Marigold was seated on a bench beside him, behind the large building, just beneath an oak tree. He kissed her. She kissed him back. Coot could see she was trembling. Her eyes were staring at all the cars that stretched toward the horizon. He held her against him and took in the scent of her hair, like lavender.

She took his hand and held it. He was lost in the rapture of her. She was the kind of person he’d always wished he could be. He could tell it by the way she talked. There was sincerity in her that he did not have. A kind of heart that believed in more things than his did. When she leaned against him, it felt as though he had found salvation.

“I’m nervous,” she said.

“Don’t be,” said Coot. He patted her knee.

“Thank you for being with me. Thank you for doing what you did.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

This seemed to satisfy her. “I never wanted to be what I am,” she said. “I never wanted any of this to happen. I don’t feel like I belong here.”

“You are the only one who does belong here.”

He felt the familiar preshow jitters of his youth, and he felt the thrill of performance upon him. It was all coming back to him. And it made his heart sore.

“You know,” he said, “for years I hated this.”

“Hated what?” she said.

“This.” He waved his hand at everything. “All my life, I hated every bit of this, and the cheats who were behind it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I grew up around these people, and there are a lot of dishonest men in this bunch, a lotta cheats, a lotta cutthroats and liars.” He laughed softly and stared at his shoes. “But they ain’t all like that.”

She kissed him again. They’d been doing that a lot. And they both drew strength from those kisses.

“When you touched Joseph,” he went on, “you did something to me too.”

“I didn’t do nothing,” she said.

“You did. And I know what you’re here for. You’re here to do what you did to Joseph and what you done to me. You’re here to revive people.”

Ninety-Six
Ruth Shall Set You Free

The line of vehicles was a few miles long, stretching past the city limits. Ruth and Pete waited in a line of traffic until people began parking their vehicles in ditches and on hillsides, and some left them right in the center of the road. Pete parked in the ditch until his door was almost touching the earth and Ruth’s door was high in the air. He crawled out Ruth’s side and walked the dirt road where the other people were heading. Stringbean followed behind.