Times and Seasons (19 page)

“It’s true, honey,” she said. “Send her the money, if you want to. It’ll give you a lot more satisfaction than the CD player.”

“I will,” Annie whispered. Her face softened even more as she watched the images Sylvia had sent of the rest of the children.

Saturday
night, Annie got dressed for her dinner date with Jimmy Donovan, one of the most sought-after guys at the community college. She had pined after the “older man” her entire senior year of high school, but it wasn’t until she’d graduated that he’d finally asked her out.

When he showed up in a pair of shorts and tennis shoes and announced that they were going to the soccer field to meet his friends rather than to the restaurant, she was a little miffed. Still, he was the most eligible college guy she knew, so she figured he was worth changing clothes for.

It also made her feel a little better about canceling her Sunday afternoon date with him.

“Jimmy,” she said, trying to get his attention as he tossed the Frisbee toward his friends. “Could you give it a rest for a minute? I need to talk to you.”

“Yeah? What about?” He caught the Frisbee and spun it back.

“Would you be terribly mad at me if I don’t go to the swimming party tomorrow afternoon?” Annie asked.

Jimmy turned to her as if she had slapped him.

“What do you mean, you can’t go? You have to go. You
said
you would.” He missed the Frisbee as it flew back to him and gave it an annoyed look.

“Well, I know, but something’s come up. My mom needs me to help her with a luncheon. We’re trying to raise money…”

He set his hands on his waist, looking disgusted. “If you couldn’t go, you could have told me earlier so I could have gotten another date.”

Annie grunted. “Well, excuse me. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal.”

“Well, it is, okay?”

“Come
on
, Donovan!” his friend J.J. shouted from across the field.

Jimmy retrieved the Frisbee and threw it back. “So does this have something to do with your jailbird brother?”

Fire ignited in Annie’s eyes, and she intercepted the Frisbee before he could grab it and held it at her side as she turned her furious face to his. “No, it is not about my brother,” she said, “and if you ever call him a jailbird again, you’re going to regret it. It just so happens that I’m going to help my mother speak at a luncheon about our friend Sylvia’s missionary work in Nicaragua.”

He rolled his eyes as if he couldn’t believe she would come up with such a lame excuse. “You have got to be kidding. You’d choose that over a swimming party at Sara Beth Simpson’s house?”

She wondered if he could really be that shallow. “Jimmy, Sylvia’s working with these little kids over there and they’re starving to death. They’re malnourished; they have bloated bellies and toothpick legs. And she’s got to raise money so she can feed them. Sylvia’s already gone back to Nicaragua, but my mother’s going to stand in for her at a church that invited Sylvia to speak. I’m going to help with the slides. I’m going to show
pictures of sad little children who have nothing. And, yeah, I’m glad to say that I consider that a little more important than splashing around in Sara Beth Simpson’s pool.”

“Hey, your mother can do this without you. She’s just trying to keep you away from me.”

“She doesn’t even know you,” Annie said. “Why would she do that? My mother didn’t force me to cancel this date. I’m doing the slides, and I sure would like to think that you had enough depth to understand.”

“Fine!” He grabbed the Frisbee out of her hand and ripped it back with all the anger he felt. “You just go ahead. And I’ll see if I can find another date to go with me to Sara Beth’s.”

Annie set her hands on her hips. “Well, you just do that, Jimmy. Have fun.”

He looked at his watch. “Wonder if Karen Singer’s home? Maybe she still doesn’t have a date.”

“Karen Singer?” she asked. “You’re going to take Karen Singer to the swimming party?”

“Hey, I’ve got to take somebody. I’m not going to show up by myself.”

“Heaven forbid,” Annie said. “That might ruin your reputation as a player. You know, I don’t think I wanted to go with you, anyway. You’d probably just be watching all the girls in their bikinis and ignoring me, anyway.”

“Hey, you’re lucky I even give you the time of day, little high school twerp.”

“Little high school twerp?” Annie repeated. “I can’t believe you said that. Take me home.”

“No,” he said, “I’m playing Frisbee with my friends.”

“Fine,” she said. “Then I’ll walk.”

