A Lie for a Lie (38 page)

I could have pointed out that Junie can visit Nora in Esmeralda, Texas, where the show is relocating, but I’ve never quite lost my fear that Junie is going to run off with the tent show folks.

“She’s been through a lot,” I said. “She’s probably anxious to get out of here.”

“I don’t think so,” Lucy said. “Through that whole ordeal Nora was sure she’d be freed. She told me it was a good time for prayer and contemplation. And she got a few recruits for the tent show while she was at it.”

“I wonder if Veronica Hayworth is finding jail time so accommodating?”

Because Veronica is considered a flight risk, she’s awaiting trial in our regional jail, maybe even in Nora’s old cell, instead of the comfort of her Emerald Estates mini-mansion. Last week Roussos told me that Veronica’s attorney is angling to get the murder charge dropped to voluntary manslaughter, since Veronica had been under extreme emotional stress and was substantially and adequately provoked.

Of course if these are the deciding factors, anyone who ever worked with Grady Barber had the perfect excuse to kill him, even me.

“Maybe she’ll be comforted knowing that the hospital is going to get its new pediatric wing after all,” Lucy said.

Oddly enough, I thought she might be.

“It’s still hard to believe Henry Cinch has so much money he can just write a check and make the new wing happen,” my mother said. “Can you imagine what that’s like?”

“No, but I can imagine how wonderful it’s going to be for the town.”

Lucy glanced at me. “Oh, I have a great idea, Aggie, maybe
you
can get on the committee that decides how to use his donation. Henry really likes you.”

“Cute, very cute.” Lucy knows my committee days are over. Two weeks ago, we found and bought a perfect house to flip together. In a week, when my girls go back to school, I’ll be tearing out paneling and refinishing kitchen cabinets. I’ve already talked to Winona about hiring a couple of men to help clear out the junk, and she provided me with a list. Now that Veronica is awaiting trial, the Hayworths’ house is on the market. Winona’s days as a housekeeper have ended, and her days as an entrepreneur have begun. It’s not easy to tell with Winona, but I think she’s delighted.

“I can’t believe it’s possible, but I’m beginning to get cold,” Junie said. “I guess we’d better head back.”

“Don’t forget Ed and Deena are making chili with all the fixings. You’re both invited for an early dinner,” I reminded them.

“I’m so glad they’re friends again,” Junie said.

So was I. I had a feeling Deena would never hold another grudge. Now she was all too aware of the reasons to say her piece and gracefully accept an apology. The lesson had been hard, but she and Ed were as close as ever. Additionally, she’d had a few sessions with May, just to make sure her encounter with Veronica didn’t leave scars. May thought she was doing well.

“Teddy can’t wait to show you both her movie,” I warned them. “But don’t worry, it takes about two minutes, and the brain parasites disappeared in the editing. Now it’s kind of like watching one of Ed’s sermons, only shorter and easier to understand.”

Lucy shook her head. “We need to get Teddy out more, make her stand in line for Hannah Montana posters, sign her up for the Li’l Miss Shoe Emporium contest.”

“No more contests. I’d rather sit through movies with popcorn and a moral.”

Through the haze of rain I saw a familiar figure approaching. I grabbed Junie’s slicker to keep her from leaving. “Isn’t that Nora?”

Junie sheltered her eyes with a cupped hand. “She must have just got back.”

We’d come to say good-bye to Nora today, only to learn she’d gone off with Yank doing errands. I was glad we would be able to see her after all.

Nora spotted us when one of the workers pointed in our direction, and she started toward us. She had on a utilitarian poncho like mine, but her head was bare with no umbrella to protect her. Rain ran down her cheeks and her blonde hair clung to her scalp. She looked perfectly happy.

“Isn’t the rain glorious?” she asked.

“We’re thrilled, but it doesn’t make your job easier,” I said.

Nora hugged each of us. Then she stepped back. “We can do this in any kind of weather. It’s part of who we are.”

“I can’t believe you’re leaving,” Junie said. “You’ll be missed.”

Nora smiled. “Not by everybody. But we gave all the protesters buckets of kettle corn and circus posters yesterday. They seemed pleased.”

“I was surprised to hear you were moving away and selling the farm.” I wondered how to ask what was really on my mind.

