A few minutes later Jon and Tanisha joined Nanci and Sarah out by the pool. “I’ve been looking forward to this all day,” he said as he eased himself into the pool, “but a project needed our attention and there was no choice but to deal with it.”

“And I suppose you can’t talk about it,” Nanci replied. She knew that Jon and Tanisha worked on a number of classified projects and were pretty closed-mouth about them.

“No, no way,” Tanisha said, mostly because she was still getting into the pool while Jon was busy swimming. As Nanci had predicted, her sister-in-law was wearing a tiny white bikini that made her seem even blacker than she was, which was about as black as a person could be. Nanci couldn’t remember if she’d ever mentioned her sister-in-law being black, but if she hadn’t Sarah had definitely noticed but seemed to take it in stride; Nanci reasoned that Sarah must have gotten used to black people while living in Africa in her formative years.

“It’s nice to come home and relax,” Tanisha went on. She was on the solid side, if a little shorter than her equally solid husband, but she was also a bit on the buxom side. “We’ve been talking about getting a hot tub. It would be really relaxing after a day like today, but we’ve decided to wait until Barbie and Billy are a bit older. It’s a pain in the neck to have to have a gated and locked pool, but with kids that young there’s no other way.”

“Yeah, I can see how that would be nice,” Nanci said as she settled into one of the chaise lounges in the shade next to Sarah, who had apparently decided she must have had enough sun. She still showed no sign of shyness even though she was still dressed in the relatively modest bikini; Nanci decided it wasn’t worth mentioning, although it was certainly food for thought.

After a moment, Jon put his arms on the edge of the pool so he could speak with them a little better. “Did Jennifer tell you anything about the plans?”

“No, other than you were at work and that Ben and Joy were watching the kids,” Nanci replied.

“Well, she didn’t know all that much anyway,” Jon shrugged. “Look, Nanci, I don’t know what you had planned, if anything.”

“I want to make it up to Hillside sometime while we’re here. Beyond that, and Christmas with the family, and maybe some shopping and a run out to the South Rim, we don’t have any plans other than to take it easy.”

“I figured it was something like that,” he replied. “Look, if it’s all right with you, I talked things back and forth with Mom a little to work out some details but you can change them if you like. We’re going to grill dinner here tonight, and you’ll stay here. Jennifer and Will are going to come back over in a couple hours. Ben and Joy will be here, along with the kids, of course. We’ve got that great big gas grill and hardly ever get to use it, so now’s our chance. Then, tomorrow we’re going to get up early and the four of us are going to go up to Flag. We’re going to be leaving the kids with Ben and Joy again. Preach will be speaking at the Fellowship, and we figured you’d want to double-dip it with Hillside like you always used to do. We’re going to have dinner with Mom and Al, then Tani and I are going to come back here. You’re going to be staying with Mom and Al, and Mom is going to let you use her car. That may change around as we get close to Christmas and you may have to stay with Preach and Crystal for a while, it sort of depends on who shows up, but that can be worked out later.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Nanci shrugged. “I suppose Sarah and I can stand to double-dip Sunday services.”

“I guess,” Sarah spoke up. “Except I’m not sure what you mean.”

“It’s really pretty simple,” Nanci explained. “Hillside Methodist is my home church. I’m the associate pastor, although I’m on unpaid leave of absence while I’m at Hickory Run.”

“Not that they ever paid you anyway,” Tanisha snickered. She’d joined Jon in the conversation, like him, leaning on the edge of the pool.

“Picky, picky,” Nanci said. “They paid me in other ways than money. Anyway, Preach, which is what we call our brother-in-law Noah, often fills in at the Flagstaff John Wesley Fellowship. Their service is late enough that I often used to hit the early service at Hillside, and when I had to speak at the Fellowship I’d head over there. Last winter I drove up there from here most Sundays and I usually went to a service at each church even if I wasn’t speaking at either of them.”

“We don’t have a regular church down here,” Tanisha explained. “We don’t get up to Flagstaff every week but we make up for it a little by having two churches we go to on the Sundays we do get there. Nanci, you probably ought to call Reverend Miller. He may want you to assist in a service now that you’re back.”

“I can do that. This whole trip to Phoenix came down so quickly that I never even thought about it, but it will be good to be back at both Hillside and the Fellowship again.”

“The Fellowship?” Sarah asked. “Is that the place you were saying has gotten along on supply pastors and lay speakers for years?”

“The very same,” Nanci said. “I’d guess that when I get ordained, I’ll probably wind up in a small church like that, at least for a while. They’re a very close fellowship and they like it the way they do it. It’s sort of like Colt Creek Methodist, you know what that’s like from when we’ve been there. They’re having to limp along the same way, except that they have Hickory Run to draw on.”

