Learning to Spy (Behind the Stars Book 2) by Moore Leigh Talbert

Author:Moore, Leigh Talbert [Moore, Leigh Talbert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: love, romantic, survival, Small Town, Paranormal, suspense, adventure, action, female protagonist
Published: 2014-11-09T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

The next day we got a holiday. I didn’t know if it was Sunday or how many days had passed since I’d opened my eyes in this place, but it felt like maybe ten. The alarms didn’t sound to wake us, and at what felt like nine, a voice came across the tinny amplifier letting us know we would be eating as a group today, after which we would be allowed free time.

I sat up and pulled on my coveralls, and as I did, I noticed my brother still on his cot in the back corner staring at the floor in the same vacant way as Flora had done in the cafeteria. I felt a pang of guilt. I’d been avoiding him more and more, but whether I wanted to hear what he said or not, he was still my brother. I couldn’t let him go down without a fight.

“How you doing?” I asked once we’d taken a seat in the yard after breakfast.

He shook his head and looked down. I pulled a long stalk of grass and began chewing the end of it. My afternoon time was cut short now because of the extra milking I had to do. Cows didn’t stop making milk just because humans got a break.

“You seem a little different today,” I said. “Feeling all right?”

His dark eyes moved to the toes of his boots then out in front of him, to the tree before us, to the branches and limbs, and finally to the sky overhead.

“It’s all vanity. Just like the preacher said.”

My brow wrinkled. Braxton was prone to launch into Bible quoting at any given moment, and I recognized this one from Ecclesiastes.

“You know, I always thought that guy was just depressed,” I said. “And maybe a little crazy. Didn’t he have like a thousand wives?”

Braxton sighed and returned his gaze to his lap. “You did listen every once in a while.”

“Oh, I always listened. I just didn’t always agree with what I heard.”

“None of it matters now. It’s all meaningless just like that king said. Wicked or just, foolish or wise, we all suffer the same fate.”

I took the grass from my mouth and held it in my lap a moment. “Why are you having these thoughts now?”

He took a deep breath and pulled his knees up, placing his forehead on the back of his hands.

“I dedicated my life to God and to preaching. Everybody said I was crazy laying hands on sick people and talking in tongues.”

I nodded. I was one of those.

“Now I see they were right. It was crazy. All that stuff I was doing was meaningless, and there is no God.”

I squinted over at him. “That’s kind of a big leap you’re making there. And isn’t that what the fool’s supposed to have said?”

His head snapped up. “Don’t you get it? There is no fool! There is no God! It’s all a lie. All those people were right. They just didn’t know why they were right.”

I was almost afraid to ask.

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