“You were wondering why, I suppose,” Nora said.

“Well, yeah. I mean, you came here to build a biosphere. You came because you were,
ummm
. . . told to, right?”

Lucy was glaring at me, but how many times in my life would I be able to question a self-proclaimed prophet? Particularly one I liked and admired? It seemed unlikely to me that I’d ever meet another.

Nora chewed her lip, then she moved a little closer. “I do believe God speaks to me. Do you believe He speaks to you?”

This was one of those trick questions. I wasn’t quite sure how to answer it. “Probably in a different way than you do,” I said after thinking about it. “Maybe not quite so clearly. Definitely not so clearly.”

“Well, we always interpret what we hear, don’t we? No matter how straightforward it is. It just comes in, passes through our experiences, what we believe, what we know for certain, what we’d like to believe. Right?”

“I would agree with that.”

“Well, I believe that quite clearly God told me it was my mission to end global warming.”

“It’s a very worthwhile mission,” Junie said. “Although I’d like to think the biosphere is going to have good ventilation with all those animals. There’s not a lot of room inside it, and air-conditioning’s going to cost a fortune. Maybe it ought to be a last-ditch solution?”

Nora’s smile was radiant. “I’d like to think it’s last-ditch, too. But a biosphere does draw a lot of attention to the problem, doesn’t it? Look at all the publicity we’ve gotten here, all the people who have asked themselves if there’s any truth to what we’re saying, if the only hope for the world is a structure large and complex enough to preserve life as we know it . . .” She lifted a brow. “Do you suppose we have the technology and the finances to create something like that in a place like Emerald Springs?”

“They’ve tried it before in other places,” I said. “There was that one in Arizona that didn’t work out, although they got a lot of scientific data, didn’t they?”

“Yes. They built one and got data. We haven’t built ours anywhere yet, but we’ve gotten
publicity
. We’ll get more publicity wherever we go and whatever we do, no matter how many times we move. More and more people will ask themselves if global warming is serious enough to warrant drastic measures, then they’ll ask themselves what they can do to prevent it. What sacrifices they’re willing to make. What steps they can take. What leaders they can elect.”

“Are you saying you
never
intended to build a biosphere here? That it was all a hoax?” I remembered the immortal words of P. T. Barnum, more or less a colleague of Nora’s.
There’s a sucker born every minute.

“A hoax?” Nora’s eyes were twinkling through the rain-drops. “God certainly doesn’t deal in hoaxes. We’re all chosen for His work by what we do best. And what do you think a circus and circus folks do best? We promote. We entertain. We create spectacles people will remember their entire lives.”

“The Greatest Show on Earth?”

“Well, that’s a different circus entirely. But I can’t help thinking the greatest show on
this
earth would be all about stopping the climate change that’s going to be fatal to God’s creatures. Maybe someday soon this planet of ours
will
need a biosphere, and by the time we do, maybe we’ll have the know-how to make it happen. In the meantime, we’ll have a rip-roaring show.”

She winked. “God likes entertainment. And He has a sense of humor, don’t you think? After all, we were created in His image.”

We said our good-byes and promised Nora we would try to visit her in Texas or wherever she went after that.

That night after Ed and Deena’s chili, after Teddy’s movie and an evening of wondering exactly whom Lucy was going out with on her date, I was finally alone with Ed. I told him everything Nora had said, and he listened with a smile.

“I thought it might be something like that,” he said.

I punched his shoulder. “You didn’t!”

“She came to talk to me that day last month, remember? She talked to all the ministers in town, one by one. I asked her if she was really serious, if she honestly thought she had the resources to build a biosphere that would save even one trillionth of the life-forms on this planet. And you know what she said?”

“Me? Apparently I don’t know anything.”

“She asked if I knew that there were different versions of the story of Noah. She said in the Islamic tradition, Noah warns his fellow man about the consequences of their sins for almost a thousand years before God sends the flood. So if God gave Noah a chance to warn the world, didn’t I think He would extend the same courtesy a second time?”

We turned out the lights and in moments, Ed was breathing deeply beside me, sure all was right with the world.

I fell asleep with “Sailing toward a Rainbow” flowing through my head. I don’t want to analyze why.