“Yes, Colt Creek is a nice little church, very homey and friendly. I almost think I like it better than Daddy’s.”

“You know,” Nanci said thoughtfully, “the Fellowship is always looking for someone new to speak. Maybe I ought to hint to Jeff that you’d be available to speak there.”

“Me?”

“Sure,” Nanci smiled. “You’re a lay speaker and a divinity student, and believe me, they’re always looking for someone fresh. It’s not like they’re a straight-line United Methodist Church, although they’re pretty close in doctrine.”

“What doctrine they have,” Tanisha added. “They are independent, after all. I doubt if they’ve actually discussed doctrine in years, but if I had to choose between Hillside and the Fellowship, I think I’d choose the Fellowship. They’re pretty main-line and close to the Methodists, although they’re perfectly happy to have Preach speak and he’s a Baptist. Nanci, since the rafting season is over and you haven’t been around, they’ve been hitting on him heavier than he wants.”

“Do you honestly think I could do it?” Sarah said hesitantly. “I mean, uh . . . well, you know.”

“Sure, first time for everything, and you might as well add to the list you’ve started today,” Nanci smiled. “It won’t be tomorrow since Preach will be speaking then. I can help you throw something together if it comes off. It might not, since next Sunday is Christmas and Jeff might already have something lined up. If it does, it’ll be a Christmas service and that’ll be pretty easy.”

“Well, maybe,” she conceded.

“Like I said, it might not come off. We’ll be at the Fellowship tomorrow, and we can talk to Jeff after the service.”

By the time a couple of hours had passed the Chladek back yard was getting filled up. Nanci knew everybody, of course, so it was nice to catch up with some old friends. There were things that had happened in the months since Nanci had left to go rafting in the spring, and the most notable of them was with Ben and Joy, the couple who were Jon and Tanisha’s best friends. Joy was Vietnamese, dark and tiny, barely five feet tall with waist-length black hair. Nanci had gotten to know them when she’d been living at Jon and Tanisha’s, and she knew that Joy was a bright, sprightly woman. When they walked into the back yard, bringing the little Chladek kids, Nanci was very surprised to see that Joy was pregnant – and not just a little pregnant, either; she was obviously well along. “So you’re going to be adding to the population explosion too, huh?” Nanci grinned.

“Finally,” Joy smiled, pulling off a cover-up to reveal a tiny bikini that showed even more clearly just how pregnant she was. “We’ve been trying to get me pregnant for a couple of years, and I’m afraid Jon and Tanisha have gotten ahead of us.”

“Well, I’m happy for you,” Nanci replied. “It’s getting to be kid city around here, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, Barbie and Billy have been giving us some practice,” Joy agreed. “But I’ll tell you what, I’m getting to the point where I’m going to be glad to have this over with.”

After a while Jon got the grill going, and soon the smell of pork chops filled the air. Tanisha and Joy broke out some potato salad and baked beans, and there was a lot of happy discussion going on. A little to Nanci’s surprise, Sarah was right in the middle of it, still wearing the bikini even though most of the rest of the people present had changed back into casual clothes. Nanci was dead sure that meant something, although it was hard to tell what.

“I can’t get over it,” Sarah shook her head. “This morning we had snow on the ground, and here I am in the middle of an outdoor cookout wearing a swimsuit. It’s the middle of December! I would never have believed it when I got up this morning.”

“Phoenix is nice in the winter,” Jon told her. “But I’ll tell you what, it gets to be an oven in the summer. That’s when we really appreciate air conditioning. At least it’s a dry heat and it doesn’t get too intolerable.”

“That’s something,” Sarah agreed. “My parents were missionaries, and I lived in central Africa until I was eleven, and it gets hot there. But it’s a very humid heat, and it stays hot most of the time. I’d much rather be here.”

“That’s not the most stable part of the world,” Jon noted. “I’ll bet you’re glad you’re not there.”

“You have no idea. My parents are heading back there in hopes of getting their old mission station going again, and I think they’re crazy to be doing it at their age. I have no desire to see the place ever again.”

“It takes a special kind of person to be a missionary, that’s for sure,” Jennifer said. “My folks wanted me to become one, and I’m glad I escaped it. I support those missionaries in Bolivia and I have no qualms about it, but it sure isn’t something I’d care to do. Your folks must be very dedicated.”

“Dedicated or crazy, and I’m not sure which. The mission is everything in the world to them, and they put it ahead of everything, including me. I’d really rather be spending the holidays with them, but they’re more interested in their mission, so I’m glad you folks are willing to take me in. Believe me, I’d rather be here than there.”

