Filled with concern for the minister's condition, Betty left the hospital and drove back through Rushbury. She was about to take the bypass for Allentown when something made her change her mind. Instead she stopped for a moment outside Dan's United Reform Church, switched off the engine and sat as if in a trance, gazing at the notice board and the welcoming building behind it.
"Be there!" she heard Karen's voice repeating. "Be there! Be there!"
It was hard to believe only six days had passed since she'd stood outside that very church with Kevin, scolding him for misbehaving during the service. Or had it been Karen? Who was he now?
Despite Betty's anxiety, the warm autumnal sun bathed her in a soft blanket of contentment. In fact, she felt so thoroughly at ease within herself she was loath to move away. It was as if she'd already reached the security of another home - yet how could this be, in a strange town she seldom visited?
Admonishing herself for being over-imaginative, she checked her driving mirror and was about to move on when another car pulled up right in front of her. Out of it leapt an agile young man in his early thirties. He paused to address a young girl in his passenger seat who seemed reluctant to move.
"Aren't you coming in? All right, little one, sit tight. I shan't be more than three minutes, I promise. I just need to get the feel of this place again before tomorrow's big event."
With a caring glance back at the child, he hurried, head down with a purposeful athletic stride, into the church. The girl watched him go, then opened the car door as if debating whether to follow. Finally she made up her mind, climbed out, closed the door carefully, and wandered curiously toward the entrance.
Betty's adult instincts prompted her to keep a watchful eye on the child - no more than Kevin's age, she thought.
"Hallo," Betty greeted her as she passed. "What's happening here tomorrow?"
The girl turned, shading her eyes against the sunlight.
"It'll be Sunday," she explained with an air of worldly authority. "Daddy's got to take the service. Daddy does lots of churches when they can't find anyone else. He's very good at it, though he's not a proper clergyman."
"He's standing in for Mr. Wright?"
The youngster shook her head and pointed to the church notice-board. "He's not MISTER Wright, he's a reverend, look - Reverend Daniel Wright, M.A." She frowned. "What's M.A. stand for?"
"Master of Arts! That means he went to a special university and got his degree. Actually I've just been to see him this morning - he's lying in bed with his eyes all bandaged up."
"Completely? Can't he see ANYTHING?"
"Not at the moment. But he's got good doctors looking after him, so maybe in a few weeks he'll be better."
"Does that mean Daddy will have to come back and preach for him again next week?"
"I've no idea. Would you like him to?"
The sparkle in her eyes and a proud nod revealed how much the child idolised her father.
"Then we'll have to wait and see, won't we? It's a nice church inside. Haven't you been here before? Don't you want to come in and see?"
By way of a reply, the child led the way, proceeding slowly up the steps towards the heavy door which Betty held open for her. As they stepped respectfully inside they heard a strong, vibrant voice, filling the echoing interior with its resonance.
"Mary had a little lamb!" it intoned with polished grace and clear conviction. "Its fleece was white as snow. And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to ... oh!" The voice stopped abruptly as the speaker realised he had an audience. "Was that coming across loud and clear?"
"Perfect!" Betty assured him as they approached the pulpit. "My companion tells me you're taking the service tomorrow."
"For my sins," he grinned, "though I doubt if I'll be using those same words, in fact I haven't the faintest idea what I'm going to say. I've nothing prepared. I seldom get much time, you see - I'm usually called in at short notice - otherwise they'd send for someone better qualified. I just hope something meaningful comes into my head by tomorrow morning, or my sermon's going to consist of a load of waffle!"
He wagged a friendly finger towards his daughter. "And don't you dare say it always is, you monkey!"
The child giggled.
"I only got Moira's message this morning!" he explained as they strolled outside into the dazzling sunlight. "But inspiration usually comes, hopefully from the right source. I could even use Mary and her lamb if pushed, but some of the die-hards might take offence - it's best to be conservative where you're an unknown quantity, or you don't get invited back!"
"You might have to do next week too!" his daughter warned him, with a nod of encouragement.
Betty explained. "I was telling her Mr. Wright may be out of action for several weeks. I've just been to see him in the eye hospital. And now I'm off to another hospital where my son is. They were both injured in the same accident."
The man's worried gaze softened. "Oh, I am sorry. I hope your son's going to be all right?"
"I think so. He's conscious now, and the nurses say he's been acting up. But high spirits are a good sign, so I'm trying not to let it get me down."
