A Firm Foundation

by Anne Marie Rodgers

  “Works for me,” Paul said. “I wonder if she works tomorrow? That might be a complication. I don’t know who keeps the children while she’s working.”

  “Her mother does. That’s where I dropped off Jeremy today.”

  “Well it can’t hurt to ask,” Paul said. “Why don’t you give her a call?”

  “I don’t have— Wait, yes, I do have her cell-phone number,” Kate said. “She gave it to me before Jeremy and I left for the wildlife center.”

  Kate got the slip of paper from her handbag and padded into the kitchen to make the call. When Louisa answered, she said, “Hello, Louisa, this is Kate Hanlon.”

  There was a long silence. “Kate? What...why are you calling?”

  A bit taken aback by the lack of welcome, Kate cleared her throat. “Paul and I wanted to invite you and the children to dinner tomorrow evening if you’re free.”

  “Oh. Oh!” Louisa’s voice warmed considerably. “That’s very thoughtful.”

  “We were discussing you, and we thought it would be nice to have a chance to get better acquainted.”

  “You were...discussing me?” The younger woman’s voice sounded hesitant again.

  Suddenly Kate thought she understood. She’d forgotten that Louisa had lived with an abusive husband. It made perfect sense for her to be cautious.

  “We’d like to get to know you and your family better,” Kate told her. “Paul got a kick out of my story about Jeremy and the squirrel.”

  “I just bet.” Louisa’s voice sounded more confident again.

  Kate waited, uncertain about what to say next. But then Louisa chuckled and seemed friendly.

  “Are you sure you want three lively children barging into your home?”

  Kate laughed. “We have three lively grandchildren. They won’t do anything that hasn’t been done before.”

  Still Louisa hesitated. “Um, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt. All right, yes. We can come to dinner. Thank you.”

  In the background, Kate could hear Jeremy’s high voice. “Is that Mrs. Hanlon? She invited us to her house? Hurray!”

  “All right, then,” Kate said. “Why don’t we say six o’clock?”

  “Six would be fine,” Louisa said. “Thank you again. I’ll see you then.”

  Kate returned to the living room and shared the plan with Paul. “I hope I make more progress tomorrow than I did today getting information on the library closing,” she said, collapsing again into her chair. “I felt like I did a lot of wheel spinning today.”

  He frowned. “So you didn’t make a lot of progress in your quest to find out what’s going on?”

  Kate shook her head. “Not nearly as much as I need to.” Then she smiled. “But I did have a wonderful experience a little while ago at the wildlife center. I met this amazing lady named Elspeth, who devotes herself to healing wild animals. She has a ministry saving the lives of God’s creatures.”

  “All God’s critters got a place in the choir,” Paul quoted with a grin. The words were a line from a catchy children’s folk song. Kate recognized it immediately because her own children had sung it in the children’s choir at their old church when they were small.

  Kate groaned. “Now I’ll have that song stuck in my head for days.” Already, the chorus was tripping through her mind.

  “I love that song,” Paul said. “I’m sure I saw a copy of that music somewhere in the filing cabinets. I’m going to sug-gest to Sam that we get a children’s choir together to sing it.”

  Copy...A light snapped on in Kate’s head, and she sat up straight. “That’s it!”

  “What’s it?” Paul looked startled by her sudden burst of energy.

  “You mentioned a copy. This afternoon at the meeting, Eva handed around copies of the last meeting’s minutes. I’m sure there must be files of all town-council matters.”

  “I would assume so,” Paul said. “I know the town council doesn’t have an office at Town Hall like the mayor does, but I’m sure any official documents would be kept there.”

  “Official documents like meeting minutes,” she said. “I saw Eva taking minutes at the meeting this afternoon. I wonder if there are copies of minutes of all the town-council meetings available to the public.”

  “There should be,” Paul said.

  “Although,” Kate said, “I presume the minutes from closed meetings aren’t available to the public, and the meeting last Thursday was a private session. Those are the minutes I believe I’d find most useful.”

