Preacher Wore A Gun by Joyce Livingston

Author:Joyce Livingston
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2013-08-16T04:00:00+00:00

Eight

Turning and rushing into the room, Tassie found Babette sprawled on the floor next to her desk amid a sea of scattered books, broken glass, and a crumpled lamp shade. The child was crying and her arm was bleeding. She hurried to Babette and gathered her in her arms.

“I fell!” the girl uttered between sobs as she pointed her finger in an upward manner. “I was trying to get my kitty.”

Tassie’s gaze went to the series of shelves mounted above the child’s desk. The very first time she had entered Babette’s room, she had noticed the big white shaggy stuffed kitten reclining lazily on the top shelf because it had looked so real. “You climbed up on your desk?”

With tears rolling down her cheeks, the girl simply nodded.

“Babette, you should have told me you wanted your kitty. I could have gotten it for you.” She paused long enough to press a tissue from the box on the desk to Babette’s cut. “That shelf was much too high for a little girl like you to reach. Promise me you won’t try that again. I don’t want you to get hurt.” Satisfied that, other than the superficial cut on her arm, the child was all right, she carefully lifted her from the floor and sat down on the side of the bed, cradling the shaking little body in her arms.

Babette cowered against her, hiding her face in Tassie’s shirt. “Don’t hit me! I didn’t mean to break the lamp!”

“Hit you? Why would I hit you? I know you didn’t mean to break it. You were only after your kitty.” Why would the child think she would hit her? Was that the way her grandmother had punished her when she didn’t behave? Tassie gently tugged Babette away from her shirt and smiled down at her. “I don’t think your cut is very bad. Would you let me put some medicine on it and bandage it up? Then I’ll kiss it and make it all well!”

Babette, still sobbing, nodded.

Tassie stood and lowered the child onto her bed. “You wait right there. I’m going into the bathroom to get the tube of medicine and some gauze and tape and I’ll be right back.” She hurried into the hall bathroom and much to her surprise found everything she needed, even a small pair of scissors, and then hurried back.

Although the little girl said nothing the entire time Tassie was cleaning and dressing her wound, she sat perfectly still, her gaze pinned on Tassie’s every move. After Tassie finished she kissed the boo-boo, returned each item to where she had found it, then lifted Babette in her arms and carried her to the rocking chair sitting in the corner of the room. “Would you like me to rock you? That’s what my mom always did when I had a boo-boo. And you know what? It always made me feel better.”

When Babette tilted her head and eyed her suspiciously, Tassie smiled at her, hoping to convey an element of trust.

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