Chapter 25July 4th
The service was long and the church was hot. Still, I sat through the whole thing quietly, kneeling and sitting on the glossy, smooth pews as cued. My mother’s mouth moved silently along to some of the prayers as though on instinct, though she hadn’t practiced or believed since before I was born. Outside the sun had reduced the dirt roads to mirages of sparkling air, a distant, unreachable oasis. Beads of sweat that gathered on bent necks and dampened starched collars were whisked away by the handkerchiefs of middle-aged women and the dusty hands of children kneeling in the front row in their Sunday best.
I thought there’d be more people at the funeral. Even though the church was nearly full, it didn’t seem like enough. Two or three of the mathletes sat awkwardly toget
