Ray of Hope Read online

  “Andre is not my type. I prefer my men to be grown. Any guy who will allow his grandmother to have him hauling fruits and vegetables around to other old folks, and then make him sit and shell peas with her, is not strong enough to wrap his arm in mine.”

  “Well, I see it differently,” Crystal said with a big smile.

  “Of course you do. Real talk: weak people need weak people. I am too strong of a woman to be with someone who will shell peas and then be excited about going to some church youth conference. Then again, maybe I should talk to him while I’m here. See if I can’t open his eyes to the real world. Show him how to have some real fun. That way, he won’t be some lost country bumpkin if and when he ever gets out of this place.”

  “Well, I think they’re both really great guys. And personally, I’m looking forward to seeing Aaron again.”

  “I wouldn’t go there if I were you. I’m telling you, Crystal. It’s people like Andre and Aaron you need to be the most leery of. They pretend they’re these nice guys, when in truth, they’re really bad boys in disguise. Hey … maybe you’re right. Maybe I should check out Andre. If nothing else, it would be something to pass the time while I’m sentenced to this slow-Internet, no-cell-connection-keeping place.” Sahara picked up the novel on her nightstand and opened it to her bookmarked page.

  Crystal stood up, then shrugged. “Just try to stay out of trouble, will you? Ma Ray really does care about us. And I don’t think it’s right for us to give her so much trouble. She deserves better than that. Much better than that.”

  “Close the door on your way out, all right?” Sahara said, rushing her sister out of her room.

  “Sure,” Crystal said. Then, as instructed, she pulled the door closed behind her.

  Chapter 10

  And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out: whither the men went I wot not: pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them.

  —Joshua 2:5

  “Is she gone?” came a voice from underneath Sahara’s bed.

  “Yeah,” Sahara said with a sigh. She put the novel back on her nightstand.

  The guy got up and flopped down hard on her bed. “Wow! That was close!”

  “Yeah. That’s why I told you that you shouldn’t have come up here. What if that had been my grandmother instead of my sister? My grandmother doesn’t always knock before she comes barging in.” And after what happened last night, Sahara knew her grandmother would be even more on her toes when it came to her.

  “I’m just glad somebody finally got the good sense to turn the air on in this bad boy,” Junebug said. “It was starting to get ridiculous in here. But when I saw you walking out there earlier today, my heart literally did a backflip. Girl, you make all this sweating more than worth it. It’s been years since I’ve seen you. You were like twelve or thirteen, something like that. You’re as fine as wine that seems to only be getting better with time. But back then, you would hardly give me the time of day.” He shook his head as he bit down on his bottom lip. “You look so good—a real dime piece. Nothing like these chicken heads around here. And that’s fo’ sheezy. So, how old are you now?”

  “Seventeen,” Sahara said.

  Junebug lived with his folks up the dirt road from Ma Ray’s. He was twenty, and from what Sahara had learned from their conversation so far, he’d dropped out of high school at age sixteen but still lived with his parents, having given them his word that he was working toward getting his GED. He really wasn’t, since he had a pretty good hustle going on that brought in more money than any minimum-wage job ever could. And staying with his good Christian folks, in a country place, was a perfect cover for all of his mischief. He could do all of the dirt he wanted, come back to the “woods” as he called it, and no one was the wiser.

  “So, what were you doing down there near that natural area?” Junebug asked.

  “My grandmother had us shelling peas,” Sahara said. “I just couldn’t take it anymore. That’s why I was out there. I guess they thought I was up here resting or something. But who can rest in all of this heat? I had sneaked out the back, and before I knew it, I ended up down there. I’ve always liked that place. It’s so peaceful down there. I heard something, thought it might be a wild animal or something, looked up—”

  “And there I was thinking I had to be dreaming,” Junebug said. “You, wearing those sweet little short-shorts, your legs looking like they go on for days.” He glanced down at her legs. She put her hands on her thighs as though that would be enough to cover them from his gawking.

