The Blackfire Protocol by Clifford Beck - HTML preview

Chapter 2

Not only did Frank read the books required by the school, but he almost constantly found himself in the town’s library. Naturally, he was drawn to the history section. But it was in the library that he discovered another area of study—politics. He was overcome by it, eating it up as though it were candy. Frank couldn’t get enough of it. Eventually, he dropped out of school sports to have more time to read. But half-way through high school, a sudden roadblock stood up against him. Noticing his obvious intelligence, some of his fellow students had become jealous and waited for the proper time to take their insecurities out on him. That day had soon arrived while Frank was reading a copy of the Communist Manifesto. Given the change in the country’s political climate, he chose to conceal the book by wrapping the cover with paper from a lunch bag. No one would know what he was reading unless they looked over his shoulder. He found its content

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interesting, and with the idea of evenly distributed wealth, he wondered why so many were so vehemently against the ideas behind this economic system. He concluded that it would work wonders for people, but only where it was allowed to thrive. But it was not the book people noticed—it was him. One day he sat on the edge of the football field reading the work of Carl Marx when a rugby match began. He had played the sport some time ago before abandoning sports for more intellectual pursuits. But today he would be pulled back in as someone on the field caught the ball; they ran away from the action and straight toward Frank. The teacher repeatedly blew his whistle, calling the student to return. But ignoring this request, the student dropped the ball, and catching Frank by surprise, grabbed him around the waist and, lifting him high into the air, slammed him to the ground. The last thing to strike the grass-covered field was the back of his head. Frank was out cold and later would only recall feeling fuzzy all over and being to hear but not respond.

An ambulance was called as the coach cursed out the young student who took it upon himself to air his personal dirty laundry on Frank’s head. An arrest was made and his parents signed the complaint form while watching the teen being escorting into a police car. Later, they would bring legal action against the school board seeing the necessity to have the funds needed to pay for their son’s medical expenses. The town rallied around Frank and his family with the shared understanding that the assault was completely unnecessary. There were even whispers that if Frank died the family of the teen who caused his injury

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might be run out of town. But one voice prevailed over the chaos of heightened emotions and resentment. The local minister had heard about the event that put Frank in the hospital and the next Sunday stood in front of the town with a message. Although he did not define it as such he based his sermon on an idea from Buddhism. “There is certainly more to be learned from observing anger than being angry,” he began. “The anger of others teaches us the consequences of allowing it to consume us—to destroy our souls.” Reverend Elias was not simply a learned woman but preached from the humility of Christ as written in the Gospels. Humility was, in essence, the rule of law that guided her life, and every Sunday, she would carefully impose it on her parishioners. She was one of the few people in the town that acted as its guiding force, the beacon of light pointing the town towards a pure life with God and Christ. “Remember,” she continued. “As Jesus spoke, you may hate the sin, but you must love the sinner.” But people are human and exist far from godliness, making them prone to all manner of human emotions. The reverend had her work cut out for her. But Frank’s situation would soon get worse, and the townspeople would feel nearly as distraught as his parents.