Long lost

"And then?"

"My predecessor retired. I came here to take his place. Before he left, he explained about the community and told me what I've just told you. He said that, despite the doctor's expectations, the baby lived. In fact, a week before I arrived, Orval had brought the child to town to show how healthy the boy was, to prove to the doctor that God's will was the only thing that mattered."

"But…" I felt more puzzled. "What's this got to do with… You said you met Lester after a fire."

"Years later."

I leaned forward.

"The smoke woke just about everybody in town. I remember it was a Labor Day weekend. A heat wave had just broken, so most people had their air conditioners off and the windows open, taking advantage of a breeze. My wife and I stepped outside, coughing, wondering whose house was on fire. Then I realized that the fire wasn't in Brockton. Even with the smoke in the streets, I could see a glow on the horizon, to the south, in the direction of where Orval and Eunice had their farm. I knew that it couldn't be any other Dant's place, because by then Orval, Eunice, and Lester were the only Dants left.

"Somebody rang the alarm at the fire station, the signal for volunteers. But when I got there, people had realized that the fire wasn't in town. There was a lot of confusion about whether we should go out to help them or whether we should let Orval and Eunice pay for insisting that they didn't need us. In the end, the town made me proud. The fire brigade had a truck filled with water. They drove it out there, and a whole lot of people went in cars. But even before we got close, it was obvious from the extent of the glow on the horizon that even a dozen trucks filled with water wouldn't make a difference.

"It hadn't rained in a month. The wind got stronger. On the left, flames streaked across pastures. Sections of timber were ablaze. Far off, a house and a barn were on fire. We did what we could to stop the flames from spreading across the road. Other than that, we were helpless. By then, it was dawn, and somebody shouted toward a burning field. I looked that way and saw a young man stumble ahead of the flames. He swatted at his smoking clothes, reached a fence, and toppled over it. I got to him first. He was sobbing. I'd never seen eyes so big with fear, but it was obvious that they weren't registering anything. He was blind from hysteria. I tried to stop him, but he lurched to his feet and staggered along the road. It took three of us to get him to the ground and smother the smoke coming off him."

"That was Lester?"

The reverend nodded. "He wasn't able to tell us what happened until three days later. After we got him to the ground, something seemed to shut off in him. He became catatonic. We took him to the clinic. He didn't have any serious burns or other obvious injuries, so the doctor treated him for shock. When it was safe to move him, my wife and I brought him here." Reverend Benedict indicated the cottage behind the church.

His eyes saddened. "When Lester was alert enough, he told us about the fire, how the smoke and the dogs barking had wakened him. He'd shouted to warn his parents. He'd tried to run down the hall to their room, but the flames were outside his door, and he had to climb out his window. In the yard, he kept shouting to warn his parents. Past the flames in their bedroom, he heard them screaming, but when he tried to get in through the window and pull them out, the heat was like a wall that wouldn't let him through. The breeze, had spread the fire beyond the house. The barn and the outbuildings, the fields and the woods-everything was on fire. The only way he escaped was by throwing himself into a cattle trough, soaking himself, and ru

Imagining their agony, I shook my head from side to side. "Did anybody ever learn what caused the fire?"

"Lester said that a light switch had stopped working in the kitchen. His father had pla

"I know about buildings. It sounds like an electrical short," I said. "Fire can spread along faulty wires and accumulate behind the walls. When it breaks through, the flames are everywhere at once."

"According to Lester, it was terrifyingly fast."

"And then what happened? You said that he stayed with you for a week."

"We wanted him to stay longer, but one morning, my wife looked in on him, and he was gone."

"Gone?"

"We'd bought some clothes for him. They were missing. A pillowcase was missing also. He must have used it as a duffel bag. Bread, cookies, and cold cuts were taken from the kitchen."

"He left in the middle of the night? Why?"

"I think it had something to do with my being a minister and the cottage being next to a church."

"I don't understand. Lester was raised in a religious family. The church shouldn't have bothered him."

"Their beliefs were drastically different from mine."

"I still don't…"

"The Dants believed that God turns His back on us because of our sinful nature. What I preach is that God loves us because we're His children. I've always suspected that the night before Lester ran away, he overheard me practicing my Sunday sermon. He probably thought he was hearing the words of the Devil."

"And you never saw him again?"

"Not until last year when the FBI agent showed me that photograph."

In despair, I peered down at it-at Lester Dant, not my brother. The hope upon which I'd based my search no longer kept me going-Reverend Benedict looked even sadder. "My wife and I wanted children, but we weren't able to have any. While Lester recuperated, she and I had talked about becoming his guardians. When he ran away, we felt as if we'd lost a child of our own." He turned his gaze toward the cemetery beyond the rose garden. "She died last summer."

"I'm sorry."

"Lord, how I miss her." He looked down at his wrinkled hands. "The last I heard about Lester…" Emotion made him pause. "A month after he ran away, he was in Loganville. That's a town about a hundred miles east of here. A fellow minister happened to mention a helpless young man who showed up one day and whom members of the congregation were taking care of. I went there to find out if it was Lester and to try to persuade him to come back home, but he was gone by the time I got there. If I'd somehow convinced him to stay with us"-the reverend drew a breath-"perhaps none of the tragedies he caused would have happened."

"You did everything possible. Lester's the one to blame."

"Only God can determine that."

The effort of explaining had obviously tired him. I stood from the bench and shook his hand. "Thank you, Reverend. This was painful for you. I appreciate the effort."

"My prayers go with you."

"I need them. You said that Orval and Eunice lived south of town?"

"About eight miles."

"Everything's different now, I suppose."

"An agribusiness wound up farming the land. But not much has changed. If you head that way, you can just make out the burned farmhouse from the road."