Sweet Things Dying - Chapter VI

The seventh instalment brings Cole face-to-face with Rev. Bloom...

VI

The end of the service saw the bulk of the congregation rise and file from the church. How many would take the sermon to heart? And how many of the ragged and wayward mass now felt justified to head straight to the public house, having paid an hour’s penitence to God?

Cole was one of the last to follow. He glanced back. Bloom stood on the pulpit, swarmed by his remaining flock. Hopeless faces and toothless mouths ringed him with pleas and questions. Stoic and honourable, the reverend addressed their needs as his young apprentice listened from the shadows by the altar. Mrs. Bloom and Milly sat patiently in the front pew.

For an instant, Cole’s gaze met Bloom’s then he turned and passed through the curtain and exited out into the night. By the churchyard gate he retrieved his pipe from his pocket, plugged it with tobacco and struck a match to it. There was nothing to do but to wait – and to smoke.

Would Bloom even answer his questions? Or would he push past Cole, steering his family home, refusing to speak a word?

The churchyard cleared and for three long minutes his only companions were the hollow wind and the heavy clouds that raced with it. His pipe stalled. He struggled to light another match, turning into the stone post of the gate to shield the flame long enough to get it started again.

“You won’t find her. Not this time.”

The voice was firm and sure – the voice of a mature lady.

He turned and found only a small girl before him. She’d crept down the path from the church, unheard and alone. She blinked up, her stern, grey eyes reminiscent more of her mother than her father – but nothing like her sister’s. The blank expression on her face, speckled with freckles about her nose and cheeks, spoke nothing of how cold she may feel, either toward the night or toward Cole.