The Fall of Alice K. Read Free Page A

mother had given Aldah two pink peppermints to get her through the sermon. Aldah put them in her
white handkerchief and chewed on the prune-sized bundle until sweet pink juice oozed into her mouth. Her mother pretended not to notice, so Alice wasn’t about to stop her either.
    Rev. Prunesma was going through Psalm 23 line by line, explicating every sentence. It was mostly a dull walk through references to the Hebrew and Greek, but when he got to the “still waters,” he had Alice’s full attention again.
    â€œâ€˜He leadeth me beside the still waters.’ When we think of still waters today, we think of tepid water. But here, David is contrasting ‘still waters’ against the alternative of tempestuous, dangerous waters. This water, we should believe, is clean and calm. Clean and calm. ”
    His repetition and emphases were puzzling. Rev. Prunesma worked at making the Old Testament relevant to the present, but was he hinting that the clean waters of Psalm 23 were everything that cattle feedlot runoff holding tanks were not? Was the Rev suggesting that farmers were at odds with the message of Psalm 23 by turning calm waters into stinky polluted waters? Was he about to lecture the farmers in the congregation that they were polluting the clean earth that God had created?
    She turned her head to catch her father’s profile. In church, she could never tell what he was thinking. He had on his stern church look. She wasn’t sure what look her mother had on. Maybe it was her let-the-end-come look. Aldah kept chewing on her bag of pink peppermints, and some of the juice ran down her chin and onto her white blouse.
    â€œâ€˜Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death . . .’” the Rev went on. “Here again, we should turn to the Hebrew,” he said. “A translation from the Hebrew might read, ‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of bottomless darkness.’”
    He started pumping his arms. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of disgraceful behavior from our leaders! Yea, though I walk through the valley of falling cattle and hog prices! Yea, though I walk through the valley of self-doubt and mental turmoil. Yea, though I walk through the valley of not knowing what the millennium will bring! People of God!” he shouted. “We are all in the valley of darkness as the millennium creeps toward us like a devouring beast in the night! Are we ready?”
    With that, the starling came back into the worship service, this time by plunging into the baptismal font and bathing itself in a furious
fluttering of wings and splashing of water, some of it landing on the floor and some of it splattering onto the carpet of the pulpit. The reverend stopped preaching. The starling launched itself energetically into the large open space over the congregation’s head, flying even more desperately, as if energized by its recent refueling and bath.
    Everyone, including Alice, held their breath. The Rev nodded. Whether this was his acknowledgment that some great Forces of Evil were at work in God’s House of Worship or whether it was a signal to the ushers, several men did get up to open all the doors of the sanctuary as a way of showing the starling the light it was probably looking for. The Vangs had their own response to the renegade starling: all three of them held church bulletins over their heads.
    Alice’s mother stiffened, grasped Aldah’s wrist, leaned over to whisper harshly in her ear, then stood up and tugged Aldah to follow her out of church. Alice pulled her knees back in the pew to let them get out. Alice assumed her mother was using Aldah’s stained dress as an excuse to get away from a situation that she couldn’t bear. Alice hid her alarm at her mother’s behavior, and so did her father.
    The open doors let in traffic sounds from the busy street outside, along with the distinct and ungodly smell of