She heard him laugh as she started off over the hill and back down the road that would lead down Signal Mountain. Maybe there would be a pay phone somewhere along the way, so she could call her mother and have her come get her. If not, she could get home on pure fury. She was sorry she had invested so much time in Jimmy over the past year, pining away for him and
dreaming of the day he would ask her out. When he had, she had felt so privileged. But not privileged enough to forsake hungry kids to show up like a trophy on his arm.
How dare he?
She wiped her tears away, determined not to cry another one for him. There were other guys. She was better off.

But as she stormed down the street, the tears pushed into her eyes again. She smeared them away and told herself this was a small price to pay.

The thought of the little boy Miguel propelled her faster, each step giving her new purpose. There were other little boys like Miguel, other little girls with sick stomachs and dull eyes who didn’t even know that they needed help. It was the least she could do. The very least.

Cathy
was nervous during church the next morning, wondering why she had agreed to speak at the luncheon that afternoon. She had enough stress in her life. She was a veterinarian, not a speaker. If those poor Nicaraguan kids were depending on her, then they were in deeper trouble than they knew.

But true to her commitment, she left her church after the service and hurried over to the church where the luncheon was being held.

“You can do it, Mom,” Annie said as they pulled into the small parking lot.

“I’ll be glad when it’s over,” Cathy told her. “I just hope I’m not wasting my time and all of theirs.”

“You’re not,” Annie assured her.

They pulled into a parking place. Cathy’s hands shook as she gathered up the stack of things on the seat next to her. Annie got the box on the floor at her feet.

A wave of dizziness washed over Cathy, and she leaned back in her seat. “I’ve got to stop a minute,” she said. “I need to calm down.”

“Okay,” Annie said. “Just take a deep breath. You’ll be all right.”

Cathy looked up at the front doors of the church. “I don’t know anybody in there. Do you think they know about Mark?”

“I don’t know. Did you tell them?”

“No, but most of the people in this area know me. I treat their animals. Mark’s arrest was in the paper, and everybody in town is talking about it.”

“Well, they probably do know then, Mom,” Annie said. “But that doesn’t mean they won’t listen to you.”

Cathy forced herself to get out, but she leaned against the fender of the car and closed her eyes. She heard Annie’s door close and sensed her daughter coming to stand beside her. “I don’t know why I ever agreed to do this,” Cathy said. “They don’t care about any of this. They just have this luncheon once a month, and they needed a speaker. That’s all.”

“You agreed to it for little Miguel,” Annie said. “That’s all the reason you need. And if they don’t care now, they will. Now come on. Let’s go. I didn’t miss that swimming party for nothing.”

Cathy opened her eyes. “What swimming party?”

Annie shook off the question and shifted the box with the slide projector. “Just some stupid swimming party at Sara Beth Simpson’s house. I was supposed to go as Jimmy’s date.”

Cathy’s eyes widened. “That was the date you cancelled? For me?”

“Not for you, Mom. For Miguel, and for Sylvia, and all those other little kids.”

Cathy’s heart rate settled, and she stood straighten “Annie, I’m so proud of you.”

“Don’t be,” she said. “It’s really a pathetic trade-off. They’re starving, so I miss a swimming party. It’s not a big sacrifice, Mom; I wouldn’t get excited about it.”

“But just the fact that you would do something like that. It’s unselfish and mature. I’m just so surprised.”

Annie grinned and looked up at the sky. “Come on, Mom. You’re making me sound like a heathen. You raised me to be a decent person, okay?”

“Well, decent people sometimes choose swimming parties over slide shows.”

“I know,” Annie said. “But I made my choice. Now come on. Let’s go in. I’m sweltering.”

“Wait.” Cathy grabbed her hand and stopped her. “Let’s pray. I don’t think I can go in there without it.”

“Okay, Mom,” Annie said. “Whatever you say.”

Cathy closed her eyes, and Annie followed suit. Cathy asked God to help her through this, to give her the words, and to work on the hearts of those who heard and watched. When she said “amen,” she felt peace wash over her where dizziness threatened just a moment ago. It was going to be all right.

“I’m ready now,” she said. Annie was quiet as she followed her inside.

