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Saturday, January 10

Convergence: Part 10 – Jesus Loves Me

When the agents got to the house, they found the three men assigned to it—Brogan, Wong, and Dunbar—with their machineguns out, but unsure what to aim at. They glanced up as the agents entered, looking disconcerted and baffled.

"Here we go 'round the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush." The air was filled with a child's singing. A little boy. His voice was clear and fragile and sweet. "Here we go 'round the mulberry bush, so early in the moooorrrninnnggg!"

The song changed. The voice was the same: "This old man, he plays one; he plays knickknack on my drum. With a knickknack, paddy whack, give a dog a bone—"

Adams leaned forward. “Is that…is that coming from the sink?”

The child's voice sounded like it was coming out of the drain, as if he were trapped far down in the pipes.

"—this old man goes rolling home."

"It just started all of a sudden," said Wong, raising his voice above the singing.

"It started a couple of minutes ago," said Brogan.

"I was standing at the sink," said Dunbar. He was a burly, hairy, rough-looking man with warm, shy brown eyes. "When the singing started up ... Jesus, I must've jumped two feet!"

The song changed again. The sweetness was replaced by a cloying, almost mocking piety: "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him are drawn. They are weak, but He is strong.”

Nothing about the singing was overtly threatening. The agents listened, mystified as to what to do next.

“Is there a basement?” asked Hammer.

“No, sir,” said Wong. “We’ve been getting ready to dig into the foundation, but there’s no way there’s a kid down those pipes.”

"Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus—"

The singing abruptly ceased.

Jim-Bean peered into the sink drain. [MORE]

Labels: d20 modern

posted by Mike Tresca at 7:29 AM

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