The Edge of the Light Read Online Free PDF Page A

Testament upon the wood. Jenn McDaniels thought the place looked like a preschool now, one where the finger painting had gotten badly out of control.
    She was inside, along with her mom. Her little brothers were in the children’s group that met in an airless walled-off section of the former shop. It had once been a hair salon, and the kids’ section was within the storage and color-mixing part of the place. Jenn remembered it only too well. She’d spent her formative years there learning Bible stories while outside in the regular church, the congregation sang, listened to Mr. Sawyer banging the pulpit and preaching his head off, and waited for the HolySpirit to descend upon them and gift them with tongues.
    Her mom had already received this gift. Nearly every Sunday, her eyes rolled back in her head, and she began to babble. It didn’t matter which part of the service was going on, either. Mr. Sawyer could work himself into a lather about Samson, Delilah, and the scissors, and what all that meant (like get a regular haircut, Jenn thought), and Kate McDaniels would rise, sway, and begin using nonsense words that came out as a murmur and then as a moan and finally a loud exclamation. To Jenn, it was an excruciating spectacle, and when people fell into silent awe, Jenn wanted to sink into the ground and disappear. She had never been able to figure out why anyone would want the Holy Spirit to “bless” them this way. It was her intention never to come
close
to having Him or Her or It anywhere near her.
    Kate’s ambition for Jenn was the opposite. Having tongues was the pinnacle. She meant Jenn to reach it. So she’d started her out as a five-year-old in the storage and color room of the former salon where Jenn learned that the earth was not billions of years old but rather a creation that took God six days: from the dinosaurs right to Adam and Eve. She’d believed this at first because as a five-year-old that was what you did: you believed adults. She got over that when she went to school and sat in the science class that first mentioned Charles Darwin.
    Now, she squirmed in her seat. Right outside on the island highway, traffic from over town was coming off the ferry. She could hear the grinding of gears from a big tractor trailer climbing the steep slope through the little commercial area that wasClinton. She wished she was on it. Or in one of the cars. In fact, she wished she was anywhere but in this airless room where, she knew, at any moment her mom was going to demonstrate just what the Holy Spirit could do for
you
if you only waited and prayed enough.
    Kate’s lips had started to move. Her body had started to sway. Liftoff had begun to occur, and there was no way Jenn wanted to witness another display of her mom’s religious fervor.
    So she rose from her chair. She could tell that the people closest to her thought that she was about to declare herself for Jesus. She heard murmurs of “Praise Him” and the like, and she knew that if she didn’t get out of there ASAP, she would be surrounded by the joyful who believed their prayers on her behalf had been answered.
    She stepped over legs. She excused herself. She tromped on two purses and nearly tripped on a stack of hymnals. Behind her, she sensed that her mom was on her feet, and she thought that Kate was coming after her. But when she heard the sound of a deep-throated moan, she knew that she didn’t have to worry.
    Jenn whispered, “Sorry, sorry. Need a bathroom,” and hoped that would be enough. The faithful allowed her to pass to the aisle and from there to dash to the door. She burst outside just as someone behind her shouted, “Come unto
me
, I pray you.” Jenn shut the door. She breathed in relief. Another Sunday and she’d made her escape.
    It was raining outside. At this time of year, it was usually raining. Or it was gray with clouds or soupy with fog. Sometimes itwas white with snow,