LITMIR.BIZ

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“is she your wife?”

      “For fifty-seven years before the Lord called her home.” He paused, looked at Laura and said, “I’m looking forward to seeing her again.”

      Touched by the affection in his tone, Laura didn’t know what to say. She’d met Zeb Monday, only four days ago, but already she’d grown very attached to the kindhearted man who visited the store each day.

      “She was a teacher, too,” Zeb said, then turned his attention back to sketching.

      “I’m not a teacher yet.” She’d talked to Zeb about her dream to become a teacher, as well as how she’d had to put that plan on hold until she had her babies and until schools were willing to hire her.

      Zeb completed the boxcar—which looked amazing—and began to draw the children from the book cover. Laura didn’t really need the children drawn, since she was only planning to design a big boxcar prop, but he was doing such an incredible job that she didn’t want to stop him. “You know,” he said, “the way I see it, teaching doesn’t have to occur inside school walls.” He pointed to the book. “Sounds like you’re already working toward encouraging some of the kids around here to increase their joy of reading. That’s teaching, any way you look at it.”

      Laura smiled. She had felt good about the responses they’d already received for the book club. “I guess it is.” Several of Kaden’s friends had signed up, and she anticipated adding more tonight if she got this display done and could advertise it properly for the First Friday event. “I’ve decided to hold the Boxcar Book Club gathering each Monday after school. I thought that’d be a good way to start each child’s week, and I’m planning to bring in some of the activities from the book to make it more interactive.”

      “Dolly did the same thing, tried to give the kids more hands-on activities when they were learning. She said it helped them retain what they learned if they had an action associated with it.” He put down the pencil and turned the page toward Laura. “I think she’d have liked this. Do you?”

      The detail of the boxcar, as well as the four children, was astounding. “It’s incredible.”

      “Okay, so to create this to scale, I believe you’ll need six pieces of craft board, the thickest kind they sell. You’ll also need to fix this door so it opens, because they’ll probably want to go inside of it, don’t you think?”

      Laura nodded. “That’s what I wanted.”

      He ran tiny dashes around the drawing to show how he believed the boards should be assembled. “Then all you’ll need is some wood stands to hold it in place. I’m pretty sure David can get wood for you out of some of those crates that are always stacked behind the stores.”

      He handed her the sketch pad. “Take it over to Scraps and Crafts. It’s straight across the square—you can’t miss it. Diane Marsh owns the place and will be able to tell you exactly what you need to build a boxcar prop for the kids.” He lifted a finger. “Her grandson is about Kaden’s age. Have you got an Andy Marsh on your list of kids signed up?”

      Laura remembered the name. “Yes, I do.”

      “Chances are, Diane will donate the materials if she knows it’ll help Andy enjoy his reading. She’s talked to me about that before, wanting him to learn to like books.”

      “I’m pretty sure it was his grandmother who called and signed him up,” she said.

      Zeb grinned. “Sounds like Diane. She loves those grandchildren. The other ones are older, teens I think. If you start something for teens, she’ll probably sign them up, too.”

      Laura had been thinking the same thing, that if this book club was a success, she could start more. “I hope to do just that.”

      He pushed up from the chair and picked up the two books. Glancing at his watch, he said, “I’d go with you to see Diane, but I’m supposed to be at the hospital in a half hour so I’d better go.”

      “The hospital?”

      “I read to the kids on the children’s floor a couple of days each week during their lunch.” He turned the books so Laura could see the titles, Daniel and the Lion’s Den and The Story of Moses. “Picked a couple of Bible stories for today.”

      Laura’s heart moved the way it did every time she heard about one of Zeb’s regular activities. She’d never met anyone like him. “That’s wonderful, Zeb. I’m sure they love having you read to them.”

      He leaned one of the books toward Laura and said, “You should go with me sometime, and David, too. I’ve got to tell you, they do way more for me than I do for them. Makes you really understand what Christ meant when He said it’s more blessed to give than to receive, you know?”

      Laura nodded. She did know, and yet that made her current situation all the more painful. David had asked her to go to his midweek Bible study on Wednesday at the Claremont Community Church, and she’d declined. And Mandy had invited her to a ladies’ Bible study that she was hosting last night, and again, she’d declined. Now Zeb was reminding her subtly that...she missed church. But she’d so blatantly turned her back on God that she wasn’t certain He’d want her. And she didn’t know whether she could handle the guilt of entering a church and being surrounded by all of the people who “got it right.”

      Zeb had turned his attention to the two children’s books in his hand and didn’t notice Laura’s discomposure. Instead, he flipped through the pages and smiled. “These illustrations are beautiful. The kids will love them.” He moved toward the counter. “I’ll leave the money over here so you don’t have to get up.”

      “Don’t leave any money, Mr. Zeb. David doesn’t want you to pay, and neither do I. And I’m getting up anyway.” She maneuvered her way out of the chair, then winced when one of the babies apparently kicked her for disturbing her sleep. “Whoa.”

      He quickly turned from the counter. “You okay?”

      “Yes,” she said, gritting her teeth as another kick matched the first, then exhaling when the twins finally settled down. “I’m fine. One of them is apparently attempting to teach the other one karate,” she said with a laugh. “But I’m not taking your money.”

      He frowned. “I told you not to get up.”

      “I’m going to the craft store as soon as David gets back from the post office, so I needed to get up anyway. And I want to walk you to the door.” She gently steered him farther away from the checkout counter and toward the door.

      “You’re just trying to keep me from paying.”

      “And I’m doing a pretty good job of it, too, aren’t I?” She smiled, gave him a hug and then opened the door for him to leave.

      “One of these days I’m going to repay you,” he said.

      “You can repay me by letting me go with you to visit those kids one day. That sounds like a teacher’s dream.”

      He smiled. “It is. You have a blessed day, Miss Laura.”

      “You, too.”

      Zeb exited, leaving Laura alone in the bookstore. That was something she’d noticed this week more than anything else; it was almost always empty. In the four days she’d been working, Laura had learned how to collect used books and log the credits in the computer, how to shelve the titles according to genre and author, how to select which books would appeal to readers in the various reading nooks and how to guide customers in their purchases. All of that could be considered part of her job description, but it wasn’t the most important thing she learned during her first week on the job.

      She learned David wasn’t making any money.

      Throughout the week, they’d received several bags of used books from customers who typically swapped out for other books during the same shopping trip. Then they had a few who came in and visited, browsed titles and perhaps even sat in a reading nook to peruse a

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