Free The Glory of Green by Judy Christie Page B

for this ride. Let's get out of here."
    As we drove, I gasped and exclaimed so often that in any other situation I would have felt redundant. I had seen Tammy's photographs and the marked up maps at the courthouse, so I knew in my mind how bad the damage was. Seeing it with my own eyes overwhelmed me.
    Pastor Mali from the Methodist church was unloading a van full of supplies as we passed, a couple of men I recognized from the Green Forward group helping him.
    Jean slowed, so we could speak.
    "We're putting together supply kits," Mali said. "Do you need any out your way?"
    "We need dozens," Jean said, "but most of our able-bodied members are tied up on other projects. I don't think I can send anyone to help."
    "We're helping each other," he said. "I'll have someone deliver them to your church, if you can pass them out."
    A small miracle, I thought, as we drove away.
    "Look at the steeple off the Baptist church," Jean said. "It's on Major Wilson's real estate office."
    "Now that's a storm with a sense of irony."
    Jean wanted to stop at the Lakeside Motel to check on little Asa and see what we might do to help. I hoped to confirm there was room for me and Chris for the next few weeks.
    "Shhh," Pearl said as we walked into the office. "I just got him to sleep." Asa lay in a portable crib, and his grandmother stood behind the counter in the spot where I met her when I moved to Green, an attractive African American woman who had a spirit as beautiful as her elegant face.
    She left the door ajar as we stepped outside and settled into plastic Adirondack chairs that dotted the premises. Pearl put the baby monitor on her chair arm.
    "We can't stay long," I said, my mind unable to settle on one thing for more than a few minutes.
    "I was so very sad to hear about Levi," Jean said.
    I felt ashamed and moved to the arm of Pearl's chair. "I am, too."
    "It's been one of the hardest things we've ever gone through," Pearl said. "Levi was an extraordinary gentleman. Marcus and I had come to think of him as family. It has hit Kevin especially hard, knowing he loved Asa so dearly."
    "Have you talked to her lately?" I asked.
    "She can't leave the hospital," Pearl said, "but she sent word to bring Asa over this morning. She needed to see with her own eyes that he was OK. It was a miracle, really. His Papa Levi saved his life."
    A miracle.
    "We'll head over to the hospital and check on Kevin," I said." Does she need food or anything?"
    "Terrence took her lunch before heading back out to help Marcus. He's a fine man, and the Lord sent him along at the right time."

    Jean and I made it to the hospital on the newer side of town after a series of detours that included bypassing police roadblocks, tree limbs, and an odd assortment of items scattered here and there. The traffic crawled, a combination of service vehicles and what looked like curiosity seekers, many taking pictures.
    A volunteer officer tried to keep us from turning down a residential street, an exasperated look on his face and sweat on his forehead.
    "Clergy," Jean said.
    "Press," I said.
    He took a closer look. "Go on through, but watch out for debris in the street."
    "Don't these rubberneckers have anything else to do?" I asked Jean. "They could be helping instead of getting in the way."
    "People are drawn to tragedy," she said. "They hear so many bad reports that it's hard for them to listen to good news. Many of these cars carry people who are thinking that were it not for the grace of God, it could have been them."
    "Do you have to be nice about everything?"
    "I'm just glad I have my own parking place at the hospital," she said.
    As she predicted, the hospital lot was full and the lobby had been transformed into a camp with bedding and miscellaneous clothing strewn everywhere. People huddled in clusters, some crying and others glued to the generatorpowered television.
    "I'll stop here for a while," Jean said. "It looks like there's a mighty need for prayer in this room."
    I found