I clasp the key around my neck
and wonder if the time is yet.
If I unlocked the gate today,
would you come in? Or run away?
Christy sat mesmerized by Tracy"s words. "You wrote that?"
Tracy nodded. "Kind of bold, huh?"
"I think it"s beautiful."
"Well, when I gave it to Doug three years ago, I guess I freaked him out. He ran away. He remembered it though," Tracy said, the dreamy look returning. "That"s why today he said if I unlocked the garden gate this time, he would come in."
Christy sipped at her hot tea and pondered Tracy"s words. "This is so hopelessly romantic, I can"t believe it. Why did you let me stand between you all this time? I had no idea!"
Tracy leaned forward. "If I had told you about my feelings for Doug, you would have pulled back and never dated him."
"That would have been okay."
Tracy shook her head. "No, don"t you see? It had to follow its natural course. Doug had to decide for himself if there was anything between the two of you. You had to see if there was anything there. Doug is so pure-hearted and sincere. It wasn"t hard to wait. Well, up until last night it wasn"t hard. Then after we sang together, I thought I was going to burst!"
The two friends sat sipping the remainder of their tea. pondering the events of the past few days, months, and years. "Katie is right," Christy said. "G.o.d is so weird. His way of doing things is bizarre."
A smile crept across Tracy"s face. "And I wouldn"t want G.o.d to be any other way."
"Will you promise me one thing?" Christy asked.
"Sure. What?"
"If, or should I say when, you and Doug get married, can I be a bridesmaid? I want a front-row view of when he kisses you for the first time."
Tracy let a nervous bubble of laughter explode a little too loudly, and the older women across the room gave them a look of mild disapproval. Tracy quickly drew her white linen napkin up to her mouth to m.u.f.fle her chuckle.
"You really are a true friend, Christy. And if we ever do get married, yes, of course I"d love to have you stand with me as one of my bridesmaids. As long as you promise me that I can be a bridesmaid at your wedding too."
All Christy"s feelings of contentment and awe drained from her. Christy couldn"t imagine herself ever letting her feelings grow for another guy again. But she could picture herself standing at the gate of her heart"s garden, making sure the gate was locked tight. She felt like swallowing the key.
"Hallo, girls!" Mrs. Bates"s cheerful voice called out from behind them.
"Oh, is it time to go already?" Christy asked, glancing at the grandfather clock in the corner. "I hope we haven"t kept you waiting."
"Not at all. I have to arrange a few things in the boot, so I"ll meet you at the car when you"re ready."
Tracy and Christy figured out how much they owed for their lovely tea and paid at the cash register. Out front they noticed Mrs. Bates was busily rearranging a variety of boxes and parcels like a jigsaw puzzle in the car"s trunk.
"Do you need some help?" Tracy asked.
"These bundles won"t quite fit here in the boot."
"The boot?" Christy asked. "You mean the trunk? I thought you were talking about the boots on your feet."
Mrs. Bates looked up. "No, the boot. This is the boot. The front of the car is the bonnet. Why? What do you call it?"
"The trunk and the hood."
With s ripple of laughter. Mrs. Bates said. "Well then, I can"t seem to fit these things in the trunk."
"I can hold some things on my lap in the backseat," Tracy volunteered.
"Actually, it"s my turn to sit in the back," Christy said. "I"ll hold them."
"Brilliant!" Mrs. Bates shut the trunk, or rather, the boot, and handed several packages to Christy for her to balance on her lap once she wedged herself into the already half-loaded backseat.
They drove down the country lane, with Mrs. Bates and Tracy chattering all the way. Christy kept silent in the backseat bene.ith her packages. She felt this was where she belonged, taking a backseat to Tracy, who for years had taken a backseat to her. It was a humbling experience.
At the castle Christy and Tracy hurried to prepare everything for their early morning departure to Noelsbury.
"Should we pack a change of clothes?" Christy asked.
"We"re supposed to be back here tomorrow night," Tracy said. "I think all we need is a jacket and our materials for the outreach."
"I don"t know how to pack these huge puppets and all these craft materials," Christy said. Then she had an idea. She forced everything into her suitcase and zipped it shut. With the pullout handle and wheels, she was sure it would be easy to get on and off the train.
