Free A Shiloh Christmas by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Page A

everybody seems unsettled as we’re leaving the church. Some edge around the ones in the doorway who are shaking hands with the preacher and go right out to their cars. Others stay to tell him itwas a thoughtful sermon, gave us something to think about.
    We pass Doc Murphy, getting in his old Ford sedan.
    â€œWhat did you think of the sermon?” Dad asks him.
    â€œWell, I’ve heard worse, and I expect the pastor’s given better,” he says.
    Dad has the car radio on to hear if anyone knows yet how the fire started. A reporter’s talking how donations of food and clothing are being brought to Sistersville Elementary, and Dara Lynn wonders if people will still be sleeping there when she and Ruthie go to school the next day.
    â€œI don’t think so,” says Dad. “Some of them are waiting for relatives to come pick them up, and some are moving in with neighbors. I’m going down this afternoon and see how I can help—take folks to the drugstore to get things they need; drive them to the bus station.”
    I can see right off that Dad and I aren’t going to do any work on the new addition today. I was planning to tell him as soon as we got home about how I let Judd’s dogs loose, but now I’m not sure.
    A woman on the radio’s talking about how the Lord blessed her, because the fire came right up to the edge of her lawn and stopped. Didn’t even get as far as the kids’swing set, she says. But why would God save her house and let the others burn to the ground? I’m wondering. If I had saved Judd’s brown dog and let the white one die, wouldn’t that be wrong? How come it’s okay if God does the exact same thing?
    When we pull up to the house and get out, we see a trail of paw prints going up the porch steps and over to the window in our living room. And the glass is all smudged on the outside where an animal has been close up. Inside, Shiloh is barking up a storm.

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    â€œL OOKS LIKE S HILOH’S BUDDY CAME by while we were gone,” Ma says, opening the door to let him out. Shiloh likes to explore the woods with a black Lab that comes over from time to time—the Ellisons’ dog.
    But just to be sure it wasn’t Judd’s dogs, I follow Shiloh around to keep him safe while he does his business before I take him back inside. Dad’s already at the table, and Ma takes a roast from the pot.
    â€œC’mon, girls,” Dad says. “Let’s eat.”
    We’re passing around the pole beans and turnips, and Ma says, “I don’t know, Ray. Can’t see how anything Pastor Dawes said this morning is helpful right now. Pastor Evans would have talked about the love this community has shown each other in the past, and how we’re called on now to be as generous as we can.”
    Dad reaches over and cuts up Becky’s meat for her. “Well, I suppose most preachers have a favorite subject they like to talk about, and Dawes sure seems to have a lot to say about sin.”
    â€œHe doesn’t seem like a happy man,” Ma goes on, and then she stops, glancing at Dara Lynn and Becky, like she’s already said too much.
    â€œWell, Ruthie thinks he’s mean !” says Dara Lynn.
    â€œYou shouldn’t be going around repeating that,” Ma tells her. “Everyone probably thinks their parents are mean from time to time.”
    â€œBet you tell your friends I’m mean,” Dad jokes.
    Dara Lynn’s got her mouth full, but she shakes her head.
    â€œNo? What about that time you were squeezin’ that squeaky toy on and on and I told you to stop and you didn’t?”
    Dara Lynn’s eyes open wide with the memory. “And you grabbed it out of my hands and threw it out the back door and we never did find it.” Her face is full of delight and mischief. Anytime Ma or Dad makes a mistake, she rolls in it, like a dog rolling in something nasty.
    â€œActually, we