Ralph

I started feeling horrible, like Judas.

Judas felt so bad he ran off and hanged himself. I wasn’t going to hang myself but I felt horrible, the way Fatso’s mom was carrying on, all weepy and believing, calling the rock a sign from God—like me and Lou were saying, before I went over to Fatso’s side. And now we were going to trick her into giving us money to make money off of it. She wasn’t real smart, you could tell. We were going to trick her easy.

She told us we should all pray now and took us down a hallway, slow, like a procession.

Walking along I thought, Okay, so, this is the part in the story where the boy feels horrible and prays for forgiveness: “Forgive me, Lord,” he prayed. “I doubted the rock. I listened to Fatso. He tempted me with money. I’m sorry. I feel horrible, I really do...”