Free Storm by Rick Bundschuh Page B

“I feel like I could sleep forever.”
    “Me too,” Malia yawned.
    “Not me,” Monica said. “This neighborhood makes me nervous.”
    “Getting your nails done makes you nervous,” Jenna said, and Monica threw a pillow at her.
    “Well, there’s no way I can sleep yet. I’m going to see if I can find Sarah,” Bethany said, rising from her bunk.
    “Don’t volunteer me for anything crazy until you, like,
ask
me first,” Holly called after her as she headed for the door.
    “That goes double for the rest of us,” Malia said, getting nods of agreement from Jenna and Monica.
    “Are you talking to me?” Bethany said as she blinked innocently and then hurried to shut the door behind her before anyone could respond.
    Chuckling to herself, she jogged down the stairs, turned the corner, and almost ran right into Eddie as he rounded the corner from the opposite direction. They both laughed.
    “Almost a head-on collision,” Eddie said, grinning.
    “Oh man, you aren’t kidding!” She glanced behind Eddie. “I was looking for Sarah. Have you seen her?”
    Eddie nodded. “As a matter of fact, Maggie took her on a tour of the neighborhood.”
    “I was going to ask her if we could go running tomorrow morning.”
    “You mean your whole group?”
    “Well, probably just us girls,” Bethany said, then chewed on her lip thoughtfully. “Or at the very least, me and Holly.” She grinned inwardly.
Sorry, Holly!
    “You’re a surfer, right?”
    “Yeah,” Bethany nodded shyly. “I kind of like to keep up on my training.” She left out the part about running helping her nerves over the mission trip.
    “Nothing wrong with that,” Eddie said amiably. “I used to run myself—though it’s been a while.” He patted his stomach, and Bethany smiled.
    “Tell you what: it’s not that great of a neighborhood for you girls to go running in alone. But if you really want to go, I’ll come around 6:30 a.m. and run with you.”
    “Really? You don’t mind?”
    “Maggie will thank you; she’s been after me to get back into running. I’m still carrying around all the stuff I ate at Christmastime.”
    “Okay then, it’s a deal,” Bethany said happily. “I’ll set the alarm on my watch.”
    “Don’t forget the time change. And I’ll bring the stick.”
    “A stick? What for?”
    “Ah, if you’re going to go for a jog around here, carrying a stick with you is a good idea.”
    “For muggers?” Bethany asked worriedly. Holly might forgive her for an early morning run, but not for a mugger.
    “Yeah … the
four-legged
kind,” Eddie laughed. “The stray dogs around here can sometimes get a little too close for comfort.”
    Bethany nodded casually, but her mind raced.
What have I got us into now, Holly?
she thoughtwith a twinge of doubt — not just about the run — but the whole trip. Then she remembered her dad’s words just before she got on the plane: “Just trust in God and let him lead you, Bethany. He’s the best father any of us could ever imagine having.”
    “Papa!”
    Eduardo shot up from the pallet he had been sleeping on and looked around. It was dark, but he knew if he reached out his arm he could touch the cot his mother and sister slept on, knew that the other two cots his four brothers shared would be just beyond that. He put his hand to his chest, feeling his heart still racing from the dream. And what a good dream it was!
    He had been running down a beautiful soccer field. So much green! He had never seen that much green in one place. He grinned to himself, remembering how he scored a goal for his team and how good it felt when his teammates thumped his back with congratulations. His smile faded as he recalled searching for his father’s face in the stand filled with people.
    For just a moment, he thought he’d spotted him when he saw a man stand up and begin to walk toward him through the crowd. But people kept getting in his way, and no matter how hardEduardo squinted, he couldn’t make