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Show 378 door. He gave her five days and then phoned her from the grocery store, intending to tell her he forgave her, but before he could get to that she told him he had gotten a call. He wasn't surprised. He was beginning to understand that his life was ordered by patterns. "He called Monday," she said. "I didn't know how to get hold of you so I told him you were out of town but would be back pretty soon. I hope it's still open. Why didn't you call me like you said?" It was too complicated to explain. He wrote down the information and thanked her and drove at once to the Village to present himself. He would tell her later that he forgave her. He tried not to be surprised that the call had come from the bank where he had gone on whim one afternoon because he happened to be in front of it, but in fact he was. The mystery was cleared when he sat in front of Mr. Acton's desk in New Accounts and at one point in the interview Mr. Acton leaned back, beaming genially, and put his hands behind his head and his suit jacket fell open and Lorin saw the unmistakable outline of temple garments. The scooped-out neck was obvious, and he could even make out the right-angle stitch marks over the nipples. He waited patiently for the interview to come to the part about the mission and excommunication and felt like a hundredth sheep facing an indulgent shepherd, but to his surprise it didn't come up. It was some minutes into Mr. Acton's affable description of the lunch room upstairs, the benefits program, vacations, the hours and the softball team before Lorin realized he had a job. He was to come in on Monday and would work with Miss Cooper on the teller line for a few days before going to the head office downtown for a week of teller school. Lorin tried not to blink, since that would show he had not been paying attention. Mr. Acton offered his hand across the desk. Lorin took it, half expecting to feel |
