He picked up his watch from the counter. It was 2:13 p.m. He had slept away most of the day. She had probably been up since 6:00 or 7:00 a.m. and gone out to be in some work detail with her friends. Today he felt discouraged about things. He took a dismal inventory. He felt practically sick today from drinking, and his wife had not exhibited any interest or even much tolerance for his impulse to have sex with her last night. He had committed both of them to the Swift Sword of the Savior two years after they’d been married, which was now almost eight years ago, and all he’d gotten out of it was a marginal life in the woods. The great change in society that he and Charlotte had signed on to promote didn’t seem to have happened, except in the fantastical speeches of people who worked in politics. There was no sign that Jesus was in a mood to do anything much to make any of that real. As for the regular people, they got nothing out of anything. They were only expected to give up more and more and repeat slogans.

From year to year, Charlotte had shown less interest in any of it. The whole revolution had disappeared from her talk a long time ago. She had always been mostly interested in the religious part of it anyway, but even that had faded. She was still just as busy and active as ever, but she was engaged in things that weren’t going to bring on a new society or kill any liberals or anything. She was always planting beans, baking bread, or sewing quilts from worn-out clothes with her friends. They were like a bunch of high school girls, spending their time chattering and gossiping or babysitting each other’s kids.

She used to want kids of her own, but she never asked him to give her children anymore. She had always said it was part of the long-term fight to keep growing the numbers of righteous white-skinned people. Now she seemed to have lost interest.

He took off his T-shirt and put on a pair of shorts and walked up the hill to the upper lake for a bath. When he got there and stepped out of his boots, he put his feet down gingerly, trying to keep the stones from stabbing his soles. The water felt icy, but as soon as he could, he sat down in the water and raised his feet so he could float a little. He lay back and pushed off the bottom with his hands to drift into deeper water.

He heard a familiar voice. “Bob!” it said. “Hey, Bob!” He turned and saw Lee Wolf on the shore. When their eyes met, Wolf said, “Taking a break from the morning’s work, huh?”

He didn’t want to answer that, so he called, “Hey, Lee. What are you up to?”