Net of Blood

Chapter 8

  Saturday, I woke in the hotel and had breakfast there. I was supposed to fish with Ward, but I didn’t feel I needed to rush to get to New Truro. People there took their time getting busy in the morning. The teens seemed the slowest.

  As I walked I thought about the meeting we had with the president. James and the others didn’t stand up for their rights, but on the other hand, I thought they had been very courteous. That kept their relationship with Xing in a positive tone. They just needed to follow through and ask for the freedom to worship.

  Recently, I had been thinking about what God’s kingdom on earth would look like. The community in New Truro had many positive aspects such as politeness, but it wasn’t perfect.

  If the church and the society around it were God’s Kingdom, it should be perfect, but that wasn’t the case. The church was made of people, and we were all flawed.

  I didn’t know if there could ever be a true Kingdom because humans would never become perfect. That was the divide between God and man. There was no way for us to reach him. However, an all-powerful God would be able to reach to us despite our imperfections.

  How would He do it? There needed to be a span over the gap. It wasn’t a physical connection, but spiritual. If God had made Gei Duk to be perfect, then the man bridged us to God. Then through communion we combined our spirit with Gei Duk’s. He was our passage.

  I was still unresolved on some issues. First, I didn’t know if the Kupe’s method of communion counted as the real thing. It was just sharing food. Second, what did Gei Duk’s being the path to God mean related to his resurrection?

  Coming down the side of the hill towards New Truro, I looked at the sky. It was partly cloudy and it would be a good day to fish. It looked like a few men were on the sea, but I doubted any were Ward.

  I went straight to James’ house. When I got there, Ward was fiddling with his own carving.

  “Your father says we will fish together today,” I said.

  “Yes,” he said, unexcited. Lydia came to the door.

  “He knows he has to collect kindling before he can go out,” she said. Ward ignored his mother, and she went back in.

  He could stall the whole day and I’d never get to fish. I thought I’d encourage him.

  “Can I help you do it?” I asked. “It will go faster.”

  If I was useful, it might cut his time in half.

  “It’s really exciting,” Ward said sarcastically.

  I shrugged. He fiddled with his carving again.

  “Okay,” he said.

  “Come on,” he said as he got up. He grabbed an empty bag. I followed him down to the boats. He came to a mid-sized one.

  “Help me push it out,” he said. I did. It seemed odd to go in a boat to look for wood.

  “How far do we have to go for kindling?” I asked. I hadn’t seen any normal trees around.

  “To the palms,” he said as he gestured. It was probably a half mile walk.

  “Why don’t you row since I’ve got to do the climbing,” he said. I started rowing. It seemed like he’d come up with a way for me to do the majority of the work.

  “I saw Edgar climb the palms,” I said. “Is that what you mean you’ll have to do?”

  “Yes.”

  “To get dead leaves?” I couldn’t picture what else would burn.

  “No,” he said. “The coconut hulls.” I nodded. I rowed us out of the inlet and parallel to the shore.

  “I used to climb too when I was younger,” I said, “but not on palms. Trees that I’m used to have branches to hold onto.”

  “Like bamboo,” said Ward.

  I thought about the bamboo that I’d seen. Near the top were small green twigs. They wouldn’t support anyone.

  “Kind of like that,” I said. I kept rowing.

  “Is this a good spot to pull ashore?” I asked near the palms.

  “Let’s go up over there,” he said. “We are going to pull the boat up. Let’s make it one trip instead of going back and forth carrying bag after bag of coconuts.”

  Pulling the boat up the sand wasn’t easy. Later, full of coconuts would make it harder, but at least it would be downhill. I wondered if he’d ever done it this way before alone.

  He climbed the trees and threw down several brown nuts from each tree top. I put them in the bag and made trips back and forth to the boat. The coconuts were twice as big as I’d seen in the store. Ward kept at it until the boat was brimming.

  Then he came down and we tried to move the boat. It wouldn’t budge.

  “Is it caught?” Ward asked.

  We looked around it. The problem was that it sat in a low spot. If we got it past there, it might be easier.

  I took an oar and used it like a lever. The boat inched out of the hole. Then coming down the sand was a little easier, but still wore me out.

  The boat finally made it to the water. We both sat in it. Neither of us volunteered to row it.

  In a few minutes I felt better. I was getting into physical shape from all of the activity the last week.

  I tried rowing, but it was awkward with the coconuts in the way. It seemed futile and we were in only a foot of water, so I got out. I started pushing the boat, and it got moving nicely.

