Thanks all,

Linda, thanks, my thinking was that, like the "mind readers" and "mentalists" who seem to know what someone is thinking, our assistant preacher knew, from information supplied by the guard and the warden, some of the inmate's thinking patterns. When the magician Houdini visited the Czarina of Russia, he was given audience on the balcony overlooking the city of St. Petersburg. He, in his typical hubris, told the Czarina that he would now grant any wish she desired. The Czarina said she would like, once again, to hear the bells of St. Petersburg's cathedral which had been silent since she was a child (the bell ropes had rotted away and there was no stairway to reach the bells). Houdini waved his arms and soon the bells began to ring.

Houdini had researched the Czarina and was fairly certain, given the location of their audience, that this was what she would ask. Across the square in the hotel window, his wife waited for the signal, his waving arms, and then began shooting at the bells with an air rifle. Now THAT'S magic!

I thought about it, but my decision to leave out the explanation in the denouement was to sacrifice a little more of the ring of truth to the dramatic effect of brevity. Plus this leaves a little more mystery in the story. I'll look at it again in a while, after having some time for perspective, and perhaps include the guard mentioning Harvey's continual references to the fun he'd had and his grandmother's cherry pies.

All the Best,
Mike

You've got to know your limitations. I don't know what your limitations are. I found out what mine were when I was twelve. I found out that there weren't too many limitations, if I did it my way. -Johnny Cash

It's only music.
-niteshift

Mike Dunbar Music