The boys were nearly opposite the church when Brad, who was ahead, ran full tilt into a man huddling against a building wall.
“I’m sorry,” the boy apologized. “I didn’t see you standing there.”
“Watch where you’re going next time!” the other growled.
Because the man spoke in such a surly tone, Brad looked him over carefully.
The fellow was no one he ever had seen before. His face, beneath a snap-brim hat which dripped rain, appeared shadowy and unfriendly. He might have been thirty years of age, maybe older. A day-old beard made it difficult to judge.
“Sorry,” Brad apologized again.
He and Dan started on, only to be stopped in their tracks by a question.
“Hey, kids,” the stranger addressed them, “what’s going on over there?”
“Over where?” demanded Dan.
“In that church. It’s lighted up like a Christmas tree.”