Jessa leaned as far back on her elbows as she could to keep away from the preacher. Gooseflesh prickled all over her arms and thighs, and she gnawed into her bottom lip. Randy Jessup leaned in further and spit when he said, “Get up. Get up. Now!”

She fell forward onto her knees. Her hair fell into her face, she didn’t take her eyes from the floor, and I knew she’d given up. Randy Jessup reached down, took her by a wrist over to the box.

“I will not say another prayer for you. It’s shameful the way you disregarded the other one and exposed your ungrateful heart.”

Jessa didn’t move. I don’t know if she could. Her hand stayed glued to the top of the pinewood, and even when the preacher shouted for Cory to make her obey, she didn’t lift a finger. “Don’t touch me!” Jessa turned her face up to the preacher and said, “I can’t wait to see you in Hell.”

He opened his mouth to speak, but she shoved her hand through the top of the pinewood and waited for something to happen, but nothing did. Jessa started laughing. “Was you expecting something more to happen here, Brother Jessup? Looks like the Lord’s on my side.”

Randy Jessup struck like lightning and shoved Jessa’s arm into the box until her shoulder scratched against the splinters. “Remember the book of Galatians, Sister Jessa? God is not one to be mocked. His Word says you will reap what you sow.”

Jessa tried pulling her arm from the box, but the preacher pinned her to it. Then he grabbed it by a corner and started shaking it. The box collided against the floor, and Jessa screamed over the racket. He rattled the box harder and harder until it seemed like it’d bust. Then he stopped. He wrenched Jessa’s arm out of the trap and held it to the light, searched it all over until he didn’t find what he was looking for, and he pushed her away.

Jessa fell to her side and cradled her arm to her chest. She breathed in heavy sighs. The preacher said, “It looks as if the Lord decided to spare you, Sister Jessa. Do not let this show of mercy be for naught. Continue to serve the Lord just as you have and be available when I call, understand?”

Randy Jessup smoothed the wrinkles from his khakis when he stood. “Help Sister Jessa to her car, Brother Cory, and come right back. We still have our friend here to attend to.”

7.

Randy Jessup sat in the middle step of the altar and stared at me until Cory found his way back into the sanctuary. The preacher motioned for him to come to the front of the room, and the floorboards balked when he walked by. Once Cory reached the front of the church, Randy had him hand him the three-foot cottonmouth from inside the box. The black and saddle tan bands of the snake glittered in the dingy light of the sanctuary when Cory passed it to the preacher.