Free Letter to Belinda by Tim Tingle Page A

blame him if he doesn’t. We went by there already, but he wasn’t home. I will try to see him when he gets home this evening.”
    “So are you guys separated, or actually divorced?”
    “We have been divorced for almost two years now.”
    “I didn’t know that.”
    “I have been living with a boyfriend in Arlington, but I just couldn’t continue to put up with his ‘ways’. Thank you for letting Janice come pick me up. I don’t know who else I could have turned to. When your life goes to crap, sometimes your friends and family turn their backs on you, and you don’t know where to turn. That’s when good Christian people like you can really make a difference.”
    “Well, I don’t know about the ‘good Christian’ part, but we’re glad to help you out. So what will you do if Herbert won’t let you come back?”
    “Honestly, I don’t know. I’m counting on him to take me back. He might have to think about it a few days, but I think he’ll take me back eventually.”
    “Well, I’m about to go to England on business in a couple of days. If you need a temporary refuge to sort of hang out, while Herbert is thinking about it, maybe you could stay here? In fact, we just happen to have a vacant back bedroom.” (He assumed that Janice would mirror his sentiment, but he saw Janice standing behind Penelope, using crude sign language to convey NO, NO, NO! to him. He assumed that Janice knew something he didn’t.) Penelope’s eyes lit up when she heard this offer.
    “Do you really mean that? You are such a saint, Travis Lee! I have always liked you and Janice! You have always been my favorite neighbors! I want you to know that I really, really appreciate you letting me stay here, even if it is just for a little while!”
    (Janice was silently blowing a fuse over her stupid husband’s naïve offer, so he tried to scale it back a bit.)
    “Of course, it will just be temporary, . . . really brief, actually. I’m sure Herbert will allow you to come back this evening, after you talk with him. So by tonight you will probably be moving on.”
    “Janice graciously offered to let me shower and clean up here a little, before I go to see Herbert. I guess I look a little rough right now.”
    Janice cut in. “The shower is this way, Penelope. Come on and I’ll show you where everything is.” She shot Travis a daggered look, as she led Penelope away.
    “I’m really grateful to you both. You are good Christian people! God will bless you for this!”
    That sounded strange, coming from a woman with a big bottle of gin in one hand. Janice took her down the hall to the bathroom, and closed the door. She went to the hall closet and got extra towels to take to her. Travis heard the shower come on, as Janice came and found him in his study.
    “Travis, we’ve got a slight problem.”
    “We do?”
    “Yes, we do. I went and picked up Penelope, and the first place she wanted to go was the State Store to get some gin.”
    “Of course. And I see you told her no!”
    “Actually, I agreed to take her there, because she said she needed it, to get her through the day.”
    “So she had money to buy gin, but no money to call a cab?”
    “Actually, I bought her the gin, because I thought I would help her out a little.”
    “You don’t help an alcoholic by buying her gin!”
    “Don’t get on my case, Travis! I have had a very stressful morning already! She has told me some things that are just . . . unbelievable!”
    “Such as?”
    “I’ll get to that. After I bought her the gin, I took her to Herbert’s house, thinking I was going to just drop her off. Herbert was gone to work already, but her daughter, Jessica was there. But Jessica locked the door, and wouldn’t let her in!”
    “How old is Jessica now?”
    “The same age as Jenny, about 18. She said she was going to call the police if we didn’t leave, so we left. I didn’t know what to do. I suggested that I could take her to her Dad’s house, and she went