  At the mouth of the inlet, the ground was rocky, so I went slower. I took the long way along the shore of the inlet rather than trying to paddle the short cut.

  “Do you want to carry the coconuts or husk them?” Ward asked after we pulled the boat up.

  “Carry,” I said. I thought that it’d be very hard to take off the hulls.

  I grabbed the bag and started up to their house. He got there first and showed me where to dump them next to a pole. Then I headed back for the next load.

  When I returned, Ward was sitting and waiting. He made the coconuts into two piles. One was the woody husks and the other was like the coconuts like I’d seen in stores.

  I dumped my bag out and watched him hull the first one. He jabbed it on the pole to knock a piece loose, then he used his bare hands to pull the rest off. He’d let me pick the hard job.

  I ran up and down the hill several more times bringing coconuts. After this, I hoped we didn’t swim right away.

  “That’s a lot of coconut,” I said. “Are we going to eat all of it?”

  “Probably,” he said. “Mom wants us to give half away, but I think we can just leave it out and let people help themselves.”

  I nodded. The last step was to put the hulls in a bin behind the kitchen, then put a bag of coconuts to hang in the corner of the kitchen.

  “Thanks,” said Lydia. She had a coconut open on the counter. She must have heard us and grabbed one. “Here’s something to munch on.” Ward grabbed a couple wedges of the nut, and I took one.

  “Let’s go see what everyone is up to,” he said.

  The children of New Truro did chores. That would limit how much time that they could go to school. However, they could probably squeeze in a couple hours of school, and longer on rainy days.

  The coconut wedge took effort to chew. It wasn’t sweet.

  Ward and I went to the end of the path. Other young men and teen boys were there, including Nicholas. The last house was under construction. The guys worked on it.

  The house was to the point where it had half of the flooring. A few decking boards lay around and guys were sanding them by hand.

  The guys greeted each other as we arrived. Ward sat and didn’t try to work. I didn’t feel like helping either.

  My job at home was managing risk for the church insurance system, so I was curious if they were making the new home safe for typhoons. The wood needed to be secured so that the wind didn’t blow it away. I looked towards the unfinished part of the floor. The beams and posts had wedged connections. That should provide some resistance to storms.

  The wood appeared to be palm. That made sense since the only other resource that they had
was bamboo.

  Three girls came to watch. They stood together, several feet away. One was Laaka.

  Some of the guys talked to them in their other language. The girls laughed. The guys purposely didn’t talk in English so I wouldn’t understand their flirting.

  Nicholas got up and stood next to Laaka. He showed her something small that was cupped in his palm. She was pleased.

  “Laaka, come with me,” he said. “This is the place where we are going to live. They walked to where he’d been working.

  “See, it’s good,” Nicholas said. He held up the plank and told her to touch it.

  “No,” Laaka said, “still too rough.” She shook her head, but continued smiling.

  “I will make it smooth for your feet,” Nicholas said. “This work is for you.” He vigorously polished it more. The girls wandered away together.

  It would take a very long time to sand all the floor boards by hand. I looked at one of the scraps of sand paper that was discarded. It was nearly smooth itself.

  “What is this?” I asked Ward.

  “Shark skin,” he said. “The scales are the best, but eventually they fall off.”

  “They’re all getting smooth,” said a young man.

  “That’s Paul,” Ward said to me. “He’s Ephraim’s son.”

  “Do you hunt Maganta?” I asked. Paul laughed.

  “No,” he said. “The little sharks are just as good. If someone caught Maganta, his skin would last us twenty years. You finish a whole house with her.”

  “Twenty years? Does it take a long time to make a house?” I said.

  “Yes,” said Paul. “It was all of our fathers who started this building when they courted their wives.”

  One generation later and they were only up to the floor boards. I could see why it took so long by having to sand it to meet the fickleness of their potential wives.

  Instead of actually planning to use it for their own families, the boys got something symbolic from it. By working on it, they showed their dedication to their girlfriends.

  When the girls were completely out of sight, the guys stopped working except Nicholas. They’d gotten their payback from their effort. Nicholas continued his effort a couple minutes but then gave up too. He shook his head after feeling the smoothness of the board. It had to be frustrating.

  Hopefully, they hadn’t become inspired to search for sharks in afternoon. I didn’t want my first underwater fishing lesson to be face-to-face with a killer.

  “Ward is supposed to help me spearfish today,” I said. I wanted to make sure they all knew the plan. Paul nodded.

