Wrapped in Rain(101)

"You sure?" Mutt nodded and tossed the rock over the plate.

I slowed the spin, watching it tumble through the strike zone, Matthew's name turning round and round. I stepped, turned my hips, threw my hands, and swung. It was a good swing. The black granite exploded into a mist and filled the air like a cloud. Mutt and I said nothing for a few seconds while it floated out of the barn. After the air cleared, it struck me that I had not seen Rex's face on the rock.

For breakfast, the four of us loaded into Mutt's mechanically sound dessert truck that no longer smoked and drove to Rolling Hills. Katie's tummy had rounded, so she asked to wear one of my button-up flannel shirts. The sight of her warmed me. Before we left the truck, Mutt filled his arms with a plethora of cold sweets, and then all of us walked the hall to Rex's room while jase led the way. The judge had become accustomed to our almost daily visits and even more accustomed to Mutt's Chocolate Rocket, "with."



I sat next to the Judge, holding his post-ice cream cigar, while Jase curled on my lap and watched two male cardinals fight over the feeder outside the window. Mutt sat in a chair in front of Rex, spooning vanilla ice cream into his mouth with a kiddie-size plastic spoon. We didn't know if Rex liked it or not because he never bothered to tell us. But we figured it was better than nothing, and if he didn't like it, he could always spit it out. For almost two weeks, he's been swallowing.





Chapter 48


LATE ONE AFTERNOON, MOSE'S SINGING PULLED ME OFF the back porch and led me along the fencerow to the cemetery where his pick and shovel were keeping perfect time with his voice. The sweat dripped off his brow, routed around his smile, and covered his chest. The clouds overhead were moving in, blocking out the sun, and a cool breeze ushered in that sweet smell.

"Whose hole?" I asked.

"Mine, if this pick doesn't get any lighter."

"Oh, stop it. You're healthier than me."

Mose stopped swinging and sized me up. "You about ready?"

"Yeah, Katie's made all the arrangements, decorated everything from the narthex to the altar, and tomorrow we're taking Jase on a two-week vacation out West. Thought we'd see some big mountains and small, deserted mining towns."

"Taking your camera?"

"Yeah, Doc's got me looking for a few things. I might squeeze it in."

"And Mutt?"

"Gibby's taking him fly-fishing in Maine for a week, and then they'll be here a week until we return."

"Gibby's a good doctor."

I nodded.

Mose sunk his pick into the hard dirt about three feet below the surface, nodded toward his sister's grave, and spoke again without looking up. "You spoke to everybody about this?"



"No." I ran my fingers through my hair and eyed the church.

"Well, you don't have to be into your tux for another hour and a half, so you've got some time."

I pointed at the hole. "Don't die in there. We need you for the ceremony."

"You keep sassing me and I'm liable to do it just to spite you."

I walked around the church, amazed at the transformation. Mutt had pulled away the vines, replaced all the rotten boards, rebuilt the front door, and replaced the old wooden handles with shiny brass knobs. The doors were open, as was every window in the church, and like me, the church was breathing.

I eyed the altar, and Miss Ella's parallel lines eyed me back. I paced between the pew ends, considered a moment, and then sat next to them, leaning against the railing. Outside, Mose sang softly.

I studied myself and started in. "I'm getting married today. Provided You let us. In an hour, Mutt's picking up both Rex and the Judge and dropping them at your front door here where Mose, along with the judge, is doing the honors. I don't expect Rex to know much, but I figured I'd invite him. And when I asked the Judge to stand in, he started crying, so I think we did good there. This morning, when I woke up, I had to remind myself to say it, I mean, to tell myself that I forgive Rex. I think that's a good sign. Maybe the hurt is moving toward the backseat, and I think that's a starting place. Katie's been dancing around this place for a month, phoning friends, and making arrangements-lit up like Tinkerbell dancing down the zip line. And I can't keep her off the piano. As for Jase, well, he's swinging at every baseball I throw, still calling me `Unca Tuck,' carrying the ring, and wants to know if we're drinking beer at the reception. I said yes. Hope You don't mind."



I fingered the grooves in the wood. "Looking back on it, I guess You had more to do with the Volvo getting stuck than I first gave You credit for. Whatever You did, or are doing, please don't stop. All of us, Mutt included, need a safe place, and it's a lot safer when You're watching over. We had thirty-three years of misery, bitterness, and hell, but You were right. Whipped, battered, and beaten, love broke through the rocks. I don't know how, but it did. I guess that's the mystery of it all."

I looked around, marveling at Mutt's carpentry, and summarized what I could. "I need to ask You something." Wooden Jesus shined like a shellacked bowling ball as the pigeons flapped, cooed, and prepared for takeoff above me. Launched from its nest, a huge, solid purple pigeon flew out of the rafters, dove down over the altar, dropped a sizable white bomb directly in the middle of the butcher's block, and then arced through the rafters and back to its perch. I looked up, into the sunshine. "Here's the rub; I need You to help me be the man that kid thinks I am. He's so filled up with hope, wonder, and brimming over with everything good that I want to feed it. Grow it. Maybe if it grows in him, it'll grow in me too. I want to be for him what Rex never was for me, and given my track record, the thought of that scares me half to death." I pointed toward Waverly. "There's a lot at stake here."