She found a side door and knocked hard.
There was no sound. Then she heard someone mumbling and an older man appeared. He had a thick head of white hair and looked disheveled, a little like Mark Twain. “What do you want?” He shouted. “Hard of hearing, so speak up.”
“We are locked out next door. Mr. Gannon’s place.” She gestured in the general direction, talking loudly.
After a difficult conversation the man finally understood their problem.
“Why didn’t you say so? Come in. Come in.” He held the door wide.
Lacy waved the girls in and Kew followed him in, but Ting refused.
The old man watched and gazed at Ting, then started talking Chinese to Kew. Kew translated for Lacy, “He’s asking if we are Chinese.” She smiled.
Lacy watched and waited. Kew explained that his wife had been Chinese. In a few moments Ting reluctantly followed.
The man, who they now knew as Judd Knight, motioned for them to follow him. It was rather dark inside. Immediately he went over and pressed a button and the wall of curtains parted to a beautiful view of the ocean.
He spoke to the girls and Kew translated. “He says he never opened the curtains since his wife died two years ago. That no one has been in the house.”
Lacy nodded. The house was in shambles. She wanted to start straightening the hoards of Art magazines that lay in piles everywhere. He motioned them to the kitchen and she saw dishes piled up. A tabby cat ran and hid. The smell of cat urine and something sour assaulted her nose.
“Mr. Knight do you know Mr. Gannon?” she shouted close to his ear.
“Oh the boy on the soap opera Malibu Mansion? Yeah, he’s a good neighbor. A little too much company sometimes, but it doesn’t bother me since I can’t hear anyway,” He chuckled.
“Would you happen to have a key to his gate?”
He shook his head. The girls hadn’t thought to bring their cell phones, so she asked if she might use his phone. He grunted and pointed to an old black phone that still hung on the wall from the 50s. Just like hers at home. She rotary dialed Thad’s number, glad she even remembered it and left a message that they were locked out and next door at Mr. Knight’s place.
“We can sit outside if you wish, Mr. Knight, so we don’t bother you,” She shouted.
“Come out here. I want to show you,” He pointed his chin in the direction they were to follow.
They, Ting hanging onto her side, followed him to a garage loaded with sculptures. Beautiful pieces of art. Some finished, some still works in progress.
“You do this?” Lacy looked him in the eye and saw a twinkle.
He shrugged. “My wife and I worked together. This is what I was working on when you banged at the door.” He showed them a partially finished figure of a child.
The girls smoothed their hands over the sleek tigers, forms of men and women, in full Grecian dress.
A small child. A dog. Every piece looked real enough to speak or breathe.
“This is amazing, Mr. Knight.”
She saw his smile as he picked up a tool and began to work. They watched as his hands formed and shaped.
After a short while, he washed his hands and offered to fix them lunch. Lacy, afraid the food in the house may not be exactly fresh, declined, but followed him to the kitchen where he pulled out a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter and made a half sandwich, folding it over and eating it with a cup of coffee on the side.
The phone rang and he gestured for her to get it, pointing to his ear. Of course he couldn’t hear well.
“Mr. Knight’s residence.” She said and was glad to hear Thad’s voice on the other end.
“Didn’t you remember the key?” He grumped.
“Well, no, or we would be inside instead of over here,” She shot back.
“I’ll be right down.”
She hung up and informed Mr. Knight that they were rescued. Immediately he tipped his coffee cup and downed the last of it, some running down his chin, stuck his finger in the air indicating he’d be right back and disappeared into the garage.
He came back with three of the smaller figures. He held them out, waiting for them to choose.
Lacy started to refuse, but then saw the pleading in his blue eyes and knew they should accept his offer. Ting chose a small girl with a dog, Kew a strong figure of a man running, and to Lacy the sleek tiger, a miniature of the life-sized one on the bench. This was done with a pat on each shoulder and a look in the eye. Lacy sensed they were being given a very special gift.
She teared up a bit and thanked him. He smiled knowingly and shuffled back to the kitchen and made another half sandwich.
A hard knock at the door and Kew ran for it. Thad joined them in the kitchen.
“Mr. Knight,” He greeted the older man with eye to eye contact and a handshake.
The old man stood and nodded his greeting.
“Thank you for watching out for the girls,” Thad said. “We’ll be getting out of your way, so you can work.”
Mr. Knight fanned the air with his hand, but Lacy saw a sad look come over him as they walked together to the door.
“Thank you so much for the gifts, Mr. Knight. I will never forget you.” Lacy hoped she spoke loud enough.
Kew shouted to him in Chinese and he smiled. He looked to Ting and she spoke shyly and then hugged him quickly and ran back to Lacy.
Kew translated, “She says he looks like her grandfather. She loved her grandfather.”
Lacy couldn’t help but feel the momentous overpowering realization that something holy had just happened.
She handed Thad her tiger and gave Mr. Knight a kiss on the cheek and a hug. “Thank you for helping us,” She said close to his ear and stepped back.
“Mr. Knight, if you need anything, just call okay?” Thad handed him a business card and they turned to leave. Ting started to weep.
