feet into the kitchen, it was with a kind of wary indifference. Their parents, Rebekah and Azariah, remained outside, pacing like tigers back and forth along the steps, and soon disappeared into the long grass at the edge of the yard.
Sarr returned to the table to see Deborah ladling out more soup and the cats grouped like disciples at her feet. Freirs looked up from his bowl as Sarr resumed his seat. 'So there you were,' he said, 'speeding toward Gotham and God knows what iniquity. Then what?'
Sarr smiled uncertainly. 'Well,' he said, 'it's a long story.'
'No doubt,' said Freirs.
Carol added, 'You can't just leave us on the bus, you know.'
'I'm afraid that Deborah's heard it all before.'
'And more than once,' said Deborah. 'Still, you'd best tell them, honey, now that you've a proper audience.'
He had meant, as the host, to hold his tongue, the way he usually did, but somehow this whole meal had started wrong. Perhaps it was the wine.
'Well… ' He took another swallow. 'All right, then. Perhaps you'll even learn from my mistakes. I remember I reached the city a little after noon. The first thing I did was just stand there in the bus station and look at all the people. I'd never seen so many in one place, nor yet so many shades of skin. Twas like looking into an anthill, only this one was going on all around me and I was in the middle. I was bigger than most everybody else, and I know there's always Someone up there watching' – he pointed toward the ceiling -'so I'm not the kind to feel scared. But if I was, that's the time I would have felt it.'
'It's hard to believe you'd never been to New York before,' said Freirs, as if already regretting he'd given up the floor. 'Let's face it, you're only a little over an hour away.' He glanced guiltily at Carol. 'Okay, maybe two hours, if the traffic's bad.'
'The Brethren don't see it like that,' said Sarr. 'Just because a place is an hour or two away doesn't mean they'll want to pay it a visit. I'd say half the folks in this town have never been to New York.' Beside him Deborah nodded. 'They read about it in the Home News -'
'The ones who aren't afraid to read a newspaper,' she added. 'Some of 'em around here think it's a sin to read anything but the Bible.'
'And some don't,' said Sarr firmly. 'A few of them see it on the TV, if they have one, or even at the drive-in up in Lebanon. They know all about New York. The point is, they just plain don't want to go. My mother's never been there, and never will. But I was curious, and I don't scare easy. So there I was, in the middle of the anthill, plowing my way toward the street.
'The first thing I saw when I got outside was this little fellow in a red getup, standing there on the sidewalk and ringing a dinner bell. He had a beard as white as old Brother Mogg's and twice as long, but I could see it was just lamb's wool. I knew who he was supposed to be, of course – you can't walk a mile out of Gilead, that time of year, without seeing an electrified Santa Claus on some fool's lawn – but I sure wasn't expecting to see a grown man dressed up that way in public.
'I stood and watched him for a while. It turned out he was collecting for some sort of charity, and I figured I'd best give him something. I had the money with me I'd saved up from working in my father's store. Looking back now, it doesn't seem like much -less than forty dollars – but it was all I had. I reached down in ray pocket to dig it out, and that's when I found out it was gone.
'I can still remember how I felt. It was like somebody'd poleaxed me, it near made me dizzy. I went stumbling back into the bus station, searching every stranger's face, trying to find out which one could have done this to me- as if I'd know just by looking in his eyes. And I'll tell you something: everyone I passed looked like he could have done it. Maybe it was just the way I was feeling, but I swear there wasn't an honest face amongst 'em.'
The room had grown silent but for the purring of the plump grey cat as it pressed itself against the foot of his chair. He realized with a flush of embarrassment that the others had long ago finished their soup and were waiting for him to do the same. 'Here,' he said, pushing the bowl roughly toward his wife, 'take it! I've had my fill.' As she collected the bowls he frowned and turned away, reaching down to stroke the grey cat's head.
