Pa rose to his feet, obviously surprised but delighted. The twins were blushing and giggling at the attention.
Esme thought she might be ill.
"Come on, girlies," Yo said to them, loud enough for the whole congregation to hear. "Looks like the preacher's found a way to make Christmas come in the springtime."
The congregation chuckled good-naturedly. Esme, following trancelike, walked with her family to the front of the church. She forced herself to turn and face the crowd when she reached the preacher, but she kept her eyes steadfastly set against the knotty pine wall on the left side of the church.
"Amens" were being spoken all around. Clearly the congregation was delighted at this evidence of their own goodness.
Yohan was expansive as he shook the preacher's hand and then stepped forward to clasp the hands of the deacons in the front row.
"Lord knows," he told the crowd jokingly. "If I'd imagined something like this, I'd a put on my better shirt."
His humor brought out a titter. But the room quieted as Reverend Tewksbury cleared his throat, signaling a more serious turn of events. The preacher waited, drawing out the drama of the moment. The seconds that ticked by seemed like hours.
Esme quickly glanced at her sisters. The pretty twins had locked arms and were blushing and giggling behind their hands. Looking past them, she saw her father, who continued smiling like the village idiot.
Despite the bombardment of feeling that pounded in her brain and into her heart, Esme raised her chin. With deliberate calmness she stared sightlessly before her.
I'm smart and strong and as good as any of them! she declared silently. No one can shame me but myself.
Bending down behind the piano, the preacher pulled out a big three-bushel basket and held it up before the crowd.
"Looky-here what we got, brothers and sisters," he said with obvious pride.
The large basket was filled to the brim, and the sweat popped out on the preacher's forehead with the strain of lifting it. Peeking out the top was a great, big, sweet-smelling smoked ham.
"Look what the good ladies have come up with for you, Brother Yo," the preacher said. "Here's a baker's dozen of jars of the finest fruits and vegetables our ladies can put by."
He held up a couple of jars to show the congregation.
The members clapped with enthusiasm.
"And here's a twenty-pound sack of flour. And soap— heaven knows we can all use our share of that," the preacher continued with a big smile and a playful poke at Yo's ribs.
"Looks to be some fine yard goods in here, girls." He addressed this comment to the giggling twins, who were now hiding their pretty pink faces.
''And there's a couple of hams and a slab of bacon to get you through till spring comes down."
"Amen!" Yo said gratefully, thanking the congregation as the preacher handed him the basket.
"Brother Yo," the reverend began. "David said that the Lord upholdeth all that fall and raiseth up all those that be bowed down."
Yohan smiled broadly at first the pastor and then the congregation.
"I suspect," the preacher continued, "that there is none in our community, none in our church, so bowed down as you and your little girls."
Murmurs of agreement were churchwide.
"This late in the winter, Brother Yo, the ladies thought you-all'd be low on vittles. David tells us that the Lord givest them in due season. So this ham and the rest is yours."
Resounding "amens" and even a couple of "hallelujahs" were heard as the Crabb family stood in the front of the church publicly and subserviently accepting the charity of the congregation.
Esme struggled to keep her eyes unfocused, gazing sightlessly over the heads of the people so willingly doing their Christian duty.
Unerringly, however, her glance was drawn from its secret refuge to a pair of blue eyes on the left side, second pew.
Cleavis Rhy was looking straight at her. What she saw in his face was understanding.
