The Scattering by Jaki McCarrick Read Free Book Online

knew.
    â€˜Ashleigh, now Bobby Jean and me, we mostly go to Unity Church. And Unity is non-denominational. You know what that means?’ Ashleigh nodded. ‘It means a mixture of everything and nothing in particular. You see, we don’t do much Bible study at Unity. And we don’t believe hurricanes have anything at all to do with God. Maybe you believe it’s his “wrath”, do you?’
    â€˜What I believe, Jessica, has nothin’ to do with religion.’
    â€˜Your daddy. Was he a Baptist preacher?’
    â€˜Episcopal.’
    â€˜Episcopal? Well, they aren’t fanciful. So how come you got to thinking you’re the daughter of God?’
    â€˜My daddy said.’
    â€˜What do you mean “he said”?’
    â€˜My daddy told me. He said I was the special one. He said it every night he come in my room. And it was only the moment I saw my sister on the other side of the water, that I truly believed him.’
    *
    Eric brought both girls out to the waiting room where Jessica waited with Bobby Jean. Then Bobby Jean stayed with the girls in the bright, sea-lit room as Jessica went into the consultation room with Eric. Jessica sat. The female psychiatrist entered and sat down opposite Jessica and opened a file.
    â€˜Olivia’s epilepsy is congenital, but with the right treatment she will most likely stop having seizures by her teens. She is slightly traumatised, but it seems Ashleigh covered Olivia’s eyes from a lot of the horrors they might otherwise both have seen.’
    â€˜Horrors like what?’ asked Jessica.
    â€˜Well, there were a lot of bodies on the river. Drownings. A lot of loose animals, too. And it was hot, so you can imagine what state those bodies were in. Ashleigh believes she saw things.’
    â€˜What things?’
    â€˜Like I said. Drownings. Animals gnawing at bodies.’
    â€˜What else?’
    The doctor hesitated: ‘Well, if you must know, for instance, like a National Guardsman airlift a woman into a helicopter then drop her to her death. Like soldiers opening fire on a black neighbour of the Williams’ who, Ashleigh claims, was procuring food from his own store. These are serious allegations. So for the minute it’s Ashleigh we’re mostly concerned about, Mrs Lawson.’
    Jessica decided at that point not to inform Eric, or the doctor, that there were people in Panama City who believed Ashleigh had divine lineage. But somehow Jessica thought that perhaps they knew something about this already. The beach town was, after all, as provincial as any small village – which, indeed, it used to be and in a way still was – despite its recent sprawl out onto the highways of Wal-Marts, malls and Po-Folks restaurants. People on this part of the Gulf knew the exact movements of the tide; they knew when new retirees arrived into this or that complex, or when they died. At the Unity Church there would be a coffee hour after service each Sunday and everyone would talk. Jessica had the feeling that everyone in Panama City (including the people from Unity) pretty much believed she had the daughter of God living under her roof. So it would be a lot easier for Jessica if it turned out the child had concussion. Then everything could calm the hell down before the two girls finally left for Atlanta or somewhere else. Just about anything (except that thing Ashleigh had alluded to the night before) was better than the child going round with an inner power other people wanted a piece of.
    â€˜What’s wrong with Ashleigh?’ Jessica asked the quick-eyed doctor.
    â€˜I’d like her to have an MRI scan,’ she replied. ‘Just routine. To rule out concussion or brain damage. Before we assess her further.’
    â€˜You don’t believe she saw what she says she saw?’
    â€˜We need to rule certain things out.’
    â€˜Well, what do you think’s wrong with her?’ Jessica insisted.
    â€˜I