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.I was a chunk of agate surrounded by large-caratgems. We d really only just begun, Veronica said, with another toothy smile. Most of us know each other already, butfor fun we picked a question out of the bowl and answered itby way of introduction. She reached for a lovely handblownfishbowl and held it out to me.There was, of course, onlyone folded slip of paper inside.I wondered if this was my punishment.The expressions at the table ranged from bored to expectant.GamelyI thrust my hand inside, unfolded the paper, and read thequestion out loud, glad I hadn t suggested that Teddy doanything remotely similar last month at her eighth birthdayparty. If you were an instrument in the Cleveland Orchestra,which instrument would you be? A Lie for a Lie 25I smiled, as if I thought the question were intriguing,even fun. I d be a sarrusophone. There was a long silence.Finally a blonde at the end ofthe table smiled dismissively. Oh, you mean sousaphone. I called on that summer of music history. No, a sarrusophone s a wind instrument, something like the contrabassoon.It s made of metal, so it s louder.But you can seewhy being one would be appealing? They couldn t. They re almost never used, I explained. I would rarelybe called on to perform. The room was silent, and in seconds I realized why.I das much as announced I was not a worker bee.I hastened toimprove the situation. Not that I m lazy, of course.I just don t like the limelight. Veronica gave a throaty laugh. Well, we won t have toworry about a conflict of interest with Aggie, girls.Shewon t be trying out for the Idyll, will she? Everybody else laughed, too, although the ripple wasstrained.I was now on probation. Aggie, you must have worked on a number of committees, Veronica said. Being a pastor s wife. I tried my most winning smile. Not so many.I make apoint of not going head-to-head with the people who issueEd s paycheck.I worry Aggie is our historian and a tireless worker, Sally interrupted, vouching for me. Well, nobody here is issuing anybody s paycheck. Veronica paused. Except Grady Barber s. Which still concerns me, Sally said, leaning forward,her hands clasped earnestly on the table. The size of thatpaycheck, I mean.We re paying that man twenty thousanddollars to judge this show! That s twenty thousand that couldgo toward the new pediatric wing. Veronica s voice was soft, but her tone was as hard as,well, a sarrusophone s. 26 Emilie Richards Sally, without a celebrity judge, the only people thatwill come to see the Emerald Springs Idyll are the familyand friends of the participants.And then only reluctantly.It s all about the judges, don t you see? With Grady sittingat the side of the stage, everybody s going to come.They llall want to hear what he has to say.They ll buy tickets forevery single night.Advertisers are fighting to put ads in theprograms and to be announced as sponsors.We ll makemoney hand over fist. But twenty thousand dollars? It s extravagant. It s cheap! It s well below his normal fee.He s anEmerald Springs boy; he s famous, and he s only doing itat that rate as a special favor to me.Besides, we ve solicited personal donations from the hospital board to covermost of it. There was a silence as they both regrouped and drewdeep breaths.And into the breach I leapt. Grady Barber? Every head turned; every eye stared at me again.Tropical birds were singing from airy bamboo cages behind Veronica s chair.I d missed this on my initial view ofthe conservatory.I squelched an urge to spring to my feetand throw open cage doors as a distraction. If Aggie doesn t know who he is, what about all thetwentysomethings? The teenagers? Sally demanded. Aggie, you re not from Emerald Springs? Veronicaasked.I shook my head, although an answer was unnecessary.Had I been, they would have known better than to ask meto serve beside them. You ve heard of Wayfarers of the Ark? I scrambled for the right answer.I d heard of Raiders ofthe Lost Ark.The Ark of the Covenant.Geometric arcs.TheArc de Triomphe.Archetypes.Noah s ark.Then I realizedwhere this was going.I heard a snatch of a song in my head,a high, sweet tenor voice singing.Sailing toward a rainbow.stretching overhead. A Lie for a Lie 27 The movie, I said. I remember the theme song, frommy childhood. Exactly.And the artist who performed it was our veryown Grady Barber, who played Idan, Noah s grandson.He s also the same Grady Barber who had a big hit lastyear with Remember Me in April. She smiled, as if Icouldn t possibly have overlooked this which, of course,I had.Veronica finished on a note of triumph. He s agreed tocome to Emerald Springs and be our judge.At quite a reduced fee, may I stress again.But after all, this is where hegot his start
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