We heard the organ squeak. I turned quickly to watch Bess as she started pumping on the foot pedals. I knew she would wait just a little before she began pressing down the black and white keys. She had to get a sackful of air into the organ before it could make music. She had explained that to me lots of times.
In a minute Bess began playing. Mama and Papa quit whispering to each other, and everybody else got quiet, too. The organ's pedals and bellows sounded louder than ever, but Bess kept pumping her feet up and down, faster and faster. She pulled out more and more stops till the music drowned out the organ's whining and wheezing.
"That pump organ's gotta be fixed, Jodie!" Mama whispered.
"Yeah, I know."
Aunt Vic stepped out from between the center curtains. Bess stopped playing.
"Let us all rise and repeat together the Lord's Prayer. And please remain standing for the hymn—selection one-eighteen.''
We all stood up and said the Our-Father-Which-Art-In-Heaven prayer, and then everybody except me began singing a slow, sweet-sounding song I'd never heard before about the Holy Night.
As soon as we sat down, Bess left the organ and went behind the curtain. I didn't know what would be next. "Papa, will we get the presents now?"
"Not yet," he whispered. "I think the schoolteacher's going to speak to us."
Mister Shepherd went over to the pulpit stand. First, he said good evening to us all, and then he began making a speech.