  “Do you think you might find something helpful in any of the other minutes?”

  “I don’t know,” Kate said, “but it surely can’t hurt to read them.” She made a mental note to stop by Town Hall in the morning before heading to the library to help Livvy. Then the rest of the discussion at the meeting came back to her. “Paul,” she said slowly, “I forgot something. I think it’s important. Carey Carver didn’t appear to know that the library was officially moving out next Monday. Why wouldn’t a member of the council who made the decision know the dates?”

  “Maybe there was a subcommittee responsible for the details,” Paul suggested.

  Kate shook her head. “Over something as important as closing a building that offers such a great service to the community? I can’t imagine that.”

  “I can’t either,” he confessed. “I was just throwing it out there.”

  “The meeting deteriorated right before they asked me to leave so they could go into closed session. But while the meeting was melting down, Eva asked a question that led me to believe there is someone else involved in the library closing. She mentioned a lawyer who might sue them for talking about it. How is that possible? And who could he be representing?”

  Paul ran his fingers through his hair. “You’ve got me. The only way that makes sense is if someone else owns the library and doesn’t want folks to know. But how could someone else own a public library that’s been administered by the town for so many years?”

  “There’s a lot about this that doesn’t make sense.” Kate took another sip of her tea, and they both fell silent, contemplating the situation.

  Remembering where Paul had been when she arrived, Kate made a vague gesture toward the office. “What’s with all the paperwork?”

  Paul shifted in his chair. “It’s all the project paperwork.”

  “I thought someone else was handling that.”

  “Ephraim Dresser was, but he has to go out of town next week.”

  “So you’re doing it?” Kate smiled. Her compassionate husband was unable to resist when someone asked for his help.

  “So I’m doing it,” he agreed.

  Kate relaxed again, smothering a yawn. “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “You look like you’re ready for bed right this minute, and I have a meeting in an hour,” Paul observed. He glanced at his watch. “We’d better eat.”

  “I just packed too many things into too short a window of time,” Kate said ruefully.

  “Maybe you’ll feel more like yourself tomorrow,” Paul said.

  “I sure hope so,” she replied as she got slowly to her feet. “Until I figure out how to stop the library from closing for good, I need every hour I can get.”

  THE ROOFING VOLUNTEERS met at St. Lucy’s Episcopal Church at seven that evening. Despite her exhaustion, Kate had offered to clean up the supper dishes while Paul hurried off to his meeting. He suspected she would be sound asleep by the time he got home.

  St. Lucy’s was a graceful white structure located just a block down from the Presbyterian church on Smoky Mountain Road. The building sat on a slight bank, with a pair of matching staircases curving up from either side of the front driveway to meet at the porticoed front porch.

  Tall, single, and sandy-haired, Father Lucas Gregory, the parish priest, was a fit man in his midthirties with a tanned face and twinkling blue eyes. Although he wasn’t on the committee of volunteers working on the roof, he attended the meeting to support the men from his congregation.


  “Hey, Lucas,” Paul said, extending his hand as he strode up the steps. “Good to see you.”

  “Back at you, my friend,” Lucas said as they shook. “I understand you had a close call with that tornado the other night.”

  Paul nodded. “Close enough.”

  “I bet.” Lucas’ expression sobered. He raised his free hand and clapped it over Paul’s hand, which he was still holding. “I thanked God for keeping an eye on you. I can’t imagine our pastoral community without you.”

  Paul was touched. “Thank you,” he said to his friend. “I appreciate both the prayer and the compliment.” He released her hand and went on down the carpeted hall to the choir room, where the meeting was being held.

  He found a good many men already seated. Most of them had heard about his near escape from serious harm the previous evening. They were full of questions, which he fielded until Pete MacKenzie and Lucas entered the room.

  Just as they prepared to open the meeting, another man walked into the room. He was average height, and he looked to be about fifty. He had dark hair shot with silver and worn in a severe fifties-style flattop. He smiled confidently at Pete and took a seat.

