Free Waiting for Sunrise by Eva Marie Everson Page A

oatmeal. She couldn’t wait to get to church. To see Rayette and Sandra. They would know right off if her dancing with Gilbert had caused a stir within their peer group. Or with the teachers and other adults.
    And, heaven forbid, with Miss Grace. If that were the case, Miss Grace would make a beeline for Mam before Sunday school. Patsy would probably be forbidden from doing anything with her friends. Instead, she’d have to endure “a talk” with her parents. The very thought made her shudder.
    “Patsy?” Mam said. “You okay?”
    Patsy looked across the round table. “What? Oh. Yes, ma’am. I’m fine.” She looked at the bowl of lumpy hot cereal sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, raisins, and roasted nuts. “But not really hungry. May I be excused?”
    Mam nodded. “Yes, you may.”
    A couple of hours later, Patsy met Rayette and Sandra outside the church.
    “Spill, spill, spill,” Rayette demanded as soon as they’d pulled her from hearing distance of Patsy’s parents and little brother.
    She feigned ignorance. “There’s nothing to tell.”
    Sandra folded her slender arms. “I should be furious with you, you know.” Then she smiled. “But you’re one of my best friends, so I’m choosing to forgive you.”
    Patsy smiled back. “I don’t know what happened. He just asked me to dance and I—”
    “Couldn’t say no?” Rayette offered.
    Patsy shook her head. “Could you have?”
    “Probably not. But, as you said to Sandra once upon a Sunday not too long ago, isn’t he a little old for you?”
    Patsy glanced at her watch and thought back to the afternoon she first stumbled into Gilbert Milstrap. In those days, they were—she was—too young for a man Gilbert’s age. But she was fifteen now. Barely, but she felt eons away from the little girl who’d sat crying on a bus headed for Trinity. “We’d best get moving toward Sunday school or Mam will want to know what’s going on.”
    The girls started walking toward the large brick building.
    “I take it,” Rayette said, “that you aren’t going to answer me about the age difference.”
    “Seven years, four months, twenty days.” Patsy, who had been walking between her friends, stopped at the doorway to the Sunday school wing. “I did the math as soon as he told me he was a Thanksgiving baby.”
    “And when was that?” Sandra asked, opening the door for them.
    The trio stepped through. A throng of other churchgoers were milling about the hallway. Patsy made a shushing noise before mumbling, “Last night. In between dances.” She inhaled quickly. “Miss Grace just walked into her classroom.” She pulled her friends over to the left side wall for the smallest semblance of privacy. “Listen, you two, did you hear any mumblings from the teachers or Miss Grace last night?”
    Rayette and Sandra exchanged glances before nodding. “Oh yeah. Miss Grace’s frown was deeper than Old Coopers Lake.”
    It was Patsy’s turn to frown. “Wonderful. I’m sure she’ll speak to Mam. Mam will talk to Papa and Papa will tell me I can’t see Gilbert again.”
    “Again?” The girls said in unison.
    Rayette’s face turned serious. “Patsy, you can’t see Gilbert Milstrap.”
    “Why ever not?”
    “Because, he’ll tarnish your reputation,” Sandra answered. “He’s too old. You’re too young. Besides, we’re not allowed to date yet, remember? Do you honestly think a man who has been in the Air Force is going to be okay with doing stuff in groups only? Church socials and the like?”
    Patsy hadn’t thought that far. She looked at the toes of her black patent Sunday shoes. “Probably not,” she mumbled as the Sunday school bell rang.
    “Come on,” Rayette said, pulling on her arm. “We’ve got to go to class.” She looped her arm in Patsy’s as they stepped toward the center of the hallway. “Listen, Patsy, don’t worry about it. Miss Grace will talk to Mam, no doubt about it. You’ll get a lecture and then it’ll all be