Free Behind the Altar: Behind the Love Trilogy by P.C. Zick

She’d feed
them from the back of the van until Geraldine took it away from her. She walked
down to the camp.
    “Hey, folks, I’ve got
some hot food up at the van parked near the barn, but you’ll need to come up
there and get it,” Leah said. “I think I might have some good news, too.”
    She walked with
Joshua back to the barn. Joshua had followed Leah from Tampa when she moved in
with Geraldine. He didn’t have any physical wounds, and mentally, he was sound.
She knew he could have worked a regular job if he wanted to. She wondered more
than once if he stayed at the Deer River Camp to help take care of the others. That’s
what he’d done in Tampa. He and Carol had served as surrogate parents to Leah.
They gave her the courage to finish high school and get a job.
    “Carol and I spent
last night talking about the dilemma now that Soup’s On is closed,” Joshua
said. “We’ve been allowing you to do all the work, and that’s not right when
we’re all capable of doing something to help ourselves.”
    “I don’t mind. You
helped me when I needed it most,” Leah said. “You’re all doing the best you
can.”
    “But we’ve got to get
up each day and at least try or we die,” he said. “Carol and I came up with an
idea.”
    They were coming
close to the barn as they edged out of the line of trees and walked across the
fallow field.
    Joshua raised his
arms around the field. “See this large area of good soil? Carol and I think we
could start a garden here if we had some seeds and seedlings.”
    “It’s not the right
time of year to start a garden in Florida,” Leah said, but she could see his
vision immediately.
    “That’s right, but
that means we have a few months to get the area prepped for the plants,” Carol
said. She’d joined them as they walked out of the woods. “If we could borrow
some tools, we could start plotting out an area, and then we could start
growing vegetables in the fall. When I was a kid, we always had a garden.”
    “I don’t think it’ll
be a problem to find you some hoes, rakes, and shovels,” Leah said. “I think
it’s a great idea.”
    “Who knows? Maybe
we’ll grow so much food, we’ll open a roadside stand,” Joshua said. He and
Carol grinned as they put their arms around one another, but then Carol’s face
lost the smile.
    “Would the owners of
this land let us garden here?” Carol asked.
    “That’s the news I
wanted to share,” Leah said. “I’m sure the owner would be fine with the idea,
and besides that, he’s going to let us open Soup’s On right here in the barn.
And it’s big enough in there to put in a dormitory for nights when it’s
impossible to sleep outside.”
    “No kidding?” Joshua
looked up at the barn. “That’s just about the best news I’ve ever heard.”
    “We’ve got some work
to do, but I bet there’d be things some of you could do to help get it ready,
too,” Leah said. “But first, let’s feed everyone. For now, Soup’s On will be
serving from the back of a van.”
    After the river folks
went back to their afternoon pursuits, Leah entered the barn using the key Dean
left with her. Despite the heat and humidity outside, the barn felt warm and
dry. But most of all to Leah, it felt safe. She thought she’d bring down her
sleeping bag and stay there for the night to absorb the spirit of the place.
Leah breathed in the peace. It’s never been disturbed by anything bad, she
thought as she looked up at the loft. Dust motes danced and floated down to
surround her. She sneezed once and smiled, knowing there would be no more
sneezes here. The place wrapped itself around her in a warm embrace.
    As she stood in the
middle of the great room, she decided to tell Jacob she needed time to think
and would move in with Susie. As she looked up at the rafters, she imagined the
barn come alive with the Deer River campers. She didn’t like to refer to them
as homeless because as she knew no one who was alive was ever homeless.