Re: Sunday Service: Mercy/Shiloh
Shiloh liked a good fight as well as the next man. No, truth was that he liked a good fight better than most. It was arguing and being difficult that had led him to his no-good end, and it was more of the same that made everyone believe him guilty as sin without ever stopping to think he might be innocent. It probably served him right, seeing as he'd gone clear out of his way to be just as difficult as a person could be. But he wasn't arguing now. Arguing wouldn't line up with the good pastor's persona that he wore close to the skin. The cross around his neck didn't help him be a good boy. If anything, it made him more keen for a passionate argument about salvation.
He smiled a sedate smile when Mercy asked about passion. "I think we all have things we're passionate about," he said mildly, deliberately not rising to the occasion or taking the bait Mercy had laid before him. "I'm passionate about this town and tending to the flock here," he added, a grin growing a little broader on his narrow mouth. "I'm not passionate about calisthenics," he admitted, but blame the cross for the fact that there was something about all the performance in the Catholic liturgy that appealed.
Another laugh and another shake of his head, and then that sedate smile was back, the one that said he knew Mercy was trouble. Normally, trouble was just what Shiloh was looking for, but showing his hand would end with him dead in a cell, and he wasn't keen on replaying that chapter of his life story. "I think you have the build for friendly conversations outside a church come Sunday," he said.
But he too noticed the emptying out of the space outside the church, and there were stragglers lingering that he really did need to speak with. He held out a hand for Mercy to shake, if so desired. "It was nice talking, Mercy," he said truthfully, for all that he'd had to measure his own words. "I hope I'll see you here come next Sunday. The Lord wouldn't want you to be a stranger," he added, and there was something questionable about his smile, something that hinted at teasing, but that didn't say it outright.
And after that handshake and that good Christian reminder to come worship a week hence, Shiloh bowed a little at the waist, hands behind his back, and then he turned his attention to the family impatiently waiting for his attention.