(START READING FROM THE BEGINNING)

Seth’s parents belonged to two different churches: his father was a Baptist and his mother was a Catholic. Before moving they had attended church at the Catholic parish because it was closer to their house. Now that they lived in Canaan his family took up the habit of going to Indian-Kentuck Baptist Church for similar reasons of proximity. The church building was the only thing besides trees that Seth could see from his window. For the first month in his new room he would wake up at sunrise in order to watch the men build the new steeple that now cut the landscape directly down the middle. Seth dreamt of climbing it to the top someday and sitting perched on the large silver cross.

Every Sunday Seth and Emily walked to church an hour before their parents in order to attend Sunday school. The church was a five minute walk from their house, but they usually had to run because both children tended to dawdle while getting ready. Despite the rush, they used the half-mile journey to remove various ties and shoes that their mother had deemed “appropriate” church attire.

“Why was mom yelling at you?” Seth asked his sister as they left the driveway.

“She’s irrational and stupid.”

“What do you mean?”

“She didn’t like how I was sitting at the table,” Emily growled.

“Why not?”

“I don’t know! I don’t see why I can’t sit whatever way makes me comfortable. I mean, it’s my own family isn’t it? It’s not like you are going to look up my dress, are you?”

“No.”

When the siblings reached the church they separated and entered their respective classrooms. At one point the two consecutive rooms had been one, divided during the church’s renovation in order to make more space. Despite the wall the lights were still wired together. When Emily flipped the switch in her classroom the lights suddenly appeared over Seth. This startled him.

Seth was the only boy in his class, except for Mr. Shane. Because it was a class for fourth and fifth graders Seth had already met all of the girls from his new elementary school class and really liked them. Since they usually spent their time playing Bible trivia, and Seth knew all of the answers, everyone thought he was smart and always argued about who would get to have him on their team. Seth never understood why his sister complained so much about attending Sunday school because he really enjoyed himself.

No one else was in the room when Seth arrived so he went ahead and chose his favorite bean bag chair. The black one. Although Seth really liked all of the other brightly colored chairs, he enjoyed sitting in the black one because it was the only one of its kind. He went ahead and set up the board and then moved his chair under the window so he could use the soft lace curtain as a pillow against the wall.

Before long the rest of the class arrived and they began to play. Today, Mr. Shane had agreed to play on the team opposite Seth’s in order to make it fair for everyone else. Seth really liked his teacher and knew that he was very smart because Mr. Shane had taught him all the Old Testament stories. He was an older man who lived by himself in a small house a few miles down the road from Seth. In the months that his family had been going to Indian-Kentuck, Seth had visited his teacher many times to help him around the house and read different Biblical texts.

Because they were both elected captain of their teams, Seth and his teacher were responsible for stating the answers. Both amassed a wealth of points for their side, each never missing a question. All of the girls would usually have the right story in mind but confuse the names of the characters. The rules of the game were that if one team missed a question the other team could answer and receive an extra point if they got it correct. At the end of the hour the scores were tied so they decided to ask one more question.

“How many sons did Noah have and what were their names?” Seth asked his teacher, being careful to cover up the back of the card so no one could read the answer.

“Let me confer with my team a moment please,” Mr. Shane said with a smile. He knew the answer but wanted to allow the other girls a chance to respond. “Well ladies?”

“I know he had three sons but I don’t know their names.” Amanda confessed.

“How about Larry, Curly, and Moe?” Kerri guffawed.

“No,” Mr. Shane retorted, “I don’t believe they came in until the New Testament.”

“All right. Time’s up!” said Seth.

“We believe that Noah had three sons,” replied his teacher.

“And their names?”

“Well, despite Kerri’s well-reasoned guess, I’m going to have to go with Shem, Japeth, and…”

“And?”

“Just a moment.”

“Come on Mr. Shane. You know this.”

“It’s on the tip of my tongue…”

“What do you want for lunch?” hinted Seth.

“Excuse me?”

“Oink oink.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Seth.”

“It’s Ham!” exclaimed Seth. “His name is Ham. And that means we get your points. We win!”

“Well I guess you did,” Mr. Shane said wryly. “Congratulations.”

(GO ON TO PART FOUR)