Chuck Crabbe As a Thief in the Night (retail

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.Once, the police had pulled them over and then followed them all the way home saying that the car was unfit for the road and dangerous.Elsie glared at Gord as the officers walked back to their cruiser.She never said another word all the way home.But that was all they could afford, so that is how they pulled up to the church, seconds before the service began.They stopped outside the large arched double doors and Elsie shooed Ezra, his shirttails flying out behind him, out of the rusty green disgrace and into the house of God.He struggled with the tie and collar and then pulled it away from his neck while Father Michael spoke.Elsie shook her head and silently scolded him.Taking a deep breath, he left it as it was.Gord sat passively beside her, smiling kindly, dressed in his best humble clothing, his beard trimmed and his hands resting on his belly.Ezra's little brother, his hair gelled the only way he would have it, sticking up in one ridiculous spot on his tangled blonde head, sat on Elsie's other side blowing spit bubbles and staring absently.Sarah, his Uncle George, and their daughter Rebecca sat just behind them, his aunt beaming at him as if he were hers.Little Marty, Sarah’s son, was at home in bed.The Friday before he had had four teeth pulled for horrible cavities and his face was swollen."Reverend Father in God, I present to you these persons to receive the laying on of hands." Father Richard, with the bishop standing beside him, projected his voice out over the congregation, paused for the purpose of profundity, and then raised his eyes to indicate Ezra and his classmates.Bishop Wrychuss cleared his throat audibly: "Take heed that the persons whom ye present be duly prepared and meet to receive the laying on of hands.""I have instructed them and inquired of them and believe them so to be," Father Richard responded.Ezra shifted nervously from side to side and looked up at the stained glass windows behind the bishop and the minister.The bright sun broke through the glass and made the inside of the church uncomfortably hot.Bishop Wrychuss' voice moved out over Ezra and his well-dressed classmates.He spoke of the obligations and purpose that the confirmed would carry having reached the age of discretion."In order that by prayer and laying on of hands they may be strengthened by the Holy Spirit, manfully to fight under the banner of Christ crucified, against sin, the world, and the devil, and to continue as Christ's faithful soldiers and servants unto their life's end."The Bishop, endowed through piety and tradition, meant to lay his hands on Ezra as the orphan knelt before him and call forth the descent of the dove from whatever azure cathedrals, pillared with faith, it awaits such calls.The 'laying on of hands'? Philip had baptized the citizens of Samaria, driving out the unclean spirits.Screaming and railing against the great worded weapons, sharpened on the tongues of the appointed, the demons had fled.He had healed those who had palsy or were lame, those who had previously stood outside the fiery borders of God's mercy.The apostles, hearing the echoes of God from Samaria, sent Peter and John to them, because, though baptized by Philip, the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen on them.Peter and John laid hands on those who knelt before them, and the cool shadows of the wings of grace fell, all embracing, over the needy.Paul, his eyes still lit with the shocks of his second birth, had done likewise for the people of Ephesus.And so Ezra, having been told this story, knelt before Bishop Wrychuss and waited for 'the laying on of hands'."Do you here, in the presence of God and of this congregation, renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanity of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh?"Mr.Pentheus had been through all of this with them.He sat in the front row of the congregation, his hands folded loosely in his lap, listening attentively, certain that he was not as other men were.As they had practiced when responding to Pentheus they now responded to Bishop Wrychuss."I do," they said in unison.Ezra listened for Leonard's voice and heard it two boys over.In fact, he listened for Leonard's voice more so than he paid attention to the agreements his own was shaping."Do you believe the Christian Faith as it is set forth in the Apostles' Creed?""I do."Bishop Wrychuss opened his right hand, palm towards the ceiling, while the other held the small book he was reciting from, and motioned toward Ezra and his classmates, "Will you endeavor to keep God's holy will and commandments, and to walk in the same all the days of your life?""I will, God being my helper," they answered together.The mouth speaks, but the soul still slumbers, and for the dream it is dreaming it collects the nourishment it craves from the dark soils of the waking world so that when the flower of its direction bursts forth, its colors contain traces of each touch that has changed us, each moment that has stung the psyche, and each liquid image and word that has coursed through the carnal channels the soul has molded for its purposes.That season Ezra was forced to move up an age category and weight division, which meant that he would be with coach Griffin again.The other boys, having already taken those first few awkward steps on the path to manhood, had caught up to and surpassed the natural height advantage he had had over them in previous years.Their chests and arms had grown thicker, as his had remained thin.Their voices had deepened, and among them, his grew silent.And now, completely out of the reach of Gord's rather large ears, the favoritism the boys had suspected the previous year became an outright accusation.To them, the success he had had was a lie, simply a privilege given him out of prejudice.Gord watched sadly, evening after evening, looking on at the boy as he walked slowly to the other practice field as if headed up a staircase to a room he was being sent to as punishment.Several of the other players bullied and pushed him around.They called him names that he had no reply for, and the rare attempts he did make to strike back were invariably met with laughter and left him feeling even more awkward.He did not start a game the entire season, which made it all the more clear to the others that his successes during the previous year had been the result of him being deployed in the right situation at just the right time.If he had really been a superior player, how could he possibly be failing so miserably just one year later? And the coaches were not wrong in their decision to sit him on the bench: either he was failing, or his confidence was failing him.It was not until the post season playoffs that the boy who played in front of him, a boy named Josh Southworth, a boy that Ezra despised, was injured.On the way to the game he and Layne sat in the backseat of the Old Beaumont with their equipment on.The harvest had taken place in the days just before and his unwashed hands were still stained purple around the fingernails with the juice of the grapes.It had been a poor harvest, and once the wine was bottled, Elsie predicted that she would only be able to bring half of what she normally brought to the Parnassos restaurant.Ezra looked down at his hands and began to hum, and then to sing along with the song that was playing on the radio.It was a song about a car—a car in which the woman singing wanted to escape [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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