The Gifted: A New Edition of Terri Blackstock's Classic Tale by Terri Blackstock

Author:Terri Blackstock [Blackstock, Terri]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2005-09-06T05:00:00+00:00

11

THE NEXT DAY, BREE'S MOTHER OFFERED TO KEEP her kids while she went out “witnessing” with Andy and Carl. It had occurred to Bree that perhaps she should tell her mother about the extraordinary gift she'd been given, but her mother tended to be an alarmist, and Bree didn't want her thinking that her daughter had some kind of brain injury and rush her to the emergency room. She also didn't want her children to absorb any anxiety from their grandmother. So she chose to keep the matter to herself.

She met Andy and Carl in the church parking lot. Carl paced back and forth, raring to go, and Andy chattered nonstop. When Bree got out of her mother's car, Carl yelled out, “Okay, you're here. Let's go. Hurry!”

“Hurry?” Bree locked her purse in the trunk of her car. “Hurry where?”

“I don't know! I'm just ready to go.”

She dropped her keys into her pocket. “Okay. Feet . . . take us away.”

Carl shot her an unappreciative look and started walking.

“Don't mock him,” Andy said."'He who mocks the poor reproaches his Maker.' Proverbs 17:5.”

“Hey, I'm not poor,” Carl said, breathing faster as his step picked up. “I probably make the same thing you make.”

“Well, I'm poor,” Andy said.

“Me too,” Bree piped in. “Dirt poor. I'm the one who has to live with her mother.”

“'Blessed are the poor in spirit,'” Andy said. “Matthew 5:3.”

“We're not talking about poor in spirit.” Bree was glad she'd worn her walking shoes today. “I'm talking poor in wallet. And now I've got to get a new car, and the insurance almost never gives you what your car is worth.”

“What did we tell Sarah Manning last night?” Andy breathed hard as he kept up with Carl. “That God provides. 'But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.' Matthew 6:33.”

Carl turned and took off up a hill.

Bree trotted behind him."I'm glad this is a small town. Can't your feet press an accelerator instead of pavement, Carl? We could use my mother's car.”

“I think I have to walk. But don't worry. We're here.” He led them into another older, deteriorating neighborhood and turned up a sidewalk. “Someone inside this house needs us.”

Bree thought of Sarah Manning last night, thanking them for coming. She drew in a deep breath for courage. “Okay. Go.”

Carl knocked and stepped back, letting Bree have center stage.

But no one answered. Bree tried again.

Finally, they heard a voice from deep in the house. “Help! Somebody, please help!”

Bree shot an alarmed look to Andy and quickly turned the doorknob. It was unlocked, so she pushed the door open. “Hello?”

“In here.”

A woman's weak voice came from the kitchen. Carl bolted through the house and led them to an old woman lying on the floor.

“Thank God you've come...” Her words were slurred.

Flash.

Bree saw the woman lying on the floor, trying to get up, but one side was paralyzed. Shed had a stroke, and no one was there to help her. Bree

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