  Pete called the meeting to order. He turned to the newcomer. “This is Jerry Cox,” he said. “Jerry’s coming onto the project to replace Ephraim, who can’t stay with us.”

  Then Pete turned matters over to Drew Mears, who explained the damage to the roof and told everyone about the extended time line. Paul noticed a number of concerned faces, but when Pete asked for a show of hands of men who were willing to stick with the project for two more weeks, provided they adjusted to suit people’s schedules, every hand in the room went up, except for Ephraim Dresser.

  Ephraim took the floor then to explain about his business trip and tell the group that Paul would be taking over the paperwork.

  Paul rose. “I know nothing about roofing or construction,” he said, “but I have the time to coordinate the project, and I’m willing to give it a shot if you guys are willing to be patient with me. I’m sure Louisa Pellman is anxious to get back into her house.”

  After a few more minutes, the meeting concluded. The mood as the group dispersed was optimistic. Paul walked over to Jerry Cox and extended his hand. “Thank you for volunteering. Do you have experience with roofing?”

  Jerry shook his head. “No, but I’m smart. I’ll figure it out as we go.”

  The answer troubled Paul a bit. “Drew knows what he’s doing,” Paul told Jerry. “He’s the one to talk to about what we’ll be doing.”

  “Thanks.” Jerry smiled. “I can handle it.” He was willing to work, no question, but his attitude seemed a little cavalier. Paul could only hope that Jerry would prove to be a team player who could follow directions when they were twenty feet off the ground.

  Ephraim joined them then and extended his hand to Paul. “I really appreciate you stepping up. I’ll give you my cell-phone number in case you have any questions after I leave town.”

  Chapter Ten

  On Tuesday morning, Kate followed her usual routine, albeit a bit stiffly. Between lying in a ditch, packing innumerable boxes, and trekking up and down the stairs repeatedly, her body was protesting the unaccustomed activities.

  During her morning Bible study, she was assailed by another of those moments when the what-ifs from the tornado experience overwhelmed her. What if one of them had been hit by flying debris? What if the tornado had touched down? What if they hadn’t known to seek the low ground? Or, heaven forbid, what if they’d been sucked up into the vortex and dropped again some distance away?

  Deluged by the possibilities, even though none of that had occurred, she clasped her hands and simply began to pray. Dear Lord, replace my fears with thankfulness. Your hand surely was over us during that tornado. She continued to pray until she felt her racing heart slow to a normal rhythm, until she felt flooded with peace and grace and was ready to begin her day.

  Before she dressed, Kate called the wildlife rehabilitation center. Paul left for the day while she was waiting for someone to answer, and as he went out the door, he sent her a long-distance kiss and mouthed, “See you tonight.”

  The director Kate had met yesterday answered the telephone. “Good morning. Harrington County Wildlife Center. This is Elspeth.”

  “Good morning, Elspeth. This is Kate Hanlon. Did our little squirrel survive?”

  “Hi, Kate. Yes, he made it through the night. It doesn’t look as if he has injuries other than the leg, which I treated. I put him on a course of antibiotics, and if all goes well, he can be released in a week or so.”

  “Oh, that’s terrific news,” Kate said. “I’ll tell Jeremy.”

  “He seemed like a sweet kid,” Elspeth remarked.

  “He is. That squirrel owes its life to him. I’ve never seen a child so patient. He spends hours watching those squirrels.”

  “He does?” Elspeth sounded extremely interested. “Could you call me today or tomorrow if he’s at the library watching them? I’d like to talk to him a little more.”

  “Sure. Although he’s too young to hire,” Kate cautioned with a laugh.

  Elspeth chuckled. “Too bad. I bet he’d be a great intern. The thing is, Kate, I spent a good bit of time last night trying to figure out exactly what type of squirrel this is. It doesn’t look like a familiar species. Did you realize it’s a flying squirrel?”

  “Really? I guess I hadn’t looked that closely.” She laughed. “Jeremy told me it was, but I suppose I doubted his assessment. Although heaven only knows why,” she said, grinning. “That boy already knows more about animals than I ever will.”

