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Esther
There was a crazy excitement in the air. Even Vicky was acting chipper.
At ten minutes past ten, a giant family walked through the doors, and Esther’s eyes filled with tears. She wiped them away quickly, not wanting their first visitors to think she was daft, and went to greet them.
“Welcome, welcome!” she said, extending her hand to the wife first. She was out of her comfort zone, but she couldn’t possibly have felt more welcome in her heart. “I’m Esther.”
“Lauren Puddy,” the mother said. “This is my husband, Roderick.”
The man took her hand and pumped it up and down. “Pleased to meet you.” The man’s smile was warm and genuine.
Esther looked down at the kids, whose clothes were worn and faded, but everything fit and everyone was clean and healthy-looking.
Lauren pointed to each of the children. “Victor, Mary Sue, Judith, Carolyn, and Peter.”
“What great names!” Esther said and meant it. “My mother was a Carolyn.”
Lauren smiled broadly. “Thank you. Yes, they are all named after family.”
Esther stepped aside and swept her arm across the sanctuary. “Well, welcome. Make yourself at home.” She pointed toward the only bathroom. “The restroom is over there.” She pointed toward a table in the back. “And help yourself to coffee and doughnuts.”
At the word doughnut, all the kids looked, and the littlest piped up, “Can we, Mom? Can we?”
“Maybe after the service.” She started to herd her children down the aisle. She gave Esther a broad smile as she passed. “Thank you.”
Esther was still watching them settle in when Barbara tapped her on the arm. “Who’s going to ring the bell?”
Esther frowned. “I don’t think anybody is.”
Barbara stepped back in horror. “Of course someone is! We discussed this, remember?”
Esther did remember, and she was pretty sure that they had decided that they didn’t know if the bell could even ring, they didn’t know how to test it, and they didn’t know if trying would get one of them killed.
Cathy tried to come to Esther’s rescue. “We did discuss it. We decided it wasn’t safe.”
“We didn’t decide anything!” Vicky said. She was never one to pass up an argument. “And I wasn’t even there to decide!”
Oh, that’s right. They hadn’t had a quorum for the great bell vote.
“Vicky,” Esther said. “Have you been up there? It’s pretty treacherous.”
“I have been up there. And it’s a piece of cake. There’s a rope hanging from above. You pull the rope, the bell swings, and we get church bells! How is that dangerous?”
Realizing the new family was within earshot, Esther tried to remain patient. “That is one old rope. It could be rotten. And we don’t know if the bell will even swing. It could be rusted in place. Or it could swing, then break off, and go crashing down through the floor.”
Vicky rolled her eyes. “If it’s that rusted and loose, then we shouldn’t even be in here under it.”
She had a point. Esther hadn’t thought about that. She looked up to make sure she wasn’t standing directly in the line of fire.
The Puddy father stood and turned toward them. “Would you like me to take a look at it?”
No one answered him. They were all too shocked.
“He’s quite handy,” Lauren said without looking up from the child she was attending to.
Roderick smiled and climbed over his children’s knees to reach the aisle. He looked at Esther. “Just lead the way, ma’am.”
Esther led him to the back of the sanctuary and up the narrow stairway that led to the steeple. She tried to go fast and tried not to pant, so by the time she got to the top, she feared she was going to have a heart attack. She looked at the giant bell. “I’m scared to touch it.” Speaking revealed how winded she was.
Roderick whistled and ran his hand along the bell. “She sure is a beauty.” He walked around the bell. “Yep, I found the rope. I can see why you’re hesitant. I think a good yank would pull this thing apart.”
Esther gave Vicky a satisfied look.
“I’ve got a stepladder in my truck,” he said, and Esther quickly looked over the railing toward the street. That giant family had come in a truck? But there were two vehicles she didn’t recognize. Either someone else had shown up, or the Puddys had come in separate vehicles.
Suddenly, he was standing right in front of her. “I’m pretty sure I’ve got some rope too. Let me see what I can figure out. I’ll inspect the wood on the headstock, and if it’s good, which I think it might be, I’ll replace the rope.”
Esther was stunned. Who was this angel? “All right.”
He smiled and looked past her. “If you’ll excuse me.”
Oh, of course. She was blocking the top of the stairs. “Sorry.” She stepped away, bumping into Vicky as she did so.
“Ow!” Vicky cried.
“Well, you knew I was coming. You could’ve gotten out of the way.”
Chuckling, Roderick headed down the stairs.
