out, he was usually ouE WRED TD up the courage to search Sonny\'s room. He was e

Question

out, he was usually ouE WRED TD up the courage to search Sonny's room. He was ever was home, and Isabel had taken the children to see their grandparents. ·w. Suddenly I was standing still in front of the living room window, watching Seventh Avenue. The idea of searching Sonny's room made me still. I scarcely dared to admit to myself what I'd be searching for. I didn't know what I'd do if 710 I found it. Or if I didn't. On the sidewalk across from me, near the entrance to a barbecue joint, some people were holding an old-fashioned revival meeting. The barbecue cook, wearing a dirty white apron, his conked hair reddish and metallic in the pale sun, and a cigarette between his lips, stood in the doorway, watching them. Kids and older people paused in their errands and stood there, along 715 with some older men and a couple of very tough-Jooking women who watched everything that happened on the avenue, as though they owned it, or were maybe owned by it. Well, they were watching this, too. The revival was being carried orbythreesisters in black, and a brother. All they had were their oices and their Bibles and a tambourine The brother was testifying and 720 while he testified two of the sisters stood together, seeming to say, amen, and the third sister walked around with the tambourine outstretched and a coupl f people dropped coins into it. Then the brother's testimony ended and the sister who had been taking up the collection dumped the coins into her palm and transferred them to the pocket of her long black robe. Then she raised both hands, striking the tambourine against the air, and then against one hand, and 0 725 she started to sing. And the two other sisters and the brother joined in. It was strange, suddenly, to watch, though I had been seeing these street meetings all my life. So, of course, had everybody else down there. Yet, they paused and watched and listened and I stood still at the window. "Tis the old f3o ship of Zion," they sang, and the sister with the tambourine kept a steady. jan- gling beat, "it has rescued many a thousand!" Not a soul under the sound of their voices was hearing this song for the first time, not one of them had been res- cued. Nor had they seen much in the way of rescue work being done around them. Neither did they especially believe in the holiness of the three sisters and the brother, they knew too much about them, knew where they lived, and

Explanation / Answer

The narrator was witnessing a revival meeting conducted by three sisters and a brother. This was not the first time he was seeing a revival meeting but still he stood and watched the meeting just like the others on the street. He had plans to search Sonnys room but forgot to do that and watched the meeting in progress. Initially when the testimony by the brother was going on people were looking on with least interest and had troubled,battered look on their faces and were not happy. But when the testimony ended and song started the watching people underwent a huge change. It was like as if a poison was removed from them and they started looking more young and radiant and started smiling. All had a small smile playing on their faces and rushed to do their chores.

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