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Esther
Esther was so tired she couldn’t believe her feet were working. But they were. They were carrying her, with their normal steadfast efficiency, across the church lawn.
She’d gotten Zoe dropped off at school, and though Zoe stunk like a brewery, she hadn’t mentioned a hangover, and Esther hadn’t asked. The child had hit the orange juice with an eagerness that bordered on desperation, but she hadn’t asked for any ibuprofen. Maybe she’d brought some of her own.
Now it was time for ladies’ prayer. They’d been meeting every Tuesday to pray, and she was so tired, she’d thought about skipping it this time. She knew they could handle it without her, and she knew they wouldn’t be offended by her absence, especially when they learned she’d spent all night sitting in the common room with Milton.
But she didn’t want to skip it. She needed to ask these ladies to pray for Zoe. And though she could call in the request, she knew it wouldn’t carry the same sense of urgency.
Barbara was already there and had the coffee on. Gratefully, Esther poured herself a cup.
“Let’s go to the upper room,” Vicky said when she arrived. “It’s warmer up there.”
Esther gave Barbara a chance to claim the comfiest chair, and when she didn’t, Esther settled in. Then, listening to Barbara and Vicky make small talk, she nearly drifted off to sleep. Vicky had been right. It was warm in that room, warm and cozy. With her head laid back and her eyes closed, she rested, close to sleep but not quite there. Almost listening to what her friends were saying, but not quite.
A touch on her hand roused her. Rachel had sat in the chair beside her. The ceiling slanted over that seat, and Rachel had to duck to keep her hat from hitting the ceiling.
“How is Zoe?” Rachel asked softly.
“You can pull the chair away from that wall.”
Rachel turned to look at the ceiling as if she hadn’t realized it was there.
“Just trade with me,” Vicky ordered.
“In a second.” Rachel’s eyes were focused on Esther. “I need an update first.”
All eyes were on Esther now. She straightened up in her chair. “Go ahead and trade seats. I might as well share the update with everyone.”
As Rachel and Vicky swapped, Esther took attendance with her eyes. “Should we wait for Vera?”
“I don’t think she’s coming,” Vicky said. “She’s not feeling well.”
“Oh no,” Cathy said.
Vera was the oldest among them, and anytime she didn’t feel well, the rest of them panicked a little. Vera never panicked. She often said she was ready whenever God was.
“I don’t think it’s anything serious,” Vicky said. She sat back and looked at Esther. “All right, what’s going on with the wild child?”
Esther didn’t like Vicky calling Zoe this, but she let it slide. “I’m really worried. We had a rough night. She snuck out of the apartment after I fell asleep. I don’t know where she went—”
“Did you ask her?” Vicky interrupted.
“No, not yet.”
“Well, that might be a good first step in figuring out where she was.”
“Let her talk,” Rachel ordered, and Vicky’s mouth snapped shut.
“I’m not sure it matters where she went. Wherever it was, she said she went there because she thought Jason would be there—”
“Our Jason?” Cathy cried.
“Don’t worry, he wasn’t there. So, I’m assuming she went to a party—”
“On a Monday night?” Barbara cried.
“Let her talk!” Rachel said with even more authority.
“Sorry,” Cathy said and swung her arm in a gesture that said, continue.
“Yes, on a Monday. She came back very drunk. She could hardly walk. The building was locked, of course, but I unlocked the windows to the common room and then I just waited for her to come home. Which she did, eventually. At about four o’clock this morning.”
Rachel gasped.
“She tried to climb in through the window and managed to fall inside. She hit her head, which made me think I should have just left the door unlocked, but there was nowhere for me to sit and watch the door unless I dragged a chair out into the hallway ...” She put her head in her hand. She was so tired.
“You did great,” Rachel said. “Absolutely great.”
“I’m really tired. I didn’t sleep much after we got her into bed, either. I should probably go take a nap, but I wanted to ask you to pray for her, and I wanted to pray with you.” She didn’t know for sure that it meant a big difference to God, but she often felt a sense of power when a team of them asked God for the same thing at the same time.
