Free The Coming Storm by Tracie Peterson Page A

person.”
    “But my skin color shouldn’t matter. I’m a human being, same as you. A Christian woman, same as you. Color isn’t important to me.”
    “No, I know it isn’t, but you have the luxury of feeling that way. Some folks will call you progressive and praise you for your attitude. For me, it’s a constant battle. I’ve always been taught that color does matter—so even I don’t feel like you do. The color of your skin tells you what’s expected of you—where you’ll be allowed to go, how folks will treat you. Believe me, Dianne, I don’t want color to matter. I don’t want it to be an issue between us.”
    “Then let’s not make it one,” Dianne said more sternly than she’d meant to sound.
    “I hope you’ll forgive me, but with the door open I couldn’t help but overhear,” Koko said as she joined the two women on the porch. “Dianne, you must understand that for you, a white woman, things are different. As Faith said, you have the luxury of taking up whatever feeling or cause you desire. Some will admire your ambitions and others will scorn your beliefs, but it will only be your philosophies they come against. Not you personally— not the color of your skin. People look at me and say, ‘Ah, she’s Indian. That makes her a heathen child who has no understanding of anything more than chewing hides and raising more heathens.’ ”
    “And for me,” Faith declared, “it’s, ‘Oh, she’s Negro. That makes her dim-witted, lazy, and incapable of being educated.’ And some will add that I practice black magic and superstitious nonsense too.”
    Koko nodded knowingly. “It’s the same for my people.”
    For Dianne the discussion was becoming increasingly painful.She knew she was naive. Knew, too, that her feelings about color were definitely not the thoughts she had heard expressed by so many others. But she honestly didn’t want to look at people in the ways Koko and Faith were suggesting.
    “I can understand your heart, Faith. I understand not wanting to take another bit of charity or be at the mercy of white people. But you don’t have that here. And you won’t have that here. You are loved simply because you are my friend. And Koko, you know my feelings in this matter. My mother was a very prejudiced woman, sharing many of those beliefs you mentioned. But it’s not me. It’s not how I feel.” Dianne got to her feet. “I love you both more dearly than any friend I’ve ever had. Just as dearly as I loved my little sisters. I despise the sorrow you’ve known because of heartless people, but here on this ranch, we don’t have to live as the world does. We can make a change right here. We can raise our children together—share our hopes and dreams together—find a better way, a way that God would have us make.”
    “That’s exactly the conclusion I came to last night,” Faith said, smiling. “Remember I was telling you about Hebrews eleven?”
    Dianne nodded.
    “Well, the last couple of verses in that chapter really caught my attention. After talking about all those wonderful folk in the Bible—all those great men and women of God—it said . . . let me see if I can remember.” She paused a moment and closed her eyes. “‘And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.’ ” Dianne shook her head. “I don’t think I understand.”
    “I think it means that our Bible forefathers found their faith commended, but they had only a part of what God promised. It wasn’t that God didn’t know what He was doing, but He had His own timing for all these things, and because of His timing, we come together in His plan and the promise of Jesus. Folks didn’t understand why He promised something and then they died without seeing it come about. We don’t always understand why God does things the way He does.”
    “ ‘For my thoughts are not your