decipher. He couldn't be troubled about the meaning of the words, nor did he care to unravel the mysteries of this decrepit place. He merely wanted the Lord to lead him to his son. Faith, not knowledge, would guide him.
In his hand the knot of rope felt prickly and unwelcoming, but he twisted it and pushed open the door. He, who had been called a giant by even the friendliest of Chinese, now ducked below the lintel. He stepped over the threshold, placed both boots firmly on the sunken dirt floor, and rose up to his full height, impersonating Goliath as best as he could.
The Reverend thrust out his chest, pulled back his shoulders, and glared with as much menace as he could muster into a smoky, dimly lit room. His top wave of reddish hair grazed a low wooden beam. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the smoke. His lungs, which were never strong even in the best of settings, began to constrict in his chest. He hoped he would not cough and spoil the full effect of his pose, for he intended to appear not altogether human but rather a creature from an Amazon tribe, more native than the natives themselves.
An old, gnarled man wrapped in a heavy woolen cape and high fur boots stepped forward from the shadows at the back of the unfurnished room. He was bent so low, the Reverend felt certain he had spent decades behind a plow, although the ropes and pouches he wore around his neck and waist suggested more the life of a nomad or trader.
Perhaps, the Reverend thought, he was the grandfather of the bandits. The Reverend took a step forward, and the man cowered, suggesting he had none of the swagger of the men who had stolen his son. No doubt this fellow was instead the patriarch of a sorry, lost clan that still tried to hold on in this forgotten corner of the western plains.
The man did not speak but looked up at the Reverend with bright and nervous eyes. They regarded one another like animals of different species, although, the Reverend considered, at least animals had an instinct that told them who was predator and who was prey. He wished he had paused to wipe the infernal desert dust from his spectacles before entering, for now the dense clouds billowing from the back of the dark room further narrowed his vision. He was seeing the old man as if through the wrong end of a smudged spyglass.
"Grandfather," the Reverend began in as deep and sonorous a voice as he could muster, "I am here to find my son. He has been stolen, I believe, by the likes of you!"
The older man flinched at his words and seemed to be trembling, but that did not stop him from daring to step forward. He inched closer, reached out a palsied finger, and poked the Reverend none too delicately in the chest. When his touch reached firmness, the man staggered back and let out a frightened yelp.
"Yes, old fellow, I am real, and my mission is most urgent."
The grandfather nodded his head repeatedly in an attempt at understanding.
The Reverend boomed, "Have you, or your family, seen a small boy taken by robbers this very night?"
The old man flinched and sank deeper into his dark cape, clearly still frightened, but finally answered, "No. No boy here."
Although the man did not seem threatening, the Reverend knew to keep a close eye on him. In the seven years since he had come to Shansi Province, he had dealt with all manner of Chinese: the fine and upstanding as well as the tricksters who were more desperate than dangerous. He had also glimpsed the criminal element. Twice, he had come upon a beheading in a market square. Each time, it had become immediately apparent to him that the prisoner and the warlord who had orchestrated the punishment were equally evil barbarians. But the Reverend could not be bothered with such distinctions now. If he was in danger, so be it. His own safety was not what mattered. The boy was all.
The Reverend strode deeper into the room, and as he did so, he heard laughter coming from the dark. Could that be a woman's voice? A girl's? Or, his heart quickened, perhaps it was the high, angelic sound of his son.
"Your family, in the back." The Reverend gestured toward the darkened door. "Have they seen something in the past hours?"
The