Howdy, guys! Chapter 8! It's kinda short, but there's a nice, long chapter 9 waiting for you soon! Love you guys! Please review!

The wind is at it again, biting the faces of the hundreds of New Yorkers passing by our troupe of Elders, completely ignoring us.

"Hello! Miss, are you interested in hearing about…OK, not interested. Oh, hi, Sir, would you like to change your life with this…wait, come back! Dang it!"

This is basically how Arnold, Elder Thomas, and I spend three hours at Columbus Circle, advertising the Book of Mormon, waiting for someone to pay us the slightest bit of attention.

"Nobody cares."

"I know that, Elder, but we can't just leave!"

"Yeah, Elder Price is right, Elder Cunningham. If we leave, dozens of people will miss out on a great opportunity to find Heavenly Father!" Elder Thomas's motivational efforts seem to have some effect on Arnold, because he shrugs and resumes shouting out advertisements for the Book.

I'm impressed. "Wow," I say to Elder Thomas, "you sure know how to put faith in somebody, huh?"

Unexpectedly, his head drops and his eyes avert mine. "We…learned a lot about faith, my family, for a…period of time."

This kid speaks in riddles. "Oh…of course."

I look at him closer, and his eyes are filled with sadness, an unimaginable longing that can't be fulfilled.

"I wish we had it back."

I don't want to ask. I leave him to his own thoughts and start shouting again. "Change your life today! Hello, Ma'am, can I have a moment of your time to talk about…damn it!" I curse under my breath, and no one hears me.

Elder Thomas and Arnold go over to the other side of the Columbus statue, and I am left alone. After several more desperate attempts to advertise the Book, I sigh and give up, going back to lean against the statue. I people-watch for a while, until even that gets boring. Then, I play with the button on the inside of my sleeve. It's not until then that I hear a voice from behind me.

"Kevin."

I turn around sharply to see a woman on crutches, her left foot in a cast. Her face is bruised, and there's a large cut on her left cheek. A black eye completes the package. She looks at me with sad, green eyes, full of pain.

"Mary?"

She nods sadly and bursts into tears. I run to her and put my arms around her shoulders, holding her close to my body. "Shh, it's going to be OK, it's going to be fine," I say as I rock her back and forth with her sobbing into my coat. After a long while, I let go and put my hands on her shoulders, leaning closer to her. "Who did this to you? I want to know everything."

She takes a deep breath and starts talking in rushed speech. "I was…walking home yesterday from…from a friend's house down the street at about…about 1:30 A.M. I was…just about to enter my apartment building when somebody…came out from the nearby alley, and he…he pulled me back there. And he started hitting me and punching me and beating me to the ground…and…and I fell on my ankle and I broke it. Someone…someone saw it and called the…the police, but the guy…he got away."

I am absolutely shocked at this news. "Do you remember who beat you?"

She shakes her head, trying to remember. "He had…square glasses, and…and red hair."

I don't even have to ask. I take my hands off her shoulders and turn away from her. In fury, I clench my fists together, squeezing them tight until it hurts. The anger seeps through my pores, pushing on the back of my throat, pressuring me to scream.

McKinley.