I drove Jamie home from the orphaer that night. At first I wasnt sure whether I should pull the old yawn move and put my arm around her shoulder, but to be ho, I didnt kly how she was feeling about me. Granted, shed givehe most wonderful gift Id ever received, and even though Id probably never open it and read it like she did, I k was like giving a piece of herself away. But Jamie was the type of person who would donate a kido a stranger she met walking dowreet, if he really needed one. So I wasly sure what to make of it.
Jamie had told me ohat she wasnt a dimwit, and I guess I finally came to the clusion that she wasnt. She may have been . . . well, different . . .
but shed figured out what Id done for the orphans, and looking back, I think she knew even as we were sitting on the floor of her living room. When shed called it a miracle, I guess she was talking specifically about me.
Hegbert, I remembered, came into the room as Jamie and I were talking about it, but he really didnt have much to say. Old Hegbert hadnt been himself lately, at least as far as I could tell. Oh, his sermons were still on the money, aill talked about the fornicators, but lately his sermons were shorter than usual, and occasionally hed pause right in the middle of one and this strange look would e over him, kind of like he was thinking of something else, something sad.
I didnt know what to make of it, being that I really didnt know him that well.
And Jamie, whealked about him, seemed to describe someone else entirely.
I could no more imagine Hegbert with a sense of humor than I could imagiwo moons in the sky.
So anyway, he came into the room while we ted the money, and Jamie stood up with those tears in her eyes, and Hegbert didnt eveo realize I was there. He told her that he roud of her and that he loved her, but then he shuffled back to the kit to tinue w on his sermon. He didnt even say hello. Now, I knew I hadly been the most spiritual kid in the gregation, but I still found his behavior sort of odd.
As I was thinking about Hegbert, I gla Jamie sitting beside me. She was looking out the window with a peaceful look on her face, kind of smiling, but far away at the same time. I smiled. Maybe she was thinking about me. My hand started scooting across the seat closer to hers, but before I reached it, Jamie broke the silence.
"Landon," she finally asked as she turoward me, "do you ever think about God?」
I pulled my hand back.
Now, when I thought about God, I usually pictured him like those old paintings Id seen in churches-a giant h over the landscape, wearing a white robe, with long flowing hair, pointing his finger or something like that-but I knew she wasnt talking about that. She was talking about the Lords plan. It took a moment for me to answer.
"Sure," I said. "Sometimes, I re.」
"Do you ever wonder why things have to turn out the way they do?」
I nodded uainly.
"Ive been thinking about it a lot lately.」
Even more than usual? I wao ask, but I didnt. I could tell she had more to say, and I stayed quiet.
"I know the Lord has a plan for us all, but sometimes, I just dont uand what the message be. Does that ever happen to you?」
She said this as though it were something I thought about all the time.
"Well," I said, trying to bluff, "I dont think that were meant to uand it all the time. I think that sometimes we just have to have faith.」
It