The Buck Passes Flynn Read Online Free PDF Page A

doin’ a land-office business. Peoplewere still crowdin’ around the gas pumps when I was drivin’ back.
    “So I stopped and got out of the car to tell the people the good news. ‘Praise the Lord!’ I said. ‘Praise the Lord!’ And I told them about the money the Lord had delivered unto us to repair the church and that the next morning, Sunday, the service would be a service of praise and thanksgiving.”
    “And what did the people say to that?”
    “They seemed happy. I told them to pass the word And they said they sure would.”
    The minister, looking at his hands folded in his lap, shook his head sadly.
    “Marge spent the day on the phone, passin’ the word. Calling out around the ranches. As the day went on, more and more people weren’t answerin’ their phones. “That’s odd,’ Marge said. ‘Let me try the Bronsons. They have a sick old daddy and I just know they can’t all leave the place at once.’ She called the Bronson spread and, would you believe, no one answered?
    “In the afternoon, we started seein’ the cars and pickup trucks goin’ by, goin’ both directions, loaded up with mattresses, big family clocks, television sets, people. Marge and I couldn’t make it out. We worried there was a prayer meeting somewhere we hadn’t been called to. Why else would people be leaving Ada all at once? Where else have they got to go? Marge said the people wouldn’t be bringing family clocks and mattresses to a prayer meeting, least no prayer meeting we ever heard of. It was the wrong season for football, I said.
    “Next morning, Sunday, the town was very quiet. I went over to lead the service, Marge with me, and would you believe there were only about twenty people in the church? That hadn’t happened before. Not since I was called to this church, eleven years ago. Many, many people in this town, Mister Flynn, have been born again, have accepted new life in the spirit of Jesus Christ, have—”
    “You were surprised there were so few attending service,” Flynn urged him on.
    “And those who came weren’t coughin’ or sniffin’ I mean, there was no sickness around. We thanked the Lord anyway. We were real sorry the whole community wasn’t there, though, so the Lord would hear one voice, raised in—”
    “What did you and Marge do then? Did you talk to the people?”
    “We tried, we tried. No one seemed to have any more time for us that morning. Why, we came back to the house and prayed for what understanding the Lord would give us.”
    With his handkerchief, Flynn wiped some of the sweat from his neck.
    “Well, the traffic was picking up again, and Marge and I went into the street and began stopping the pickups. ‘Where y’all goin’, Louise?’ ‘Well, we’re just goin’ in to Dallas to visit with Frank’s brother’s family, you know?’ ‘Where you going, Tom Coffey?’ ‘I been called to Las Vegas, brother. Visit a sick friend.’ ‘Jack and Mary Lou, now where you takin’ these nice children of yours?’ ‘Well, you know, Marge, they ain’t never seen the ocean. This land of ours is so parched. We’re goin’ to show them the Pacific off California.’ ‘What’re you doin’ about your animals?’ Marge began askin’ every one of ‘em. ‘Who’s takin’ care of your critters?’ She never got one answer to that question.
    “Dusk came, and there was ol’ Marge standin’ in the middle of the street, sayin’ to no one, ‘What’re you doin’ about your animals?’ Then Marge began to cry.”
    Flynn listened to the wind. He heard it building far away. From what he had seen of Texas, there was nothing to stop the wind.
    “There was no understanding this, for us,” the Reverend Sandy Fraiman said. “Next morning, we drove around to the ranches we knew were empty. No one was taking care of the animals. They had been just left. We went from ranch to ranch, tryin’ our best tofeed and water ’em. We just couldn’t understand what had gotten into these people.