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Show 83 to hold the plates for him while he looked in the hat. Once this was all sorted out he would do something for them-let them be deacons or elders or something. Oliver would probably like that; he had not been teaching school long, and the idea of authority would appeal to him and perhaps give him a psychological edge over the little bastards he taught reading and ciphering to and whom he was still afraid of. Martin's bald head and grey lambchop whiskers Lorin had always found faintly embarrassing just because the man was too old to be spending so much time with young people. David, he suspected, would not amount to anything. The grey look of failure had already touched his face, and he moved his lips when he thought no one was looking, as though thinking of things he could have said in past conversations. Still, the three of them deserved kindness, and couldn't help it if they drove him wild. Martin, he noticed, was becoming fidgety and kept opening his eyes to glance left and right at the other two and closing them again. He stretched his upper lip over his teeth and reached into a nostril with his little finger and brushed something out, then opened his eyes again and saw that Lorin was watching him. Lorin tried to keep his face expressionless but Martin turned red and struggled to his feet, leaning on Oliver's shoulder to get up. Oliver opened his eyes, startled. Martin brushed the leaves from his wet knees, mumbled an apology, and limped away. The others watched him disappear over a low hill into some trees further away from the spring, and suddenly the air turned bright. Lorin nodded to the angel who stood between him and David holding a set of plates open against his white robe. The angel nodded back, then passed in front of Oliver and then David, holding the set open to let them see, then balancing them on one knee to turn the page and let them see that one too. David and Oliver stared at the angel with their mouths open, and |
