Chapter
16
The Sunday
school bus was noisy on the way home with little kids jumping all around. The driver had handed out candy treats to
each child and they were all excited.
But Jessica was lost in her thoughts.
It was as if she were in her own world.
She spoke only a few words to Gloria.
She was going to have a serious conversation with her that
afternoon. The bus stopped at their
neighborhood and they got off. After
brief goodbyes, Jessica, James, and their mother were walking home. When they
reached home, Jessica’s mother got right to work on lunch. Her husband would be home soon and she wanted
the meal to be ready and on the table.
Howard had let them all go to church, and she wanted his food to be
ready when he walked in the door.
Jessica’s mother didn’t want Howard to regret letting them go to church;
she wanted to go again. She already had
plans to get her husband to go with her.
But that would take several good meals.
It took
James only two minutes to get out of his Sunday clothes and into his favorite
t-shirt and jeans. He bounded down the
stairs and was out the door before his mother could say a word. But he did manage to grab a snack cake as he
made his get-away. His mother was too
busy to even notice.
Jessica
was changed and downstairs not long after James. She put away the breakfast cereal boxes and
set the table for lunch. She got things
out of the refrigerator and cabinets and helped her mother prepare lunch. Jessica wanted to talk to her mother about
the church service that morning, but she didn’t know how to begin. She thought about what she was going to say
before she said anything. Then she said,
“Mother, what did you think about church this morning?
Jessica’s
mother stopped peeling potatoes for a moment and seemed to be looking far, far
away. Then she went back to her peeling
and said, “It was just like going home.
It was just like when I was a little girl going to church with my mother
– your grandmother. It brought back so
many memories.” She stopped peeling and
got that far-away look again. She looked
absently out of the window above the sink with a half-way peeled potato in her
hand and said, “I used to go to church all the time. I didn’t know how much I missed it until we
went this morning.” Jessica’s mother
went on, “Jesus used to be my best friend, but I grew away from Him. Jessica, I am sorry that I have not taken you
and James to church. But things are
going to be different from now on.” She
sounded determined.
And
Jessica was more determined than ever to have that conversation with
Gloria. She had so many questions. But deep down in her heart, she already knew
the answers to most of those questions. And the answer was actually a person.
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