  “Listen, Junebug. It was good seeing you and all. But now I need to figure out a way to get you out of here. Crystal just said my uncle Boaz is here. And he’s even worse than my grandmother. If he catches you up here in my room, who knows how he’ll go off. And I’m about one mistake away from being sent off to a boot camp or something.”

  “Well, trust me, I’m sure boot camp is a whole lot better than juvie. That’s where I ended up for a few months. I wish my folks had been nice enough to put me in some place like some chomp boot camp.”

  “How are we going to get you out of here without anyone seeing or hearing you?” Sahara asked as she stood up and pulled the hem of her shorts down in another attempt to divert his ever-gawking attention from her legs.

  He smacked his lips a few times. “What if I don’t want to go?”

  “Well, you have to. I’m not going to get into any more trouble, at least not today.”

  “You’ve already been in trouble today? Aren’t you a little too old to be getting in trouble? You’re seventeen. At seventeen my mother was already married with my oldest sister on the way.”

  “Do you think you can climb out of the window? Make your way to the tree and shimmy down.”

  “What? Climb out of this window.” He started laughing. “I’m not climbing out of no window, and I sure ain’t about to shimmy down no tree.”

  “Well, I need to get you out of here.”

  “Well, then, you’d better come up with a better plan than that. If your room was on the ground floor, climbing out of the window might be an option. Two floors up, nope. Not me.”

  “Okay, okay. I’ll think of something.”

  “When can I see you again?”

  “You can stop by anytime. Just ring the doorbell and it will be fine. My grandmother knows you and your folks. The way she acts about all of you, she’ll welcome you in with open arms. She seems to love for us to have company. As long as they do it the right way.”

  “The problem is your grandmother does know me. And believe me: she will not be welcoming me with open arms. She’s made that perfectly clear on more than a few occasions. The last time, she told me she was from a place called Hope.”

  Sahara frowned. “A place called Hope?”

  He laughed. “Yeah. But it’s not at all what you’re thinking. She said that she hopes I don’t ever step foot on her property ever again, because her hope for me is for me to be able to walk away under my own powers. It was that cousin of yours that caused her to say all of those things to me. What’s her name? Freda, yeah, that’s her name: Miss Prim and Proper Freda. Ma Ray was saying that she hopes I get my life together and hopes I come to know Jesus in the free pardon of my sin before I meet my maker. I wanted to tell her that nothing in life is ever free. It always cost somebody something. But she had that look that told me it was best that I keep my big mouth shut. So, I did.”

  “My grandmother? Ybu’re talking about my grandmother. Ma Ray said that?”

  “Yeah, I’m talking about your grandmother: Ray of Hope. She told me she had a lot of hope for me. And the first thing I could do to ensure some of her hopes for me came true was for me to never step foot in her place without her permission ever again.”

  “And yet… here you are, in my room, no less,” Sahara teased him, then grinned.

  “Well, when I saw you today, looking on fire at the top of that bank, with that water flowing down
below us, I wouldn’t have been able to look myself in the mirror had I let you come back here all by your lonesome.”

  “Like I said … we need to get you out of here before Ray of Hope or Ray of Hope’s son finds you here and gives you a stingray of hope. Then we’ll both find ourselves up a creek, trying to row our boats, without a paddle.”

  “When can I see you again?” He walked up close to Sahara. Sahara tried to step back, but he grabbed her around the waist to let her know he was also quite strong. “And don’t tell me to ring your grandmother’s doorbell. I want to show you some real fun. I’m sure you’re not seeing much of that hanging around all of these deadbeats. I have access to stuff. You know what I mean? So maybe you can sneak away; that way, you won’t have to worry about anybody looking for you to be home at a certain time.”

  “I’ll let you know,” Sahara said. “But for now, you have to leave.” She pushed him away and walked toward the door. “Listen out for my cue, okay? And when it sounds like the coast is clear for you to leave, I want you to make your way down the steps and out of the front door. Quietly, if you don’t mind.”

  He smiled and bit down on his bottom lip again. “All right. But you owe me. And I always collect on my debts. Always.”

  Chapter 11

  But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof.

