Asher tries to help Justin get dried off but the boy pushes his hands aside. “I can do it,” he says. “I’m not a baby.”

They sit in the pews with the towels under their wet shorts. More people come down the aisle. One of the women bows to the altar before she slides into her pew. The man with her crosses himself before following her. Forehead, heart, left shoulder and then the right. Asher watches and a strange sort of envy warms his chest. Envy because these people are so certain in their way of worship. He isn’t sure if he had ever truly been that way.

Outside, the storm is lifting. Weak light eases through the stained-glass windows and Asher can no longer hear the rain pounding on the roof.

Another man appears up front and sits at the organ where he plays “Wondrous Love,” one of Asher’s favorite songs. Sometimes after Sunday dinner Zelda had put it on her old record player. Asher can feel the vibrations of the organ in the wooden seat of the pew even though they are far in the back of the church, and this sensation is so large to him that he feels the music has become God and God has spread through every part of the church, even into the floor. When the choir rises—he hasn’t even noticed them until they stand—to sing the words, Asher thinks he might not make it through the entire song without breaking down. Hearing the song makes him feel as if Zelda has walked into the room and is staring him down, reminding him of what he has done to get Justin away from her.

Asher realizes that everyone in the pews is standing and singing, too. When people lift their voices at the same time, when they join together to pray, God pauses. That’s what Asher believes.

“What wondrous love is this, O my soul, o my soul,” they sing.

Asher thinks about how thickly Bell had believed even when so many people were telling her there was no use, that no God believed in her.

Three priests or deacons—Asher doesn’t know which—prepare the communion table with a red cloth and lots of gold. They have certainly never had any gold in the Cumberland Valley Church of Life. Asher isn’t sure how he feels about that, but he likes the ceremony of it all, even though he has a hard time seeing everything from the back pew. He thinks one of the men looks a lot like the deacon who used to bring communion out to Bell’s on Sunday evenings, but there is a long distance up to the sanctuary and he can’t be sure.

Everyone in the church is still and silent and the air feels expectant.