We’re talking about your minister.
You’re talking about removing him. About refusing to let him stay here and preach to us anymore.
That’s still under discussion. We haven’t decided that yet.
You will, she said. Before you do, I’m going to say something in his behalf. She looked at Alene. We’re both going to say something.
That would be appreciated, the director said. If you can help us be fair and just, we’d like to hear from you.
Oh, we don’t expect you to be fair, Alene said. That’s not going to happen. That would be a shock to everybody here.
Wait now, the chairman said. That’s too much.
No. It’s not, she said. He was trying to remind us of the truth. The real truth. To help us to think bigger than we do. We need to listen to him. But we’re not. Not enough of us.
That wasn’t the truth, one of the men said. That was just insanity. Craziness.
It’s in the Bible, Willa said. Do you think the Gospel of Luke is craziness?
That was out of context. He takes it literally.
Don’t you? Aren’t we supposed to? At least that passage?
Not here. Not now. Not like that.
Yes. Right here, right now.
My God, are you that ignorant, woman? There’s a war going on.
There shouldn’t be, she said.
Wait, the director said. That’s not the issue. Let’s just calm down. This isn’t helping. Let us pray again. I think we should. He looked at them. Will you all pray with me? He bowed his head and folded his hands on top of the table.
So they prayed again, but it didn’t change anything. Afterward they would not allow the Johnson women to say whatever else they had come to say and the chairman led them each by the arm across the room to the door and went up with them to the street. It was dark now and the corner lights had come on.
I thought better of you than this, Tom, Willa said. I thought you were a better man.
You shouldn’t have come here.
We had every right to come here. We’re members of the church.
No. You didn’t have the right. We’re the duly elected board. But I’m not getting into that again. Is your car here? Will you be all right? Watch your step in the dark.
You need to watch your step too, Tom. And don’t ever touch me again, please.
Good night. He went back to the basement.
In the basement they went on talking.
Do all of you want Reverend Lyle to leave? the director said. You don’t seem to have given him much chance and opportunity to prove himself. Have you already made up your minds?
Is he kind of stupid? one man said. Is he slow? Is that the trouble with him?
Maybe he’s having a breakdown, one of the others said.
He’s like some kind of ignorant and dangerous boy. Wanting the world. Wanting what’s on the other side of the store window and making trouble for everybody around him.
What is wrong with him anyway? the board chairman said. You know him.
Nothing’s wrong with him, the director said.
Something is. Look at what’s happened here.
And Denver too. Or he wouldn’t have been sent out here. We wouldn’t have got him. He wouldn’t have been given this charge. We all know that.
You shouldn’t have sent him. This isn’t a good place for someone like him. With his ideas.
It wasn’t only my decision, the director said. Others help make these choices.
Then those others screwed up.
Here now, the director said. We don’t need that kind of talk.
But it was a bad mistake. Say it how you want to.
I think he’s a good man, one man said who hadn’t spoken yet. I can see that. That’s not in question. He’s someone with a vision of how it could be.
Not here though.
Maybe not here, maybe not now. But it could be. It’s like what the Johnson women were saying.
Never mind that, the first man said. Let’s get this over with. Let’s vote.
Afterward the director stayed behind. He called Lyle on the phone. Will you come over now? We’re finished talking. I’d like to speak with you now.
Where are you? Are you still in the church?