Emerald City Dreamer Read Online Free PDF Page B

wanted to hide anything mundane or unpretty. And He pushed up mushrooms everywhere, on sides of trees, among roots, behind rocks, on fallen logs.
    So tenacious is life, growing out of life, and living things feasting upon one another. This was scripture Ezra could read.
    At last, they reached Congregation. A few dozen mismatched shelters nestled near a creek. The Elders occupied the large tents, while the newer members had lean-tos made of scrap wood, metal, mossy branches, or canvas. One ring of shelters encircled the majority of the fires where the cooking took place.
    Everyone wore the simple, natural colors that God had intended: beiges, tans, off-whites. The men grew long beards, wore shirts of linen or muslin, and trousers. Most wore floppy hats, which served fairly well to protect them against the occasional spring drizzle. The women wore modest dresses or jumpers in faded earth colors. Some had their hair covered in plain-colored scarves or bonnets, though most just kept their hair in braids.
    The people busied themselves with communal work - cutting wood, cooking, repairing bikes, or praying. This is where they made camp until Elder Isaiah could work out a deal with a property owner to get them proper housing in a vacant warehouse. Meanwhile, they had talked the park ranger into turning a blind eye. Ezra preferred the outdoor setting to the long string of abandoned buildings they'd squatted in from California through Oregon and now to here.
    Several of the women heard the approaching bikes and looked up with smiles. Benjamin held up his hand in a wave. "Rejoice! Yahweh has given us a great harvest this day!"
    They wheeled the bikes down to the cooking fires. The women cheerfully untied the boxes and carried them to rusty card tables.
    " You got back just in time for evening prayer meeting, Brothers," said one of the women, Sister Rebekah. "Let us gather to hear Elder Isaiah speak." She nodded her head in the direction of the Chapel. People were already laying down their tasks and heading in the same direction.
    As Ezra walked, the small group pressed closely around him. He looked down at his feet and nervously fingered the twine bracelet around his wrist. He'd made it himself, as a young child, out of colorful treasures he'd found in the trash. As jewelry, he wasn't allowed to have it, but he never made a big show of it, and no one seemed to notice.
    In a small clearing just outside camp, they had arranged a slipshod array of benches made from cinder blocks and 2x4s, wood, and barely-functional lawn chairs, all encircling a slight rise in the ground which served as a pulpit. Yeshua had preached from such humble surroundings, Elder Isaiah had told them.
    Even though people still arrived, Elder Isaiah already spoke to the gathering crowd, with a worn Bible in his hands. Ezra found his usual quiet place under a tree along the back row. A small collection of pebbles was still there from the last gathering, and he leaned over slightly and began stacking them.
    " Yahweh has called upon us to leave behind our property, to forsake the riches of the earth, to follow Him. He has said it is easier for a camel to crawl through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. And the people of this nation are rich indeed.
    " Yeshua spoke to all people of all times. Worldly heathens worship the idols of money, televisions, automobiles, phones, and fancy clothing. They are haughty and walk with stretched forth necks, mincing as they go, making a tinkling with their feet. Isaiah of the Bible has said that God shall take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon."
    Ezra wondered briefly what a caul was. Probably some kind of fancy clothing. He glanced down at the pyramid he'd built, then smashed it and started over with a circular structure.
    Isaiah continued. "He shall take away their bracelets, the earrings, and nose jewels, the changeable suits and fine linen.
    " They