  “Hopefully, we’ll start with the smallest fish first,” I said.

  “Some of the small ones are the hardest to get,” said Paul. “The target is so little.” He drew a picture of a fish is the dust.

  “You need to hit them behind the eyes. Right here,” he said pointing to a spot on his drawing.

  “Do you go out together or separately?” I asked.

  “Separately,” said Paul, “too much fish taken in one spot might draw the sharks there.”

  “Sometimes in pairs,” said Ward.

  “How do you avoid the sharks?”

  “Most don’t bother you,” said Ward. “If it is all black or part white, then watch out, but you can usually deal with the others.”

  “If they come up to you,” said Paul, “just punch them in the nose, or push them away.”

  They made it sound like fighting off killers was a normal part of their day. At home, the only killers that I had to worry about were on the streets, such as reckless drivers. However, I’d never had to punch one to ward it off.

  “I’m getting hungry,” said one teen. He got up and left. Then the others arose too.

  Ward and I walked to his house. The rest were already eating lunch. James was on the porch. We went in to get our plates.

  “Lydia,” I said, “I believe the church would work fine for holding school. How do I get it arranged?”

  “I can tell the other mothers to send their kids,” she said.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  I joined Ward and James on the porch. Ward was half done eating already. He might want to go before I was done. I thought I could get the two of them talking so Ward would slow down, but James spoke first.

  “It might be best to wait till Monday for school,” he said. “If Xing hears you had any sort of lesson on Sunday, he might be suspicious.”

  I did a calculation in my head. It was unlikely that I’d be done with everything before then. I nodded.

  Ben was the first to finish lunch. He ran to the center of town to join some boys there.

  “Tell me more about spearfishing,” I said, trying to stall them. Then I shoveled some food in my mouth.

  “Do you know which to avoid?” asked James.

  “Puffer and sharks,” I said.

  “Yes, also Lion fish,” he said. He told me how to identify them and about poison quills.

  “He should go for a hogfish, amberjack, or cobia,” said Ward. “They come up right to you. They are curious fish, so easier to kill.”

  “Yes,” said James. “Also, look at the fish sideways. If you look them in the eyes, you’ll spook them and you won’t be able to get within twenty feet of them.”

  “He can watch me demonstrate,” said Ward.

  “Good,” said James. “Next, you can use my spear. I’m not going out.”

  “The metal one?” I asked.

  “Yes, the one with metal barbs,” he said. I nodded. I put the last food in my mouth. Ward was standing and ready to go.

  I returned my plate and retrieved the spear. Ward and I went down the path together.

  We came to the place Ben was standing with his friends talking. Roger was there too. I thought he said he worked Saturdays.

  Roger had a small video game in his palm. I didn’t recognize the brand. The boys were around him, watching him play.

  Ward didn’t pay any attention to them. Instead, he looked at the sea.

  “They are already out,” he said. “They are surfing, not diving. The waves are really good today.” He stood, waiting for me to react. I just stood there.

  “Do you want to surf?” he asked.

  I thought that I would like to learn to surf, but I had other priorities. I shrugged. I didn’t want to deprive him of fun with friends.

  “Come on,” he said. We went to a shed and he pulled out a board but I didn’t know what to pick.

  “Are you good at it?” Ward asked.

  “No,” I said.

  “Then start with the little one,” he said. “Ben can make that one go.”

  Next, I followed Ward to the water. We got on the boards and paddled out with our hands.

  The guys were all in one area beyond the waves. It was about where Ben and I had fished.

  One young man went by, riding a wave. Water splashed my face from the crest. Then we reached where the others were.

  One at a time, they took off with the waves. I watched to see how to do it. They paddled forward just as the swell reached them and pushed forward. They tied a rope from the board to their ankles, so I did too.

  While sitting there, I introduced myself to Eli, Thomas, and William. Also, I looked around and saw one gray fin coming out of the water. It wasn’t close and the guys didn’t seem concerned.

  “It’s our turn, Neal,” said Eli. I straightened my board. When a wave came, I laid myself forward and paddled.

  I started moving forward. I tried to stand like the guys. As I lifted my knee up, the board turned. I spun and fell into the water.

  I came right back up. The board wasn’t far because it was tied to me. I pulled it in. I spit the salt water out of my mouth.

  Eli came by on the next big wave. I paddled to the side to be out of their way. After paddling for a minute, I rejoined the group.

