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               Father Feinstein decided that nothing else would surprise him that day. He accepted the

woman's words like a second shot of morphine, and moved to enter the store. He put his hands on the

revolving door, then looked back at her. "I guess you work here?" he asked.

               "Yes. I'm the owner," she replied proudly.

               Father Feinstein nodded numbly, then swung his weight against the door and pushed.

               Inside was a crowded floor and endless rows of aisles. There were all kinds of merchandise,

from ladies' underwear to groceries. People were racing past him, throwing products into their

shopping carts by the handful. As crazy as the sight was-- Father Feinstein's congregation shopping

on Easter morning-- the people didn't lookcrazy. They looked happy. Not like conforming looters

cashing in on a video-taped capture of a violent drug-addict. They were happy like starving men

rescued from a desert island and taken to a four-star restaurant-- where at last the menu contained

more than Mary Ann's coconut custard pies and Ginger's cleavage.

               Aside from the way people looked, Father Feinstein might have said the place was like one of

the big department stores in the local mall. But there was a strange feeling here. The feeling reminded

him of the first time he entered a gambling casino. It was during his junior year at the Priest's

Instructional Seminary School. He saved up for the trip by spending his parents' money only on the

Cliff Notes editions of his books: the Bible, How to Keep the Poor in Their Place by Convincing Them

that Being Rich is Evil,and the textbook for Religious Film 101: Other Realities as Perceived in

Davey and Goliath and The Flying Nun.On the surface, the casino was just like this: a room full of

people having fun. But around him there was an invisible mist. Like the smoke, it was dirty. It

carried a guilt and a shame that stayed with him for hours. It gave him the sense that what people were

doing was shameful becausethey were having fun.

               Father Feinstein stepped over a child playing with an action figure that resembled Moses. He

looked ahead to the grocery department, and walked down the first aisle. It was apparently the beer

and wine section. Standing on the floor was a cardboard cut-out of a long-haired man in a loincloth

walking on a pool of water. He was holding up a bottle, and waving at a group of female swimmers