Free Leading the Way by Marsha Hubler Page A

food at every meal. Are you sick or something?”
    Silence filled the barn, except for two lazy horses whisking their tails to shoo away flies.
    “Katie?”
    “Oh, all right, Skye. You won’t give up until I spill it. I want you to be the first to know. It’s been killin’ me to keep this in until you and I were alone.”
    “What? What?”
    Katie rested her arms on Boomer’s back, her eyes darting rapidly. “I’ve given everything to the Lord. I mean everything. I did it last night at the campfire.”
    “But I thought you did that in your bedroom a few weeks ago.” Skye worked the comb through a stubborn knot in Champ’s tail.
    “Well, I only gave part of my life to God that day. Last night I gave up all the things I had been holding on to.”
    “What were you holdin’ on to, and what made you give them up?”
    “It was what the kids said. Mostly what you said, Skye.”
    “Me?” Skye’s voice squeaked. “I hardly said anything. I just told the truth, the way the Lord has been helping me. It was tough to give that testimony, but now I’m glad I did it.”
    “Yeah, and remember what you said about running away from God?”
    “How could I forget? I meant it.”
    “That’s when I felt like somebody punched me right in the nose. I’ve been running away from God too, because I was mad at him. Just like you were.”
    “It’s no fun runnin’ from God, is it?” Skye asked. “You never get too far. I found that out the hard way.”
    “Me too,” Katie said. “I realized last night that I had been runnin’ from him not only with my attitude about blindness and my parents, but also about other things.”
    “Hmmm…let me guess. How about the way you eat all those bags of junk food and get no exercise? Then there’s your attitude about schoolwork. Am I gettin’ warm?”
    “Right on.” Katie resumed brushing Boomer’s neck. “I realized last night that I’ve been using food as an out. Half the time I eat when I’m not even hungry! It just helps me get my mind off how frustrated and mad I am.”
    “Hey, you’re not alone in that one. I used to do that with pills. Now, that was dumb with a capital D.”
    “Well, I really mean business this time,” Katie said. “I want to come clean. I know if I do, my parents will get back together. Will you help me?”
    “Well, sure.” Skye jumped at the chance to help her new friend. “But what else can I do besides help you with Boomer?”
    Katie slipped her arms around Boomer’s neck and gave him a hug. He nickered.
    “I have the Bible on cassette tapes buried under a pile of stuff here in my room.”
    “You do? Wow! That’s awesome. I’d love to see it.”
    “My mother made me bring it. I also have a box full of Christian music CDs that I’ve kinda been ignoring. Actually, big-time ignoring. I want to start my life all over with God. But first, I need to houseclean my room. Will you help me?”
    “Houseclean?”
    “Let’s go up to the house, and I’ll show you.”
    The girls put their horses out to pasture and headed straight for Katie’s room. In five minutes, they had dug out at least a dozen bags and boxes of snack foods that now lay in a foot-high pile on the bed.
    “This answers a big question I’ve had since you got here.” Skye flopped on the bed’s small empty space next to the mound.
    “What question?”
    “I never could figure out why Mom and Dad allowed you to have all this stuff. They’re into healthy eating big-time. I thought maybe your mom had made some kind of special deal with them or something.”
    “No special deal,” Katie confessed.
    “Mom and Dad don’t know you have all this stuff, do they? How would they know? I mean, they don’t spy on us or inspect our rooms.”
    Katie shrugged. “Mom told me they wouldn’t allow me to have all this stuff in my room, so I lied to her. I said I’d give Mr. and Mrs. Chambers all of it to share with the other kids. As soon as Mom left, I hid it. Now I’m really sorry