p>\n A neighbor calls the fire department, and also calls Malachi, since he knows it\u2019s Omar\u2019s home and he sometimes attends church with Omar and Malachi.<\/p>\n Asher was out the door running to Dusty\u2019s truck before he even knew the whole story. He had done some drag racing in his youth.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Wait what.<\/p>\n Asher has got to be the strangest character in this whole book. He apparently spent his teenage years doing drag racing, hanging out with a middle aged Christian missionary named Dan in a Seattle diner drawing timeline sketches for the rapture and the dispensation, and flying lookout planes for Alaska fishing boats, while his upstanding devout Jewish brother attended college and became a scientist.<\/p>\n Like \u2026 can I have the rest of the content please?? Because in absence of some sort of explanation this makes no sense. There are ways to make it make sense\u2014for example, his parents split, and he ended up with his mom while his brother was actually his half<\/em>-brother, and thus ended up with his dad. Asher\u2019s dad remarried, and became more observant, while Asher\u2019s mom kind of fell apart, and left Asher at complete loose ends. Asher gets picked on at school, wanders into a Bible meeting because there\u2019s free food, and Dan takes him under his wing as a sort of mentor. Asher\u2019s mom, meanwhile, is oblivious.<\/p>\n See? That actually halfway makes sense! But we don\u2019t get any such explanation from Debi, who doesn\u2019t seem to realize anything about Asher\u2019s background\u00a0needs\u00a0<\/em>explaining.<\/p>\n Asher shows up; emergency vehicles show up; Omar shows up. Asher sees the kids in the van and knows they\u2019re safe, but Omar simply dashes toward the house, clearly intending to enter the inferno. Asher grabs him to stop him and Omar punches him out; the emergency workers are able to tackle Omar until he realizes his kids are fine, but Asher is completely knocked out.<\/p>\n Aftermath<\/strong><\/p>\n He awakened to a cool wet cloth on his aching jaw and head. Cheyenne\u2019s tear-covered face seemed to swim over him. Asher finally managed to sit up but was immediately pushed firmly back down.<\/p>\n In his confusion he could hear young Timothy\u2019s voice. \u201cI screamed and screamed to my dad that us kids were okay and finally<\/em> he heard me. I never saw my dad act so crazy. He kicked you clean out. Man! We thought you were dead or something, cause you\u2019ve been laying here a long<\/em> time. Cheyenne cried so bad she made me cry. Did you know I almost squished that man when he caught me? The man told me he\u2019s Magdalene\u2019s daddy. I\u2019m scared for Magdalene. They took her away in the ambulance. Her daddy cried really bad but the sheriff took him now. That\u2019s my dad you hear crying. He won\u2019t stop crying and crying. I wish my daddy would stop.\u201d<\/p>\n Asher registered the sound of continuous loud sobs as coming from his dear friend, Omar. The boy could not understand that this night was his father\u2019s most dreaded nightmare come true.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n For all its faults\u2014and let\u2019s face it, it mostly has faults\u2014this book does spend a lot of time on men crying. Men are allowed to be emotionally vulnerable. And that\u2019s interesting. I wonder whether Michael Pearl would have written it this way, or whether this is a Debi thing. It certainly seems at odds with Michael\u2019s knife-throwing manly man manliness, but then, who knows! Maybe this is a Pearl thing.<\/p>\n Also, that monologue from Timothy feels real enough that it\u2019s almost painful. This poor, poor child. And poor Magdalene. For a book that does not once portray the physical discipline advocated in the Pearls\u2019 child training manual, the children in this book get put through the wringer.<\/p>\n WTF Just Happened?<\/strong><\/p>\n So, let\u2019s see. Derek burned down Omar\u2019s house; Magdalene and her dad worked together to save Tess and Omar\u2019s kids, because Magdalene\u2019s dad has had a sudden change of heart; Derek shot Magdalene, saying there couldn\u2019t be any witnesses to the fire; so Magdalene\u2019s dad shot Derek.<\/p>\n Sounds about right.<\/p>\n I\u2019m still baffled by Debi\u2019s utter inability to recall the fact that the real threat to Derek is not that Magdalene could tell the authorities about the fire (I mean, what had she actually seen, except that her dad and Derek were in the area?), but that Magdalene could tell her dad that Derek kidnapped her and left her alone in the woods for three months. I honestly think Debi forgot about that, because, if Derek were worried Magdalene\u2019s dad would kill him for that\u2014and that\u2019s why he killed Magdalene\u2014he would have also worried that Magdalene\u2019s dad would kill him if he killed Magdalene<\/em>.<\/p>\n Nothing in this book makes sense.<\/p>\n