paradise?”
The girl stared at me, she stared at Father, then she stared at the Bible.
I said: “Would you like to live in a world where there won’t be bad things anymore?”
The girl moved her feet back and forth in the carpet. The carpet was pink and fluffy. Her feet looked snug there. I said: “I’m sure you would. Can I share a paragraph with you from this book?”
The girl put her finger inside her left nostril and turned it.
I said: “This verse is talking about the future,” and I read the scripture from Isaiah about how the lion will lie down with the lamb.
The girl took her finger out of her nostril and put it into her mouth.
I said: “This is God’s promise, that the whole earth will be turned into a paradise. There are signs all around us that tell us it will happen very soon. Would you like to find out more about this?”
The girl took her finger out of her mouth and put it into her other nostril.
I began to feel hot. If she didn’t say something soon, we would have to go. I wanted to take her head and make her read the words. I wanted to make her say something so that I could say something back.
Then a woman appeared. She had three gold hoops in each ear, a necklace with what looked like a gold tadpole on it, and gold rings on each of her fingers. She held a cigarette in her hand. She opened the door wider and said: “What d’you want?”
I opened my mouth but Father said: “Good morning. My daughter was just telling your little girl about a hope for the future. We’ve been asking your neighbors an important question: Do you believe God will step in and do something about the world?”
The woman said to the girl: “Get in the house.” To Father, she said: “We’re not interested, love.”
Father said: “Did you know God has plans for this earth? Do you want to find out about a better future for yourself and your family?”
The woman waved and shouted to someone on the other side of the street: “All right, Sian! Aye! Don’t forget it’s bingo tonight!”
Father said: “Do you wonder what the world is coming to?”
The woman sucked on the cigarette, and her eyes half-closed and her bosoms swelled. “Not really,” she said, and she blew smoke in Father’s face.
“God said He would step in and bring an end to the wickedness we see,” Father said. “Can I show you that?”
“You’re wasting your time,” the woman said.
“All right, well, thank you, we’ll see you again,” Father said, and we walked back down the garden path.
A few houses later we came to Moorland Road.
I BEGAN FEELING sick as soon as we turned in to it. The wind off the mountain hit us like a wall, and there were little bits of hail in it. There was a burned-out car in the road and a lot of boys on bikes and music thumping somewhere. I looked at the boys on bikes but I couldn’t see Neil.
I said: “Do you think those houses we left might be in now?”
“We’ve only just called on them.”
“So,” I said, “they might be in now. There were some we missed altogether, you know—where the road went into that cul-de-sac. We should do them before we forget.”
Father said: “I didn’t think we missed any houses.”
“Yes,” I said. “And if we don’t go back, we might forget about them and Armageddon could come tomorrow and they will never have got the message.”
Father frowned. “Judith, why don’t you want to work this road?”
“I do!” I said.
“Then come on.”
At the first house we came to, the gate was hanging off. We knocked but we didn’t need to; a bull terrier chained up next to a mattress in the front garden began snarling and yanking the chain. A volley of bikes went by and boys called: “Bible thumpers!”
Father knocked again. I edged farther away from the terrier, who looked like he was choking himself to death.
“Father,” I said.
“Yes.”
“Do we have to work this road?”
Father said: “Judith, these people deserve to hear the message as much as anyone else.”
We walked down the path and went up the next one. The front window of the house was taped over with packing tape, and the letter box was missing its flap. A door slammed upstairs and someone shouted: “Whoever it is, tell them to piss off!” This time an old man with eyes like a wild animal opened the door.
Father said: “Good morning, sir. We’ve been asking your neighbors a very important question: Do you believe God will step in and do anything about the situation in the world?”
The old man’s eyes flitted from Father to me. He swallowed and his lips rolled over and under each other as if he was chewing.
Father said: “I expect things have changed since you were a boy. I expect you could go out without locking your door then. Things are different now, aren’t they? It’s not surprising so few people believe in God. But look what the Bible says will happen.”
The old man’s jaw moved up and down but no words came out. His eyes darted inside the house, then back to us again.
Father read a scripture and gave the old man a leaflet. The man’s fingers were yellow and the paper rattled in his hand. Father said: “Look at that. That’s the way God has promised to make the earth. Would you like to live in a world like that?”
A woman shouted:
Father said: “Perhaps this isn’t the best time. When we call again, I’d like to discuss this hope for the future with you. Have you got a Bible? If you do, have a look at some of those scriptures.”
We went out of the garden and Father wrote down the details. He said: “I think we may have found a sheep there, Judith. I think we may very well have found a sheep.”
It was now twenty to twelve. We might just do it, I thought. It wouldn’t take much; two or three more calls where we talked for a while.
At the next house, a man in a vest and trousers held up with string came to the door. The vest ended a bit above his waist and his trousers ended a bit below it. In between, his flesh was the color of the lard Father saves from the lamb on Sundays and there were lots of pale hairs. Father said: “Hello, Clive, how are you? I expect you know I’m a Christian. My daughter and I have been sharing a hope for the future with your neighbors.”
The man didn’t look at Father at all. He grunted and looked down the road. His chin stuck out.
Father said: “I don’t know about you, but this world seems to be in a pretty bad way to me.”
Clive looked down the road one way, then he looked down the road the other. He seemed to be holding his breath, because every now and then a little bit of air escaped. He put his arm on the doorpost above my head and his flesh juddered. In his armpit, pale hairs clustered like two little forests pointing in different directions.
Father said: “But the Bible promises we are living at a time when God will sweep this world away. Would you like to live in a world where there is job security and poverty is a thing of the past?”
Clive nodded to someone walking on the other side of the road. He let a little bit more air escape. But still he didn’t look at Father.
Father said: “Could I leave you with a leaflet that explains things a bit more?”
Clive didn’t do anything for a minute. Then he shook his head, very slowly, from side to side.
Father said: “Well, never mind. Perhaps we can talk again another time.”
Clive grunted, lifted his arm off the doorpost, and closed the door.
“Satan has blinded their minds,” Father said as we walked away.
We reached the end of one side of the street and began on the other. It was ten minutes to twelve. I really
