Crime Time

"If you want to eat, the line's out back. It's pretty long already. We're the helpers."

"No, I just want to talk with him."

"He's a saint," the woman said from the back row. Heads nodded.

"He used to be the devil but he found God," said the spokesman. Then he added. "The Reverend did some mighty bad things but he paid his due."

The woman nodded her head. "He's registered but I wouldn't be afraid to spend the night around him." She glanced around. "I can't say the same for Whiskers and Harry and a lot of you others."

"You're just dreaming, Annie," piped up another.

The woman ignored him. "Are you registered?" she asked me. I nodded no.

The spokesman held out his hand for the fifty. "You're as safe with the Reverend as with your own mother if that's what you're worried about. Go on in; everyone's welcomed. We're just out here enjoying the weather before they serve supper."

"Thanks," I said, handing him the bill. "Remember now, split it fairly."

"No problem, Mister," an old man said. "Reverend Humphries made us all good Christians." They began to amble away as a group while the spokesman opened the door of the mission for me.

"We don't start serving until five o'clock called one of a half dozen women setting out food on a steam line.

"Is Reverend Willard Humphries here?" I asked, just as a stocky bearded man dressed in a brown religious smock came out of a side door. He appeared to be about sixty.

"I'm Reverend Will. Are you a sinner?"

I stammered, "I'm not perfect but that's not why I'm here. I'd just like a word with you, if I might." When he hesitated, I added, "I've come a long way."

"We've all come a long way, son, but it's how far we've yet to go that concerns me. Step into my humble office."

I introduced myself by name as I accepted the offered seat across from a large desk, the only other furniture in the small room. There was no window and the only ornaments were crucifixes on three walls.

"Are you registered?" I was asked for the second time. "If you are, we're here to help."

"No," I answered again. "I'm good friends with a very troubled man. I'm interested in a young woman whose name will be familiar to you. This goes back many years."

I'll give the man credit for direct eye contact as he answered. "Does this concern one of my victims? I assure you, I have managed to contact all but three and if I located them I would get down on my knees before them and beg forgiveness, just like I've done with the others . I served my time, all twelve years, three months and sixteen days of it, but it pales in the face of suffering I poured on these young ladies."