Chapter 110

110 
ELIAN GONZALES FREEDOM STADIUM, MIAMI

The public ceremony was moved to Miami. The new stadium there could hold almost a quarter million people. When Martha and Ruth arrived in their motorcade, the stadium was already at capacity leaving most of the well wishers outside. The crowd was estimated at almost two million.

The two women were to wear the white robes of Oracle, Martha's with a sash of yellow to be removed when the official transfer of power had taken place. Ruth, in turn would don a sash of purple. Her new title would be "Great Mother." Martha, still fidgeting with the drapes on her official uniform of office turned to the older woman, "I'm a little nervous, Ruth. I never even spoke to the congregation in our church. It was one of those congregations that didn't let women speak during the service."

"Don't you worry about anything, my dear friend. This little congregation out here is going to hang on every word you say. Just remember that every one of those faces out there belongs to someone who wishes you the very best, someone who will stand right beside you when you need them." Ruth continued, "There's quite a bit of ceremony involved here, but fortunately very little of it requires much on our part. Just stay with me when we walk out there. You soak up all the pomp and glory because it's all for you! Everybody's excited, including me. Picking you as my successor is the best thing I've done for the leadership of the UCFC!"

"Do I look okay, Ruth?" Martha asked nervously.

The older woman laughed. "Let's go ask the crowd if you look okay, my dear."

The two of them were led to the rear door of a huge stage which had been constructed for the occasion. At her first glance through the doorway, Martha gasped. There were more people than she had ever seen in one place. Across the stage was an ornate podium made of marble. The stadium was bathed in the beautiful daylight of Florida sunshine. A clear sky formed a brilliant blue backdrop. The Bishop's Synod, all dressed in tuxedos walked solemnly across the stage to chairs arranged in a half circle. The crowd fell totally silent.

From a pit in front of the stage kettle drums boomed a noble measure. This was followed by flourishes from four hundred trumpets, French horns and coronets. The sound was deafening and intoxicating. It had the ring of movies about Roman Emperors. Then the orchestra fell silent. When the drums began again a line of bare chested young men in white boxers formed a path to the podium from where Ruth and Martha waited. They seemed to be angels, only without the wings. Again the horns flared, this time louder than before. This time the crowd screamed in approval.

The orchestra repeated itself. As the drums boomed, four more young men, clad as the others, took their places on either side of the line. The two on Ruth's side held something similar to an Olympic Torch, the other the reins of a great, and energetic, white stallion.

"Here we go, Martha." Ruth Yemmer said quietly as she took her friend by the arm.

"Am I going to have to ride that horse, Ruth?" Martha asked nervously.

"No, of course not, my dear. The torch and the stallion are the symbols of the Oracle. Those four boys are our honor guard. When we get to the podium, I'll say a few words, then the boy will give me the reins. I give them to you and you give them to the boy on your side. Same with the torch. There's nothing to it." Ruth laughed still more. Martha was feeling a little more sure of herself when the next round of flourishes blared out of the orchestra, once again louder than before. The two women started down the path of young boys, arm in arm.

Most of the city of Miami heard the crowd at that moment. Most of the city of Miami saw fifty thousand doves which were released in honor of the new Oracle. The orchestra fell silent as Ruth took the podium.

"Let us pray that the hand of Our Savior Jesus Christ Reincarnate guides our way on this day! Let us pray that His Face shines down on us as we do this thing for ourselves and for our world!" Ruth Yemmer waited for a moment before raising her hands to stop the crowd. "I would very much like to introduce you to someone." she added teasingly. Again she motioned for silence after the laughter. Bringing Martha up to the podium, she continued. "This is Oracle Martha, the new Oracle ordained by the Synod. The woman I have chosen to lead us forward. Will you approve of her?"

The crowd exploded. The orchestra silenced them with flourishes even louder than before. Ruth stepped back up to the podium. "I take it that's a yes?" she said smiling.

The boy at Ruth's left handed her the reins to the stallion. She in turn handed them to Martha. Again, Ruth turned to take the torch. With the horse and torch in the hands of Martha's escorts the ritual was complete. It was time for the new Oracle to speak.

Martha approached the podium uncertainly as she patted herself looking for her notes. The audience seemed to love it. "I can't seem to find my notes, but I can pretty much remember what I want to say." she began. The crowd exploded in applause and approval.

"Well, my name is Martha Stratton, and my spiritual sister, Great Mother Ruth, has seen fit to appoint me as Oracle of the UCFC."

The crowd began screaming again. Some were chanting, "MARTHA, SACRED ORACLE! PRAISE GOD THAT HE HAS SPOKEN! SACRED ORACLE! SACRED ORACLE!"

"I want all of you to know that I am counting on you to back me up here. I promise to give you and this church absolutely everything I've got to give. By the way, I ought to say that I didn't buy my way in here with fifty million dollars of Buck Stratton's money. I would have been satisfied to put that check in the offering plate if that's what it took. But I'll also tell you that I felt real good handing that check over! Mostly on account of where it came from!"

Wild applause.

"Now that we got a little extra cash, we're going to go out and set some things straight. We're going to do a little undoing and a little doing to try to get our nation working a little better!"

More applause.

"I think my first proclamation is going to be this. I want everyone in the UCFC to get to know at least five other folks in the UCFC. We're awful big, but we have to be personal with each other. Pick yourselves some friends and get close to them. Live your lives in the company of people in our church. I want every one of you to take that as a personal task. We need to get ourselves stitched together a little better so's we'll be in shape for scrapping' if the time comes."

"Next, I want to tell you that I met President Haskill for the first time last week. Next, I want to promise every one of you that it was also the last time I will meet with President Haskill."

Wild applause.

"Next, and this is very important. I'm pretty sure that Jesus has caused the rains to fall on the riots. I am very grateful for that. But just as the storms have washed away the violence, let us pray that the same rain can wash away our shame. We took a very bad turn there. Here's my Second Proclamation. There will be no more fighting. This outfit isn't made for fighting, and there's not a single thing we can gain from it. The civil war with the Fundies is over. I'm calling it off. Jesus did His part. Now, we can damned sure do our part! Once again, no more fighting. There's enough UCFC Saints and angels right now. Lots of them left behind wives and children. Instead of fighting, we must make sure that those who are left behind have what they need. I hope I can count on the members of the UCFC to take care of our own."

Applause.

"The last thing I want to say is that there are a lot of folks out there who want to keep the sun from shining. They just seem to want to worry about how things are going, about what other people are doing. They are always saying that if this or that doesn't happen, then it's going to be the end of world. In fact there's one little man in particular I can think of."

Applause and laughter.

"Well, we're not here to spread gloom. We're going to lighten up our world with the Divine Light of Our Savior Jesus Reincarnate. We're told that we are entering into the Kingdom of God with the return of Our Savior. I think we better cut the grass and get the sidewalks cleaned up a little. This old world could sure use some fresh paint, if you know what I mean! I think we better start looking to ourselves and asking 'Am I doing what I can to prepare this world to greet the Kingdom of God?' Right now it's time to roll up our sleeves and get busy being who we've been saying that we are."

Martha looked at Ruth, now bearing the sash of the Great Mother. The older woman smiled the beaming victory of joy. Away from the microphone, Martha whispered, "I think that's all I wanted to say."

Ruth approached the microphone with her arm around Martha's shoulder. She spoke comfortably to the crowd. "So what do you think?" She raised Martha's arm with her own creating a tableau somehow similar to the Statue of Liberty standing next to a mirror.

The crowd in the stadium exploded, almost drowning the flourishes and the drums. The two women retreated through the pathway of the boys, the torch and the stallion.