"I will trade you, then," the Reverend repeated. "I would be most grateful to trade this remarkable hide for your beans."
"For this hide that has saved you and your people, you will receive food. That seems a fair deal," the proprietor said. He looked around at his companions, and they nodded. "But first, one more thing."
"Anything," the Reverend offered.
"I had thought that your Lord Jesus made the miracles happen, Reverend."
A cloud passed over the Reverend's face.
The man continued, "Didn't Jesus make the water turn into wine and the fishes into loaves of bread?"
The Reverend took a step back. "How do you know the Gospel?"
"I went to your school as a boy. I hated it. All those nonsense tales and strict rules."
The Reverend tried to smile as he countered, "But you seem to have been a good pupil."
The proprietor inched closer. "So tell me, Reverend, did your Jesus heal the sick and feed the hungry?"
The Reverend didn't know what to say.
"Was it He or was it this fur hide that has saved you out here in no man's land? Because if it wasn't this old, mangy thing, then our deal is off. So tell me, was it your Lord Jesus or not, Ghost Man?"
The Reverend bowed his head. No words issued forth from his lips.
"Come on, which was it?" one of the thuggish friends echoed.
"Was the Lord Jesus responsible for the miracles or not?" another asked.
The Reverend finally answered. "No, He wasn't."
"I didn't think so," the proprietor said and spat on the floor. "Your Lord Jesus means nothing here, you foolish man."
The proprietor then gestured to his friends to help lift the fur up onto his shoulders. Once it was in place, he paraded around the room and said, "This was a fair trade, I believe."
The Reverend cleared his throat and finally spoke in a weak voice. "I will need five bags of beans, please."
The proprietor raised his arms, and the animal's claws rose up, too. The fierce yellow eyes glared down at the Reverend.
"Three bags," the proprietor replied.
"Four."
The proprietor motioned to one of the boys, who got up and disappeared into the back of the store.
"I can feel it working already," the proprietor announced. "I feel stronger." He turned to the Reverend and asked, "Invincible as a god, you say? I bet you enjoyed that feeling, Ghost Man. But now you are a frail human like the rest of us."
The Reverend stood with drooping shoulders and had no words left. The boy returned with four bags of beans and presented them to Ahcho.
"Bring them out a few bags of rice, too," the proprietor said. "We are friends now."
The Reverend mumbled his thanks and started toward the door.
The proprietor called out to him, "You watch it out there, Ghost
Man. Without this fur on your back and no god to protect you, you're like everybody else."
The Reverend nodded as he stepped outside into stark and painful sunlight. He could not argue. He understood as never before that he was like every other godless man in this godless land. His abandonment was complete. His heart sank deeper into his chest as he shut the door on the Lord forever. Ahcho joined him outside, and the Reverend turned his head away. He was too ashamed to look a good Christian in the eye.
Eighteen
S hortly before labor began, Mai Lin offered sacrifices to the gods and the family ancestors, although her young mistress couldn't even recall her grandmother's grandmother's name. Mistress Grace moaned with miserable, slow pains for many hours. Mai Lin gave her a special mixture of teas proven to move things along faster. She made Grace alternately bear down over a metal tub and then walk back and forth along the upstairs hall to bring forth the baby inside. The mistress had several baths, although she said that doctors in her country would warn against it. Ignorant doctors like Hemingway claimed that germs could swim up the woman's canal and infect the unborn child, something that Mai Lin plainly knew was false. The baby would come down the river to be born, so what was the harm of it getting wet beforehand?
In midmorning, the Reverend poked his head into his wife's bedroom and inquired after her health. Luckily, Mistress Grace was lying down at the time, and she quickly shut her eyes, pretending to be asleep. Mai Lin had been instructed not to mention that labor had begun, so he quickly left.
Later in the afternoon, he stopped by again, and this time