He seemed weary, referring to himself as a "gimpy old crippled guy from Parowan." He described going on radio and, mocked by the host, receiving not a single request from the audience for survival information. He said he has been shunned in town, his property vandalized. He recited from memory a scriptural passage about "scoffers."
The prophet's eyes reddened, and I could sense his frustration as he sized us up as two more likely nonsubscribers. As he dropped his head in contemplation, it occurred to me: How terrible it must be to believe what this man truly appears to believe, and yet have so few willing to listen.
Perhaps for our benefit, the group volunteered some secular support for Freeborn's prophecy. Perhaps economic meltdown would trigger the riots. Maybe there would be an uprising over an automaker bailout.
"One thought you might have," came a voice from somewhere behind me, "is that we don't have any leadership now until January. See what I am saying? We are in limbo. If they do something tomorrow, who is going to decide?"
The night's last word belonged to the prophet.
"Everything is coming together," Freeborn said, "and it fits right now."
He presented us with brown medicine bottles filled with iodide crystals -- to ward off the effects of radiation.
"I don't think you are going to finish your trip back East," the Parowan Prophet said, urging us to reconsider our journey to the inauguration.
Nonetheless, with our little brown bottles of iodide, we will press on. The rest of you are warned.
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peter.king@latimes.com
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latimes.com/americanmoment
More on this American moment
Follow Times staff writer Peter H. King and staff photographer Kirk McKoy on the road to the inauguration.
