the street directly in front of Jamie’ s house. We hadn’ t turned the clocks back yet, so it was still light out when I got there, and I strolled up the cracked walkway to her door. I knocked and waited for a moment, then knocked again. From behind the door I heard Hegbert say,“ I’ ll be right there,” but he wasn’ t exactly racing to the door. I must have stood there for two minutes or so, looking at the door, the moldings, the little cracks in the windowsills. Off to the side were the chairs that Jamie and I had sat in just a few days back. The one I sat in was still turned in the opposite direction. I guess they hadn’ t sat there in the last couple of days.
Finally the door creaked open. The light coming from the lamp inside shadowed Hegbert’ s face slightly and sort of reflected through his hair. He was old, like I said, seventy-two years by my reckoning. It was the first time I’ d ever seen him up close, and I could see all the wrinkles on his face. His skin really was translucent, even more so than I’ d imagined.
“ Hello, Reverend,” I said, swallowing my trepidation.“ I’ m here to take Jamie to the homecoming dance.”
“ Of course you are,” he said.“ But first, I wanted to talk with you.”“ Yes, sir, that’ s why I came early.”“ C’ mon in.”
In church Hegbert was a fairly snappy dresser, but right now he looked like a farmer, dressed in overalls and a T-shirt. He motioned for me to sit on the wooden chair he’ d brought in from the kitchen.“ I’ m sorry it took a little while to open the door. I was working on tomorrow’ s sermon,” he said.
I sat down.
“ That’ s okay, sir.” I don’ t know why, but you just had to call him“ sir.” He sort of projected that image.
“ All right, then, so tell me about yourself.”
I thought it was a fairly ridiculous question, with him having such a long history with my family and all. He was also the one who had baptized me, by the way, and he’ d seen me in church every Sunday since I’ d been a baby.
“ Well, sir,” I began, not really knowing what to say,“ I’ m the student body president. I don’ t know whether Jamie mentioned that to you.”
He nodded.“ She did. Go on.”
“ And... well, I hope to go to the University of North Carolina next fall. I’ ve already received the application.”
He nodded again.“ Anything else?”
I had to admit, I was running out of things after that. Part of me wanted to pick up the pencil off the end table and start balancing it, giving him the whole thirty seconds’ worth, but he wasn’ t the kind of guy who would appreciate it.