A Gathering in Hope by Philip Gulley

Author:Philip Gulley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Center Street
Published: 2016-09-06T00:00:00+00:00

39

The elders met in an emergency meeting that evening at Ruby Hopper’s house. Ruby fed them rhubarb strawberry pie, then shared the sordid details of the week, informing them there was a bat killer loose in the meeting, that the DNR was hot on his trail, and that the meetinghouse would be closed for the next three months, maybe four.

“What makes you so sure it’s a he?” Wayne Newby said. “It could have been a she. Granted, most of your bat killers are he’s, but it pays to keep an open mind about such things.”

“Point well taken,” Ruby said. “The three she’s who knew were myself, Barbara Gardner, and Gloria Gardner. I know I didn’t do it. And Barbara and Gloria said they didn’t do it.”

“Do you believe them?” Wayne asked, oblivious to Sam’s presence.

“Yes, I do,” Ruby said.

“Who else knew about the bats?” Wayne persisted.

“Sam, Hank, and Charles Gardner,” Ruby answered.

“Sam wouldn’t have done it,” Wayne said. “He doesn’t have the stomach for violence.”

“I didn’t do it,” Hank Withers said. “I didn’t even know they were in the attic. I just thought they were in the trees.”

“Then that leaves Charles Gardner. It must have been him. Are we turning him in to the police?” Wayne asked.

“He says he didn’t do it,” Sam said.

“Well, of course that’s what he says. You don’t think he’d come right out and admit to it, do you?” Wayne said.

“I have to agree with Wayne,” Hank said. “I’m betting it was Charles.”

Sam would have defended his father, except that he thought it was a remote possibility, given his father’s history with various rodents.

“We may never know who did it,” Ruby said, deftly changing the subject. “But there are more pressing issues. We have nowhere to meet for worship this Sunday. Sam has a proposal he’d like to make.”

“I was eating lunch at Bruno’s today,” Sam began. “And I—”

“What did you have?” Wilson Roberts interrupted. “I generally get the lasagna.”

“Spaghetti,” Sam said. “It was Spaghetti Day. So I was there today and—”

“I was stationed in Italy for a year when I was in the army,” Hank Withers recalled. “You wouldn’t believe the food they had over there. Not that anything is wrong with Bruno’s. I think he does a great job.”

“—and I was telling Bruno about our situation,” Sam continued, speaking quickly so no one could interrupt him, “and he offered to let us meet in his restaurant, so long as we have everything straightened up by eleven thirty.”

“Well, that won’t work,” Wilson Roberts said. “We don’t end worship until eleven thirty, then we eat our pie.”

“We would have to start worship earlier,” Sam said.

“That sounds like a lot of trouble,” Wilson said.

“Anything we do is going to present a challenge,” Sam pointed out. “We’re going to have to be flexible.”

“Is Bruno willing to feed us?” Wilson asked. “I think he ought to at least give us something to eat.”

“It doesn’t work that way,” Ruby said. “It’s not like we’re doing him a favor by meeting there.

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