The Waterproof Bible Read Online Free

all,” she said. Stewart felt that the opposite was true.
    He did not question being able to feel this woman’s emotions. Stewart rarely thought anything was strange. This was one of his gifts. Another was his innate ability to build or fix anything. It was as if he could hear how the pieces wanted to fit together. They were not exactly speaking to him, not with words, but they let him know what needed to be done. The proof was irrefutable in the cars he’d rebuilt, the houses he’d rewired and the lifespan of household appliances he’d greatly extended, so Stewart just didn’t question it.
    He’d finished the job before his hands were cold. Rebecca had stayed with him, watching over his shoulder.
    “Do you want to pop the hood?” he asked her.
    “Why?”
    “I just thought I’d give it a look over.”
    “The engine’s in the trunk.”
    “Right.”
    He looked at Rebecca. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest, and her face held a sour expression—yet he could feel how much she liked him. With this in mind, he opened the trunk, bent over the motor and over-tightened the butterfly valve, ensuring that the car would have problems as soon as the temperature dropped below −10°C.
    “Listen, if you have any more problems, just call me,” he said.
    “I have your card.”
    “Don’t hesitate to call.”
    Three weeks later, there was a cold snap. But it wasn’t until he’d rescued her for the third time that Stewart finally found the courage to ask her out.
    “Rebecca? Why aren’t you at the funeral?”
    “I am. Stewart, listen to me. Something horrible has happened. I’ve lost my love for Lisa.”
    “What?”
    “Or at least, I’m losing it. It’s not all gone. But some of it is.”
    “You’ve lost what?”
    “You’re not listening!”
    Stewart felt how scared she was. One of the strangest things, of the many strange things, about his relationship with Rebecca was that Stewart could feel her emotions through the telephone. This did not happenwhen Rebecca talked on the phone with anyone else. Stewart was the only one.
    “I’m sorry, Rebecca, I’m just not getting it. What’s happened?”
    “It’s all about when she moved out …”
    “That’s the story you’re telling at the funeral?”
    “Yes, but just listen. I can remember everything about it. All the facts. The rain. What the van looked like. What Lisa was wearing. That’s not the problem.”
    “What is it?”
    “Just listen. Please. The problem is that it doesn’t make me feel anything. Not happy, or sad, or how I loved her more than ever when she came back. All those emotions are gone. They’ve vanished. They’re just gone!”
    “That’s, that’s …” Stewart said. “Hold on for a second.”
    Making a worried face to Margaret, Stewart got out of the truck and walked into the wheat field he’d parked beside. The stalks grew higher the deeper into the field he went. He continued walking. The stalks were slightly taller than his waist, but he still didn’t know what to say.

4
The Derrick Miller memory
    Rebecca sat on a child-sized chair in the basement of the church. Having hastily excused herself to go to the washroom, Rebecca had come down here instead. She assumed that someone was already looking for her, and knew that it wouldn’t be long before they’d find her. She had not turned on the overhead fluorescents, leaving the glow of her cellphone as her only source of light. Feeling disproportionately gigantic, she moved her phone from her right hand to her left, pressing it firmly against her ear as she eagerly waited to hear her estranged husband’s advice.
    “For the time being, let’s forget about why it’s happened,” Stewart finally said. “It’s just happened. You know? Who knows why? These things just happen. Okay?”
    This perspective was precisely what she needed to hear. The fact that Stewart never questioned the strange things that commonly happened to Rebecca was the main reason that she’d