“So what are you planning on doing with your life?” Tanisha asked.

“Something besides being a missionary,” Sarah replied sharply. “Don’t get me wrong, I respect what they’re trying to do, but it’s not something I want to do, and I think they have their priorities all messed up. I learned my lesson about that the hard way.”

Eventually the party wound down. Only when it got uncomfortably cool was Sarah willing to change back into her regular clothes, but she didn’t seem like the same person she had been only hours before. Something had definitely changed, and Nanci couldn’t tell if it was for the good, or what.

“We might as well call it a night,” Nanci said not long after sunset. “We have to get up real early tomorrow if we’re going to make the early service at Hillside.”

Tanisha and Jon put Sarah in their spare bedroom upstairs, while Nanci retreated to the basement room that had been hers for three winters. Little had changed there, other than most of the personal stuff she’d had there was now gone. Some of it was stored here, and the rest of it was either at her mother and Al’s place, or at Hickory Run. It still didn’t come to a great deal; Nanci had learned over the years to avoid having too many possessions, and felt that they could quickly come to control her.

Of course, Nanci took the opportunity of being alone to pray. She had prayed a lot in this room, and it seemed familiar. Down on her knees as usual, she held Sarah up to the Lord, who had clearly made some changes in her friend today. Whether the changes would take effect, it was hard to say, but Nanci prayed that somehow God would straighten out things for her.

The four of them were on the road early the next morning, before the sun was even up. They stopped at a drive-through for breakfast sandwiches and coffee, and got back on the road north to Flagstaff, Jon driving, of course.

Arizona is a big state and mostly empty once outside the Phoenix area. It was about 150 miles up I-17 between Phoenix and Flagstaff, a straight shot, and once outside the metro area the traffic died down to a minimum. Like many Western drivers, Jon set the Chevy’s cruise control at a speed nicely over the speed limit and let it roll, so the driving time wasn’t even two hours up a familiar road he and Tanisha had traveled many times before.

There is a considerable difference between the two cities in elevation – Phoenix is barely over a thousand feet, while Flagstaff pushes seven thousand, and the altitude alone makes for a considerable change. In spite of a great deal of imported water, Phoenix is still a desert, but during the six thousand feet of elevation much changes on the way to the green hills of Flagstaff. The elevation change made it quite a bit cooler than Phoenix. It had been warm there, only pleasantly cool when they left before dawn, but it was thirty degrees cooler in Flagstaff, and from the seat of the Chevy it was obvious that it was winter out there, although there was little snow on the ground.

Since they were getting tight on time, they drove straight to Hillside Methodist Church, a fairly new masonry structure. The parking lot was filling up for the early service as they drove in and it looked like it would be a good crowd.

Nanci made a point to take Sarah with her when she went in to meet with Reverend Miller, who was not only her Supervising Pastor in the process of becoming ordained and a great spiritual advisor to her, but a great friend, as well. They only had a few minutes to talk, but Reverend Miller said it was good to see Nanci back in town and greeted Sarah warmly.

“How are things going at Hickory Run?” he asked after the introductions were complete.

“Just fine,” Nanci told him. “I’m really learning a lot.”

“I don’t have time to talk about it right now,” Reverend Miller said, “but are you planning on being around next weekend?”

“Yes, unless something comes up.”

“Good. Let’s get together after the early service and talk about next Sunday. I’d really like to have you involved in the service.”

“I’m sure we’ll be able to work out something,” Nanci promised. “But right after the early service isn’t going to work. We’re going over to the Fellowship so Sarah can hear Preach speak.”

“Tomorrow, then. Give me a call. Sarah, I think you’ll enjoy Reverend Whittaker. He really does a nice job. I haven’t heard him speak often but I’ve enjoyed it on the occasions I’ve been able to hear him.”

The early service ran a little long, so they really had to hustle to make it over to the Fellowship. The church itself was interesting, a small white frame building with a tall steeple; it had always seemed to Nanci that it would be more at home in some tiny New England village than among the pines of Flagstaff.

As always, Preach put on a good service, although as was usually the case for him it slanted more toward teaching than actual preaching. But Preach was a good teacher and Nanci always liked listening to him. She thought it was a shame that he had decided to not pursue the ministry as a career, because she thought he would do very well at it. But Nanci knew that after considerable prayer and thought he had decided to not serve the Lord in that way, except as a supply minister as he was doing this morning. Some of his reservations had affected her decision making, so it had been tough to make the decision to follow the course she was following.

Not surprisingly, Nanci’s old friend Jeff Pleva asked if she might be interested in giving the service the following Sunday. Nanci had to put him off, saying that Reverend Miller already seemed to have dibs on her, but she still might be able to do it; if not, Sarah might be interested in speaking instead.