  “I’m not used to surfi
ng,” I said. “My friends and I didn’t do it at home.”

  “What did you do?” William asked.

  “Some of us had motorcycles,” I said.

  They smiled and nodded. They seemed to know what they were.

  “Where did you ride?” asked William.

  “William, do you want this wave?” asked Ward. William shook his head, and Ward took it.

  “I didn’t ride very far,” I said. “Mostly, I rode in circles around a small field.”

  “You are good at circles,” said William. He pointed to where I’d spun out on the board. Some of the other guys laughed. I smiled.

  They surfed more. I shrugged off a couple of my turns. I watched how they steered. It wasn’t any different than riding a bike or motorcycle. It was just balance.

  My problem getting up was when I lifted my knees, it caused me to shift balance. I watched how Nicholas got up. He was very cool how he hopped up with both feet simultaneously. I wasn’t going to try that because I’d fly off if I got it wrong. I needed more practice first.

  I counted whose turn it was. When it was close to my turn, I moved into line.

  The wave came, and I was able to get onto both knees. I rode straight like that. Then, the wave seemed to slow and I didn’t know what to do. The board raced to the front of the wave and died to a stop.

  I thought of turning along the wave, but just then, the wave caught up. It crashed over me, and I spilled into the water. I got a mouthful of salt again.

  I decided that I’d had enough. I rowed to shore and sat there waiting. After another go around, Ward came in too.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked me. It was only midafternoon, not suppertime. I’d burned a lot of calories today. Food might help me keep my energy up.

  “Okay,” I said.

  “I’ll get some coconut,” he said. He went towards his house.

  Roger was sitting alone. The boys had gotten tired of looking over his shoulder. I went up to him.

  “Are you on vacation today?” I asked.

  He shrugged.

  “When did you get the videogame?” I asked.

  “Yesterday,” he said. “I’m just borrowing it from someone at work.”

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Happy farm,” he said. He turned it a moment so I could see. He was growing a vegetable patch. The writing was in Chinese. I nodded.

  “Can you read that?” I asked.

  “No, but my friend told me what it says.”

  “He’s a Sheng?”

  “Yes, mixed blood,” Roger said.

  “Do you think many people with Kupe ancestry live in Fusang?” I asked.

  “A few,” he said. “The fathers in New Truro all have an old thinking style. They want to keep the Kupe separate and above the Sheng. That’s probably why they talk in English to themselves while in Fusang. They want to show that they’re better.” I didn’t agree that the Kupe were trying to be exclusive. When we were in Fusang, I felt the Sheng staring at us, and I didn’t feel superior.

  “It seems like you’ve changed your mind about the Sheng since the last time I saw you,” I said. Roger stared blankly at me. “Didn’t you say that they treated the Kupe badly?”

  “Well,” he said, “since then, I’ve met a few more of them who are different. Also, if that is going to be my life, I need to get used to them.”

  Ward came back and handed me something to chew. He and Roger nodded at each other, and Ward sat.

  “…so what is it like with the Sheng?” asked Ward.

  “You can earn money to rent a house,” said Roger.

  “Are you moving?” Ward asked.

  “I’m thinking about it. I’m saving up,” said Roger. “The girls there will let you kiss them.”

  Ward raised his eyebrows.

  “…but they still want a house and marriage,” Roger continued.

  “Do you like the Sheng girls?” Ward asked.

  “No, but there is one mixed blood girl. She’s nice.”

  I finished my snack. I saw Ward was already done with his. This seemed like the right time to spearfish because any later and we might miss it.

  I stood up. Ward joined me. Our spears were still near the boats.

  “One boat?” I asked.

  “Yes,” he said. He started pushing a medium-sized one. I joined him. This time he rowed, but we weren’t going as far out.

  He took us out to where the waves started.

  “Is this where the reef is?” I asked.

  “Yes,” he said. “It is the front side.”

  “How do we do this?” I asked.

  “I’ll go in,” he said. “You go in too so you can see clearly. Then you can have a turn.”

  He had modern goggles that we put over our eyes. That would help keep the salt out.

  He dove in head first. I hopped in after he was out of the way.

  Ward was swimming several feet below along the side of the reef, but I floated at the top. I watched him for ten seconds or so. Then I wanted to look for sharks. I looked back and forth between Ward and the open sea.

  After only a few more seconds, I had to get a breath. Then, I put my head back down. There were lots of fish. Some were in schools, and some alone near the reef. The reef was colorful and constantly in motion. I was always moving too as swelling waves came past.

