After that, the day is a fog, except for lunch when Nathan can find Roy and set himself into his orbit. As before, Nathan finds a table alone and, when Roy joins him, they talk before Randy and Burke arrive. Roy tells about his church, the Bethel Church of God in Congregation, which meets in a pretty white building on a nearby loop road. The preacher is a fat man with a bald spot on top of his head and hair all around it, and he preaches sermons filled with the hell of sinners and the damnation of souls. Pretty much everything you can do is wrong, Roy says, especially if it's fun. The description of the preacher, whose name is Rutherford Paschal, enlivens Roy as he gives it, and Nathan shares the vision, remarking innocently that he would like to see this fat bald preacher one Sunday. At this Roy's face closes shut, and Nathan understands that he has said a wrong thing. Roy remains silent until he leads Nathan to the smoking patio, where the sunlight, the calm of a cigarette and the voices of friends restore him. Nathan relaxes, but studies Roy nevertheless.
Wondering about Roy's church, about all the life of Roy that Nathan has yet to fathom. About the girlfriend, mentioned once and never forgotten.
Days pass and they are together often. Roy's chores suddenly require Nathan's presence, and Roy's homework begs Nathan's help. Some evenings they work at Nathan's house and some at Roy's. In this way, one night, Nathan meets Roy's parents, who are much older than Nathan's. The Connellys took a long time to have children, Roy being the only one of four to live past birth. Sometimes he visits his brothers and sisters in the cemetery near their church, he says. To Nathan, who is also an only child, it is curious to think of Roy visiting siblings in a cemetery. Roy's large, soft mother takes shots to control her blood sugar and nerve pills to help her sleep. The boys do their homework in Roy's bedroom, surrounded by Roy's baseball and hunting gear. But one night they work at the kitchen table as Roy's mother slices apples in the adjacent living room. Roy's father passes through on his way from the bam to the desk where he keeps the farm's accounts. There is a feeling of ill health about the mother and a taciturn, tough shell that protects the father, and they talk little. But there is also a feeling of peace and safety.
At the end of her apple peeling, Mrs. Connelly brings her white glass bowl into the kitchen and washes the apples again. She asks the boys if they have studied good, and they answer that they have. She asks Roy what he is learning in school and he tells her about advanced algebra and auto mechanics. She listens to the description of dismantled carburetors, fuel pumps, and polynomial equations, shaking her head at the complexity. "His daddy knows all about motors too, but I don't." She offers Nathan a fresh slice of apple. "And I never could do numbers. I don't think women have the minds for some things. I know a lot of people think that's old-fashioned, but I think that's the way God intended it."
"My mom doesn't know anything about motors either," Nathan offers.
"See there." She nods her head at the profundity of it all. "What about you, Nathan, what do you like in school?"
"I like to read science fiction books."
"You mean about space travel and all like that. Lord, I don't think I would like to have all that stuff in my head. I don't read too much, except the prayer magazine we get. Guideposts. I like that magazine. It's really a Baptist magazine, but I like it anyway. We're not Baptists, we're Holiness."
"We go to the Baptist church."
"With Preacher Roberts? I like him. I think he's handsome."
"You ought not to be talking about handsome men," Roy says, "you know Dad don't like it."
"Your daddy ain't studying who I talk about. And I do think he's handsome. Did you always go to the Baptist church, Nathan?"
"No, ma'am. My mom used to take me to the Holiness Church too. But my daddy didn't like it because they play electric guitars."
"No. You don't mean it."
Even Roy is interested in that. "Electric guitars in the church?"
"One time they had drums, too. You know, like in a band."
"Lord help me," says Mrs. Connelly. "I don't know about that. We don't do that in our church, we just have a piano."
"We've been Baptist since my daddy started going." "Now I know you all moved here from somewhere." "Smithfield."
"That's right. Your daddy told me. You lived in Smithfield."
"We didn't live there long. We lived in Goldsboro before that. And Tims Creek."
"I think Tims Creek is a nice little town."
"Don't you get tired of moving so much?" Roy asks.
Mrs. Connelly is watching. Nathan has the feeling they have talked about this before, and is therefore more guarded. "Sometimes. It's not so bad though. We lived in Rose Hill for a long time, when I was little."