Carol was watching him expectantly. 'How awful,' she said at last.'To lose all your money like that! And it always happens to the ones who need it most.'
'I assume you took the first bus back to Flemington,' said Freirs. There was a shade less sympathy in his voice.
Back at the oven, Deborah laughed.'Then you don't know Sarr.' She swung back the oven door and reached inside with the pot-holder; something bubbled and hissed, and the smell of roasting meat grew stronger. 'He's a stubborn one, he is. He's not one to give up without a fight.'
Sarr smiled. 'I'm stubborn, all right. And also a damned fool! I could have come home, because I still had my return ticket, right there in the pocket of my shirt. But that would've been too easy. I was out for justice. Maybe God had meant it for a sign, but I thought He was giving me a test. So what I did was, I went back out to the sidewalk and just stood there goggle-eyed a while, staring at the crowd. I had this crazy notion that maybe I'd see some other fool's pocket getting picked. I didn't, of course – no thief s that stupid -but I did get some advice. I felt a kind of tugging at my coat sleeve, and when I looked down, there was old Santa Claus peering up at me. His face was covered by the beard, but I could see his eyes, and they were sad. 'I saw them take your money,' he said. His voice was real soft, like an old flute. 'It was two black boys with coats like yours. They ran up there.' He was pointing north, past a row of bars and pawnshops and movie-house marquees. Way off in the distance I could see a line of trees, as if that was where the city came to an end. I thanked him, and he wished me luck, and I headed up the street.'
Sarr paused as his wife returned to the table with a platter topped by a sizzling brown leg of lamb. It was followed by potatoes, his Aunt Lise's homemade mint jelly, and Deborah's own garden-grown beans. He saw Carol eye the meat dubiously and assumed she must be worrying about how much it had cost them. Well, it hadn't been cheap, especially for a man already in debt, but there were certain obligations to a guest that couldn't be evaded.
'Sure wish I'd had a meal like this when I started on my walk,' he said, sliding the platter toward him. He took the carving knife Deborah handed him and sliced off a thick slab of meat. 'Unfortunately, I'd nothing but a few cents change tied up in a handkerchief-just enough to buy myself a bar of chocolate.' He speared the meat and turned to Carol. 'Here, pass me your plate.'
She shook her head. 'Thanks, but no. I don't eat meat.'
He felt a spark of irritation. So that's why she's so skinny.
Deborah looked upset. 'Why didn't you say anything, Carol? I could have made something else tonight.'
'It's really okay,' said Carol. She seemed embarrassed. 'There was no need to go to any trouble. I've been a vegetarian since college, and I'll manage perfectly well on what you've got right here.'
'But Jeremy, why didn't you say anything?'
Freirs shrugged. 'I didn't know. We've only had spaghetti together. Carol, you never even told me.'
'I'm sorry,' she said, 'I guess I never got the chance. Honestly, it's no big deal. I'm happy with the beans and potatoes.'
'Well,' Deborah fretted, 'as long as that's enough… '
'It will be,' said Carol. Poroth could see that she wished the subject had never come up. 'Now poor Sarr, here, all he had to eat was a bit of chocolate.'
'Well, that wasn't till later,' he said, grateful she'd remembered. 'At the time, all I wanted was to find my money.' Carefully he served the others, then himself. 'I suppose it was foolish of me to try.'
'Naive, at any rate,' said Freirs. 'How'd you think you'd recognize the thief? There are a lot of sheepskin coats in New York.'
'I expected the Lord would give me a sign. He's never failed me, you know.'
Freirs looked skeptical. 'Really? Another sign?'
Sarr nodded. 'He doesn't fail believers. And with that knowledge in my heart, I kept on walking north. 'Twas a sour, cold day, I remember, with grey skies and a wind up, but there was no snow on the ground. It must have been a good deal hotter down below, because clouds of steam kept rising from holes in the pavement, and everyone in town seemed to be out of doors, rushing from one shop to the next, studying the goods behind the
