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Esther
“Well, that’s interesting,” Esther said.
“What?” Christy asked. She’d finally called to check on Zoe.
Figuring—and hoping—that the call would take a while, Esther had headed outside to sit on a bench in the sun and wait for Zoe’s return. “I just stepped outside, and I saw Zoe slide ...” She stopped. “I saw Zoe go into the church.”
No need to tell her daughter that Zoe had just broken a window to break into a church. Had the child completely lost her mind? The craziest part was the door was unlocked!
“Why would she go into the church on a Tuesday afternoon? Do you guys drink wine for communion?”
Esther rolled her eyes. “We do not. Maybe she’s looking for a quiet place to study.” She knew this was bogus.
Christy knew it too. “So you’re telling me that she hasn’t given you any trouble since she arrived?”
No, Esther had not told her that. Neither had she told her that she had given her trouble. She didn’t think that omission was lying, under the circumstances. “Don’t worry. She’s doing great here. It’s good for her to be away from the people she was hanging out with at home.”
Christy gasped.
“No, no,” she hurried to say. “I’m not criticizing anyone. I’m just saying a change of scenery can be good. And she’s already made a friend. He’s in her grade, I think. He goes to our church. And he’s very cute.”
“Cute?” Christy laughed derisively. “Then they must be only friends. That poor girl has not attracted any cute ones in her life.”
Esther bristled in Zoe’s defense. “I hope you don’t let her hear you say things like that.”
“You know what? I’m sorry, Mom. I have to go.”
Esther had only just sat down. “I’m sorry, Christy. I don’t want to fight with you.”
But she was already gone. Esther hung up the phone and started to get up, but then she saw something else interesting. Jason was walking down the street. A car was parked behind him, and it appeared that’s where he’d come from, but where was he going?
Apparently, he was going straight across the church lawn, and then, without even looking around to see if he was being watched—the child would make a terrible criminal—he stuck his feet through the broken window and disappeared into the church basement.
Esther sighed. Guys, the door is unlocked.
