The Believer Read Online Free PDF Page B

so," she whispered.
    Payton read 1 Corinthians 13, the same chapter their father had read when they buried their mother. Hannah read Psalm 23, stumbling over a few words that Elizabeth and Payton whispered along with her. Last, Elizabeth took the Bible and found 1 John 2:25. `And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life'
    Aristotle jumped upon the side of the box and howled. The sound was like a knife in Elizabeth's heart. As she let the Bible fall shut to reach for the dog, a piece of paper fluttered out of the pages. After Elizabeth pulled the dog back and Hannah wrapped her arms around him to stop his howls, Elizabeth picked up the paper. It was the envelope for the bean seeds her father had bought from the Shakers last spring. He had stuck the empty packet in the Bible to remember the kind, for they had produced well.
    Elizabeth stuffed the paper in her pocket. Springtime seemed forever away.

    After Payton nailed the top onto the box, they left their father's body on the porch to finish digging the grave. Hannah sat down on the porch steps with Aristotle leaning against her legs and would not budge, even though Elizabeth pleaded with her to come with them and not stay alone with the body.
    Hannah crossed her arms tightly over her chest and lifted her chin. "I do not fear my dead father."
    So Elizabeth left her there and walked with Payton back to the graves behind the cabin just below their garden plot. They took turns with the shovel, one digging while the other used the grubbing hoe to break loose the roots. The sun climbed high in the sky and reflected off the red and golden trees all around them, but they had no eyes for the beauty of the day. Their eyes were on the dirt as they dreaded the sound of the shovel clanging into a new rock that might prove too big to dig around and heave up out of the grave.
    As the shadows started falling toward the east, they had the grave shoulder deep. Payton handed her the shovel and said, "I can't dig more without water. And food:"
    His face was streaked with sweat and dirt, and Elizabeth knew hers must be as well. She had given no thought to eating, and only after he spoke of it did she realize her thirst. "You're right. I'll keep digging while you go fix something for you and Hannah. There's bread and apple butter in the cupboard. Then you can bring me some water."
    Payton looked down at the hard clay dirt under his shoes and back at Elizabeth. "Do you think it might be deep enough already? We could pile these many rocks on top:" He waved his hand at the rocks they'd dug out of the grave.
    "It would be best to dig another foot:" Elizabeth pushed the shovel down into the dirt and shoved it deeper with her foot. She ached all over from the work, and her hands were swollen and red with blisters.
    "If it's the cholera, who will dig our graves?"
    "It wasn't the cholera. We would have begun to sicken by now if it had been" Elizabeth lifted the shovelful of dirt and threw it up and out onto the pile that loomed larger than the hole.
    `Are you sure?"
    Elizabeth leaned on the shovel and looked at Payton standing above her. "I am sure. Now go get water."
    She was bent over working out yet another rock when she heard footsteps coming back. He had only been gone a few minutes, so she thought he must have decided to bring her the water first. It wasn't until the man jumped into the grave behind her and landed heavily that she realized it wasn't Payton, who was always light as a cat on his feet.
    She straightened and whirled around. "Colton. What are you doing here?"
    She backed away from him until the cool dirt on the side of the grave stopped her. Her skin started crawling even before he stepped closer and put his hand on her shoulder. She made herself not shrug it off as she breathed in and out slowly.
    "You should have sent Payton to get me. Grave digging is not woman's work:"
    He sounded cross that she had not asked him for help, but she did not want his help. She