His heavy, commanding voice carried across the linoleum floor and cut through the chatter of the Sunday school teachers.

Pastor Tom pushed up his thin wire glasses and looked past Zane at me with a pained face.

“We all carry grief on our own timetable, Zane,” Pastor Tom said gently.

“This goes way past normal grief, Tom,” Zane said.

He cleared his throat loudly before he shifted the conversation a little to include the two church committee members standing next to them.

“She’s losing her grip on basic everyday facts, and she’s started saying wild things to the boy,” Zane said.