“You really are trying to get me to do it, aren’t you?” Sarah asked as they rode in Jon and Tanisha’s car over to the house where Nanci’s mother Karin lived with her husband, Al Buck.

“There’s no reason you couldn’t do it,” Nanci told her. “It’s a small church, and they’re very friendly. You could see that. Besides, it’s a Christmas service, so you wouldn’t have to speak very much. But if you don’t want to do it, I still might be able to. It’ll depend on what Reverend Miller has in mind. We’ll know about that tomorrow.”

Al and Karin’s place was a low ranch house not far from the Canyon Tours office, located in a nice grove of Ponderosa pine, about as different from Phoenix as could be imagined. “I really only lived here a few months,” Nanci explained as Jon drove into the driveway. “Well, that and weekends when I was off the river, but somehow, more than anyplace else, this is home to me.”

Al and Karin were waiting when they got out of the car. In spite of having two ministers in the family, the couple didn’t always make it to church. In fact, in the summer months when their business called, they only showed up at either Hillside or the Fellowship for special occasions, and that usually meant either Preach or Nanci were doing the service.

Of course, Nanci’s mother greeted her with a big hug. She was in her mid-fifties, about Nanci’s size, and there was a fair amount of family resemblance. “I’m so glad you could make it home, Nanci,” she gushed. “I’d given up hope you could make it here, but then when Tanisha called and said you were coming after all, I was so surprised!”

“Sarah and I were talking about driving it,” Nanci explained, “but it’s a long way, so when Tanisha said Jennifer could fly us here, we didn’t think much about it. We wouldn’t be anywhere near here yet if we were driving. Anyway, Mom, this is Sarah. Her folks had to be out of the country for the holidays, so it’s nice you could take her in.”

“Oh, there’s always room for one more around this place,” Nanci’s mother replied. “Sarah, I’m so glad you could make it. I’d think that it would be very sad to be sitting around school with no place to go for Christmas.”

“I’m glad Nanci was able to work it out, and thank you for having me.” She looked around the room; there was a big Christmas tree with presents stacked under it, and lots of decorations.

“Well, come on in, sit down, and let’s do some catching up. As soon as Crystal, Preach, and Bucky get here I’ll have Al get the steaks on the grill.”

“Yeah, I wanted to see the little cuss. I was surprised Crystal wasn’t at the Fellowship.”

“We trade off on taking care of him on Sunday mornings,” Karin explained. “I was going to take him, but Crystal was running late and decided to stay home. I think she was a little sore from her workout at the dojo yesterday. She’s been trying to get back into shape, and wanted to get over being rusty with her karate. I expect they’ll be along just about any minute now.”

They settled into the spacious, comfortable living room. In a moment Al came in from whatever he had been doing. He was a pretty big and solid guy, in his late fifties, with a genial smile and a rather worn, lined face – the summer sun of over thirty years on the Colorado River had etched some lines there. Sarah had heard plenty about Al Buck, Nanci’s stepfather. Canyon Tours, the rafting company, was his business and his baby, and everyone in the family except Jon and Tanisha were up to their ears in it.

“Sarah, welcome to our home,” he smiled. “I don’t know what stories Nanci has told on me, but some of them are probably true. The other ones, no guarantees.”

In a few minutes Nanci’s half-sister Crystal and her husband Preach arrived, bringing the two-month-old Albert Buck Whittaker with him. “We didn’t even get him out of the delivery room before we were calling him ‘Bucky,’” Crystal explained, “so I guess he’s stuck with it.” Sarah noted that there was a lot of family resemblance between Crystal and Al, but that was to be expected; Nanci had explained that story to her not long after they’d met.

The room was soon filled with talking about any number of subjects, although rafting on the Colorado River seemed to predominate. Sarah just sat back and took it in, looking a little dazed. After a while, Nanci noted a tear in her eye. “Something the matter, Sarah?” she asked.

“No, nothing’s the matter,” Sarah said. “I just . . . well . . .”

“Sarah?”

“Nanci, you know my family. It was always just Daddy and Mommy and me, no brothers, no sisters, no aunts or uncles or cousins or even friends. And it was always so dull, with the folks wanting to get back to Africa more than anything else.” She stopped and sighed before she went on. “We never even had a Christmas tree. Really, it wasn’t a very happy time.”

“So?”

“So ever since I’ve been here I’ve begun to realize what it would have been like to have a real family. Nanci, you don’t know how lucky you are.”

“Actually, Sarah, I do know, since I had to do without one for a while. But yes, we’re kind of a goofy and patchwork family, but it’s my family, and I’m very glad to have it.”

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