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Peter had never seen the boy so happy "Hold on toPeter by the shoulders "What are we going to do?"
"Just take a deep breath and hold it"
Together they descended Peter blew the air fros, stretched out his ar the stony bottohtly, his body pulled like a cape The water was as clear as glass Merotto as a boy filled Peter’swith his father
Three ht "Hoas that?" Peter asked
"I saw fish!"
"I told you"
Again and again they dove this way, the boy’s pleasure inexhaustible It was past five-thirty, the shadows lengthening, when Peter declared an end They stepped gingerly onto the rocks and dressed
"I can’t wait to tell Sister Peg ent outside," Caleb said, bea
"It’s probably best if you don’t Let’s keep that between us, okay?"
"A secret?" The boy spoke the ith illicit pleasure; they were part of a conspiracy now
"Exactly"
The boy slid his small, moist hand into Peter’s as they ate In another fewcame upon him in a rush of love: This is why I’ before apots The room roared with heat and noise-the clatter of dishes, sisters racing to and fro, the accuathered in the dining hall Amy’s back was to him Her hair, iridescent and dark, descended in a thick braid to her waist He hesitated in the doorway, observing her She appeared totally absorbed in her work, stirring the contents of the nearest pot with a long wooden spoon, tasting and correcting with salt, then ni to one of the roo paddle, half a dozen loaves of freshly risen bread
"A into a smile They met in the middle of the busy roo told me you were here"
He stepped back He had sensed it in her touch: there was so departed was the voiceless, traued clothes The progress of her aging seemed to occur in fits and starts, not soself-possession, as if she were co into ownership of her life And always the paradox: the person standing before hier, was in reality the oldest hu absence, an era to Caleb, was for A can you stay?" Her eyes did not ht I ship out tomorrow"
"Amy," one of the sisters called fro loud out there"
Amy spoke briskly over her shoulder: "Just a second" Then, to Peter, her s: "It turns out I’m not such a bad cook Save ood to see you"
Peter athered at long tables, sorting thee The noise in the rooy of bodies and voices like the din of soine He took a place on the end of a bench beside Caleb just as Sister Peg appeared at the front of the roo bolt: silence tensed the room The children joined hands and bowed their heads Peter found himself joined in the circle, Caleb on one side, on the other a little girl with brown hair as seated across from him
"Heavenly Father," the woman intoned, her eyes closed, "we thank you for thisof your love and care, which you bestow upon us in your mercy We thank you for the richness of the earth and the heavens above and your protection until we meet in the life to couest, one of your brave soldiers, who has traveled a perilous distance to be with us tonight We pray that you will keep him, and his fellows, safe on their journeys Aenuinely touched So, perhaps Sister Peg didn’t mind his presence so much after all The food appeared: vats of soup, bread cut into thick, stea slices, pitchers of water and milk At the head of each table, one of the sisters ladled the soup into bowls and passed them down the line as the pitchers made their way around Amy slid onto the bench beside Peter
"Let me knohat you think of the soup," she said
It was delicious-the best thing he’d eaten in months The bread, pillowy and ware to ask for seconds, thinking it would be rude, but the moment his boas e it before him
"It’s not often we have company," she explained, her face rosy with ee and Aest children to read and, in her words, "whatever else needs to be done"-and Peter’s news of the others, though they phrased this inforeneral way; it wouldn’t be until after the children had gone to bed that the two of theaged with another boy in a vigorous conversation that Peter was only passingly able to follow, sohts and queens and pawns When his companion left the table, Peter asked Caleb what it was all about
"It’s chess"
"Chest?"
Caleb rolled his eyes "No, chess It’s a galanced at Ahed "You’ll lose," she said
After dinner and dishes, the three of them went to the common room, where Caleb set up the board and explained the names of the various pieces and the hts, Peter’s head was spinning
"You really can keep all this straight in your ed innocently "Not long It’s pretty simple"
"It doesn’t sound siey smile
"Don’t look at me," she protested "You’re on your own"
Caleb waved over the board "You can go first"
The battle co it easy on the boy-it was, after all, a children’s ga of it-but he instantly discovered how badly he had underesti opponent Caleb see without hesitation, hisdesperation Peter decided to attack, using his knight to take one of Caleb’s bishops
"Are you sure you want to do that?" the boy asked
"U on his hands Peter could sense the coy, i a series of moves and counterht A