"The ups and the downs of life, eh? The high spots and the low. An interesting thought!" His face broadened into a boyish grin. "Why do we claim our spirits rise when we cheer up, and fall when we feel low? We wake up, we fall asleep. Heaven is somewhere up above our heads, and hell, so they warn me, is down below. Why is that, I wonder? Up for the good things, and down for bad? Dear lady, I think between us we've just unveiled a theme for tomorrow's sermon! I hope you'll be here to judge the finished product?"
As his source of inspiration, Betty could hardly refuse.
"Will your devoted admirer be here too?" she asked.
"If she promises to behave," he nodded. "Normally we sit together, but we can't when I'm up on the soap-box! Perhaps you'd keep an eye on her for me? It's a cheek to ask, I know, but would you mind?"
"With pleasure! There, that settles it - now I've got to come! It's funny, someone told me two days ago it was important to be here. Now I know why!"
"It couldn't have been on account of me!" he laughed. "I didn't know myself till this morning. Well, it's been a pleasure meeting you. Let's hope I can rise to the occasion with an uplifting sermon!"
They said shook hands and went their separate ways. As Betty drove towards the Allentown hospital, she reflected on the warm and satisfying rapport she'd felt with this young preacher - instantly at ease with one another, though they hadn't thought to exchange names. But why was his daughter having to sit alone while he preached? What had happened to the girl's mother?
As Betty arrived at Kevin's hospital ward, she found him involved in boisterous activity with another boy of his own age, with little time to acknowledge his visitor. She quietly approached one of the nurses.
"Not much wrong there," Betty remarked lightly. "Will you need to keep Kevin much longer?"
The nurse sighed. "The doctor wants to give him a final check on Monday morning before he's discharged. I guess we can put up with him for a few more days."
Betty tried to laugh off her concern. "You make it sound as if he's quite a handful!"
"As a matter of fact, he is! He was asking me a lot of very personal questions yesterday - I'm surprised he knows about such things!"
"He had a sister who died recently," Betty explained. "They were very close!"
"Not that close, I'm sure! It was bad enough being pestered to reveal how old I was when I first needed a bra, apart from being asked outright whether I preferred tights or stockings, but then he moved on to the most intimate of subjects, things I wouldn't even discuss with my own sister! How old is he?"
"Eleven-and-a-half. I'm sorry. I must have a talk with him when I get him home. I do apologise if he's been an embarrassment."
"Oh, don't worry about me," she said stiffly. "I'm mature enough to cope with randy patients. We get our fair share, believe me, but seldom so young! Kevin claims he wants to be a nurse when he grows up, and before you say anything - it's because he wants a uniform like mine! Mrs. Marsh, you've got a problem there. You'd better take him along to your own doctor as soon as you can!"
Betty assured her she was already seeking professional help. She called out to Kevin, who gave a half-hearted wave before returning to his more interesting companion. His behaviour seemed normal enough - though, as Betty knew, Karen's influence could come and go without warning. Where would it end?
Betty was still trying to put these concerns to the back of her mind when she reached home and found Jimmy Tyler standing in her front garden. He looked as if he'd been there some time.
"Hallo, Jimmy," she called brightly. "I've just been to see Kevin."
"Oh, good," said Jimmy. "I just came round to see how he was."
"Fine now - he should be home on Monday. Have you been waiting long?"
"Not really," he said, self-consciously waving a twig in the air. "Just wondered how he was, that's all!"
"I've told you. He's fine."
This didn't seem to satisfy Jimmy Tyler, who'd obviously come for some other purpose - something he doubtless wanted to retrieve. But would Betty be right in giving it to him?
"Anything else I can do for you, Jimmy?"
"Oh, not really," he said, continuing to describe circles in the air with his stick. "I only came round to see if Kevin was back."
"Monday, Jimmy. Try again on Monday."
"Right then," Jimmy nodded, still reluctant to be on his way. Betty wondered if she wasn't being a little heartless. Here was a lad in need of help, perhaps from a broad-minded woman, someone he could safely talk to.
"Do you want to come in for a minute?" she asked. "If you want anything to eat or drink, you'll have to wait a few minutes while I get myself organised."
Jimmy's eager eyes lit up as he followed her into the kitchen.
"That's okay," he said. "What did Kevin talk about when you saw him?"
"Nothing. He was far too busy playing with another patient to bother about me. He's fine, now he's got over that other little problem."
"What problem?"
"Oh, Jimmy, I don't think it's anything you'd understand. It's to do with his sister Karen."
