the thing, whatever it is. But the air is cold and the sheets and blankets a warm cocoon. It would take time to attach his leg and by then perhaps whatever it is would have fled. The room smells of dust and dirty socks. It's nothing. Things that go bump in the night. Only the house settling.
    His eye stings from being stretched wide so long, and then he has a vision. The ceiling and the walls vanish and it is as if he is naked to the heavens. No stars or moon or clouds. Only a yawning vastness sucking him up like a vacuum into the very eye of God. It feels as if he is hurtling, stomach in his mouth, wind in his face.
    He rises above the earth and is looking down on it from above. It is neither day nor night but a sooty twilight. The land is afire. The mountains to the west flare and sizzle, the forests like towers of pine flame. In town to the east flames curve and gutter out the windows of courthouse, hospital, home. A voice calm and low begins to speak in his ear.
    Wed Ruby to the righteous man, says the voice. Your days in this world are numbered and will end soon. Marry your daughter to a man who will protect her in the trouble to come. You cannot save her, but you can help another to watch out for her after you are gone. Your time is ending, but hers is just beginning. You must protect her. You must.
    The voice goes silent. The vision fades like campfire embers. Lord God comes to in his own bed, the same smells in the room, his heart beating wildly, no more sound of weight upon the roof. He lies there in the silence until the grayness of dawn breaks the spell.
He wakes late and Ruby has already fed Lila. She stares at him curiously, with tenderness and reserve. She does not know what vision he has seen. She should not know. She would not believe him. It is his knowledge. His knowing will make a difference.
    This is not the first time Lord God has heard voices and seen visions. In the past he's glimpsed prophecies of a world to come, like pages from the Book of Revelations. Glowing white horses galloping across the prairie behind the house. A horned owl with eyes like polished rubies in the aspen near the woodshed. Stars that formed circles in the heavens and spun like a Ferris wheel. Herds of glowing antelope that stretched to the foothills of the Sierra Mojada.
    Once he saw a naked woman with the head of a donkey. She came toward him through the cactus fields, weaving her way through the yucca and the cholla. Her skin was cinnamon- colored, like Lila's, her hair black as onyx. She seemed to float above the parched prairie grass and tumbleweeds. She faced the house and Lord God knew it was he whom she was seeking, though he held back, edging his face to the window only just far enough to look out, afraid she would see him and snag his soul.
    She passed behind a juniper and when she emerged on the other side he clearly saw temptress nakednessâ nipples large and stiff as pumpkin stems, tangle of pubis dark and V- shaped, hips wide, and belly round. But as she moved out of the shadow of the juniper he saw that her head was not human but sported a long snout and tall ears. He'd heard of the Donkey Woman before and reckoned her to be a servant of the devil. He slammed his door and crouched behind it, his heart beating so fiercely it made him weak. After some time he stood up and peered out the window to find the vision gone.
    Mostly he keeps to himself these gifts from the Lord and temptations from the devil. His soul is a conduit, a link between the world of the ordinary and the spiritual, the unearthly. He fears Ruby shares his talent and curse and will not tell him. He recognizes the look in her eyes. The wrinkle of her brows. The sense of her knowing more than she will say.
. . .
Another night Lord God wakes to the house burning and his throat and nose constrict with the acrid smell, the
    His eye stings from being stretched wide so long, and then he has a vision. The ceiling and the walls vanish and it is as if he is naked to the heavens. No stars or moon or clouds. Only a yawning vastness sucking him up like a vacuum into the very eye of God. It feels as if he is hurtling, stomach in his mouth, wind in his face.
    He rises above the earth and is looking down on it from above. It is neither day nor night but a sooty twilight. The land is afire. The mountains to the west flare and sizzle, the forests like towers of pine flame. In town to the east flames curve and gutter out the windows of courthouse, hospital, home. A voice calm and low begins to speak in his ear.
    Wed Ruby to the righteous man, says the voice. Your days in this world are numbered and will end soon. Marry your daughter to a man who will protect her in the trouble to come. You cannot save her, but you can help another to watch out for her after you are gone. Your time is ending, but hers is just beginning. You must protect her. You must.
    The voice goes silent. The vision fades like campfire embers. Lord God comes to in his own bed, the same smells in the room, his heart beating wildly, no more sound of weight upon the roof. He lies there in the silence until the grayness of dawn breaks the spell.
He wakes late and Ruby has already fed Lila. She stares at him curiously, with tenderness and reserve. She does not know what vision he has seen. She should not know. She would not believe him. It is his knowledge. His knowing will make a difference.
    This is not the first time Lord God has heard voices and seen visions. In the past he's glimpsed prophecies of a world to come, like pages from the Book of Revelations. Glowing white horses galloping across the prairie behind the house. A horned owl with eyes like polished rubies in the aspen near the woodshed. Stars that formed circles in the heavens and spun like a Ferris wheel. Herds of glowing antelope that stretched to the foothills of the Sierra Mojada.
    Once he saw a naked woman with the head of a donkey. She came toward him through the cactus fields, weaving her way through the yucca and the cholla. Her skin was cinnamon- colored, like Lila's, her hair black as onyx. She seemed to float above the parched prairie grass and tumbleweeds. She faced the house and Lord God knew it was he whom she was seeking, though he held back, edging his face to the window only just far enough to look out, afraid she would see him and snag his soul.
    She passed behind a juniper and when she emerged on the other side he clearly saw temptress nakednessâ nipples large and stiff as pumpkin stems, tangle of pubis dark and V- shaped, hips wide, and belly round. But as she moved out of the shadow of the juniper he saw that her head was not human but sported a long snout and tall ears. He'd heard of the Donkey Woman before and reckoned her to be a servant of the devil. He slammed his door and crouched behind it, his heart beating so fiercely it made him weak. After some time he stood up and peered out the window to find the vision gone.
    Mostly he keeps to himself these gifts from the Lord and temptations from the devil. His soul is a conduit, a link between the world of the ordinary and the spiritual, the unearthly. He fears Ruby shares his talent and curse and will not tell him. He recognizes the look in her eyes. The wrinkle of her brows. The sense of her knowing more than she will say.
. . .
Another night Lord God wakes to the house burning and his throat and nose constrict with the acrid smell, the
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