The Blessed by Ann H. Gabhart Read Free Book Online Page A

much as he could hope for. His mother would never know what became of him. Nor would Marian. He would pass with no more notice than a bird falling from the sky.
    A bit of Scripture came unbidden to his mind, a legacy of his years of Bible reading with Mrs. McElroy. He couldn’t recall the exact words of the verses, but the gist of them tickled his memory. Something about not a sparrow falling but that the Lord knew and how a person, any person, was surely of more value than many sparrows. But as he kept looking up at the fog thick over his head, he didn’t feel as valuable as a single sparrow feather. He wished he’d paid Mrs. McElroy’s Bible teaching more mind. Then maybe he’d know how to pray some sunshine down on his face, some forgiveness down on his soul.
    “It might be best to step back a bit, my brother.” The man’s voice carried an echo of cheer as he took hold of Isaac’s arm. “There’s the feel of ice in the fog this morn, and you wouldn’t want to be slipping into the deep with no one about to pull you out. I would give it a try, but it’s a fact that I’m not much of a swimmer and not half as big as you. So the end result might be that we’d both be off to meet our Maker. And to be truthful, that wasn’t a journey I had plans to make on this day.”
    The man’s grasp was firm and Isaac let him pull him back from the edge of the dock.
    “Come. You look to be in need of some morning sustenance. The same as I am.” The man kept talking as if not even noting Isaac’s gloom. “I came down here to see what steamboats had come in, but that appears to be a job better done without so much fog about.”
    Isaac went with him. His stomach had been empty too long to allow him to turn down the offer of food. No matter what the eventual cost. But it wasn’t right not to give the man fair warning. Isaac stopped halfway up the wooden steps from the river. The fog was lifting and he took a good look at the little man beside him. He’d been right when he’d said he wasn’t much more than half as big as Isaac. The top of his hat barely came up to Isaac’s shoulders. It was a broad-brimmed affair that struck a memory in Isaac’s mind. He’d seen such a hat before, but he couldn’t quite recall where.
    The man tipped his head back to look up at Isaac. “You needn’t be worried about any harm coming to you from me. As if you could even imagine such from a man as small in stature as me.” His bushy black eyebrows almost came together in a line over dark eyes that might have looked fierce if they hadn’t been softened by the sparkle of kindness. At that very moment, a ray of sunshine burned down through the fog to touch them both.
    “The harm I thought might come was not to me but to you.”
    The man eyed him for a long moment. “A man intent on evil would give his victim no warning. You do not appear to be a dangerous man.”
    “Not harm from me, but because of me. I’ve made an enemy of a powerful man in this town. A judge who has found reason to throw others in jail for giving me a few coins to buy food.”
    “The judges of the world are of no concern to me. I answer to a higher judge.” The man put his hand on Isaac’s arm again and started back up the steps. “But it could be I should have introduced myself. I’m Brother Asa Jefferson.”
    “A preacher?”
    “Nay. Not so much. But yea, a brother to any in need, and I get the sense that might be you. Our Mother Ann instructs us never to neglect doing good to those we meet.”
    “Mother Ann?” Again there was that echo of a memory that Isaac couldn’t quite capture in his head. Perhaps the cold and lack of food was stealing his power to remember.
    “Yea. The leader of our group of Believers. I am sure you have knowledge of the Christ who preachers tell you died for your sins.”
    “I’ve not spent much time in church lately, but I seem to be good at making people die,” Isaac said. “At least as far as other people go. Don’t seem