Raising Cain Read Online Free PDF

ever been bitten?”
    “Thomas wouldn’t allow it.”
    Sallie cocked her head. “So the act is rigged?”
    Alva looked puzzled. “Rigged?”
    “The snakes don’t really bite?”
    Alva put her finger to her lips. “It’s a test of faith. Leave it at that.”
    Sallie took the hint and moved on. “Thomas is wonderful, isn’t he?”
    “Yes.” Alva’s eyes sparkled as she spoke.
    “What does he do when he’s not preaching?” Except for prayer meetings, Ruth was invisible.
    “I don’t really know. He leaves the camp a lot.”
    “Where does he go?”
    Alva pointed east, beyond the barbed-wire fence. “Out there.”
    “Do you ever go with him?”
    “Me?” Alva blushed. “No. Not me.”
    “Someone else?”
    “No one as far as I know. He spends most of his time alone.”
    “I didn’t mean to embarrass you,” Sallie said. Alva would follow Ruth to the moon if he asked her. “I’m just trying to learn
     the ropes. The dos and the don’ts around here.”
    “That’s all right. I know what you’re asking….”
    Sallie tried to stay cool, to keep her conversation glib. “What’s that?”
    Alva blushed again. “You want to know if he has a girlfriend.” She’d seen the attraction on the dais last night.
    “No…” Sallie protested coyly.
    “He
doesn’t
as far as I know.”
    Sallie pondered the words. Ruth was attractive enough, and man enough, but sex did not seem to be a part of the program. That
     in itself was strange. He could have any woman he wanted.
    Sallie began dressing. “How long have you been here?”
    “Two months.”
    “And how much money did you contribute?”
    “All I had.”
    “How much was that?”
    “Six thousand dollars and my car.”
    Sallie looked out the window. The church had quite a fleet of vehicles out there. “
Why
did you come here?”
    “To be saved.”
    “Saved from
what
?”
    “Evil.”
    Sallie was searching for an angle, a hook for her story. “Who do you consider evil?”
    “Who?”
    “Do you see evil as a person or a thing?”
    “The devil takes all forms.”
    “So you see it as a
person
.”
    “I guess so.” Alva gave her a skeptical look.
    “There are no
black
people in the congregation. Is there a reason for that?” Sallie’s research had uncovered a central theme in a lot of escapist
     cults: race. Hatred in the name of the Lord.
    “No!”
    “So blacks can join CAIN if they want to?”
    Alva hesitated. “Uh…”
    “Yes or no?”
    “I don’t know about that. We don’t discuss it.”
    “But no blacks have ever joined, right?”
    “Right.”
    “What’s your opinion of black people?”
    “My opinion?”
    Sallie was trying to smoke out a quote. “Do you dislike them?”
    Alva’s jaw tightened. “I don’t
dislike
anyone.”
    “How about Thomas Ruth? Does he ever preach about race?”
    “Never!” Alva frowned.
    Sallie smiled defensively. She had pushed it right up to the line. Time to back off.
    “We’re into
love
here, Sallie.
Love
. That’s it.”
    Sallie sighed. The race angle would make an ideal hook for her story: white fundamentalists preaching bigotry, brandishing
     snakes in their upraised hands. That would put her article over the top. But the words she needed weren’t being said. And
     if she didn’t come up with some flaming rhetoric soon, she just might have to make it up.
    Blocktown was a suburb of the county seat. A generation before the Civil War, the land had been owned by William Block. He’d
     raised cattle, corn, and seed crops on the huge estate and shipped them down the Potomac to Washington. It was a prosperous
     venture, and Mr. Block had become rich. But, as the legend went, he was tormented by the guilt of slavery, unable to enjoy
     his wealth. One day he summoned his slaves to the great house and set them free. And then he divided up his property and gave
     them each a share.
    Joseph and Althea Brown’s house lay on the border of Blocktown. It was a red brick house on a wooded street, flanking