  I got one more breath, and then looked to see that Ward was lining up a shot. He approached a fish from the side, took the spear back in one hand then thrust it forward.

  He hit the fish. It wiggled only once, then ceased. Ward swam up holding his pole.

  We both held the edge of the boat.

  “Did you see that?” he asked.

  “Good shot,” I said. He put his pole into the boat. The fish was still on the end of it.

  “Are you ready to try?” he asked.

  “Okay,” I said. I doubted that I could do it, but I could try. Maybe I’d be surprised.

  I pulled my pole from the boat, took a deep breath and tried to swim down. I splashed near the surface for a minute then gave up.

  I came up for air. He was still on the side of the boat.

  “I can’t get deep,” I said.

  “Let’s try a couple things,” he said. “First, get out.” I put my spear in the boat and crawled over.

  “Then dive in straight down,” he said. “Stand on the boat so you can get over easily, and before you jump, exhale.”

  “Exhale? You mean inhale,” I said.

  “No, air makes you rise. You don’t want air.”

  I stood and breathed deeply several times. I was almost dizzy.

  Then I dove in. I went several feet deep. Then I kicked my legs so I’d go deeper. I made a little progress. The pressure on my head was strong, and I needed air, so I came back up.

  I gasped for air as I reached the surface. I didn’t know how he could do it. The bamboo pole didn’t help either because it was buoyant.

  “I can’t get down,” I said. “If I made it down. I’d be so out of energy and air that I couldn’t fish.”

  He sat, thinking about it. I crawled in so my toes wouldn’t be shark bait while he pondered.

  “Let’s go back so we can try something,” he said. He rowed us ashore.

  “I’ll return in a while,” he said. First he went to the back of the church and retrieved a rope off the wall. Then he walked along the shore near the mouth of the inlet. He looked down and felt the heft of rocks.

  He waved for me to bring the boat. I pushed it along the shore.

  “This will help you get down fast,” he said. I hoped the rope wasn’t to tie rocks around me. I could be stuck in the water and drown.

  “How does it work?” I asked. He was tying a large rock to the end of the rope.

  “You hold onto the rock to go down, then let go to come up. The rope is so I don’t have to dive and get the rock each time. We can just pul
l it up.”

  I nodded. It was a good idea. He put the materials in the boat then rowed us back.

  “I hope the rope is long enough,” he said as he tied the other end to the boat. Would it sink us?

  “What if it’s not?” I asked. I balanced the rock on the edge of the boat. That weight wouldn’t tip us, so it would just dangle below at the end of the rope.

  I sat for a minute getting my nerve up. If it pulled me deep, I could just let go. I could follow the rope back up. I made sure it wasn’t tangled.

  “Should I dive or just let it pull me?” I asked. If I asked enough questions, I could delay going down.

  He shrugged. I didn’t know how to dive holding a rock in one hand and a spear in the other, so I decided to just jump.

  I took several deep breaths. I inhaled and jumped. As I hit the water, I remembered that I was supposed to exhale, so I blew out the air.

  The rock helped me sink quickly. The pressure on my head was strong. I reached the level of the reef and fish. The fish scattered from the commotion.

  I let go of the rock. The rope was in front of me, so I got my spear around it.

  I thought I was rising a little so I held the rope for a second. It was still going down.

  I was there to catch a fish. I didn’t care what type it was. I just needed to prove I was a valid member of the Kupe community.

  I spotted one closer than the others. I tried to swim closer to it. It needed to be within about eight feet, which was the reach of the spear.

  The silver fish saw me coming for it and turned away. I flung the spear in its direction, hoping that I’d be lucky. I missed.

  My head was hurting from pressure and lack of oxygen, so I looked for the rope and followed it up. I came up under the bottom of the boat.

  Ward was floating and watching, so I went to the other side. I took a quick breath of air as I came out. I rested there a minute before I said anything.

  Ward came around to my side.

  “Did it help?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I said. I rested another minute.

  “Do you want to go again?”

  “Yes,” I said. I had to.

  I thought about pulling up the rock. The only way it made sense to do it was to haul it up while sitting in the boat. Once again, I crawled over the side. Ward came in too.

  I started hauling up the rock. It was a long rope.

  “I think I scared the fish,” I said. “The splash, plus looking right at it.”

  “Feel where the fish are, don’t see them,” Ward said. I thought he meant to look at it peripherally.

