The Sun Gods Read Online Free PDF Page B

her shoulder and said soothingly, “I’m sorry to hear that.” And, in fact, he was sorry, in a way that he himself could not quite have expressed.
    Again he turned to watch Mrs. Nomura’s sister with Billy. The tension had left the boy’s little body. Before long, he was asleep in her arms.
    Mitsuko shifted Billy until his head was cradled against her left arm. She smiled at him tenderly and brought him to his father.
    â€œExcuse me,” she said, her voice soft but clear.
    â€œThere’s no need for you to apologize,” replied Tom. “It’s my fault. I should make him behave better.”
    She smiled and shook her head as she placed the sleeping little boy in his father’s arms.
    â€œHe is very beautiful,” she said.
    Tom wanted to say “So are you,” but that was out of the question. Neither could he bring himself to respond with the reply that had become almost automatic whenever anyone complimented him on Billy’s good looks: “He takes after his mother.” He did not want to talk about his dead wife just now.
    â€œThank you,” Tom said finally.
    Mitsuko turned to her sister and said something in Japanese.
    â€œWell, then,” said Mrs. Nomura, her usual cheery self again, “we must go now. See you this afternoon, Pastor.”
    â€œWonderful,” said Pastor Tom. “You’ll all be there?”
    â€œI think so,” she replied, looking at Mitsuko, who again spoke to her in Japanese.
    â€œAre you bringing Billy?” asked Mrs. Nomura.
    â€œWell, of course! You know how he loves to play with the other children!”
    â€œThen we will all be there,” she said.

5
    THE NUMBER OF WORSHIPPERS was small at today’s English-language service. Most of the girls were home, helping their mothers prepare picnic lunches for the afternoon potluck outing. Even some of the young men who attended most faithfully were absent, no doubt running last-minute errands. This led to an abnormally high proportion of squirming boys to listen to his sermon, “God’s Ultimate Love and Justice.” He himself was hardly listening as he concluded, “We strive toward that day when we will finally be all that Christ saved us for and wants us to be because of what he did for us.”
    It was still a few minutes before noon when he pulled out of his parking space in front of the church. Mrs. Uchida had offered to take Billy with her. Tom would pick them up and bring them to Jefferson Park after changing clothes. Driving up Broadway, where worshippers returning from the white churches were being accosted by Indian panhandlers, he silently thanked the Lord for having blessed them with such a lovely spring day.
    Tom had always enjoyed these outings, but last year’s, without Sarah, had been something of a trial. Today, he felt a new kind of excitement as he imagined the crowds of laughing children, the proud parents urging them on to victory, and … yes, he had to admit it to himself, Mrs. Nomura’s sister, Mitsuko. Would her husband be with her? Why had he not attended the service? How long would they be staying in Seattle?
    At home, he shed his dark suit and changed into light cotton pants, a check shirt and a windbreaker. He packed a small duffel bag with some extra diapers and a fresh pair of coveralls for Billy, and he also threw in a sweater for himself, just in case. Seattle weather in May could be unpredictable.
    A few minutes later, he was driving among the decaying buildings on the waterfront edge of Japantown, heading for the old Carrollton Hotel at the corner of Main and Occidental where Mrs. Uchida lived. He had difficulty locating a place to park. The Ace Café next door seemed to attract a large lunchtime crowd on Sundays. He left the car in front of a small cigar store a block away at the corner of Washington and walked back to the hotel, trying not to look at the two drunks—a man with a black beard,