Part 5

Light from Heaven
by Jan Karon

(Page 5 of 6)

"Yessir, he said he was standin' right there when it rolled out, slick as grease."

"You already told us that, you goofball. What was it she said?"

J.C. wiped his perspiring forehead with a wadded-up paper towel. "Get off my bumper," he snapped at Percy.

The Muse editor sat back in the plastic chair and looked once more at the eager assembly. "She said God."

"God?" Percy and Mule exclaimed in unison.

"No way!" Mule shook his head. "No way Edith Mallory would've said God, unless she was tryin' to say th' word that used to get my butt whipped when I was little."

"Right," said Percy. "No way."

Yes, thought Father Tim. Yes!

He stopped by the grease pit where Harley Welch was lying on his back under a crew-cab truck.

"Harley!" He squatted down and peered at his old friend.

"Rev'ren', is that you?"

"What's left of me. How's it going?"

"Goin' good if I can git this U joint worked offa here. When's our boy comin' home?"

"Tomorrow. We'll catch up with you in a day or two. Did you hear about the twins?"

"Yessir, hit's th' big town news. Spittin' image of th' ol' mayor, they say."

He laughed. "I guess Lace is coming in?"

"Yessir, she's wrote me a time or two lately; you know she got that big scholarship."

"I heard. That's wonderful! By the way, when is the last time you worked on Miss Sadie's car?"

"Oh, law, that's goin' too far back f'r m' feeble mind. Let's see, didn't she pass in th' spring?"

"She did."

"I worked on it sometime before she passed, she was still drivin'. I remember she rolled in here one mornin', I had to change out 'er clutch. Miss Sadie was bad t' ride 'er clutch."

"Do you know if it's still parked in the garage up at Fernbank?"

"I don't know if he's sold it. They was some talk Mr. Gregory was goin' to restore it... . George Gaynor worked on it a day or two, maybe. I cain't hardly recall."

"You pushing along all right with Miss Pringle?" Hélène Pringle was the piano teacher who rented his house in Mitford, and Harley was his old buddy who lived in the basement.

"Let's jis' say I've heered more piana music than I ever knowed was wrote."

Father Tim laughed. "Come out to the sticks and see us, will you?"

"I will," said Harley. "I'll bring you'uns a pan of m' brownies."

"I'll hold you to it."

"How's Miss Cynthy?"

"Couldn't be better." He stood, hearing the creaking of his knees. "Got to put the chairs in the wagon, as my grandmother used to say, and run to The Local. Regards to Miss Pringle!"

He walked to the truck, whistling a tune he'd heard on the radio.

There was nothing like a visit to Mitford to get a man's spirits up and running.

He blew through the door of one of his favorite Mitford haunts, the bell jingling behind him.

"'I love the smell of book ink in the morning!'" he called out, quoting Umberto Eco.

"Father Tim!" Hope Winchester turned from the shelf where she was stocking biographies. "We've missed you!"

"And I, you. How are you, Hope?"

She lifted her left hand to his gaze.

"Man!" he said, quoting Dooley Barlowe.

"It was his grandmother Murphy's. Scott is at a chaplain's retreat this week, he gave it to me before he left."

"One knee or two?"

"Two!"

"Good fellow!" He still felt a sap for having done a mere one knee with his then neighbor.

He gave Hope a heartfelt hug. "Felicitaciones! Mazel tov!"

"Muchas gracias. Umm. Obrigado!"

They laughed easily together. He thought he'd never seen the owner of Happy Endings Bookstore looking more radiant.

"I have a list," he said, hauling it from the breast pocket of his jacket.

"Your lists have helped Happy Endings stay afloat. Thank you a thousand times. Oh, my, that's a long one."

"It's been a long time since I came in. Tell me, how is Louise liking Mitford?"

"I'll be right back," she said. She hurried to the foot of the stairs and called up for her sister, recently moved from their deceased mother's home place.

Louise came down the stairs at once, fixing her eyes on her feet. Hope took her sister by the arm and trotted her over.

"Father Tim, this is my sister, Louise Winchester."

With some difficulty, Louise raised her eyes and met his gaze. "So happy ..." she said. Hope smiled. "Louise is shy."

"I find shyness a very attractive characteristic. It's as scarce these days as hens' teeth."

He took Louise's hand, finding her somehow prettier than her sister, with a mane of chestnut hair and inquisitive green eyes.

"Louise, we're happy to have you among us, you'll make a difference, I know. May God bless you to find your way here, and prosper you in all you do."

He was delighted by her seemingly involuntary, albeit slight, curtsy.

"Father Tim wondered how you like living in Mitford."

© 2006 Penguin, a division of Penguin Putnam, used by permission.

About the Author

Jan Karon, born Janice Meredith Wilson in the foothills of North Carolina, was named after the title of a popular novel, Janice Meredith. Jan wrote her first novel at the age of ten. "The manuscript was written on Blue Horse notebook paper, and was, for good reason, kept hidden from my sister. When she found it, she discovered the one curse word I had, with pounding heart, included in someone's speech. For Pete's sake, hadn't Rhett Butler used that very same word and gotten away with it? After my grandmother's exceedingly focused reproof, I've written books without cussin' ever since."