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Show had they? How in hell's name had he pulled the wool over their eyes so they'd do a thing like that? Don't be a smarty, their mother said. Cal thinks I should have just been scoutmaster and quit while I was ahead, the bishop said. He's probably right. Lorin had the horrible feeling that he had begun inventing as they filed past the casket one last time after the service. Cal was looking through the thickening veil at his sister-in-law, as she stood next to the open casket and shook hands with Lorin and his mother and the others on their way out to the parking lot. I always liked that girl, Cal said. The bishop watched her for a while. I wish there was something I could do for her, he said. Lorin looked closely at her from the doorway as Sister Thornbury put her arms around her and kissed her, her cheeks bright and wet. The bishop's wife was not crying, but she looked as though she were going to. Lorin suspected she felt watched. She's got her head screwed on right, the bishop's father said. That girl will be all right, you take it from me. Lorin went back to look for his brother and found him staring at the casket just as the men from the mortuary were closing the lid. He took him by the hand and pulled him away, Stephen pounding him on the arm and wrist until Lorin finally let go and cuffed him. Stephen sat down on the floor and screamed. Don't look so hot in that box, do you, Cal said, clapping his big brother on the shoulder. Come on and meet the rest of the folks. The bishop, looking back one last time as the men tightened the brackets and Lorin's father separated the two boys and swatted them both, followed Cal and his parents. They turned a corner and entered an enormous lobby with soft carpets and deep couches flanked by marble pillars and heavy pots containing flowering trees. An old man stood up as they came in and smiled expectantly at the bishop's father, who introduced them. |