  —Joshua 2:6

  “Hi, Uncle Boaz,” Sahara said when she walked into the den. She went over and hugged him. “Crystal told me you were here.”

  Boaz hugged her back. “Hi, Sahara. Shorts are a little short, don’t you think?”

  Sahara forced a smile. “Do you have any idea how hot it’s been in this house? Ma Ray says she hates artificial air, so we all have to figure a way to make do.”

  “Well, the air conditioner is on now,” Ma Ray said. “I don’t know what the fuss is all about. Before we had air conditioners, we managed to live and not die. We survived it just fine. Now y’all act like the world is coming to an end if you can’t have things just the way you think it ought to be.”

  “I’m hungry. Is anybody else hungry besides me? Why don’t we all go in the kitchen and fix something fun to eat. You know, Ma Ray. The way we used to all pitch in and do it. I think it will be fun.”

  “We’ve eaten already. There’s plenty left in there,” Ma Ray said. “Go in there and get as much as you want.”

  “Oh, Ma Ray. I knew you’d cooked something already. But I really would like to do something fun. It’s been so long since we’ve all done something, together as a family, in the kitchen. I know—let’s bake some cookies. Uncle Boaz, you know how much you love Ma Ray’s cookies, oatmeal… chocolate chips with those big old chips she chips herself. You know, Ma Ray, how you take a large block of chocolate and just hack away. Then the cookies bake, and those large pieces of chocolate just melts and gets all ooey and gooey. When you pull them apart, all soft, hot out of the oven, the pieces of chocolate stretch from one broken piece to the other, making a string of chocolate. Then, we hold up one broken piece and let the warm chocolate settle on our tongues—”

  “Okay, I’m sold,” Boaz said. “Girl, you know you have a way with words. I can’t believe you’re not acing English in school.”

  “She writes a lot of poetry and short stories,” Crystal said. “She’s really good, too. And I’m not just saying that because she’s my sister.”

  “Poetry and short stories, huh?” Boaz said.

  “I just play around. I like playing around with words. I like the music that can be made just by placing certain words in certain places,” Sahara said. She got up and started for the kitchen, glancing up the stairs as she passed them.

  Ma Ray saw her when she glanced that way. Ma Ray wasn’t sure what was going on, but deep down in her knowing, she knew Sahara was up to something.

  “Ma, are you coming?” Boaz asked. “You know, you’re the cooking expert. We’re just following your lead.”

  Ma Ray smiled. “Coming,” she said, scampering to catch up.

  Chapter 12

  And the men pursued after them the way to Jordan unto the fords: and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate.

  —Joshua 2:7

  Just as Ma Ray was taking out the first batch of cookies, the doorbell rang. Sahara jumped.

  “Why are you so jumpy?” Boaz asked Sahara.

  “No reason,” Sahara said. “I just wasn’t expecting the doorbell to ring, that’s all.” She looked at the entranceway.

  Boaz got up from the kitchen table to go answer it. Ma Ray could hear who it was as soon as he opened the door. She hurriedly wiped her hands on the apron with the cartoon baker on it that Sahara and Crystal had given her for a Mother’s Day gift when they were little bitty girls, and started toward the front.

  “I knew that was you,” Ma Ray said as she hugged Lenora, then Kyle and Nia. “What great timing. We just finished making homemade chocolate chip cookies. In fact, I just took a batch out of the oven.”

  “Cookies!” Kyle said. “I’m Cookie Monster! Raowl.”He made a roaring sound, then started for the kitchen.

  “Wait on your sister,” Lenora said.

  “Nia, come on. We’re going to get Ma Ray’s big cookies!”

  Nia ran to her brother, who quickly grabbed her hand and practically dragged her along.

  Lenora looked at Boaz. Ma Ray immediately felt the tension between them.

  “So what are you doing here?” Lenora asked Boaz.

  “Came to see our mother,” Boaz said.

  “Why today?” Lenora asked.

  “Why not?”

  “What’s going on with you two?” Ma Ray asked.

  “Nothing,” Boaz said.

