Collection 1997 - End Of The Drive (v5.0) Read Online Free Page A
wonât do,â Brace insisted, âto have it said a preacher starved right here in Red Horse.â
âThe reverend,â I suggested, âmight offer some pointers on that.â
They ignored me, looking mighty stiff and self-important.
âWe could take up a collection,â Ralston suggested.
Brother Elisha had sure stirred up a sight of conversation around town, but nobody knew anything because he hadnât said two words to anybody. The boys at the hotel, who have a way of knowing such things, said he hadnât nothing in his valise but two shirts, some underwear, and a Bible.
That night there was rain. It was soft, pleasant spring rain, the kind we call a growing rain, and it broke a two-year dry spell. Whenever we get a rain like that we know that spring has surely come, for they are warm rains and they melt the snow from the mountains and start the seeds germinating again. The snow gone from the ridges is the first thing we notice after such a rain, but next morning it wasnât only the snow, for something else had happened. Up that long-dead hillside where Brother Elisha walked, there was a faint mist of green, like the first sign of growing grass.
Brace came out, then Ralston and some others, and we stood looking up the mountain. No question about it, the grass was growing where no grass had grown in years. We stared up at it with a kind of awe and wondering.
âItâs him!â Brace spoke in a low, shocked voice. âBrother Elisha has done this.â
âHave you gone off your head?â Brennen demanded irritably. âThis is just the first good growing weather weâve had since the fire. The last few years thereâs been little rain and that late, and the ground has been cold right into the summer.â
âYou believe what you want,â Ralston said. âWe know what we can see. The Utes knew that hillside was accursed, but now heâs walked on it, the curse is lifted. He said he would bring life, and he has.â
It was all over town. Several times folks tried to get into talk with Brother Elisha, but he merely lifted a hand as if blessing them and went his way. But each time he came down from the mountain, his cheeks were flushed with joy and his eyes were glazed like heâd been looking into the eternity of heaven.
All this time nothing was heard from Reverend Sanderson, so what he thought about Brother Elisha, nobody knew. Here and there we began to hear talk that he was the new Messiah, but nobody seemed to pay much mind to that talk. Only it made a man right uneasyâ¦how was one expected to act toward a Messiah?
In Red Horse we werenât used to distinguished visitors. It was out of the way, back in the hills, off the main roads east and west. Nobody ever came to Red Horse, unless they were coming to Red Horse.
Brennen had stopped talking. One time after heâd said something sarcastic it looked like he might be mobbed, so he kept his mouth shut, and I was just as satisfied, although it didnât seem to me that heâd changed his opinion of Brother Elisha. He always was a stubborn cuss.
Now personally, I didnât cater to this Messiah talk. There was a time or two when I had the sneaking idea that maybe Brennen knew what he was talking about, but I sure enough didnât say it out loud. Most people in Red Horse were kind of proud of Brother Elisha even when he made them uncomfortable. Mostly Iâm a man likes a hand of poker now and again, and Iâm not shy about a bottle, although not likely to get all liquored up. On the other hand, I rarely miss a Sunday at meeting unless the fishing is awful good, and I contribute. Maybe not as much as I could, but I contribute.
The reverend was an understanding sort of man, but about this here Brother Elisha, I wasnât sure. So I shied away from him on the street, but come Sunday I was in church. Only a half dozen were there. That was the day Brother Elisha held
âThe reverend,â I suggested, âmight offer some pointers on that.â
They ignored me, looking mighty stiff and self-important.
âWe could take up a collection,â Ralston suggested.
Brother Elisha had sure stirred up a sight of conversation around town, but nobody knew anything because he hadnât said two words to anybody. The boys at the hotel, who have a way of knowing such things, said he hadnât nothing in his valise but two shirts, some underwear, and a Bible.
That night there was rain. It was soft, pleasant spring rain, the kind we call a growing rain, and it broke a two-year dry spell. Whenever we get a rain like that we know that spring has surely come, for they are warm rains and they melt the snow from the mountains and start the seeds germinating again. The snow gone from the ridges is the first thing we notice after such a rain, but next morning it wasnât only the snow, for something else had happened. Up that long-dead hillside where Brother Elisha walked, there was a faint mist of green, like the first sign of growing grass.
Brace came out, then Ralston and some others, and we stood looking up the mountain. No question about it, the grass was growing where no grass had grown in years. We stared up at it with a kind of awe and wondering.
âItâs him!â Brace spoke in a low, shocked voice. âBrother Elisha has done this.â
âHave you gone off your head?â Brennen demanded irritably. âThis is just the first good growing weather weâve had since the fire. The last few years thereâs been little rain and that late, and the ground has been cold right into the summer.â
âYou believe what you want,â Ralston said. âWe know what we can see. The Utes knew that hillside was accursed, but now heâs walked on it, the curse is lifted. He said he would bring life, and he has.â
It was all over town. Several times folks tried to get into talk with Brother Elisha, but he merely lifted a hand as if blessing them and went his way. But each time he came down from the mountain, his cheeks were flushed with joy and his eyes were glazed like heâd been looking into the eternity of heaven.
All this time nothing was heard from Reverend Sanderson, so what he thought about Brother Elisha, nobody knew. Here and there we began to hear talk that he was the new Messiah, but nobody seemed to pay much mind to that talk. Only it made a man right uneasyâ¦how was one expected to act toward a Messiah?
In Red Horse we werenât used to distinguished visitors. It was out of the way, back in the hills, off the main roads east and west. Nobody ever came to Red Horse, unless they were coming to Red Horse.
Brennen had stopped talking. One time after heâd said something sarcastic it looked like he might be mobbed, so he kept his mouth shut, and I was just as satisfied, although it didnât seem to me that heâd changed his opinion of Brother Elisha. He always was a stubborn cuss.
Now personally, I didnât cater to this Messiah talk. There was a time or two when I had the sneaking idea that maybe Brennen knew what he was talking about, but I sure enough didnât say it out loud. Most people in Red Horse were kind of proud of Brother Elisha even when he made them uncomfortable. Mostly Iâm a man likes a hand of poker now and again, and Iâm not shy about a bottle, although not likely to get all liquored up. On the other hand, I rarely miss a Sunday at meeting unless the fishing is awful good, and I contribute. Maybe not as much as I could, but I contribute.
The reverend was an understanding sort of man, but about this here Brother Elisha, I wasnât sure. So I shied away from him on the street, but come Sunday I was in church. Only a half dozen were there. That was the day Brother Elisha held
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