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When the priest returned, Jim said, "A question, Father"
"What’s that?" His voice was still raspy, but he sounded a bit more like hi?" Alar worse?" "No, no Better I don’t eneral?" "To test us," the priest said
"Why do we have to be tested?" "To determine if we’re worthy"
"Worthy of what?" "Worthy of heaven, of course Salvation Eternal life " "Why didn’t God make us worthy?" "Yes, he made us perfect, without sin But then we sinned, and fell frorace"
"How could we sin if ere perfect?" "Because we have free will"
"I don’t understand"
Father Geary frowned "I’ian Just an ordinary priest All I can tell you is that it’s part of the divine race, and now heaven ht"
"Not the bedpan this time I think I can make it to the bathroom with your help"
"I thinkaround nicely, thank God"
"Free will," Jim said
The priest frowned
By late afternoon, nearly twenty-four hours after Jiistered only three-tenths of a degree on the ther, his joints did not hurt any more he was not dizzy, and his chest did not ache when he drew a deep breath Pain still flared across his face periodically When he spoke he did withouthis facial muscles more than absolutely necessary, because the cracks in his lips and in the corners of his mouth reopened easily in spite of the prescription cortisone cream that Father Geary applied every few hours
He could sit up in bed of his own volition and move about the room with only miniave him chicken soup, then vanilla ice crea to avoid tainting the food with the taste of his own blood
"I’ry," Jim said when he finished
"Let’s see if you can keep that down first"
"I’m fine It was only sunstroke, dehydration"
"Sunstroke can kill, son You need ht hih half clenched teeth and frozen lips: "Why are some people killers? Not cops, I mean Not soldiers Not those who kill in self defense The other kind, the ht-backed rocker near the bed, the priest regarded him with one raised eyebrow "That’s a peculiar question"
"Is it? Maybe Do you have an answer?" "The simple one is-because there’s evil in them"
They sat in mutual silence for a minute or so Jim ate ice creaht crept across the sky beyond the s
Finally JieWhy did God make us mortal in the first place? Why do we have to die?" "Death’s not the end Or at least that’s what I believe Death is only our e, only the train that conveys us to our reward"
"Heaven, you mean"
The priest hesitated "Or the other"
Jim slept for a couple of hours When he woke, he saw the priest standing at the foot of the bed, watching hi in your sleep"
Jim sat up in bed "Was I? What’d I say?" " There is an enemy’" "That’s all I said?" "Then you said, It’s co It’ll kill us all’" A shiver of dread passed through Jim, not because the words had any power of themselves, and not because he understood them, but because he sensed that on a subconscious level he knew all too hat he had uess A bad dream That’s all"
But shortly past three o’clock in the ht in the rectory, he thrashed awake, sat straight up in bed, and heard the words escaping hihtless
He fumbled for the lamp, switched it on
He was alone
He looked at the s Darkness beyond
He had the bizarre but unshakable feeling that so near, soe than anyone in recorded history had ever seen, drea an ill-fitting pair of the priest’s pajamas For a moment he just stood there, not sure what to do
Then he switched off the light and, barefoot, went to one , then the other He was on the second floor The night was silent, deep, and peaceful If so , he dressed in his own clothes, which Father Geary had laundered for hi easy chair, his feet propped on a hassock, reading , while the priest tended to parish business
Ji Like a ether At the kitchen sink, Father Geary cleaned lettuce, celery, and tomatoes for a salad Jim set the table opened a bottle of cheap Chianti to let it breathe, then sliced canned hetti sauce on the stove
They worked in a comfortable mutual silence, and Jim wondered about the curious relationship that had evolved between them There had been a dreamlike quality to the past couple of days, as if he had not e in a small desert town but in a place of peace outside the real world a town in the Twilight Zone The priest had stopped asking questions In fact, it now see or insistent as the circumstances warranted And he suspected that the priest’s Christian hospitality did not usually extend to the sheltering of injured and suspicious strangers Why he should receive special consideration at Geary’s hands was a rateful for it
When he had sliced half the mushrooms in the can, he suddenly s "Life line"
Father Geary turned from the sink, a stalk of celery in hand
"Pardon h Jim, and he almost dropped the knife into the sauce He put it on the counter
"Jiot to get to an airport"
"An airport?" "Right away, Father"
The priest’s plu his tanned forehead far past his long-vanished hairline "But there’s no airport here"
"How far to the nearest one?" Jiently
"Welltwo hours by car All the way to Las Vegas"
"You’ve got to drive ht now," Jiet to Boston"
"But you’ve been ill" "I’m better now"
"Your face--" "It hurts, and it looks like hell, but it’s not fatal Father, I have to get to Boston"
"Why?" He hesitated, then decided on a degree of revelation "If I don’t get to Boston, so to be killed So to die?" Ji lips "I don’t know"