110 IThe Breeze of the Spirit

SHOEMAKER: “No. Sorry. I’m tied up from five o’clock on, far into the evening. We have an open meeting going this Thursday night.”

CANTWELL: “Well, look, I’m a trial lawyer. Have to be in Chicago tomorrow, no later than 10 A.M., but I know I’m supposed to see you. It doesn’t take any brains to obey and in this case I want to be obedient. Incidentally, your friend Louise Nicholl told me to say that she and I stayed quiet in her office for two minutes.”

SHOEMAKER (with a laugh): “Bless her heart. If Louise said that, I’ll see you somehow. I don’t know just when. Maybe I can postpone one of my appointments. Call me back, can you? Say in twenty minutes?”

With Yager’s return call there came a break in the clouds. The rector had been able to postpone Thursday’s luncheon and Yager was now going to “see Sam” at 12:15. Where? In the Gramercy Park Hotel. Yager would be in a dark suit and Sam would be wearing his “dog collar.”

Greatly relieved at the thought of not having to cancel another flight, the lawyer relaxed, opened his briefcase, and continued preparation for the next day’s trial in Chicago.

Yager arrived at the rendezvous well before noon, and when the maitre d’ heard that he was expecting the rector of Calvary Church, he grinned and led him to a convenient table. Sam was also prompt, and it was a matter of minutes before the Chicago lawyer launched into his story. It was only Louise Nicholl’s persistence, and the way he himself had felt that God had spoken to him directly, which explained his being in Gramercy Park, not back in Chicago. Sam nodded, consuming his chef’s salad as he listened. “It sounds just absurd enough to be right,” he commented. “But go back and tell me how you first got started listening to God and feeling that you belonged to Him.” The lawyer described an earlier “happening.”

As Sam finished his dessert he looked up and said, “You’re not going to Chicago this afternoon. You’re coming back to Calvary House around four-thirty for what we call a team meeting. We’ll have a big crowd, and the truth is I’d like to have you tell this story of yours during the evening program just as you’ve told it to me. But first you must be at the team. All kinds of people come early to help us get set for the evening. Come anytime after four. You’d better check out of your hotel and bring your bags with you.”