Hope Takes Flight Read Online Free PDF Page B

you understand, just an offer.”
    â€œAn offer?” Owen asked. “What kind of offer?”
    â€œYou get up there and go five rounds with that fellow, and I’ll come five straight nights to your meeting in Little Rock.”
    Owen hesitated. He glanced at Amos, whose lips formed the words, Do it, Owen . Recklessly, he agreed. “Why, I’ll take you up on that offer. I’d do just about anything to get a man who needs God in hearing sound of the gospel.”
    A shout went up and the shill said, “Now, there’s a sport for you! Do I understand, sir, that you’re a minister of the gospel?”
    Owen nodded. “That’s right. I’m an evangelist.”
    A satisfied smile curved the barker’s lips. “Well, we’re always glad to entertain the ministry here, aren’t we, Killer?”
    The huge boxer looked the part—battered lips, scar tissue over his eyes, shoulders bulky under the robe. He grinned, exposing broken teeth. “I ain’t had a preacher to whip in quite a while!” he said loudly. “Bring the reverend on back.”
    It was a barker’s dream, for everyone within hearing distance clambered forward to buy a seat. “Well, ordinarily the price is fifty cents for admission,” he said, seizing his opportunity. “But seeing as how we have the governor here, I’m afraid we’re going to have to charge a dollar.”
    A cry of protest went up, but there was no shortage of takers. The ticket taker handed out tickets until he finally had to say, “No more room!” And still the people surged forward to get into the tent.
    â€œI’ll be your second,” Amos told Owen. “Don’t drink anything if they offer it to you. It’ll probably be doped.”
    He gave his family the tickets he had bought for them, then he and Owen accompanied the barker back to a small dressing room, barely big enough for the boxers with the show. But they were already dressed, and Owen quickly stripped down and put on a pair of rather smelly trunks he found and shrugged on an equally ripe bathrobe.
    â€œI’m not sure,” he said uneasily, as he slipped the robe on, “that I’m doing the right thing.”
    â€œWell, I’m not either,” Amos admitted. “That pug looks pretty tough. Don’t let him mess you up. If he gives you too much trouble, just go down for the count.”
    â€œTake a dive?” Owen smiled. “I never took one in my life, Amos, and I’m not going to start now.”
    In the large tent where the fight was to be held, Logan and Pete had used their considerable height and strength to muscle their way to good seats down at the front. The seats themselves consisted of rickety folding chairs that swayed dangerously when one sat on them. But the family found themselves places, and talked excitedly of the fight.
    The men—Will, Logan, Peter, and Gavin—were all bright-eyed with anticipation. Will especially had taken great pride in his son’s pugilistic career and now leaned forward, his face alive with excitement. “I bet he floors that gorilla in the first round,” he muttered hopefully.
    â€œI don’t know, Pa,” Gavin said, shaking his head. “Owen hasn’t fought in a long time. That fighter looks pretty tough to me.”
    â€œWe shouldn’t have let him do this,” Lylah said nervously, but she knew stopping Owen would have been a difficult task.
    Behind the crowd, Governor Benning had drawn the manager to one side and was whispering in his ear. “I sure hate to think of having to sit in church five nights in a row,” he said. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a folded bill and showed it to the thin entrepreneur. “There’s a hundred here if your man puts the preacher away so I don’t have to do that.”
    The barker grinned. “Don’t worry about it, Guv,” he said confidently.