“Well, sort of. We had all kinds of gods. No one was particular. We had Guan Yin, the goddess of mercy, and Guan Gong, the protector of travelers and the god of war. And Buddha, of course. Lots of others. People could go and pray and make sacrifices there. And anything you sacrificed to someone would go to that person's spirit in the other world.”
“Do you believe that?” Tom asked carefully.
As Alvin looked at the young man, a lifetime of thoughts, opinions, and doubts about religion all churned in the back of his mind, and faded away. He didn't know what he believed. As his own death neared, he wished more than ever that he did believe in something beyond life, but he didn't, not for sure. All he knew for certain was that at one time, as a child, he had believed what he had been taught,
