Chapter 36

“Tom, honey,” Sylvia said, “where’s Noah? You didn’t leave him in Boston, did you?”

“No, I didn’t,” he said. “On the other hand, Noah left a small part of himself in Boston and he’s not quite over it.”

“What the devil does that mean?” one of the men said.

“He had an emergency appendectomy Monday morning and he’s not quite up to tackling two flights of stairs.”

“Oh my,” Sylvia said. “Is he all right?”

“He’s fine, but it’s going to take him a while to get back up to speed, physically speaking. Shall we begin?”

About halfway through the rehearsal, he paused and stood up. “Okay, kids,” he said, “who wants to tell me how things went Sunday? I’ve already gotten a full report from Father John, but I’d like to hear your side of things.”

“Are you suggesting that something went wrong?” someone said.

“I don’t know, did it?”

“As far as I know, the music was flawless,” Sylvia said, “and that includes the organ and the choir.”