How They Were Found by Matt Bell Read Free Book Online Page B

the Elementizers, the Governmentizers, perhaps other groups unfamiliar even to Franklin.
    Franklin says, I can't know everything.
    Like you, he says, I am merely a vessel.
    He puts a cold hand on Spear's shoulder, causing the medium's teeth to chatter together hard, too hard. If the specter doesn't release him soon, Spear worries that he'll break his molars.
    A new age is coming, Franklin says. The Garden restored.
    He says, Fear not.
    He says, Through God, even one such as you might be made ready.
     
    As the Motor grows in complexity, Spear begins to lose his temper more and more often, always at home, always behind closed doors. He tells his wife again and again that Abigail is not to work, that she is not to lift a finger, but more than once he comes home to find the girl helping his wife with her chores.
    To his wife, he says, Why is it that you can't listen to even the simplest of my instructions?
    Pointing to Abigail, he says, She's pregnant, with the growing king of our new world. Why can't you do what I say, and treat her accordingly?
    His wife begins to weep, but her fury is uncooled by the tears streaming down her face. She says, sounding as tired as he's ever heard, She's not pregnant, John. The only reason she's here is that you want her instead of me.
    To Abigail, Spear says, Child, return to your room.
    He waits until Abigail has left the room before he strikes his wife across the face with the back of his hand, then says, Christ forgive me, but you watch your tongue. You either recognize the glory of God or you do not. Only you can choose which it will be, and in the end, you must choose.
     
    By December, there have been sixty-five revealments, and by the end of January there are thirty more. The New Motor is growing larger, taking up the entire table with its array of sliding panels and connecting tubes and gears. Loose bundles of wires dangle from the construct's innards, waiting for the places where they will connect and give life to extremities that only Spear has seen so far, to other appendages even he can't yet imagine.
    This machine, it does not resemble a man, as Spear once thought it would. What's worse, it doesn't resemble anything anyone has seen before, causing the other workers to question him. He does his best to quell their worries, but as the team grows they ask their questions louder and louder, until their concerns leak out of the shed and into the congregation below. The collections that once went to feeding the poor or funding abolitionist trips into the South have for months gone to the Motor, and so the congregation's patience grows thin, especially among those who haven't seen it, who cannot conceive of what it is, what it will be.
    Spear counsels patience, counsels faith. From the pulpit, he says, We have been given a great gift, and we must not question it.
    But he does. He questions, he doubts. His resolve wavers. He opens his mouth to speak again, but cannot. He hasn't eaten or changed his clothes in days, and has taken to sleeping in the shed beneath the copper reflection of the Motor. He does not go home to the cabin except to fetch Abigail in the mornings and to take her back home at night.
    On the next Sabbath, he stumbles at the pulpit, but the Electricizers at his side catch him with their frosty hands and return him to his station.
    Spear shivers, wipes the drool off his lip with the back of a shaky hand. He waves his hand, motions for the ushers to pass the collection plate. They hesitate, look to the deacons for confirmation, a gesture not lost on Spear, who knows his authority has been questioned, his future dependent on the successful outcome of his great project.
    Spear closes his eyes against his congregation's wavering faith, then says, God blesses you, in this kingdom, and in the one to come. Give freely, for what you have here you will not soon need.
     
    Spear has to stifle a gasp when Maud Trenton comes into his office during the first week of February. She is as