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Don't you see?"

"I'm not getting it, Duncan," I said. "How are

you a child of sin, and how are we the same?" He looked up at me.

"Just like your parents, my father and mother

weren't married when they made me. They didn't get

married until later. No one knows."

"And so that makes us children of sin?" He nodded.

"Who told you this? Did your mother tell you

this? Well?"

"She's just trying to help me," he said

defensively. "She's devoted her whole life to me. She

works for God so God will have mercy on me." "And you believe this? You believe because to

some people having a child out of wedlock makes

them sinners, the children are full of sin, too?" "It's in Scripture. 'Those of you who are left

will waste away in the lands of their enemies because

of their sins; also, because of their father's sins they

will waste away.' Leviticus 26:39."

"Is that something your mother made you

memorize?"

"We read the Bible every night," he said.

"Besides, you believe it yourself."

"I do not!"

"Yes, you do. That's when I knew you and I

were so alike. When you told me how the people in

your hometown saw you as evil, I knew you saw

yourself the same way. You inherited it just like I did.

You so much as told me that, didn't you? You

shouldn't sit there with such a look of surprise on your

face at why I think we're the same.

"And don't tell me you haven't thought about it.