Maps , Charts, Drawings and Notes

Over the following weeks, Colleen took her prescription medication and was visited regularly by our GP but she grew weaker. Her rasping cough resounded at the top of the stairs. Her fragility and weight loss worried us all. The Morgan household shared Sean's concern for his aunty. A family meeting was called, our practice whenever issues that affected us all needed to be discussed. I also welcomed Josh into our gathering, as he was practically part of the family now. His Israeli background and knowledge would be hugely useful. Goliath had taken Wesley and Ignacio fishing with the dogs.

"I've got to go and look at least," Sean pleaded. He was putting forward a strong argument to travel to Israel to obtain leaves from the Eden Tree. "John, Liz, you know what the leaves can do. This is Colleen's last chance."

"And of course I'll come," I said, "you may need me."
Sean looked relieved.

"We'll need the photocopied maps, drawings and notes from my safe." I ran upstairs and brought all the documents into the lounge, spreading them out on the carpet.

Sean and Rachel sat cross-legged on the floor; James and Aly were half sitting, half lying. Liz and I picked up papers individually and read them from our recliners. Becky and Josh relaxed on a couch. As we finished reading, we passed the papers around. Each person studied the sheets with interest and with gasps of fascination. It was the first time that Rachel, Josh and Aly had seen them.

These were the copies I had surreptitiously made at the Hilton in Tel Aviv when I had realised that Colonel Balak, Josh's superior in Mossad, would demand St Peter's box and its contents. Caleb, Simeon and Joseph's uncle, had left us a wealth of his research on his laptop, which James had copied by mirroring his hard drive. With copies of the original manuscripts and Caleb's detailed research papers, there were dozens of items to examine. I made notes on an A4 pad.

"I don't think we can doubt the power of the leaves," I said. "Wesley and Simeon would both be dead without them. If they were not given to the disciples by Jesus, then where did they come from? We've got to decide if the Garden of Eden existed at all. There are various views on this. The undeniable fact is that the mysterious leaves have wrought these two miracles of healing."

"Jesus was an alien, a superior life-form," James said, confidently putting forward the same arguments he had done on our return flight from Israel. Aly was nodding. "The parchments are maps and details of where he landed and where he left a sort of encampment with a tree from his planet," he said. We all gathered around his and Aly's laptops as they showed us the photos Sean and I already had seen: images of pyramids, large stone figures, various maps.

"OK," I said, "if we accept your view we still need to ascertain where the garden is."
Josh cleared his throat. "I believe that many of the stories in the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, are partly historical and partly religious. Debate has raged for centuries about the Cradle of Humanity and the Genesis account of early man. The location of the Garden of Eden is as elusive as that of Atlantis the sunken island." He cleared his throat. "I'm returning to Jerusalem. I'd like to come with you. You may need official backing for this quest, which I can provide." Becky stroked his hand.

"There ya go," James said, "Atlantis is another site. It may still be under the sea."

"Like in the film The Abyss," Aly added.

James sat up, "Exactly...nice one... alien city miles down, with a superior species. There could be gardens under the sea."

"Yes, James," I emphasised, "but the garden we're looking for isn't," thinking that we were going off at a tangent.

Becky said, "I'm travelling with Josh so count me in! I'm going to meet his parents. Mum's OK with minding Wesley." She looked across at Liz, who nodded and smiled. Clearly, mother and daughter had discussed this already.

"Now regarding the leaves -- for which I'm very grateful, as you know -- I accept some of the religious arguments and am open-minded about their origin and a Tree of Life," I said.

Liz stood up, her hair falling over her shoulder. "I agree there is much we do not know, but we do know the healing virtue of the leaves. And why would anyone bury a box in Joppa in the very house where Jesus' disciples met? The original parchments and scrolls were very old. I think the whole story could be true and if so, it's possible the maps will lead you to the Tree."

A debate followed, as painful as it was to Sean under the circumstances, concerning whether we had the right to determine whose life we would prolong or whether someone lived or died. Rachel pointed out that people made those very decisions every day in medicine. She added that some countries lacked certain advancements in medicine and that because of it, children died needlessly of illnesses that immunisation, mosquito nets or condoms could prevent. There was a parallel here that we could draw with the healing leaves.

At lunchtime, we adjourned to the dining room. Rachel took a tray up to Colleen's room. When she returned we knew a decision had to be made.

I took comfort in the knowledge that Jesus Christ had entrusted the leaves, through His followers, to me, and so the decision became not whether the leaves should be used but when we would go to Israel. We also still had no answer to the centuries-old riddle: the location of the Garden of Eden.