Jimmy's face reddened. "Is it true he can sometimes make himself look just like her if he wears the right sort of clothes?" he asked, turning to admire the refrigerator.
"They were twins, Jimmy. Twins are bound to look alike, aren't they?"
"I don't look anything like my sister."
"No, but you weren't twins - and besides, you're a boy!"
Jimmy looked down and made a big task of examining the oven door. Betty knew she hadn't given the answer he wanted to hear.
"For a start," she went on, "your hair's different. Karen always wore hers short and boyish - it was better that way for her dancing."
"Mine's very boyish!"
Betty knelt down and looked him in the eye. "Jimmy, love, I can see that. What are you trying to tell me?"
He looked up, his face full of pleading. "Is it true, though? Did Kevin sometimes put on a dress ... like a girl?"
"Well, now - I think, Jimmy, if he ever did that, he wouldn't want it generally known, would he? I mean, it's not a very boyish thing to do."
"You said Karen was boyish!"
"No, Jimmy. I said her hair looked boyish, that's all. Karen was a very feminine little girl, quite different from my scruffy son."
"Yes, but ..." he hesitated, his eyes scanning hers, searching for a sign that proved he could trust her. But Betty knew she'd be stepping out of line if she interfered in a matter that was none of her concern.
"I think I ought to make something clear, Jimmy, so we both understand one another. I don't want you telling me secrets you wouldn't want your parents to know. I'd be breaking an important code of conduct if I advised you on matters you ought really to discuss with them first. But there is something you can help me with. Kevin found a parcel of clothes outside your house on Thursday. I don't know how they got there, or whose they are, and your mother didn't report anything missing. But if you want to check them yourself, they're in the front room. If you recognise any of what's there, you'd better take it back to where it belongs."
Barely a minute later, Jimmy called out that he had to go. Betty went into the hall to say goodbye but he'd already gone, and so had the parcel!
Now that her visitor had reclaimed his property, Betty felt a little easier. She might have phoned Mrs. Tyler for a helpful chat, but she didn't. Mrs. Tyler wasn't a particularly close friend, not the kind of woman she could talk to as easily as Dan Wright or the man she'd just met in his church. Yes, she reflected, now she most certainly would have to go to tomorrow's service, and not be late either!
The next morning, Betty Marsh made her way to Rushbury, arriving a good half-hour before the service was due to begin. And there, already waiting on the steps of the United Reform Church, was her young friend, who took her at once by the hand and led her like a newcomer straight down the aisle to a seat in the front row.
"He likes me to sit where he can keep an eye on me," she confided.
She said little else as they sat there, giving Betty frequent smiles of appreciation as the church slowly filled. At last the choir appeared and everyone stood up. The girl beamed proudly as her father entered with due solemnity, making his way to the pulpit where he asked the congregation to sing the first hymn.
In contrast to the charismatic warmth she had sensed the day before, this man's style seemed stiff and formal, and Betty couldn't deny a sense of disappointment. But as he began to address his younger listeners, he reached down behind the pulpit and pulled out a small geographic globe.
"Now," he exclaimed with sudden eagerness. "I wonder who knows where Heaven is? Can anyone point to Heaven for me?"
A few hands were raised, and fingers pointed to the roof.
"What, up there? I can't see it! Can anyone see Heaven?"
"It's up in the sky!" a small voice volunteered.
"Up in the sky!" he repeated with a glowing smile. "Ah! And didn't the sky look lovely this morning, with those soft white clouds drifting along like cotton wool in a sea of blue! But what about that other nasty place we don't like to mention? Where's the place we sometimes call Hell?"
He uttered this word in a deep, gravelly whisper, giving it awesome gloom, and the hands all pointed downwards.
"I hope it's a long way down, don't you? Don't want it too near us, not on a day like this! Now - who's been to Australia? Anyone?"
There was no response.
"That ruins everything, and I thought things were beginning to go well. Let's have another shot - who's seen Australia on television?"
This time, many hands went up and his face responded with a boyish grin.
"Let us all give thanks for modern technology! Well, Australia is about as far away as you can get from Rushbury, right round on the other side of the world." He pointed to the globe. "I'm sure some of you have seen TV programmes like HOME AND AWAY or NEIGHBOURS, and I'm told they're made in Australia. But when we see them here in England, they don't look upside down, do they?"
There was general agreement.
"Do you know why that is? Because in Australia, they still talk of sky and Heaven being up above them. And when Australians refer to Hell, they still think it's down beneath their feet, in our direction. There's an avenue of speculation we won't explore today!"
