but wasn’t endowed with the gift of being a decent conversationalist. Just as Helen began to entertain the idea of excusing herself to her bedroom momentarily in order to apply some perfume, the doorbell chimed yet again. Helen’s heart 昀氀uttered. Two visitors today? A stooped man, one with a face full of scruff and an age nearing retirement, scraped his vast suede work boots across the stiff doormat as Helen asked if she could do anything for him. The man, much too weary to think for very long about the incongruity of the woman’s getup, answered that he was responding to a house call from the landlord to inspect the water heater. Helen nearly reached out and grabbed him by the elbow to rush him in but remembered herself in time. She stepped aside instead. “Can I get you anything to drink? Some tea, a sandwich?” Helen tried her hardest to keep up at the heels of the handyman. In unison, the heads of the two, all-but- forgotten boys on the sofa followed the imposing 昀椀gure as he stomped toward the kitchen. “No, thank you. This way?” The handyperson glanced at a closet located at the far end of the kitchen. Helen nodded, de昀氀ating after accepting that this visitor was here to do a job and was interested in little else she had to offer by way of engagement. Maybe, she thought as she returned her attention back to Elijah and Isaiah, she’d inquire as to his musings about Jesus so that he might be tempted to share a minute, a cup of tea, and a parable with her. She once again had decided she would excuse herself to freshen up when a small voice called in from the door she had absentmindedly left ajar. A woman stood at the doorway, squinting as she tried to make sense of the dark interior. Hung desperately low at her sides, her 昀椀sts clenched a multitude of packed grocery bags she had been tasked with delivering through the charity service she volunteered with. “Delivery,” she repeated her refrain, in a meek tone. 47 ■ PLAINS PARADOX