TUESDAY EVENING,
OCTOBER 3, 1871
- Sheep and Shepherds -
Poppy took a deep breath and walked boldly up to Justin. “I was just walking by. How’s Ticktock?”
“She’s fine. Why?”
“Just wondering.” Poppy stood near the front display window, shifting from foot to foot, not knowing what else to say. Ma Brennan had demanded that Poppy act like the poor little girl that everyone took pity on. But she couldn’t fool Justin. Justin knew she was a tough street girl from Conley’s Patch. He wouldn’t be taken in by any act she might put on.
She put her hands on her hips, cocked her head, and said to Justin, “So you’re still sweepin’ the sidewalks. Don’t you do anything else for your pa?”
“I just finished an important job in the back.”
“Doin’ what?”
“Tagging valuable jewelry with the retail prices.”
“Valuable jewelry? Your father really trusts you with valuable jewelry?”
“Why wouldn’t he?”
Their conversation was interrupted as Claire approached the entry. “Hello, Justin and Poppy.” She carried a bag in one hand and held her other hand in the deep pocket of her coat. “I thought I’d come downtown and pick up some fixings for our chicken dinner tonight.”
Poppy smiled timidly at Claire. Did either of them know she had spent the night in the goat house? She brushed her hands down her dress, trying to smooth down the wrinkles.
Claire didn’t seem to notice. Instead, she opened the top of her coat pocket. “Can you guess what I have in here?” she asked Poppy.
Poppy stepped closer to examine what was inside. “Mew! Mew!” Poppy jumped back, startled. “Mew!” came another squeak, and then a dozen wiggles as the kitten climbed up to the opening.
“Oh! It’s a tiny cat!” Poppy exclaimed as the little whiskered face peeked out at her.
Claire and Justin both laughed. “Her name is Mew. Here, you can hold her.” Claire gently lifted the kitten from her pocket and placed her in Poppy’s outstretched hands.
Poppy couldn’t speak. This was the adorable, soft, and lovable kitten she’d always wanted. The kitten purred loudly in her arms and then took a section of Poppy’s dress in her mouth and began to suck on it.
“She thinks you’re her mother,” Claire said softly.
“She’s so … beautiful,” Poppy finally said, finding her voice, which cracked with emotion. “I wish …” She was about to say, “I wish she were mine,” but of course, this was Claire’s kitten.
“I’m on my way home to make dinner. Forrest is coming tonight.” Claire turned to Poppy. “Forrest Belmont is the minister at the Methodist church on Wabash Avenue. We’re getting married soon.”
Poppy nodded without answering. She had heard Claire would be married, but she hadn’t known to whom. She didn’t know what a minister did and she knew nothing about the Methodist church, other than she passed it when she was on Wabash Avenue. In fact, she’d never been in a church. But she’d heard that people sang songs and talked about God there. Poppy was told there were real gold crosses and valuable things in churches.
Ma always spoke nastily about the one time she had taken her girls to a church. Ma said there’d been a plate that was passed around to collect money from everyone. When Ma and the girls grabbed handfuls of money from the plate, they were ushered out of the church and told never to come back. Ma hated churches ever since.
That was all Poppy knew about churches. Claire’s husband-to-be was a minister. “What’s a minister?” she asked Claire.
“He’s a servant of God who helps people—the shepherd who takes care of God’s flock,” Claire explained.
“A shepherd? Really? Do they keep sheep in the church?” Poppy asked.
Justin burst out laughing. Claire looked startled, but then she put her arm around Poppy. “Not real sheep, dear. They’re people who are sheeplike. They follow their shepherd and his commandments obediently.”
Poppy was confused. “Who’s the shepherd?”
“I thought you said the shepherd was your minister friend Forrest?”
Justin laughed again. “He thinks he’s God.”
“That’s not nice, Justin. Forrest is a dedicated servant of God,” Claire snapped. Then, in a softer voice, she explained, “Forrest is a servant of the Good Shepherd, God. He acts as an earthly shepherd for God.”
Poppy was even more confused. “What’s in it for the sheep? What do they get out of it by following the shepherd?”
“Happiness, peace of mind, self-respect.” Claire answered. “And a clean conscience.”
There was the word that Ma Brennan had used: conscience. All this was too hard for Poppy to comprehend right now. The only word she understood a little was “happiness.”
Meanwhile, little Mew was sound asleep in Poppy’s arms. “We don’t want to wake up the kitty,” Claire said. “So I think you should carry Mew home for me. And then, maybe you’d like to help me make dinner. Would you like that?”
“Oh, yes!” Poppy replied quickly. To be with Claire and Ticktock and the kitten was the closest to happiness that she’d ever imagined.