However, something happened in this hospital stay that has never happened with any one that Gerald has had before. He had a vivid, realistic nightmare. One night he was sleeping in the chair by the bathroom rather than the bed so he wouldn't have so far to go when he had to get up so much. He dreamed he got up to go urinate and was sitting on the toilet when he heard screaming, and a series of bangs! He came out of the baathroom to find a body lying on his floor in a pool of blood! A nurse was trying to staunch the bleeding. The man looked up at Gerald and said "Father Of Fathers, please forgive me! It is mothing personal. I am just a soldier doing my duty. I really like you. Please have mercy on me! Hear my last confession and give me absolution!" Gerald knealt down and the man whispered in his ear that he was a member of a terrorist cell that had been sent to kill as many American politicians as possible, espeially the ones that were dangerous to their cause. "I ask God's forgiveness and mercy." Gerald announced to the man that God had forgiven him, gave him his blessings, and he had barely finished when the man died! It was explained to Gerald that he had driven up to the main door in a delivery van, rushed passed the desk saying he was in a hurry, that he knew where he was going, came to Gerald's floor, proceeded to his room, pushed the door open, fired five shots into his bed before a security guard shot him. He turned, fired two shots at the security guard causing a minor wound. The security guard fired two more rounds that put him down. The security guard's name was Higgins.
The police arrived and wanted to seal Gerald's room. Gerald said, "Couldn't you just take the mattress?" He was rather used to the room and comfortable there. But the police officer, whose name was Dodge said no. They would remove and examine all of his personal things but he wanted everybody out of the room. So they moved Gerald to another room. Then the officer asked Gerald what the man had said and Gerald answered that he knew the duties of his office prohibited him from doing that and they should be able to easiy figure it out anyway. "We're catching living hell!" the officer remarked. Another officer rushed up and whispered to the investigator. "What?" the investigator screamed. "Double security there! Sir!" he continued turning to Gerald, "One of them tried to get to your wife! Thank God he broke into the wrong apartment and your neighbor was armed! He got two rounds of buckshot in the face! Your wife is now secure. There will be an officer inside with her and two outside 24 hours a day until U.S. Marshals can take over. As I wsas saying we're catching hell that there was no protection for you here. There'll be an officer with you in the room 24 hours, and another one in the hall. They will accompany you on any exercise you take. You have my guarantee, sir, that some people will be VERY upset that we were not properly informed of your campaign! Some people may lose their jobs over this! That man should've never gotten to your door!"
The officer left Gerald to continue his treatment and of course the next day the press was all over the story! New presidential candidate mysteriously falls ill and then when he does not die somebody tries to shoot him! Every local t.v. station, every national network sent in film crews. The doctor permitted interviews as long as Gerald was laying down and didn't become too tired. We become nationwide sensations! People begin to pick up on what we've been talking about and the other candidates are forced to respond. The public does not like most of their replies. Funds began pouring in!
Now, there's one hell of a nightmare! And if people don't think it's a nightmare, you ought to have somebody shooting at you! You'll learn it is something that you don't even want to dream about! We want publicity, we don't want that kind of publicity! And what really bugged Gerald is he woke up right after the dream ended, and had to go to the restroom in the exact same way he had done in the dream! He was praying all the time he was going to the bathroom that there would be no loud bangs!
Speaking of the campaign, when Linda got home she was almost immediately back in the campaign mode, sending emails to the Iowa media about Gerald's sudden illness and that it was a missed opportunity for the people of that state that he wasn't campaigning there. She sent 26 emails. Anyway, hopefully things will be back to normal very soon! We hope everyone has a safe and happy new year!
In Saturday's "Here's Jesus!" there are two questions from August, 2,003, "What happens to athiests when they die? Do any of them ever get into Heaven?" and "A coworker is trying to get Demetrius fired because of his opinionon of homosexuality. What's your opinoin on this?" Great and important stuff!

In Monday's "Here's Jesus!" we feature questions from September, 2,003, "Is there some kind of evidence somewhere in Israel that You existed that hasn't been uncovered yet?" and "Were there other women You loved besides Mary Magdalene during Your lifetime?" You're gonna love it!

Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms. ( Groucho Marx )