“Yes, of course,” Rachel said. “Did she go to school?”
Esther nodded.
“Great. Let’s pray for her right now.”
“Hang on,” Vicky said. “We’ll definitely pray for her, but there’s something else we need to discuss before Esther falls asleep on us.”
Esther looked at her, feeling more awake now that she was so annoyed with Vicky.
“We need a pastor. I know we’ve discussed it, but we haven’t done anything to make it happen, and we need to stop horsing around. We don’t have many parishioners, but I’m afraid those we have won’t be around much longer if we don’t get a real leader. I don’t want it to just be us and Derek on Sunday mornings.”
Cathy took a long breath, and it was obvious, to Esther anyway, that Cathy was also annoyed with Vicky. “Don’t tell me we haven’t done anything to make it happen. We have. I’ve been praying fervently, and I know others have too. But we can’t ask a pastor to work for free, and we don’t have any money. That’s what the holdup is, Vicky. It’s not that we don’t want a pastor. We do, of course. But we can’t advertise a job opening if there’s no money.”
“Maybe it’s time to ask for volunteers,” Vicky said, her tone uppity.
“We’ve already discussed that too,” Cathy snapped. “Who is going to volunteer to pastor a church for free?”
“We’ve all been in church long enough,” Esther said, feeling almost too weak to speak, “to know that you get what you pay for. We open this up to volunteers, we’ll likely get someone no one else would hire. I agree with Vicky, though. To an extent. We can ask for this particular thing with more fervency. I’ve grown quite complacent about this piece of the puzzle. I’m quite content with the seven us running things. But Vicky is right. We should have a proper pastor. We need someone who is skilled at preaching and teaching, and the day may come when we have a crisis we can’t handle.”
“And that day is the day that God really gets to shine through,” Barbara said.
“True.” Esther closed her eyes again. “I really think I need to go home and rest. But first, Barbara, are you saying that you don’t think we should ask God for a pastor?”
“No,” she said quickly. “I think we should ask him. But I don’t think we should be panicking over the fact that we don’t have one yet.”
Esther nodded. “All right. I thought I could, but I can’t do this. I need to go to bed.” She pushed herself out of the chair. “Please pray for Zoe.” She started across the room.
“I’ll walk you out,” Rachel said.
“That’s not necessary,” Esther said, but Rachel ignored her and followed her down the stairs.
Once they were on the porch, Rachel grabbed Esther’s elbow. “I have an idea.” The door swung shut behind them.
Esther hoped she wasn’t about to nominate a volunteer pastor. She didn’t have the energy to care about that right now.
“About Zoe,” Rachel clarified. “I want to help.”
Esther bristled a little. What could Rachel do that she, the grandmother, couldn’t? “What did you have in mind?”
Rachel scanned the property. “Actions have consequences, right? Well, you tell her that the consequence for her behavior is ten hours of community service, which she will serve at the church.”
Esther followed her eyes. “What do you think she’d be able to do?” She didn’t think Zoe could rewire the kitchen, and she wasn’t sure it was safe to put her up on the lift to paint the ceiling.
“We still need to clean out the basement,” Rachel said. Then she nodded toward the sign. “But we can start by repainting that.”
Oh yeah, the defaced sign. Esther’s stomach turned at the sight of it. “Did anybody call that girl’s mother? The one that Emma and Mary Sue think did it?”
“Yes. Vicky took it upon herself. And the girl’s mother swore up and down that her daughter had nothing to do with it.”
Esther sighed. “All right. So, you want me to force Zoe to serve here?”
“It’s not really about the service,” Rachel said quickly. “I mean, that’s part of it, but really, we’re tricking her into spending time with me.” Rachel stepped closer. “Esther, you don’t know much about the days of my youth, but they were rough.”
Esther did know a little, enough to believe this claim.
“I think that, if I share some of my story with her, it might help.”
Esther wasn’t so sure.
“Give me a chance. Ten hours. That’s all I’m asking.”
Esther shrugged. “Might as well. It can’t hurt. And we’ll get the sign fixed, anyway.”
