“Lord, Send Someone to Fix This Roof Before Snow,” She Whispered... Not Knowing He Was Behind Her
Chapter 6
Theme:
Font Size:
24px
"You should know one thing before you decide what sort of man I've been." He put his fork down. He had not planned to say it, but she had shown him the one honest thing in her hand, which was that she trusted him, and he would not take that trust on half the facts. "Miss Prior, I haven't been honest with you."Her fork stopped."The first night when I drove in," he kept his eyes level, "I came to the gate before you saw me. You were at the foot of the ladder. You said something with your eyes shut."The green light went out of the ridge. A long time seemed to pass, though it was perhaps three breaths."What did I say?""You asked for someone to fix this roof before snow."She did not move. Her face went through nothing at all: no shock and no color, which was worse than shock. Then her hand slid very slowly off the table and into her lap."You heard me pray.""I did.""And you stayed." Her voice dropped. "You looked at my roof and my wrist and my dime on the post, and you said a dime is fair. You knew what I'd asked, and you made a bargain.""I didn't make it because of that.""Didn't you?""No, ma'am." He said it plainly. "I made it because the bolts were stacked and the apples were rotting, and because I'd rather split shakes than eat cold biscuit. But I'll not say that I didn't hear you. I did. I should have told you the next morning. I'm sorry I didn't."She stood up so suddenly that her chair scraped the boards. She walked to the end of the porch and stood with her back to him and her arms wrapped around herself, looking at the black rows of the orchard."That was between me and Him," she said, very low. "Yes, I've asked every night since June for a roof, for a way... every night. And the only answer I ever got was another bucket of water." She laughed once, short and ugly. "And then a man comes down the road in the sleet with a wagon. And you want me to believe that's what He meant? I don't believe that." She turned."I don't think He mails people, said Ezra." He was surprised at how steady his voice was. "I don't think I'm an answer. I think I was a man with a bad tarp and tired mules. And you were a woman at the bottom of a ladder. If it was more than that, I wouldn't know. And I wouldn't want you to feel it was owed.""Owed," she said. "That's what you were afraid of.""In the prayer, you said, 'And don't let him ask me for what I can't pay.'" He swallowed. "It was the second part. You said it softer."Willa put her hand over her mouth. She stood like that for a long time. When she finally spoke, her voice was cracked all the way across, and she did not trouble to hide it.