The summer of 1946 was one of the warmest on record in Newfoundland. Adam had spent the week of June 24 – 28 in Petersview writing the CHE exams, knowing that it would be near the end of august before he would know how he had fared. He was not worried though, as he felt confident and had always finished before the allotted time had expired. Stan and Sue Moores, with whom he had stayed, were pleased with his company and of course Baxter was always delighted to have his friend around.  They studied together and Adam helped Baxter to get a better comprehension of algebra. It felt good to be able to help a friend and when he saw his friend’s eyes light up with understanding, it was all the reward he needed.

When the last exam had been written on Friday, the two friends had some time to relax as Adam would not be returning home until  Sunday afternoon. That night for the first time,  they got into a conversation about religion, although they had to keep their voices down, as Stan and Sue, like Adam’s parents had no opinion outside of the church’s teachings. Baxter found Adam’s ideas to be intriguing as he’d never really thought about such things before. The mere fact that there were billions of people in the world, made it seem pretty far-fetched that only members of the Catholic church could go to heaven. Did the idea of heaven itself make any sense? It seemed that you were to spend your whole life doing what the church told you was right, and than go to heaven, where apparently, you did nothing but sit around in white robes singing and praising God for all eternity! The boys suddenly saw, in their mind’s eye, a picture of their fathers dressed in a white robe and began to laugh hysterically.

On Sunday morning Stan and Sue insisted that the boys attend Mass with them.  Adam looked at Baxter and whispered “just don’t picture your father dressed in a white robe and singing in the heavenly choir”. This set them  into another fit of laughter until Stan admonished them about laughing, when they should be thinking about the sins they must confess to the priest, before receiving absolution and given penance, that they might be made worthy to receive the holy communion. Both boys stopped laughing then, and dutifully followed Baxter’s parents and siblings to the church. Later that afternoon, Eli arrived to pick up Adam and the boys promised to keep in touch.