Thousand: Seven Hundred Eighty-Eight

saying, gesturing at a young woman who, though veiled from head to toe, is clearly voluptuous and fine of face (or, at least, of eyes, with a demure nose that holds the lightweight veil from falling against her lips). The guardian of the gate is tired of hearing it. “God favors her, can’t you see?” Jesus says. “God wants you to let her through. And without God, without doing what God tells us, where would we be?” The guardian smiles a cold indifferent smile and with a sigh pushes herself from her chair. Lurching on her cane, the woman begins