  Lenora walked over and set her purse down on the sofa. “He’s just jealous.”

  Boaz turned toward Lenora. “Jealous?”

  “Yeah, Ma. Boaz is jealous.”

  “What does he have to be jealous about?” Ma Ray asked.

  “Okay, maybe jealous isn’t the right word.” Lenora flopped down on the sofa. “But I’m sure he’s expressed his displeasure that Sahara and Crystal are staying here with you for who knows how long. And I’m sure you’ve painfully explained to him how you had to step in to help me because I’m so incompetent when it comes to taking care of my own. Boaz likely finessed somewhere in the conversation how all I ever do is skillfully take advantage of you, which I don’t. Then he probably further emphasized, in his own sneaky way, how much better of a child he’s always been, and a parent he is now, than I will ever come close to even dreaming of being. I don’t know why Boaz feels he always has to make me look bad. I don’t.”

  “Wow, that was really good, Len,” Boaz said.

  Lenora flashed him a hard look. “What? Did I interrupt before you were finished trashing me to Ma? Should I have called to let Ma know I was coming so you could have thrown your rocks and hid your hand by being out of here before I arrived?”

  “Lenora, what has gotten into you?” Ma Ray said, her hand on her chest. “My goodness.”

  Boaz smiled. “It’s okay, Ma.” He leaned down and kissed his mother. “I’m going to get a few cookies to take home and get out of here.”

  “Please don’t leave on my account,” Lenora said.

  “Lenora, stop it!” Ma Ray said.

  Boaz smiled as he shook his head. “I enjoyed the visit today.”

  Ma Ray smiled back. “So did I, son. Don’t let it be too long before we do it again.” Boaz hugged Ma Ray as she rubbed his back, then patted it softly. “Take Ruth some cookies.”

  “Oh, I’m sure Ruth doesn’t eat cookies. That’s why she’s able to stay in such great shape,” Lenora said.

  Boaz flashed Lenora another look but didn’t say anything back. He went to the kitchen. Ma Ray could hear all of the children telling him good-bye. He came back, hugged her as he told her good-bye. “See, you around, Lenora,” Boaz said
. “Take care.”

  “Likewise,” Lenora said, barely looking at him.

  Ma Ray sat down next to Lenora. “Okay, what was that all about?”

  “What was what all about?”

  “What’s the problem you’re having with your brother?”

  “I’m not the one having the problem.” Lenora blinked her eyes several times. “So … how long was he here?”

  “About two … two-and-a-half hours.”

  “And in that time, how many times did my name come up?”

  “Let’s see,” Ma Ray said, looking toward the ceiling. “I believe the correct number would be … zero. Your name didn’t come up at all. He came in. He and I and Crystal talked for a little while. He talked me into turning on the air conditioner. Crystal went upstairs and talked to Sahara. He and I went out on the porch for about thirty minutes. Came back in the house. Sahara came downstairs shortly after Crystal came back. Sahara spoke to her uncle. She wanted to make cookies. Let’s see, now—I don’t want to leave anything out. I let them do all the mixing for the cookies while I washed, then blanched the purple hull peas we shelled today.”

  “Okay, Ma. I see. So Boaz didn’t say one word about the girls staying here with you? He didn’t ask how long they were planning on being here. He didn’t mention that he thought you were too old to have to be bothered with my troubled teens? Didn’t say anything like that to you or to the girls? Nothing at all?”

  Ma Ray smiled as she took Lenora’s hand and patted it. “No. We merely had an enjoyable time, and then you showed up.”

  “Oh.” Lenora pulled her hand out of Ma Ray’s. “You were having an enjoyable time until I showed up.”

  Ma Ray let her body go limp from exasperation. “What? Who said anything about until you showed up? I said then you showed up. Then! Not until you showed up. Then.”

  “Same thing. I came in and ruined everything as usual. You were having a wonderful time, then I showed up.”

  “Well, you do have a chip on your shoulders, and I don’t quite understand why. So if you have something you want to get off your chest, by all means dump it.”