The Miraculous Bible

Robert was small enough to work his way through the masses, weaving around the adult's legs. He climbed up on top of a radiator to look over the crowd. Sunlight drifting through one of the large church windows cast a terrible glare on the glass case at the altar. He could see the bible, but it was no larger than a matchbox at that distance, and he could discern no movement.

The things that commanded his senses were the immense glass case, the large iron fence that surrounded it, the swarm of people that pressed against the fence, the people that pressed against those at the fence, and still more people. The only thing that cut through that bathhouse stench was the incense and the prayers and crying that hung from the smoke.

If Robert had been able to get closer to the fence, he would have been able to see the bible twitching uncontrollably, and if he had somehow been able to climb into the glass case, he would have heard the bible's heavy, labored breathing.