The elation he’d felt since learning about his winnings fled, and Walter felt himself sinking into gloom. “The church’s money is in the church’s account,” he said in an effort to defend himself. “Nothing’s been done with it yet because we haven’t reached our goal. And we won’t reach our goal,” he added, “without the generous support of worshipers like yourself.”

Doug shook his head. “Sorry, Pastor. I want to use my money to do something real for this town.” He nodded goodbye. “I’ll still see you in church on Sunday, though.”

Walter watched him go, then shut the door, walking dejectedly back to his office. He stared out the window for a moment, looking at the church’s empty parking lot, before sitting down in front of the computer on his desk. A screen saver showing Jesus ascending to Heaven was exhibited on the monitor, and he pressed the spacebar to clear the display. BET NOW! flashed red against a blue background, accompanied by a triumphant fanfare of simulated horns.

If Doug Coats really was going to stop contributing to the church, Walter thought, then he was going to have to raise quite a bit of money to make up the difference. Which meant that instead of putting half of his winnings toward the renovation fund and reinvesting the other half, perhaps he should bet the whole thing in order to receive a higher yield.

BET NOW!

He clicked on the flashing words, and from the displayed list of weekend sporting events, chose the game this Saturday that he knew was a sure thing.

The odds were three to one!

He put in the whole two thousand.

And topped it off with a hundred more.

4

Anita had purposely been avoiding the new bank, had made a special effort to stay away from the entire downtown, even Brave New World, ever since…that night. She had tried her damnedest to push the entire incident from her mind and had almost succeeded in convincing herself that it hadn’t happened, but when the bank manager arrived at the office for a meeting with Dr. Wilson, it all came back in a rush.

There were no patients in the office, and Jen was talking to her about how they were still waiting to hear from Evangeline about financing through First People’s, when the waiting room door opened and Mr. Worthington walked in. Jen immediately sat down in front of the window, trying to look professional and responsible in front of the bank manager, while Anita, overcome by a sudden panic, rushed off to the restroom, locking the door behind her.

She sat on the closed lid of the toilet, practically shaking.

What had happened with Steven—

almost happened