Race by Richard North Patterson

Author:Richard North Patterson [Patterson, Richard North]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks

STANDING BESIDE MAROTTA, Cash spoke to an auditorium filled with fresh-faced and attentive white kids--the boys' shirts collared and their hair uniformly short, the girls wearing skirts exposing nothing but their ankles. It was a time warp, Marotta thought, taking him back to his earliest days in a strict parochial school.

"Here at Carl Cash University," Cash proclaimed, "we live by the teaching of Proverbs: 'Train up the child in the ways to go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.'

"From the evidence of his family, Senator Marotta has done this--at least by his best lights. Corey Grace has not." Abruptly, Cash's voice dripped with disdain. "Grace divorced his wife. Grace abandoned his child. Grace leads a personal life degrading to all our children. And last night, in South Carolina, he arrived amid a godless bacchanalia of whiskey, beer, and music."

Expressionless, Marotta tried to conceal his discomfort. But Cash's diatribe plainly resonated with these students. In the front row, Marotta saw, a sweet-faced blonde had bowed her head in sorrow. "Corey Grace," Cash continued, his voice rising, "is the enemy of life. Corey Grace will not endorse a constitutional ban on gay marriage--that breeding ground of pederasts, that sanctuary for the most unnatural, abominable act ever conceived by man at his most evil. Corey Grace is an enemy of God."

Turning, Cash walked slowly behind Marotta and placed both hands on his shoulders. "This man," he told the students, "is a man of God."

Rapt, the students gazed up at Marotta. Experienced though he was, Marotta realized, he was not immune to the fire of this man's certitude. "Listen to his words," Cash concluded in a tone sonorous yet hushed. "Then listen to your hearts."

Applause, Marotta realized, would only tarnish such a moment. Walking to the podium in the silent spell induced by Cash, he spread his speech before him. "These are the words of the Bible," he began. "'Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God which lives and abides forever.' And it was Christ himself who said, 'I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.'

"These things we all believe, and more.

"We believe the Bible is inerrant, and that homosexuality violates God's law.

"We believe that our schools should ban homosexuals as teachers; balance the teaching of Darwin with opposing theories; abolish all 'sex education' except chastity until marriage." Pausing, Marotta was grateful that the Reverend Cash had also forbidden tape recorders. "Like you, I believe that the 'separation of church and state' is the invention of modern secular humanists, not of Madison or Jefferson. Like you, I believe that churches should be free to endorse candidates for office without being punished--as was this university--for their beliefs."

Filled with pent-up emotion, the audience burst into applause. "Reverend Christy," Marotta told them, "may well believe as we do. But I alone can guarantee you a Christian presidency. I alone can keep Senator Grace from holding an office he should never, ever have.

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