WHAT THE TRUMPETER SAID and other stories KARL LUNTTA "Thomas closed his eyes and reached inside as he'd done that day at the hospital. He shuddered, and physically pushed aside his rage, finally the rage, and once again searched for humility. He said a silent prayer for the release of this man, and himself, from pain. It was the only way, because the bomb had been a certainty. Thomas had known they would come for him, and the inevitability of it made it his own sin. He'd allowed the bomb. He'd invited it. He'd dared that goddamn bomb to happen.

".