"Brilliant!" Tracy said, eyeing the suitcase.
"*Brilliant,"" Christy repeated. "Isn"t that the funniest word? Everyone around here says it. We better watch out, or before we know it, Doug will be replacing his *awesome" with brilliant.""
Tracy sat on the edge of her bed and pulled a brush through her hair, checking her reflection in a small oval mirror she held in her hand. Christy thought how pretty Tracy was, how sweet and kind and perfect for Doug in every way.
Christy"s talk with Doug on the bridge seemed a decade ago. So much had changed in her feelings after the talk and after she understood about the garden in Tracy"s heart.
However, one thing hadn"t changed-the deep, hollow ache right in the middle of her stomach. The ache of loneliness.
"It would be pouring rain," Christy muttered. She stood inside the small train station with her other teammates, waiting for their host pastor to arrive and drive them to the church for their Sat.u.r.day outreach. The train ride had taken a little more than two hours, and although it was almost nine in the morning, it still felt like the middle of the night.
A bright red minivan pulled up in the parking lot, and a man in a black raincoat got out and ran inside. "You"re here!" he said when he spotted the group. "Sorry to keep you waiting. I"m Reverend Allistar."
Doug shook hands with him and introduced everyone.
"Shall we go then?" The pastor opened the door to the pouring rain.
"Let me get that for you, Christy," Doug said, offering to carry her suitcase with all the puppets and craft materials tucked neatly inside. He smiled, and she thanked him. It all seemed so normal again, so natural for the two of them to be friends. It also had seemed natural to see Tracy sitting next to him during the train ride this morning and for Doug to have his arm resting across the back of her seat as he listened to her with interest.
The team had to squeeze to fit inside the minivan. Christy was glad the drive to the church was only fifteen minutes. They all tumbled out in the rain when they arrived. Gemot handed Christy"s suitcase to her once they were inside the small stone church and said. "I"ll help you with the children since they might not be too keen on soccer in the rain."
Brilliant!" said Doug, who had overheard Christy and Gemot talking.
Tracy and Christy burst out laughing. "We were afraid this might happen," Tracy said. "You"re changing into a *brilliant" man!"
Doug looked deeply into Tracy"s eyes. The two of them seemed to exchange some unspoken message. Christy felt a bit uncomfortable.
"Actually, you"ve always been a brilliant man," Tracy said.
Doug loved receiving praise. He used to smile whenever Christy complimented him. Now Tracy"s words made him glow.
"Where would you like us to set up for the children?" Christy asked the pastor, moving away from Doug and Tracy.
"This way." He led Christy and Gemot down the short hallway to a large, carpeted room. "Please feel free to arrange the room to your liking."
Gemot began to move chairs, creating a clever stage for their puppet show. Christy unzipped her suitcase and lifted out the craft materials. From that moment on, she barely stopped moving all day.
Their first group of children arrived with bountiful energy. Christy and Gemot"s job was to keep the young ones occupied while their parents were in the sanctuary meeting. Since it was a small church, Christy wondered if the noisy children could be heard down the hallway. But all in all, the morning program went smoothly. She was glad they had enough crafts to keep the older kids interested and that all of them liked the puppet show.
Gemot saved the day during the last fifteen minutes when the children began to get hungry and tired. He seemed to know an endless number of indoor games, which the children loved.
After their morning session, a cold lunch was served to them in the church kitchen. Doug asked Christy how it went with the children.
"Fine," she said, "thanks to Gemot. We could use some more help in there though. If anyone else would like to come in during the afternoon program, that would be great."
The next session began at one-thirty, and a new flock of kids arrived. There weren"t so many at first. Christy thought it might be easier than the morning bunch. Then a few more children arrived, and then a few more, and pretty soon the noise level in the room rose. They decided to move right into the Bible story and the puppet show to see if they could get all the kids to sit down and, hopefully, to quiet down. It seemed to work.
Halfway through the puppet show, Tracy and Sierra entered the room and stood in the back.