He stressed that if Heaven was always up, then it must surround every person on earth, while Hell could only be found deep within ourselves. Whether or not his audience fully understood, he certainly kept them amused, using informality and light humour as his way of retaining each listener's interest.
Everyone stood to sing "Looking upward every day!", and the minister pursued the same theme in his main sermon.
"Is it nice or nasty when we break something?" he asked the front row. "That depends whether it's being broken up, like school-term and firewood, or broken down, like cars and sometimes marriages."
Had his own marriage broken down, Betty wondered? She glanced at the child beside her and warmed to see how she revelled in every word her father spoke, totally enthralled, her eager eyes shining with pride and admiration. Father and daughter evidently enjoyed a warm and loving relationship.
Betty's wandering attention was brought sharply to heel as she became aware of the speaker's gaze now directed towards the pair of them.
"My daughter and I," he was saying, "met a very interesting lady yesterday. I can't tell you her name, because she didn't confide in us, but she put into my head the idea that, often, the words which inspire us with encouragement and hope are connected with upward movement. Cheer up! Let's brew up some tea! Lift up your hearts! Thumbs up! Raise your glasses! Up the favourite team! The barometer's rising! Even the corners of our mouths oblige by turning upwards when we smile. Who'd like to try that for me, just to prove I'm right?"
Most members of the congregation, including Betty and her companion, found themselves exchanging spontaneous smiles of recognition.
"Isn't that a wonderful sight, everyone looking happy? But now - what about that other word DOWN? Down in the dumps! I'm feeling low! Her face fell! I've dropped a stitch! The bottom's fallen out of the market! Emily's gone down with the measles!"
He raised his hand to stem the gentle laughter.
"Of course, there are exceptions. It isn't nice being locked up, and on a cold night it's good to have an eiderdown. I expect we'd all rather cycle downhill than up - but the majority of ups are pleasant and I invite you to make a list of them when you get home. If Mr. Wright isn't right enough to be with us next week, there's a risk you may have to put UP with me again. Maybe you feel that's a let DOWN, I don't know. But I'd love to read your lists next Sunday, if I'm granted a return visit."
He tied his theme rather clumsily to the ascension of Christ, and his sermon came to an abrupt end at noon when his watch uttered a very audible bleep.
"And my time is now up, so I ask you all to wake up, stand up, and raise your voices for our closing hymn."
Five minutes later, he was chatting in the entrance, shaking hands with his congregation and basking in the friendly nods and smiles that told him his service had been much appreciated. Betty and the girl were among the last to leave.
"I doubt if that would have won prizes," he said privately, "but we've kept the balloon in the air for another week and that's what counts. By the way, we never introduced ourselves; my name's Peter Renshaw."
Betty introduced herself and they shook hands.
"Betty, I'm truly glad we met, just at the right time too. And thank you so much for acting as Karen's Auntie this morning."
"Karen?" The word stung like a wasp. What did he know about Karen? She turned to the child.
"Don't tell me your name's Karen?"
Karen nodded, anxious to please.
"My daughter's name was also Karen," Betty explained. "She died last January."
"Oh, my dear, I am sorry!" Peter said at once and he touched her arm, causing a satisfying glow of warmth.
"Then she must be where Mummy's gone," the child remarked.
Peter fondled her head and drew her close to his side. "Yes, my pet. Our loss was just a year ago," he revealed. "A gruelling time for both of us. Life hasn't been easy since then, has it, sweetheart? But we manage."
"It takes us time to adjust," said Betty. "Some people cling to the past, but I think that's a mistake. As life goes on, we ought simply to turn the page and look forward to the next interesting chapter. Remember, the ones we've lost are never far away."
"Is this next Sunday's sermon?" asked Peter. "If so, grab me a pencil and I'll take dictation."
Betty laughed. "Sorry, was I preaching? But that's how I came to meet Dan Wright. It's too long a story to go into now, and if I rushed it, well - it'd sound ridiculous!"
"You'd have more time to tell us if you came to our house for lunch!" said a small voice beside her.
Peter smiled, in no way embarrassed by his daughter's forthright suggestion. "More to the point," he added, "we'd have time to listen. There, you heard the lady of the house - are you free to join us? You'll need to accept us as you find us, but I reckon someone would greatly enjoy your company!"
It seemed such a good idea that Betty found herself accepting without hesitation, taking advantage of a rare opportunity to act spontaneously without first having to consult Kevin.
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