"Having this ever-open wound in one's side must be very unpleasant, especially for a man. Right now bloody pus is oozing out, which led to the fever.
Patron's temperature this evening is just over 101 degrees Fahrenheit. When he was found with Morio, unconscious in bed, I'm sure it was much higher.
One item on our prayer list, then, should be a prayer for his fever to go away.
"When Ms. Tachibana discovered the two of them, Morio's eyes and ears were covered with the matter coming out of Patron's wound; his head seemed to be made of yellow clay. Apparently Morio was trying to respond to Patron's suffering. Let us also pray that Morio stays well.
"As we pray, we'll be hearing some music Morio composed depicting a sister and brother being led to heaven by Patron." (This evening, instead of Ikuo playing, one of the Quiet Women sat very seriously at the piano and played the piece over and over for about ten minutes.) "Since Patron hasn't said anything about when he first had the Sacred Wound, Dancer doesn't know anything definite, but according to Dr. Koga, when he gave Patron a physical before the Somersault it was not present.
"This means the wound came about during the ten-year interval be- tween the Somersault and the restarting of the church. Undoubtedly Patron has had it during the entire period in which he fell into hell. We recognize this hole in his side as a sign of a holy person, as a Sacred Wound, and we recognize his suffering with great joy.
"We joined this church hoping to be led to heaven by Patron. Instead, we had to go through the trials and tribulations of the Somersault. But our faith in what awaits us in heaven has never wavered. We knew in our hearts that someday Patron would appear again on the path to lead us.
"With a sense of nostalgia, and also sadness, we wonder what sort of painful place Patron is wandering in now. When we met him again and he told us about the hell he and Guide had fallen into, we could visualize this hell right before us. We have learned further that this descent into hell carved the Sacred Wound into his side. For what he has revealed to us, we are all grateful to God in heaven. Hallelujah! The wound is a sacred sign that links the Patron before the Somersault with the Patron afterward. God made him shoulder this painful wound so he might survive the hell into which he'd de- scended.
"Guide, who fell into hell along with Patron, did not have a Sacred Wound. If he had, the police would have made it public after his death, an- nouncing it as resulting from the rough treatment he received. Instead of suffering from a wound, Guide's fate was-at this final stage of the descent into hell-to die. All this was God's will, just as Saint Peter was crucified upside down and the disciple John lived to a ripe old age "Through the darkness Patron passed through, and through this wound that was a part of his suffering, Patron shouldered a mission, one we need to reflect on deeply. The day is near when Patron will fulfill this in his church of light. Isn't that exactly the message we should get from the suffering he's going through?
"Last week at our early morning prayer service, Asa-san told us about Former Brother Gii, who lived here, researching Dante, and how he was killed after starting a reform movement. After she spoke we had breakfast together, and she asked how the names Patron and Guide came about. We weren't able to give a complete answer. Asa-san told us what she'd picked up from Former Brother Gii concerning Dante's Divine Comedy. In Dante, Virgil is the one who appears soon after Dante falls into hell, who accompanies him to the highest point of purgatory, where he says goodbye to his disciples who are continuing on to heaven, only to remain behind himself. As Dante called him the first time he met him, Virgil is both a poet who is a patron, a teacher for all mankind, and a guide for people who are ascending from hell. Weren't the roles that Virgil undertook alone the ones your leaders undertook as a team? she asked.
"What Asa-san said made me think very deeply. After the martyrdom of Patron's indispensable colleague, like Virgil he undertook both roles-that of Patron and of Guide-when he returned to be in our midst. Did he do this to lead us to the highest point of purgatory and then say farewell and return alone once more to hell?"
Mrs. Shigeno stopped at this point and turned around to see what the audience was gazing at; the drawing of the recumbent Patron with the wound on his side on top of the barber's chair shook ever so slightly, startling her. Mai, a sensitive girl, was weeping. As if to soothe the poor young girl, Mrs. Shigeno signaled to Ms. Tagawa, today dressed quite fashionably, her hair in a mannish Takarazuka dance-troupe cut, and ended her sermon.
As if waiting for this opportunity, one of the Technicians who had been sitting behind Ogi-a scientist who, it was said, was an expert in astrodynamics and who'd done orbital calculations for NASA satellite launches-signaled that he wanted to speak. Mrs. Shigeno nodded to him, and he made the sort of comment one might expect from a rocket scientist.
"I'm sure many of you have seen, when a rocket launched toward the moon reaches a certain altitude, that the propulsion device separates and in- scribes a track like-a burning leaf. I can picture Patron/Guide as a rocket in- scribing a huge arc as it strays away."
Mrs. Shigeno picked up where she left off, tying her sermon together with what had just been said.
"I think that's exactly right," she said. "I believe Patron is resolved to help us to the very end to reach our apogee, even if it means he'll descend to hell once again, burning up as he reenters. Doesn't this explain what he meant when, after the Somersault and losing Guide, he returned to be with us and announced he's an antichrist?
"After the Somersault, the Quiet Women resisted a host of tempta- tions that befell them. We maintained our faith in heaven, with Patron as our mediator. And now we know, more than ever before, that this was the right thing to do! Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah!"
Answering Mrs. Shigeno's almost pleading cry, the Quiet Women took up the same prayer, and then all at once switched to silent worship. Mrs.
Shigeno turned toward the drawing of Patron and bowed her head.
Desperately emotional again, Mai seemed about to drop the drawing on the footstool. She grasped the upper edge of the frame as hard as she could in her little red hands and, unable to cover her face, sobbed. The Quiet Women gathered around her, heads bowed, and continued to pray.
Ogi and the Technicians around him were overwhelmed.
3
Ogi had lunch the next day in the office, during which he had a good talk with Dancer. Having been out of the office for a day, he had a lot of e-mails, faxes, and phone messages to take care of. The idea to have a meet- ing that summer in Shikoku to commemorate the founding of the new church was in full swing. Believers from before the Somersault who had clung to Mr.
Soda's Kansai headquarters were urging Patron on now, and one of Ogi's tasks was to gather together all these communications and deliver them to Patron.
There was something else that he urgently needed to talk with Dancer about, but she didn't show up at the office until just before noon. As soon as she could, she told him that the concentration of antibiotics had reached the optimum level and Patron's fever had broken. The wound wasn't as inflamed as before. And Dancer had reported to Patron that all the believers who'd moved to the Hollow were now aware of the Sacred Wound.
"Patron didn't seem concerned about how his followers were taking the news. He did remember, though, that Kizu sat next to him and sketched him when he was half conscious, and he wanted to see the drawing. After the Quiet Women's prayer meeting, the drawing was taken over to the farm and the Technicians apparently held their own meeting in front of it. I imagine Ikuo saw it there too," Ogi concluded. "I wonder what he said about the wound being kept secret all this time."