"Ian is giving his message first this time," Tracy explained after the puppet show as they gathered the children in groups of five to work on their craft. "So we have some time before we do the drama and music. How can we help out here?"
"We"re making paper crowns," Christy said. "These stars don"t seem to peel off very easily. You could help with that. And if one of you wants to pa.s.s out the crayons, that would be great. The littler kids usually break the crayons, so give them the fat colors or the ones that are already broken."
"You"re quite the natural children"s ministry woman," Katie said. Then, striking a pose with her arms muscled out like a weight lifter, she added in a low, beefy voice. "I am ministry woman." She flexed her arm muscles again, and Christy laughed. Some of the children noticed Katie"s muscle-bound pose and laughed at her too.
"Would you kids like to hear a little song?" Tracy asked. She sat down in a circle of girls busily maneuvering their blunt scissors around the edges of their cutout paper crowns. With her high, charming voice, Tracy sang a song about a baby bird in its nest and how it trusted its heavenly Father and we should too.
"Sing another!" the children asked.
Tracy sang about how the mountains, the meadows, and even the trees sing out their praise to G.o.d, and we should too. Christy was pretty sure these were all songs Tracy had written. She could picture Tracy singing them one day with Doug.
Katie whispered to Christy. "I am song woman." She struck another muscle-flexing pose.
"And what are you, Katie?"
"I am drama woman," she said, readjusting her pose so she could check her watch. "And I must go." She motioned to Sierra, who was sitting on the floor helping a small girl affix her stars in just the right place on her crown.
Sierra hopped up, and on her way to join Katie, she whispered to Christy, "I"ll be back. This is fun!"
Tracy left too. As soon as the crowns were finished, the children brought them to Christy so she could measure their head size and staple the crowns in the back.
When the parents came to pick up the kids, one little boy put his crown on his head and cried out, "Mummy, Mummy, look! Jesus is the King of everything!"
The "mummy" smiled and said to Christy, "Thanks so much. I really enjoyed the program. It gave me a lot to think about."
"And Mummy," the boy continued, "Jesus loves me."
Christy felt good knowing that the message had come across clearly for the little guy. She wished his mom didn"t look quite so serious and unsure.
"I have something for you." Christy said. She reached in her craft box and pulled out one of the booklets the ministry team was giving to people who said they wanted to know more about Christ. "Here. Maybe this will help you to think through what you"ve heard. We"ll be back tonight at six o"clock it you would like to come again."
She didn"t know if she sounded too pushy. The program would be the same as this afternoon, so why would the lady want to come again? Still, Christy was glad she hadn"t let the woman walk away empty-handed.
The last child had just left when Doug popped his head in the door. "Grab your coats! We"re ready to go. You can leave all this."
Christy and Gemot were the last to squeeze into the minivan. The pastor drove fast down the narrow streets of the town to their appointed location at the town square for their four o"clock drama presentation. Christy felt relieved that she didn"t have any responsibilities for this portion so she could catch her breath.
The drama team went to work in the van, applying makeup and a few simple costume pieces. Doug and Ian carried the props out to the center of the square and tried to find the driest spot to set up. The good news was that the rain had stopped. The bad news was that the cobblestone square was wet and slippery and only a few people were out and about.
Still, the team stayed on course, and right at four o"clock the drama team began their performance before a gathering of seven local people. A few other people joined them, and by about halfway through the presentation, Christy noticed the crowd had swelled to about thirty.
"Here." Doug whispered to Christy near the end of the play. "Be ready to pa.s.s these out." He handed her a bunch of booklets explaining how to become a Christian and another handful of flyers announcing their evening meeting at the church.
As soon as the drama ended, the crowd spontaneously applauded, which Christy thought was a good sign. Several teenagers and older children were in the crowd. Christy went right up to them and offered a brochure before they walked away.
"Where are you from?" a young teenage boy asked her.
"Some of us are from America, some from Germany. We"re part of an outreach team," Christy explained.
"Why are you here?"
Before Christy had time to think through her answer, she said, "Because people need Jesus, and we want to tell them about Him."
The boy snickered and walked away. Christy felt foolish. The other people she handed brochures to were polite and thanked her. She wished she hadn"t blown it with that boy though.