"Boo!" Sarah, who had been moving silently, pounced on Jaben, and wrapped her arms around him.
"Hi, Sarah. Just a second." He typed in a few more lines of code, saved his work, and ran make. As the computer began chugging away, Jaben reached down and pinched Sarah's knee. She jumped, and squeaked."Aren't you ever surprised?"
"By some things, yes. But I have a preconscious awareness of when you're trying to sneak up on me."
"Even when you're deep in concentration, programming your whatever-it-is on the computer?"
"Even when I'm deep in concentration, programming my whatever-it-is on the computer."
Sarah paused, and looked around. They were in the place where their circle of friends met — a big, old house which an elderly couple in the church was allowing them to use. It had many niches and personal touches, nooks and crannies, and was home to a few mice, especially in the winter. (There was a general agreement not to get a cat or mousetraps, but simply to minimize the amount of food left about.) The house even had a not-so-secret secret passage, a perennial favorite of the children who came to visit. This room had deep blue, textured wallpaper, with a painting hanging on the wall: an earth tone watercolor of the sinful woman kissing Jesus's feet. There were bits and pieces of computers lying about, and a few computer books, some of which were falling apart. That room — and the whole house — was a place that bore someone's fingerprints, that said, "I have a story to tell."
"I was listening to the radio," Sarah said, "and the fire danger has gotten even worse. Things have gone from parched to beyond parched. It wouldn't take much to start a blaze."
"I know," Jaben said. "We can only be careful and pray."
Thaddeus drove