"Well, he's gone," said the woman gloomily. "And he didn't want even to try my cider."

Simon wiped his nose with his sleeve. "City folk are so highfalutin; but they're none too bright. You heard him, mum: first he said he wanted to know all sorts of things, then he didn't even want to see Ezekiel."

"Well, he wouldn't know how to talk to him anyways, Simon. You didn't get it either for the longest time. It took you a while to figure out you don't need to talk out loud to him."

"Ya, guess you're right. In any case, I don't think Ezekiel would've wanted us to bring outside folk to him."

"You're darn right. You remember how he didn't want you to show nobody that circular saw that he made for you, and how he wanted you just to run it at night?"

"I know, I know—my goof. But you also forgot to cover up them new taps Ezekiel done for us. But ain't it better now that we've got this real well instead of that old trough? No more bein' sparin' with the water."

The woman sat down beside her son on the block of wood. They were peaceful for a while in their wordless understanding; only the distant sound of crickets interrupted the utter silence around them.

"Whaddya think, Simon," she asked at last, "will Ezekiel be with us for long?"

Simon made shrugged his shoulders. "I don't think so, mum. This mornin' I was down there again and he told me somethin' – you know what I mean by that. He let me know his firepod is almost good ‘n ready."

"That storm must have been some ugly to him, eh?"

"Must have been, but our Wise Lord took mercy on him and steered him to our fields."

"Ya. But the Lord Almighty done took some mercy on us too when he sent Ezekiel here. He knew we'd shelter him right. Remember all the weird things he used to fix up that firepod of his, all that stuff he had you draggin' out from town?"

"Ya, I sure do. But at least he always made me some money for payment after we explained him that's the only way around here. And there'll be plenty of it left for when he's gone."

The woman's voice was quiet, reflective. "It's gonna be some boring without Ezekiel around, don't you think? We've gotten used to there bein' six of us in the family."

Her son gazed silently ahead. After a while he started to shift anxiously.

"What's eatin' at ya, Simon?"

"Do you think we committed a sin by not tellin' that man from the newspaper the truth about where Ezekiel's from?"

His mother shook her head with conviction. "Why? The Lord done sent him to us, and this is a thing between Him and we."

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