Whispers from Yesterday by Robin Lee Hatcher Read Free Book Online Page B

days I have none.
    I am not certain falling in love is a good thing. I am wretchedly unhappy.
    Esther
    Tuesday, November 3, 1936
    Dear Diary,
    Dutch Tallman asked me to go to the movie with him this coming Friday evening. Delphia Plum and Hap Gifford will be with us. I like Dutch and have decided to accept his invitation, if Mama and Papa say it is all right for me to go. We will have the use of Mr. Tallman’s Fordor Sedan, so it will not matter that it is cold after dark.
    Of course, I would much rather go to the movies with Mikkel Christiansen, but I have despaired of him thinking to ask me to go to a movie or anywhere else. Maybe he does not go to movies. I know many ministers do not, although our community church is not so strict about such things. And Mikkel did join in the dancing last summer.
    Oh, that seems such a long time ago. What I would not give to have him hold me in his arms and waltz me around a barn again. Sometimes I cannot hear his lessons at Sunday school or during worship services because I am daydreaming about that. I am sure that is a horrible sin for which I will have to repent one day.
    I am not always daydreaming, of course. I have learned much from his preaching and teaching. And I find there are times when I am so hungry to know more, to understand more, to feel more about God. I think I should like to love God as Mikkel loves Him, but I cannot say that I do.
    Teaching the children’s class has been wonderful, but my time doing so is nearly over. Mrs. Filbert has received permission from the doctor in Boise to resume her normal activities, and she has said she will return to the class the first Sunday in December. In time to arrange for the Christmas pageant. I will be truly sad when this happens, because then I will not have any reason for even a few minutes alone with Mikkel.
    Oh, why can I not feel this same way about Dutch? He thinks I am pretty and would like to kiss me. Mikkel thinks I am just a child.
    Esther

SIX
    “What are you doing with my car?” Karen demanded as she approached the Mustang.
    The hood was up, and one of Dusty’s boys was looking at the engine. Without straightening, he glanced over his shoulder but didn’t answer.
    “I asked what you’re doing,” she said again.
    “Just seein’ what sort of shape it’s in.”
    Karen stopped a few feet away. “I did not give permission for you to touch my things.”
    “Why?” He straightened and turned toward her. His gaze was sullen, his tone defiant. “Afraid I’m gonna contaminate it or something?”
    She winced. That was precisely what she’d felt, even if she hadn’t put it into words.
    “I know my way around cars, lady. I’m not gonna hurt nothing.”
    And how many automobiles have you stolen, you young hoodlum?
    For several moments, they glared at each other.
    Finally, the boy turned back toward the automobile. “This car’s a classic. If you fixed it up, it’d be worth a lot of money.”
    “You’re joking.”
    “No, I’m not.”
    She stepped closer. “How much money?”
    “I don’t know.” He shrugged, then leaned over the engine again. “If it was done right, could be worth twenty, thirty thousand. Maybe more.”
    “Twenty thousand dollars? “ She took another step forward. “That much? For this old car?”
    “Maybe. It’s a classic. Lots of people want to own an old Mustang.”
    Twenty thousand. That would be enough to get her out of Nowheresville, Idaho. She could return to California. It would be enough to support her for a little while. Not for long, but perhaps long enough. A few months anyway.
    “What would it take?” she asked the boy. “And could you do the work?”
    He met her gaze again. “You askin’ me to help you?” The defiance was gone from his voice, replaced by surprise.
    “Yes.” She didn’t suppose he was any more surprised than she was. “What would it cost to fix it up, get it ready to sell?”
    “I’d have to do some figurin’. Look through some catalogs.