Read Online The Bible Salesman by Clyde Edgerton - Free Book Online Page A

little less wide than the one below it, and on the very top was a tower with windows. He could hear music coming from inside. Uncle Jack led them up a wide set of stairs to a porch that went all the way around the building. A short line of people waited at a door. A bald-headed man sat behind a table. He waved at Jack.
    “You-all wait right here for a minute,” said Uncle Jack. He stood in line and handed the man a card when his time came. Then he motioned for them to come with him.
    Inside was a large, open space with a shiny floor. At one end sat a raised stage with a giant clamshell behind it.
    Four men on the stage played piano, guitar, bass fiddle, and trumpet. Caroline grabbed Henry’s hand. Polished, dark wood columns stood around the large, open dance area. Red, white, and blue streamers hung from the ceiling. Electric lights brightened everything, and the late daylight shone through high windows in the west wall. As Henry looked up, he turned in a half circle.
    Women and men stood talking. Some of the women had little clips holding back their shiny hair. The men wore coats and ties. No woman had a scarf on her head, and no man had on just a T-shirt. Some, holding small, thick glasses in their hands, occasionally glanced at Henry and Caroline.
    Jack led them onto the porch. And there, just beyond a field of white sand, lay the ocean. Henry thought about Jesus walking on the sea, calming the waters during that terrible storm.
    “Look,” said Dorie. “Look at that screen. That’s for a movie, ain’t it?”
    A big movie screen stood in the shallow surf. Men in white coats were placing beach chairs on the beach between the Electra and the screen.
    “Sure is,” said Jack. “You-all go get some food. I need to do something over yonder.” Inside, Henry, Caroline, and Aunt Dorie filled their plates with small red potatoes, string beans, fish that wasn’t fried, small pieces of all-mixed-together lettuce and tomato and cucumber, and big rolls. They sat on the steps and ate together. Uncle Jack was setting up chairs. He turned and waved to them.
    Henry watched and listened to the dressed-up people talk and laugh. He didn’t see many other children except for three colored boys and a colored girl with their mama, who was dressed in white. He stepped back inside the door and watched as twenty or thirty men dressed in black suits prepared to make music. They moved with purpose and ease — like they might be from New York.
    Then the music commenced: a fast song, a brass sound that filled every space in the room, drums in his chest. People took to the dance floor. Henry stood still. Caroline, Jack, and Dorie came in and stopped beside him. Caroline leaned against him.
    When a slow, quieter song started, Jack took Dorie’s hand and said, “Come on, honey. Let’s give it a try.”
    “Jack, you know I can’t dance.”
    “You know good and well there ain’t nobody from the church all the way down here.”
    “I can’t do it, Jack. I’m not supposed to.”
    “Well, you’re going to watch the movie, ain’t you?”
    “Nobody’s said anything about movies.”
    “Yet. They’ll get to it.”
    As night came on, people wandered out to find seats on the beach and others gathered on the sand off to the side of the beach chairs. Henry, Caroline, Jack, and Dorie walked down the steps.
    Jack said, “Let’s leave our shoes under the steps.”
    “I’m wearing hose,” said Dorie.
    “So? Let’s take off our shoes and socks, boys and girls.”
    Henry sat on the bottom step and pulled off his shoes and socks. He watched Aunt Dorie. She had turned her back and was taking off her stockings. He stuffed the socks into the shoes and felt the sand beneath his feet, cool.
    Evening had calmed the ocean. They found a place near the beach chairs and sat on the sand without a blanket or quilt like some others had, and suddenly a bright light was thrown upon the movie screen and Henry followed the light back to its source — a