An hour later, Cathy stood at the front of the room, amazed as the hundred people in attendance began passing their checks forward, along with pledge cards and notes of encouragement for Sylvia. She stood at the front as, one by one, they came up and told her how much the slide show had moved them, and how much her scripted words had convicted them.

She looked through the audience to find Annie. There she was—over to one side, talking animatedly to a group of people as if she, too, were selling them on the idea of helping Sylvia. It amazed Cathy that her daughter could have an intelligent conversation with adults concerning something other than herself or her social life. Maybe Annie was growing up.

It was over an hour more before the fellowship hall emptied of the guests. As Cathy gathered up the slides she had so carefully laid out for Annie, she saw Annie flipping through the stack of checks.

“Mom, you’re not going to believe this,” she whispered.

“What?”

“Well, if I’m counting right—it looks like we have almost three thousand dollars here.”

“Really?” Cathy eyed the stack. “Are you sure, Annie?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. Mom, you did great. In fact, one of these checks is mine. I had planned to give it to you so you’d feel like you raised something, even if no one else gave.” She laughed. “Guess you did okay without me.”

Cathy grinned. “You decided to give them your CD player money?”

“Decided?” she asked. “How can anybody decide not to? I was thinking of selling my clothes and all my shoes just to raise more. That’s how good you were.”

“That’s how good the Holy Spirit is,” she said. “Annie, you don’t know how much this is going to mean to those kids.”

“I think I do,” Annie said.

Cathy hugged her, then gathered up the rest of her things and loaded them into a box. “So, is there still time for you to make that swimming party?”

Annie looked away. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Come on, they’re probably still there. It’s early.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to go. Jimmy’s a jerk, and I don’t want to be around him. Besides that, he’s got another date.”

“Are you kidding? He got another date just because you backed out?”

“Yep. That’s the way he is,” she said. “But it’s good I found out now. I don’t want to invest any more time in him. He’s definitely high maintenance.”

Cathy smiled. Prayers were being answered about her children. She hoped God was answering the ones for Mark as powerfully as he was the ones for Annie.

Tory
was already busy when Barry got up for work, giving Hannah a breathing treatment to break up the phlegm in her lungs. As the child lay in her seat with the breathing mask strapped on her face, Tory held her feet and made pedaling motions.

“Do you ever stop?” Barry asked, standing rumpled and groggy at the living room door.

Tory glanced back at him. “She was up and rattling. She has to breathe.”

“I’m not talking about the breathing. I’m talking about the exercising. Aren’t you afraid she’s overdoing it? Won’t you get her worn out before her class?”

Tory hadn’t told him of her decision to quit the class. She knew he wouldn’t understand, and she couldn’t risk having him insist. “She’ll be okay,” she said.

He bent over her and moved his face close to hers. “It’s you I’m worried about.”

“Me? I’m fine.”

“I never see you when you’re not working with her. You need a break. Just wait and do it in class today.”

She thought of telling him, but the words lodged in her throat.

“Tell you what.” He straightened up. “I’ll take my lunch hour during her class, and I’ll take her so you can have some time off.”

She looked up at him, knowing she’d been caught. “Well, uh…ordinarily…that would be fine…but to be perfectly honest…” Her voice veered off, and she searched for the right way to say it so that he would agree with her.

She laughed. “It’s the funniest thing. See, that class—” The medicine attached to Hannah’s mask began slurping, and she cut the machine off. “I was planning to keep her home today because of her cold.”

“She always has a cold.” He took off Hannah’s mask and lifted her out of her seat.

“But today it’s worse than usual. I just thought it wouldn’t hurt to miss.”

He kissed Hannah’s fat cheek. “Well, I guess that’s reasonable. Isn’t it, Hannah?” He cradled her and kissed her belly, and the child smiled. “Here, go to Mommy,” he said. “Daddy has to shower for work.”

Tory took her, and as Barry left the room, she felt that familiar surge of guilt that she hadn’t been honest about quitting the school. But by the time he found out, Hannah would have progressed so far that it would be clear she’d done the right thing.

Then, instead of protesting, he’d praise her.

As she took Hannah to the kitchen to feed her before she got Spencer and Brittany up, she told herself she was doing the right thing.