New Birds

Whole Souls Part 21

When Louis started up the watchtower ladder. Tilly took a step backwards, catching the lace hem of her nightgown under her heel, ripping the old fabric along its seam. Damn, this flimsy piece of business. But he had been so happy to see her in it again that even now a little left over heat sparked within her. What were they thinking all these months, denying themselves this? Even though they shared the same bed each night, sat across the same table each evening, worked side by side each day in the gardens or collecting deadwood and cones from the forest, she had missed him. She wouldn't remove her opinion that he was exasperating, pig-headed and foolhardy, but he was still the best thing in her life.

"It's Farling," Louis called down to her.

She glanced up at him as he climbed back down. Her request for his robe died in her throat when she glimpsed his bareness beneath it. What a fine pair they made. At least she now had the good sense to step out of the glare of the Hummingbird's headlights as Samantha and Marshall followed him down the ladder. Suddenly, remembering Farling's unique abilities, she hoped to hide them.

As Louis reached the ground and started to the gate, Tilly grabbed his arm. "We can't let Farling see them."

"If he's here at this time of night., he already knows," Louis said, pulling back the bolts from the gate.

Farling stood at the threshold, holding the lamp in his left hand. In his right, he held his red book. Its thick spine tucked beneath his armpit while six fingers were bookmarking a page. He nodded at Marshall and Samantha. "I come as a witness."

"To watch us sleep? This could have waited until the morning," Louis said, tightening his robe securer around himself, before stepping outside the gate to look down the mountainside.

"Is she the one from the billboards?" Farling asked, stepping into the ark. Tilly stepped protectively in front of the two young adults, the gun in her hands now feeling like a necessary threat against an old friend. If only she could convince him that Samantha was the one advertising vat meat on those billboards that lined the road into Calgary. The kidnapping of Jason Anson's daughter was likely the lesser offence than harbouring clones. Especially to this preacher. But there was no lying to Farling. He saw immediately what they were. He came to a full stop in front of them. The lamp he held trembled some. So did his voice when he finally spoke.

"Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground," he said. "They are clean. Divided yet clean. She only once. He a half dozen times, perhaps more, but there is not so much as a dimple of taint in their light. I saw their glow all the way from town." He finally faced Tilly. There were tears in his eyes. Something she had never ever remembered Farling shedding, no matter how dramatized he sometimes got during his sermons. "Their souls are whole," he said.