  I rested for a couple more minutes. We’d drifted, so Ward rowed us back. Then I positioned the rope.

  I jumped in again and tried not to make a huge splash. The rock took me down again.

  A few yellow snappers weren’t far away. I let go of the rope and swam without looking at them.

  Then I drew the spear back and flailed it at one. The spear didn’t go where I wanted, but it did catch one on its yellow tail fin.

  The fish wiggled quickly. I pulled the pole back to retrieve the fish, but the barbs pulled loose of the fin.

  The fish shot to the reef and disappeared. I’d caused it minor injury and it wouldn’t ever show itself again to me.

  Some other fish were curious and approaching me, but I was out of air. I swam up again.

  “I grazed one,” I told Ward.

  “Nice,” he said. I got in the boat. He likely saw I was worn out.

  “We shouldn’t go back with just one fish,” he said.

  As I pulled up the rock, he dove in. A minute later he came up with a snapper. He dove in again and brought a jack. It was so easy for him.

  He got in the boat then rowed us back. I got out at the shore to help him pull the boat up, but I was so worn out and slow that he did most of it himself.

  We left the rock in the boat. I carried James’ spear back to the house. Ward gave the fish to his mother.

  “He got a near miss,” he said to her. She smiled. If we hadn’t done all of the fiddling around trying different ways to sink, I would have had a better shot at it.

  I sat on the porch and fell asleep. A while later, I woke to the sound of cooking. I was suddenly famished. The others were gathering so it wouldn’t be long before eating.

  I ate nearly as fast as Ward and Ben did. It looked like we ate the fish Ward had caught.

  I didn’t talk because food was always in my mouth. Also, I was still worn out. Ward told them about our afternoon.

  “Tomorrow is Sunday,” said James. “Neal, do you want to come out with me in the morning to fish for the pageant?”

  I nodded. I didn’t think about what he said. I just ate.

  Afterwards, I sat on the porch and let my food digest. Edgar and Charles came by. James was on the porch with me.

  “Did you catch any?” Edgar asked.

  “I got one on the tail,” I said, “but it got away. They’re tricky how they wiggle.”

  “Ah, that’s good,” said Edgar. “Now they know that you are coming for them and they’ll respect you.”

  “I’ll show you what to do. First, pick out the fish.” Edgar walked around like he was swimming. “Then jab it, and don’t let go.” His simplistic dramatic presentation could be funny, but it looked like he was serious.

  I nodded. Then Charles waved his hands.

  “No,” he said. “This is definitely how you should do it.” He danced around like he was intentionally trying to be a fool. We all laughed.

  I had one advantage of having a fish on my spear for a moment. It gave me more credibility to make my own spear.

  “Edgar,” called a woman from his home. Edgar left, and Charles followed.

  I watched the waves and clouds again. I didn’t mind sitting and not doing anything. James and I were silent.

  I let myself slip into a trance-like state. With my slowed mind, the clouds sped up. They boiled in updrafts of vapor and raced across the sky.

  I thought that the Kupe were closely connected to God’s creation. They must all be strong believers and devoted to Him. How could they miss Him? His face was in the clouds.

  Still, we were imperfect and needed a bridge to the sky. That was Gei Duk.

  Their lives were nothing like my own at home. There, I had little connection to the earth. The Kupe’s reality was more like that of the original followers of Gei Duk because they were close to the Earth.

  Was my life phony? It seemed like none of the issues of an ecologically connected lifestyle were relevant to me. I didn’t survive based on what fish that I’d caught that day. Yet, we all tried to connect back through that same bridge to the sky.

  The disciples decided what the first churches would look like. They set the method of faith. We followed their old instructions to this day.

  Among all that they said, what part of it was for the people of their time, and what was for all time? There was one bridge to God, but how we got to the bridge depended on where we were culturally, in time, and in space.

  I was nostalgic for my life again. I thought of my family. It would be early Saturday morning at home. Sometimes while Melanie slept in, it was good time to snuggle up to my wife. I missed them.

  Nicholas and Roger were using different ways than each other to make their own way in life. One was traditional and the other was unapproved. Their options weren’t the same as I’d had. They were both limited by where they lived, but in either case, I understood and sympathized with both of their desires.

  I tended to think of my world as a free society, but even where I lived, I was limited by behavioral expectations. I couldn’t do some of the things the Kupe did. For example, I couldn’t expect people to leave extra food at my house. I also never shared my groceries with my neighbors.

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