After they returned to Thad’s, Lacy popped a frozen pizza in the oven and afterwards sent the girls to bed, but at 2 a.m., she woke up to find Kew at her bedside calling her name.
“Ting has not stopped sobbing all night.”
Lacy found Ting, red-eyed and gasping in between sobs. She threw her arms around her slender figure, not knowing what to do to console her. Then Ting began to talk. Kew translated. The older man reminded her of her grandfather, how he used to carve figures out of bamboo. And how he had died throwing their family into poverty. That’s when she had been sold by her brother to make money for the family. Kew told her she had been just thirteen years old.
Lacy listened and cried with Ting until they were both exhausted.
Chapter 48
Finally, close to 5 a.m. Ting wore herself out and fell asleep. Eyes burning and heart broken, Lacy needed a soothing cup of tea to calm herself and headed to the kitchen.
Her hands shook as she reached for a cup and it fell to the floor crashing into a million pieces. She stared at it and pressed her hand over her mouth and wept. Thad appeared in the doorway in T-shirt and pajama bottoms, hair mussed.
“What happened? Are you hurt?”
She looked up, struck by his deep voice and started to turn away. When Lacy saw the concern in his eyes, she slowly shook her head back and forth and clapped both hands over her mouth.
Barefoot, Thad stepped over the shards and lifted her up into his arms.
“What’s wrong, Lace?” He demanded as he lowered her to the floor next to the counter away from the glass.
Lacy threw her arms around his middle, needing him close, and sobbed into his shoulder.
Finally when she slowed long enough to catch a breath, she told him, “Ting told us her story. I had no idea. She was sold by her brother, Thad. Her own brother…they had a happy family until…”
“Let’s get you out of here.” Thad said looking down at the mess. He scooped Lacy up again and carried her to the sofa.
“I’ll be back in a minute with a cup of tea. Sit tight.”
Lacy grabbed a pillow, held
it to her stomach and curled her body over it. How could God let someone this small, this sweet, this innocent go through something like this? She couldn’t get her mind straight. A sense of righteous anger flushed through her brain. How could you God?
She pounded her fists into the pillow and wanted to scream.
The sound of glass scraping the ceramic floor told her Thad was sweeping up the mess she made. She started to rise to help and suddenly he was there again. He handed her the cup.
“Drink this.”
Lacy dropped back down on the sofa and sipped, her head pounding, eyelids thick.
Thad sat down, giving her a bit of space. She hated feeling like her emotions were out of control. Especially in front of Thad. She hadn’t even been this bad when she’d told him her own story. Her hands trembled and the cup began to tip. Thad took it and set it on the coffee table.
“Can you talk about it, Lace?”
She looked up and noticed his eyes focused on the view of the ocean out the windows. She pressed both hands over her mouth again and shook her head. He turned toward her, took her hands in his and whispered, “Trust me.”
He pulled her up and walked her to the windows, pushed the button and took her outside on the upper deck. He pressed her into a lounge chair and scooted one close by and sat down. It was still and dawn was coming soon. The ocean rolled, dogs barked. But those were the only sounds.
“Why does God let things like this happen?” Her voice was surprisingly low, hoarse from sobbing.
He said nothing for a long moment. Then just stated the obvious.
“I don’t know, Lace. I wish I did.”
She glared at him for a moment through clouded eyes and turned to stare at the ocean again.
“Ting did not deserve that.”
“No one deserves hate and hurt,” He said softly.
“Then why doesn’t God stop evil things?”
She didn’t look his way. She just needed to be heard. She, like him, would have to work out her own answers.
“Sometimes I’ve wondered the same thing. Why did my dad have to die in a motorcycle crash? Why did I have to follow in his footsteps and almost die myself, knowing what Gannon went through the first time?”
He waited awhile and noticed she had stopped hiccupping.
There was a long period of silence.
“If you and I had those answers, maybe we wouldn’t even be talking about God right now. We’d just know things. Maybe He wants us to ask him the hard questions instead of each other.” Thad kept his voice low.
She glanced his way and noticed the pale light that lit his scarred face.
“So you think God is just trying to get our attention by slamming us up against a wall of pain? Why would we ask him things that we could never have answers to?” Lacy surprised herself by the bitter sharpness of her voice.
Thad shared a message he had heard at Reality Church about how God knew the world contained a lot of hurt. Because of this, He sent people like Kippy and Lacy and others to make a difference. He doesn’t allow evil to happen to good people. He puts good people amidst the evil to bring love and healing. Thad finished, hoping he was saying things right.
Lacy stared straight ahead. Her mind was too tired to process another thought. She set her cup aside and turned to Thad. “Thank you for being here tonight” Her voice had given out. And she couldn’t whisper another word as she headed toward her room. She heard the floor creek behind her, as if he had tried to follow. But it stopped.
Chapter 49
Lacy woke sometime after noon, showered and found her way to the kitchen. She noticed the girls’ beds were made up perfectly, a habit they both learned. After a bowl of oatmeal, she felt human again, although her eyes still burned and her nose was still stuffy. She wondered how Ting fared after sharing so much in one sitting. So when she heard the girls laughing, she followed the voices to the lower level and made her way along a long corridor, which was Thad’s wing of the house. Finally coming to an open door, she peeked around to see they were playing ping pong. Ting was laughing. Lacy stayed out of view and watched.
