'It would seem so,' the young man replied. 'But the feeling isn't right. I'm not supposed to start yet. I don't believe the period of testing is over … for me.'
She accepted that without question. 'Why … are they so … I don't know … afraid, I guess is the right word?'
'You mean today?'
She nodded.
'God's day, honey. We're safe, comparatively speaking, that is. But some warning voice … no, that's not true, not a voice, a sense, I guess, deep inside me, tells me to be on guard, for this is their territory, not ours.'
'Or His,' Nydia said.
'Yes.'
She looked up, sudden fear in her eyes.
'What's wrong?'
'Falcon and Roma coming toward us.'
'Hell with them.'
'Apt choice of words,' she said, smiling.
The witch and warlock stopped at the buffet line to fill their plates, then walked to the table, Falcon smiling, saying, 'I know you young people won't object if we join you.'
'Not at all.' Sam returned the smile. 'We were just about to say a morning prayer for thanks.' He pointed upward. 'To Him.'
'How disgusting!' Roma said.
'Go right ahead,' Falcon said. 'But you will understand if we don't join in?'
Sam bowed his head and Nydia followed suit, not knowing what her young man was going to do. She didn't even know if Sam knew a morning prayer of thanks.
Sam, with his head bowed, hiding his smile, said, 'Dee Dee, Ta Ta.'
Falcon and Roma looked at each other. 'Is that some kind of a joke?' she asked.
'No,' Sam said. 'When I was just learning to talk, really before I could pronounce words, after Mother or Dad would say the prayer, I'd always say that. Our God is listening, and He knows what I said, and meant.'
Roma sat down. 'And you people call us weird.' She buttered a piece of toast, nibbled at it, then said, 'Have either of you given any more thought to what we discussed last evening?'
'The answer is no, Roma,' Nydia said, and she was conscious of Sam looking at her through eyes of love and respect.
'Nydia,' Falcon said, 'have you considered this: how do you know you will be accepted into His flock; His hand of protection? Think about it. You have not been properly baptized; you do not know the Bible and nothing of His teachings. Aren't you taking a chance, my dear?'
'Yes,' she surprised him with her reply, 'and I've given that a great deal of thought. But our answer is still no. I've been reading Sam's Bible, and it says: 'God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' Now ... I don't know, really, how that should be interpreted, but I read it to mean that if a person believes in Jesus and the Father, and tries real hard to do what is right, to be a good person, well … everything's going to be all right. I may be wrong. I hope not.'
Sam gently squeezed her fingers in support.
'How touching,' Roma said dryly, observing the gesture of love.
'Shut up, darling,' Falcon told her, and this time she heard a distinct note of warning in his voice. She closed her mouth. Falcon said, 'Is there no way we can reach a compromise?'
'No,' Sam said, flatly rejecting the offer.
'He's just like his father,' Roma blurted. 'Hard-headed as a goat.'
'And very proud to be,' Sam said, smiling.
Roma nodded her head; the extent to which she agreed with Sam was impossible to tell from the curt gesture.
Falcon's eyes were hard as he looked at Nydia. 'My dear, you can make this enjoyable, or very unpleasant … when the time comes. I suggest you think about it.'
'I don't know what you mean,' she replied.
Falcon's smile was evil. He pointed to his crotch. 'You and I, dear.'
She shook her head slowly.
'The same applies to you, Sam,' Roma said.
'Sorry,' the young man told her. 'I think I'll pass.' He had no way of knowing his mother had spoken those same words to Roma more than twenty years before, referring to Black Wilder's offer.
'A lot of your mother in you, too, darling,' Roma said with a nasty grin. 'And your mother is going to have a lot in her before all this is over. Do pardon the slight pun, won't you?'
Sam shot visual daggers of hate at the witch.
'Do either of you realize,' Falcon said, 'how hopelessly outnumbered you are? How puny your powers are compared with ours? And how foolish you are to reject this offer of compromise?'
Sam and Nydia merely looked at him, saying nothing.
