1636 The Devil's Opera (Ring of Fire) (68 page)
Read 1636 The Devil's Opera (Ring of Fire) Online
Authors: Eric Flint
Tags: #Science Fiction, #Fiction, #Action & Adventure, #General, #Time travel
“I see,” Gruber stroked his beard. “And what are you considering?”
“You know what I have lived through, what I have felt, over the last few months. You know the men who I have been around.” Simon waved his hand in an all-encompassing gesture. “You know what has happened.”
The pastor nodded. “Go on, lad,”
“Hans was my first friend,” Simon whispered. “And for long, he was my only friend. I learned how to be a friend from him. And I miss him.”
Simon swallowed. “But I don’t want to be hard like him. I can’t fight. I can’t work like he could. I don’t want to be a Samson. I want to be something other, something more.”
“I understand,” Pastor Gruber murmured.
“Andreas Schardius.” Simon’s eyes narrowed to slits as he hissed that name, feeling the anger flare in his soul. “From him I learned what an enemy truly was. I learned how to despise people, and look on them as prey. From him I learned the kind of person I definitely do not want to be.”
“Commendable.”
“Gotthilf Hoch.” Simon sat back and held his hand palm up before him. “A good man, a just man, a fair man. I like him, and I’m glad he’s going to marry Ursula. From him I learned that every person is worth something. Even me. And if it wasn’t for this,” he shrugged his right shoulder, “I might want to be one of the
Polizei
like he is. But they would never take me with only one arm. And I’m not sure I would want to be in a job where I might have to shoot someone.”
The pastor pursed his lips and nodded.
Simon took a deep breath, and said, “And finally, there is you.”
Pastor Gruber’s eyebrows flew up and his eyes opened wide.
“Me?”
“Our talks here, beginning when I was scared to even come in the building, to when you talked to Ursula and me after Hans was killed…that meant a lot to me.”
“Just doing what I could to help,” the pastor said.
“I know. But I learned from you, as well. I had to ask Ursula for the word; I never heard it before. From you I learned compassion.”
Pastor Gruber cleared his throat, and said softly, “Thank you, Simon. That means a lot to this old pastor.”
They sat in companionable silence for several moments. At length, Pastor Gruber spoke.
“You know, lad, I’ve heard trained men two or three times your age who couldn’t have laid out your situation and your learnings that clearly or simply. But you said you had a decision to make?”
“Yes,” Simon said. “And I have made it.”
He stood from his stool, crossed the room, and knelt before the pastor. He held his hand out to him.
“Pastor Gruber, I want to be a man of compassion. How can I become a pastor? Like you?”
Cast of Characters
To come
Table of Contents
- Part One
- Part Two
- Part Three
- Part Four
- Chapter 44
- Chapter 45
- Chapter 46
- Chapter 47
- Chapter 48
- Chapter 49
- Chapter 50
- Chapter 51
- Chapter 52
- Chapter 53
- Chapter 54
- Chapter 55
- Chapter 56
- Chapter 57
- Chapter 58
- Chapter 59
- Chapter 60
- Chapter 61
- Chapter 62
- Chapter 63
- Chapter 64
- Chapter 65
- Chapter 66
- Chapter 67
- Chapter 68
- Chapter 69
- Chapter 70
- Chapter 71
- Chapter 72
- Chapter 73
- Chapter 44
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73