Maggie filled her in on the recent details of Jed"s life and
how things were going in Pine Mountain in general. "The
main reason I"m calling is because another good friend of 96Melody Carlson
your son"s has shown up in town recently and I am writing
an article in the paper about him."
"Oh, who"s that, someone famous?"
"Not really. Your son helped him out while living in
Papua New Guinea. The young man"s name is Michael
Abundi."
"Yes, I do remember that name from some of Stevie"s let-
ters. Didn"t his parents die when he was a young boy?"
"Yes, and Steven raised him and sent him to school. But
Michael was a little worried that because you and your hus-
band had disapproved of Steven"s decision to become a mis-
sionary, that you might be reluctant to discuss all this
Although, I must say, you seem very open to me, Mrs.
Harris."
"Please call me Barbara. And that whole opposition thing
was mostly Stevie"s father"s doing. He thought Steven was
throwing away his life, and then when he got sick and died
my husband blamed his death on his choice to go live
some "G.o.d-forsaken foreign country." My husband died last
winter. Ironically, he also died of cancer."
"Oh, I"m sorry, Mrs.-Barbara. Have you other chil-
dren?"
"No, Stevie was our only one. He was such a dear boy. $
And I"m proud that he lived his life doing what he thought
Iwas important. Oh, maybe I don"t completely understand it,
but I respect him for it. His father spent his whole life just
making a lot of money, but it sure didn"t seem very worth-
while to him when we lost our only son, or even when he
himself died last year. What good does it do him now, I
t
wonder? You know, I"d trade all that money just to have
both of them back-and speaking to each other again." She
Ipaused as if to catch her breath. "Goodness, I"m sorry to
have gone on like that. It"s as if something in me just came
uncorked. I guess I still have my own issues to deal with after
all."
"Well, you sound like a very wise woman to me, Barbara.
And I"m guessing your son was a lot like you."
Looking for You All My Life97
"Thank you, that"s very kind of you to say. Now did I
hear you right? Did you say that this young man, Michael,
is actually staying in Pine Mountain right now?"
"Yes. Strange as it sounds, he came here because of
Steven."
"How very odd."
I"Yes, it is rather unusual. Michael said that Steven"s
Idying wish was to return to Pine Mountain and share his
faith with his friends there. Michael promised Steven to go