Thing With Feathers (9781616634704) Read Online Free

felt a sudden chill. The preacher was smiling and shaking hands. At his side was his silent daughter, Blair. Before the previous day, Sean hadn’t paid much attention to her. But that day, he noticed that she was even prettier than he remembered, with doe-like brown eyes that were sad and brooding. She bowed her shoulders forward and stood with her arms wrapped protectively about her waist. She stared at the dirt beneath her boots all of the time. It occurred to Sean that Blair did not want to be noticed. She acted like someone who wished to be invisible. Sean could not take his eyes from her.
    Blair appeared nervous and Sean wondered if she could feel him watching her. He’d be nervous if he were her—he’d always worry if anyone knew. The poor girl must be drubbed by a fear of her secret getting out. Blair lifted her eyes and Sean could tell she was clearly startled to see him standing before her, smiling. She seemed to jump right out of her skin and blanch at the sight of him. It made his heart ache for her all the more. He wanted to throw his arms around this fragile dark beauty, but instinctively, he knew better than to touch her.
    “Hiya, Blair,” was all Sean could think to say to her.
    She backed away from Sean a half step and looked back at the ground. Everyone else had gone inside, and the church doors were closing. Sean witnessed an almost-manic darting of the girl’s eyes like some poor wounded bird.
    “That’s a pretty dress you’re wearing, Blair,” Sean offered.
    In truth Sean thought Blair’s manner of dressing was odd. For one thing, the girl wore too many clothes for such a warm day—a blouse under her dress and a sweater over the top—and she’d put a cleaning scarf over her lovely dark curls and chose to wear her work boots with her Sunday dress. She looked up briefly at his compliment, and Sean could tell she distrusted it, and him. She looked away again.
    “Really, Blair. You look so pretty today. I was wondering if you’d let me take your picture later.”
    At that, Blair jerked her head up and shouted in a strange, hoarse whisper, “No!” And with that, she ran behind the church.
    Sean followed around the building but could see that she intended to run all the way back to her home.
    Sean wished he could kick his own behind. What a stupid thing to say! Maybe she don’t aim to look pretty, you idiot . Heck, that’d probably be the last thing she’d want to do. Stupid!
    Inside the small church, Preacher Bowman was telling his rapt audience of the genius of Paul: “‘For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do…Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?’”
    Preacher Bowman searched his audience for one with the answer, but they all were quiet.
    “His name is Savior!” The preacher boomed. “He sets the prisoner free. He forgives sin and gives the guilty conscience peace. He does more, far more! By the indwelling presence of his Holy Spirit, he gives us the power to achieve a permanent victory over the most sordid, stubborn of the sins that haunt and harass us. In Christ, we find the secret of moral victory! We know how we ought to live. We know how we want to live. It is the power we lack to fight Satan’s temptations. This church is your vale of soul-making. We are all here to do the will of God, to be trained for our eternal destiny as his sons and daughters by the disciplines of life. Amen!” the preacher thundered.
    “Amen,” answered the small congregation.
    Sean watched the preacher’s face grow red and huffy as he shouted his sermon at the parishioners. Sweat trickled down the sides of the preacher’s fattened face. White spittle had taken refuge in the corners of his mouth. His mouth contorted with ecstasy while delivering his conviction of God’s forgiveness for even the most sordid sins. Sean could not stomach any more of it. His gullet truly was peckish now. He hurried quietly out the doors into the harsh