  “It’s not one of the two species commonly found in Tennessee. In fact, I can’t find anything quite like it in any of my reference materials. I already put in a call to a friend of mine who’s an expert on flying squirrels.”

  “How is it different?” Kate knew Jeremy would bombard her with questions when she reported Elspeth’s findings to the inquisitive child.

  “The color and size are wrong. I’m pretty sure this is an adult, but it’s even smaller than the Southern flying squirrel, and the fur is really dark gray, almost black. The feet and face are black, in fact. Are there others like this?”

  “I don’t know,” Kate said with regret. “I saw my first and only one Sunday evening, and it could have been this one. But Jeremy studies them for hours, so I’m sure he could tell you more.”

  “So there’s more than one.”

  “I’m not even sure of that. I did get that impression from him, though.”

  “Could you find out and call me?” Elspeth asked.

  It seemed like a small thing in return for the assistance the wildlife center had rendered to them, but Kate still had to suppress a sigh. It was a squirrel, for heaven’s sake. She needed to be spending her time trying to figure out how to save the library, not identify a rodent.

  “Sure,” she finally said. “I’ll call you when I’ve talked to Jeremy. I’ll be seeing him this evening.”

  “Thanks. It’s a cute little critter.” Elspeth hung up, apparently content with that.

  All God’s critters got a place in the choir...The familiar melody played in her head as she donned a slim denim skirt and a pale mint weskit-style blouse with short sleeves and tiny buttons running down the front. Oh, great. Now she was going to have that silly song running through her head all day. Just wait until she saw Paul, she thought as she slipped her feet into green espadrilles and switched her handbag to a denim one with silver Western accents.

  As she drove to town, she remembered Jeremy telling her about his upcoming birthday. He was a special child, Kate thought, and she wondered what she could do to recognize his special day.

  The answer came to her as she braked at a four-way stop: a sun catcher. She would create a sketch of Jeremy’s squirrel and reproduce it in stained glass so that any time he looked out the window, he would be reminded of his act of kindness. She couldn’t make it as dark as th
e real squirrel, of course. The real thing was very dark, and she did want the color to show up when sunlight penetrated it. But she began to get excited as she thought about the specifics of the sketch. Oh, she couldn’t wait to begin! Perhaps that afternoon she would have some time to get started.

  Before she quite realized it, she was pulling into a parking spot near the library. She’d intended to stop by Town Hall first to read through the town-council minutes, but her automatic pilot had taken her straight to the library when she wasn’t paying attention. She laughed at herself. Well, since she was there, she might as well go in and say hello to Livvy. And if the computers were still up, she could do a search to see what she could learn about Jeremy’s squirrel.

  As soon as she walked through the doors, she noticed the same morose atmosphere from the day before. Many of the same faces glanced Kate’s way when she entered, although she didn’t see Louisa Pellman among them.

  But before Kate could even move around the horseshoe-shaped circulation desk into Livvy’s office, the front door opened, and Jeremy Pellman rushed in. “Mrs. Hanlon! Did you talk to the wildlife lady?”

  His volume was quite a bit higher than one normally preferred in a library, but since it no longer mattered, no one fussed at him.

  “Hi, Jeremy,” Kate said as the child skidded to a halt in front of her. “I sure did. Your squirrel was still alive this morning, and the wildlife lady thought he was doing fine. She said you may be able to release him here once he’s healed.”

  “Really?” The boy’s eyes were shining.

  “Really,” Kate confirmed. She gestured toward the steps. “I’m going upstairs to look up some information on squirrels. I know you’re eager to get outside and watch them, but I would appreciate your help for a little bit.”

  “Okay.” Jeremy looked delighted, and his walk as they made their way to the second floor carried just a hint of a swagger, Kate thought with amusement. Oh, to be so easily thrilled!

  “What are we looking up?” Jeremy asked as they drew two full boxes up to one of the computers. “Flying squirrels in Tennessee.” Kate pushed the keyboard toward him. “Here. You’re probably light-years faster on this than I am.”