Almost Eden by Anita Horrocks Read Free Book Online Page A

I was fighting with Lena and that we crashed into you. It was a dreadful accident.” Beth had told me to leave out the “dreadful” part, but I thought it was just the right word for the occasion. Anyways, who knew when I’d get to use it again?
    “And I’m sorry I fell on top of you,” Lena said. “I didn’t mean to.”
    “We hope you weren’t hurt.” I added that bit because I thought it helped show how sorry we were, even though Mrs. Funk couldn’t really be hurt since the flower bed was pretty soft and Lena was still small yet.
    “Apology accepted,” Mrs. Funk sniffed.
    Reverend Funk thanked us. He said he thought we’d all learned a valuable lesson about working out our differences and respecting each other’s feelings, rather than resorting to physical force. “Demonstrating Christ’s love in our daily lives begins within our own families.”
    “Would you lead us in asking for God’s forgiveness?” asked Beth.
    Holy Moses. If you ask me she was laying it on a little thick. Besides which, I’d already prayed for God’s forgiveness on my own. But no one asked me, and ReverendFunk was sure glad to be asked. Before I knew it there we were, kneeling in the Funk’s immaculate living room. The reverend put one hand on my head and the other one on Lena’s.
    “‘Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me,’” he prayed. I bowed my head. With his hand on it there wasn’t much else I could do. I kept my mouth shut and tried to listen to what he was saying, but all the time I was thinking that I wanted to get the heck out of there. I knew I should feel close to God and everything, but I guess there was something wrong with me because I didn’t. I felt about as far away from God as a person could get. My neck hurt by the time Reverend Funk said, “Amen.”
    “It must be hard for you girls with no mother at home,” Mrs. Funk said, smiling a tight little smile. “I can understand how you might have trouble coping, Beth, with so much responsibility for the house and your rather, uh, rambunctious younger sisters.”
    It wasn’t like she’d said anything we didn’t know already. But the way she said it, talking down her nose like, made it sound like Lena and I were beetles of some kind. The rambunctious dungbugs. I wanted to crawl under the sofa. Except probably it was so clean under there I wouldn’t be able to find any dirt to hang out with.
    “Elsie and Lena help quite a lot with the housework. Elsie is even painting the garage,” said Beth.
    “Really.” Mrs. Funk raised one eyebrow at me.
    I was so stunned by what Beth said I forgot to be insulted by Mrs. Funk’s eyebrow. I even grinned a little. Beth’s cheeks were turning a real nice shade of pink, but she sat with her back stiff and her chin in the air. Wonders never cease, my mom says.
    When we left, Reverend Funk said he’d be sure to remember our mother in his prayers. “Take comfort in knowing He is with you. Leave your troubles in the hands of God.”
    One thing for sure, with all the praying going on for Mom, sooner or later God was going to have to do something.
    “Well,” said Beth, as soon as we were out the door, “that went pretty well, don’t you think?”
    I was so glad to be outside breathing fresh air I could’ve hugged her. I lifted my face and arms up to the blue sky and felt the warm sunshine soaking through to my cold bones. “It went on two legs like a gander,” I said.
    Beth sighed. “Reprobate.”
    I didn’t have a clue what she meant, and even though I knew it couldn’t be anything good, I decided to let it go because of the way Beth stuck up for me with Mrs. Funk. But I made a mental note to look up
reprobate
in the dictionary.
    “If they come to visit us again I’m hiding,” said Lena.
    I’d bet my last nickel that the reverend and his wifewouldn’t come anywhere near our place for a long time. “C’mon,” I said. “I’ll race you home.”
    We ran all the way.