Free Good Heavens by Margaret A. Graham Page A

know the Lord her last year in grad school.”
    There! I knew it! Ursula had complained about me to Dr. Elsie. Smarting from that knife in my back, I listened, wanting nothing more than to give Dr. Elsie an earful about that snake in the grass. But Dr. Elsie was breezing along, giving me this song and dance about Ursula.
    â€œUrsula was saved through one of those campus ministries, I forget which one, and I doubt she’s had much nurturing.”
    I picked up on that “nurturing” business, and Dr. Elsie, who’s about as plainspoken as a body can get, explained, “You’ll have to wet nurse this one.”
    â€œOn the ‘sincere milk of the Word,’ I suppose,” I snapped, still smarting.
    She caught my drift and pressed on making a case for Ursula. “Esmeralda, she’s the only Christian in her family, and her parents were not in favor of her taking this job. They both teach in a university and from all I can tell, they’re agnostics. They have ambitions for their only daughter and Priscilla Home is not one of them.”
    â€œHow in tarnation am I supposed to teach that woman anything—she’s so educated, so high and mighty—half the time I don’t know what she’s talking about!”
    â€œYou’ll find a way,” she said, as confident as always that I am some kind of wonder woman. “I have to go now,” she said and hung up.
    I stormed back in my room, furious and ready to pack my bags.
    In a few minutes I heard Ursula come back in the office. When she called me in, she could see how mad I was. “Esmeralda, I can help you with anger management. There’s a protocol—”
    â€œUrsula, it strikes me that you, too, have a temper.”
    She ignored that remark. “Let’s not quarrel,” she said. “We have more to worry about than our personality conflicts. The mail came, and there was only one contribution. It’s from the youth in your Apostolic Bible Church. They had a car wash and sent us the profit, thirty dollars. If they washed all the cars in South Carolina it wouldn’t bring in what we owe. Esmeralda, we’ve waited long enough for a miracle. I’ve decided to do something.”
    â€œWe still have a few days before we have to come up with the money. There’s some reason we’re having to wait.”
    â€œChapter and verse, please.”
    It took me a few minutes to come up with something. “For starters, what about Mary and Martha?”
    â€œMary and Martha?”
    â€œRight. After they sent word to Jesus that their brother was sick, they waited and nothing happened. Even after Jesus got the message, he stayed where he was two whole days before he left to go to them. His staying away like that and making them wait had a purpose. He was waiting so Lazarus would die and be buried because he wanted to raise him from the dead.”
    â€œSo what’s the point?”
    â€œUrsula, there’s always some good reason why we’re made to wait.”
    â€œMaybe for you but not for me. Tomorrow I’m going to the bank, so don’t plan to go anywhere. One of us has to be here at all times.” She stood up. “Oh, by the way, did you get a tractor?”
    â€œNo,” I said and left it at that.
    â€œThere’s a letter here for you.” She handed it to me as she was going out the door.
    The letter was from Beatrice, and I took it in my room to read it. Feeling like a string of spaghetti left in the pot, I sat down and waited for what was sure to happen. The minute Ursula discovered that horse and plow, the fat would be in the fire. I tell you, this place was getting to me.
    Well, I opened Beatrice’s letter. As you know, Beatrice is my lifelong friend, and I missed her. That is, I missed having her look to me for every little thing. She had Carl now and didn’t need me that way. Beatrice had changed more than any one person I had ever