The Devine Doughnut Shop(55)

“Forget the Bible,” Sarah said. “I would have wrapped Joel up in that bedsheet and worked him over with whatever I could find in the hotel room. The ice bucket comes to mind. I just realized that both of those two sumbitches had names with four letters and that ended with an L.”

Grace thought about Travis—five letters, and no L in his first name. Should the one in Butler be cause for alarm?



Macy hadn’t spent nearly enough time on the Sunday school lesson, so she headed off to church earlier than usual. Finding the room clean and in order just like she’d left it the week before, she sat down behind the desk and opened the lesson book and tried to get some ideas about how to bring the story of Noah down to today’s teenagers. Her mind drifted off to Audrey and Raelene, and suddenly, an idea popped into her head. She would discuss how the attitudes of the animals had to change while they were in the ark together or else there would have been chaos.

She was still making notes when Grace and the two girls arrived with several other teenagers right behind them. Grace came right over to sit behind the desk with Macy, but Audrey looped her arm through Raelene’s and ushered her over to the chair at the end of the semicircle and then sat down beside her.

“Talk about an attitude change,” Macy whispered.

“What was that?” Grace asked.

“Just something I was thinking about for today’s lesson,” Macy answered.

Crystal and Kelsey came in together and gave Audrey and Raelene dirty looks. They took their seats, glared at Macy and Grace for a second or two as well; then Crystal pulled a can of soda from her backpack. Grace wagged a finger at her. Crystal huffed in annoyance, but she returned the drink to her backpack. Kelsey nudged her and slipped her a piece of chocolate. Grace picked up the trash can and crossed the room with it.

“You girls know the rules—and if you continue to break them, then you’ll face the consequences.” Grace held out the trash can. “Put your candy in here. And if any of you want to test me, then next week, you will be leaving your backpacks on the front pew in the sanctuary. And that’s where you will sit during services.”

Macy wished she had the courage and power that Grace had, but she was simply too easygoing to even threaten a child with that punishment, much less carry through with it. “Thank you, Grace,” she said, then continued, “We all need discipline in our lives, and I appreciate you taking care of that for us. Now, let’s talk about our lesson for today. How many of you have read it?”

Audrey and Raelene raised their hands and got more hateful looks from Crystal and Kelsey.

“Thank you,” Macy said with a nod and a smile. “For the rest of you, the study today is about Noah and the fact that he had so many animals on the ark—some of them were friends in nature, but a lot of them were enemies. How do you think they survived all those weeks in that big boat without the lions killing the zebras?”

“Because while they were locked up, they had to change their attitudes in order to survive. A lot like we have to in school every day, with kids who really don’t like others,” Audrey answered.

“Or we don’t change our attitudes”—Crystal crossed her arms over her chest—“and the weak ones . . .”

“The weak ones are eaten by the strong ones,” Kelsey butted in. She shot a smug look toward Raelene.

“Not in the ark,” Raelene spoke up. “They all got along until Noah opened the doors and let them out.”

“That’s just a fairy tale,” Crystal countered. “I’m not sure I even believe in the Bible.”

“It’s probably just a work of fiction,” Kelsey added.

Audrey stood up so fast that her chair hit the tile floor with a loud noise. “Come on, Raelene, we need to go sit beside my mama and aunt. Lightning is liable to come down through the roof and zap Crystal and Kelsey for talking like that in church.”

As if on cue, thunder rolled in the distance, and a bolt of lightning struck a tree not far from the window.

Audrey picked up her chair and Raelene’s and carried both to the front of the room. “That was God’s warning shot. Raelene and I will feel a little safer up here.”

Macy bit back a smile when the thunder behind the lightning rolled so close to the roof of the church that several of the kids cringed. “That’s what Noah and his family probably heard just before the rain started. What were all the people who had been making fun of Noah feeling about then, do you suppose?”

Audrey made a show of sitting down in her chair. “If it had been me, I would have been wishing I hadn’t asked my friend to cover for me when they did a locker check at school.”

“Well, our so-called friend shouldn’t have been stupid enough to shove our contraband down into her purse instead of sneaking it into her locker, which had already been checked,” Kelsey smarted off.

Raelene held up her hand. “I would have been thinking that maybe I should have taken swimming lessons or learned to love sushi.”

One of the other teenagers frowned. “Why sushi?”

“Think about it,” Raelene said. “If you’re treading water, you’ll have to catch a lot of fish with your bare hands and eat it raw if you expect to survive.”

Macy nodded toward Raelene. “I wonder how many thought about how mean they had been to Noah and his family while he was building the ark.”