Thad stood at one end of the table, knees bent, paddle in hand, while the two girls guarded the other end. He snapped the ball back so fast the girls missed every time.
Something in her heart sparked. A little bit of hope, triggered by Ting’s laughter. After all she’d been through, this fragile young woman was laughing. Lacy’s hand cupped her mouth again and tears fell, despite her effort to hold them back. This time they were tears of joy.
She turned to leave when she heard Thad’s deep voice close behind. His hand caught hers.
“Did you hear her, Lace?” She caught the grin on his face. He released her and walked beside. “I was trying to teach them the game but they missed so often they were laughing too hard to play. Think it’s best to let them have some fun.”
“I cannot believe Ting is laughing. You made her laugh…after everything.”
Thad shrugged. “I have no idea what I could have done; maybe you did it by letting her tell her story. Crying with her.”
Lacy looked at him. You’re pretty good at figuring out the best way to reach her.”
“I’m an actor, remember? I know innuendo, body language.” He shrugged.
A smile pulled at her lips.
“So have you got me figured out yet?”
He gave her a look and answered, “Not yet, but I’m going to one of these days. Hungry?”
Lacy noticed he was also good at changing the topic when things got too deep.
“Ate some oatmeal.” She shrugged.
“Steph brought some chocolate cake yesterday. Want some?”
“Sounds good, actually.” She said quietly.
Lacy followed him to the kitchen. He served the cake and brought two glasses of cold milk and set them on the table.
“Steph’s coming by today. We’re having a Bible study here at the house in a couple days. She’s gonna run it. I don’t know much, but figured I could offer my house. That’s something, right?”
“That is something,” Lacy agreed.
Thad pulled in a deep breath. She was back from the precipice.
Suddenly music echoed throughout the high ceilings.
“Is that your doorbell?” Lacy shouted above the noise.
“What? You don’t like the Michigan fight song?”
“I just never thought you were a fan.”
“It’s probably Steph. She likes to bug me that way. Most people don’t know I have a doorbell. They usually just walk in.”
Lacy waited for him to answer the door and saw Thad wink at Steph. Sure, there was nothing there, right? She scolded herself immediately. Thad had a right to his own life and Steph was a really good woman. Lacy’s resolve to head home became stronger. She didn’t belong here. Her life was with the girls. And Thad’s was with a woman like Steph. Right now she had the sudden urge to go back to the things she knew—meetings at their little church, visiting with Kippy and filling out papers to bring one more girl to her home. There were too many Kews and Tings out there.
When Thad tucked Steph’s arm into his elbow and leaned down to whisper in her ear, Lacy knew for sure it was time to leave. The last few hours with Thad had drawn her too close to places she knew she could not be.
Chapter 50
Lacy joined the girls at ping pong. It had been too long since she’d picked up a paddle or played any type of game. She enjoyed hearing the girls laugh so much that it lightened her heart. Knowing where her life was going helped bring her spirits up a couple notches, too.
The three played until breathless, mostly from chasing the ball when it landed in nooks and crannies. Lacy loved Ting’s laughter. It was sweet and childlike. Even serious Kew was giggling.
“Let’s go to the beach, girls.”
Half an hour later they were enjoying an overcast day, the sun peeking in and out from behind clouds. As Lacy read partway through a novel the girls managed to make friends with
several kids who decided to build the ultimate sand castle. She walked down to join them, wanting to make sure the girls weren’t getting too much sun. Kew introduced her to the parents and the kids. She reminded them to put on more sun block and walked back to her umbrella and chair. She had to find out whether the two characters would overcome their differences and end up together.
It was past dinnertime before she read the last line, closed the book and laid her head back. The wind blew softly through her hair. The story was full of romance, mystery, and suspense. She checked out the author and thought about writing again. Perhaps she should tell her story, and about how when one door closed, another always opened. She had lost the ones she loved the most, finally shared the worst thing that happened to her with Thad, become free, and then found what she knew now was her life’s work.
A prayer of thanks came off her lips as she stood and stretched. Time to go make dinner. It was strange that a fictional story could parallel her own life so closely.
Perhaps her and the girls’ story needed to be told, so that others with big gaps in their life could be challenged to fill them with worthwhile deeds. She pondered that as she went to collect them. Ting’s face was red from the sun, but more than that, Lacy noticed a new softness in her eyes. And the fact she was chattering Kew’s ear off. Lacy knew Kew would be wanting some alone time when they returned to the house.
“Why don’t we shower, eat and play a board game?” Lacy suggested on the way back.
Ting looked to Kew.
Kew explained what a board game was.
Lacy smiled. There was so much to offer the girls. Her step felt lighter as they pressed the secret button and the wall of windows opened. The girls raced up the stairs to their rooms. Lacy waited to hear voices. Steph and Thad were probably long gone.
She hummed as she showered and made her way to the kitchen. There was a note from Thad on the long, narrow dining table that must have seated 20 people. “Gone to town.” It said. She tossed it in the trash. Why would he think he had to report to her, she wondered, and opened the refrigerator.
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