| |
Emma
Emma startled and looked out the window. Church bells? Where were those coming from? She went closer to the pane and peered outside. “Do you guys hear that?”
No one answered her. She looked around but couldn’t see either woman. She stepped outside for a better listen. She’d lived in the neighborhood her entire life and she’d never heard church bells. Of course, she was always in church at this time, so maybe her church’s walls were just too thick. Or maybe there were too many kids making too much noise.
She didn’t think either of these theories was true. She thought these church bells were new, which made her even more curious. She stepped off Mrs. Patterson’s steps and followed the sound. They were coming from at least one block over, but she didn’t want to go all the way around the block, so she crossed the street and stopped at the edge of the neighbor’s lawn. Then curiosity nudged her across the lawn and into their backyard. She looked around to make sure she was alone, and then she slipped through the hedge and into the adjacent backyard—which, it turned out, did not belong to a house. It belonged to a church. An ancient one.
This building had always been here, she realized. But it wasn’t a church, was it? It looked abandoned, and she’d never seen anyone there. There was someone there now, though, because the bells had just rung, and there were cars parked along the street.
Sad that the bells had stopped, she followed the edge of the building toward the front. What an ugly building! The paint was peeling, and some of the windows were boarded up. Those that weren’t boarded up appeared to be brand-new and were surrounded by unpainted plywood.
She reached the front to find an older woman standing on the front step. “Good morning!” the woman cried cheerily, waving enthusiastically.
Instinctively, Emma jumped back.
“Oops! Didn’t mean to scare you off.”
The church kid inside her scolded her for being rude. She stepped back into the woman’s sight. “You didn’t scare me. Just startled me is all.” Lame.
The woman looked ridiculous. She wore a huge red hat that was at least five times the size of her head, and a necklace of chunky green beads that perfectly matched her bright green dress. She looked like a giant red tulip.
The woman was still smiling. “Would you like to join us?”
“No, thank you! Have a great service!” Emma ran back the way she’d come.
