Chapter 33: Olde Tymes, Part 9

The look in her eyes sent chills down Cyrus's spine as he reached for the fancy brass doorknob. He looked back one more time and saw that her eyes had turned from rage to sorrow. As he walked out, closing the door behind him, the saddest weeping could be heard from inside the room. He had to gulp hard to remove the lump from his own throat, for he hated hurting people.

Cyrus felt total bewilderment as he reached the street. He tried to picture what it would look like in his own time. He wondered if the O'Brien mansion was in the path of the fire. He offered up a prayer that Catherine and her family would survive the disaster. He knew from his catechism that God was not confined to the boundaries of time as on Earth. He pondered how this could be: that God could hear his prayer in this here and now, and at the same time hear the prayers of his parents back home.