SUNDAY m. Simon listening to one of his radios.
"Jesus is a ro a weary land," says the radio. The preacher is black, with a deep sonorous voice.
"I wrote a little song that says, dont wait till the battle is over, you shout now. Cause you know that in the end, you gonna be victorious. That dont mean you aint gonna cry. That dont mean you aint gonna feel pain. But in the end, you will prevail, in His name. Lift your fa, a Him lead the way. Re?joice. Its all right. Rejoice. Its all right. Rejoice. Its allllllright. Despite what may be going on around you, you , you find perfect peace. How much, ?tinuously, do we love Him."
Simon thinks about a day many years before when his wife was taking the baby to the park. "Goodbye, you dirty rat," his wife said. The baby was wearing a blue parka and a brown knitted watch cap. "Goodbye, you dirty rat," the baby said.
When Sarah was borood in the delivery room wearing green paper pants, a green paper shirt, paper bags on his feet and a green paper cap on his head. He lacked only a fool-yellow rubber bulb of a o be a perfect .
He pressed his back against the green-painted wall, trying to keep out of the way. His wife had been in labor two hours and forty minutes; a monitor had indicated fetal distress and the doctor, a man known for not doing Caesareans, had a choiake. The doctors name was Zernikie and he had a pair of large dull-steel forceps ihe birth al and was grappling for purchase. The instrument looked to Simon, who knew something of the weight and force of tools, capable of shattering the babys head in an instant. After all these years, he thought, thats the best they do?
Carol was gripping his hand. The dla Simon and said, "Gross, isnt it?" The circulating nurses exged pained looks.
"No no," he had said, "doing fine, keep going."
Zernikie had rueen blocks in a blizzard to get to the hospital after disc that his car wouldnt start. He took hold of the head with the forceps and pulled, calmly and steadily. The head, bright with blood, emerged to the level of the eyes. The doctor rotated the shoulders, pulled the baby out and placed it ohers stomach. A nurse began sponging the babys face as the doctor cut and tied off the cord. The baby had dark bruises oher side of her head. A nurse picked her up. "Heres Sarah," she said. Simon said, "Hello, Sarah."