Read The Rising: Antichrist Is Born for Free Online

compared to his house.
    Bobby had two younger sisters who wanted to be involved in everything, but any time Ray showed them attention, they blushed and giggled and ran off squealing. Bobby just hollered at them and told on them until his mother made them leave the boys alone.
    At dinner Mr. Stark asked Ray if he wanted to say the blessing.
    “The what?”
    “The blessing, son. Say grace. You’re a Christian, aren’t you? Go to church?”
    “‘Course. Every Sunday. You mean pray?”
    “That’s what I mean.”
    “Well, um, okay.” Ray bowed his head and closed his eyes, folding his hands over his plate. “God is great; God is good. Now we thank Him for our food. Amen.”
    The little sisters laughed aloud, and Bobby couldn’t stop a guffaw even with his palm pressed to his mouth. “That’s your prayer?” he said.
    “Robert!” his mother said.
    “Sorry.”
    “Yeah, that’s my prayer. What about it?”
    “That’s how you pray for a meal?”
    “Yeah, so?”
    Mr. Stark cleared his throat. “How about your father, Raymond?”
    “It’sRayford.”
    “All right. Is that how your father prays over a meal? I mean, I’m just curious. It’s a child’s prayer. Uh, you’re a child, but you’re becoming a man.”
    Ray wanted this conversation over. What in the world was it with these people? “Do you want me to pray like my father prays? I can.”
    Mrs. Stark set down a bowl she had apparently meant to pass. “Yes, that would be nice.” Everyone closed their eyes again.
    “For what we are about to receive,” Ray said, “may we be truly thankful. Amen.”
    “Amen!” the girls chorused.
    Ray got the impression that Bobby and his parents were again amused but had decided not to humiliate him further. At breakfast he was not going to be talked into praying again; that was for sure. For one thing, those were the only two prayers he knew, other than “Now I lay me down to sleep; I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray thee, Lord, my soul to take.” He could only imagine their reaction to that.
    Bobby seemed to quietly study him that evening, and Ray was hoping they wouldn’t start talking about anything serious. No such luck. While they were setting up the video-game controls, Bobby said, “That’s how you pray at your house, eh?”
    Ray shrugged. “We don’t pray a lot. Just for meals and at bedtime.”
    “Really?”
    “Yeah.”
    “And it’s those made-up, rhyming prayers?”
    Ray sighed. “What’re we supposed to do—pray like the preacher?”
    “What church do you go to, anyway?” Bobby said. ,
    “Central.”
    “The big one on the corner downtown? Do they believe in Jesus?”
    “‘Course they do. What do you think?”
    “I don’t know. Some churches don’t.”
    “Those would be synagogues,” Ray said.
    “How about you, Ray? You believe in Jesus?”
    “I told you! I go to Central every Sunday.”
    “So you’ve got Jesus in your heart?”
    Ray just wanted to play. What was this? “In my heart? What’s that mean?”
    “How long you been going to this church?”
    Ray pushed the controls aside and sat back on the couch. “My dad grew up in Central Church. He’s real religious.”
    “And your mom?”
    “She grew up in Michigan, but yeah, she’s religious too.”
    “They’re Christians?”
    Ray shook his head. Bobby didn’t seem this dense at school. “‘Course they are. Did you think we were Jewish?”
    “Well, it’s not like you’re either Jewish or Christian.”
    “We’re sure nothing else!”
    “You’ve got to have Jesus in your heart, Ray. That’s the deal.”
    Ray picked up the controller, hoping Bobby would drop the subject.
    “Do you, Ray?”
    “Do I what?”
    “Do you have Jesus in your heart?”
    “Look, Bobby, I’ve been going to Central Church since I was born, and I never heard anything about getting Jesus in your heart. But there’s pictures of Him everywhere, even in the windows, and He’s what the pastor