Read Online Gideon's Gift by Karen Kingsbury - Free Book Online

tall man with shining hair.
    He reached for her hand. “You’ll like it. We have a palace ready for you.”
    What was this place? And why weren’t her parents here? What about Earl? If he could leave, why couldn’t she?
    Then she realized where she was. Of course. She was in heaven. Cancer had won the battle and now she was here. It wasn’t supposed
     to feel sad, but it did. Just a little. Not because it wasn’t wonderful, but because her mom and dad and Dustin weren’t here.
     And that meant somewhere they were crying and missing her.
    Just like she missed them.
    “Earl!” she called after him once more and this time he turned around.
    “Gideon. I thought that was you.” He stayed in his spot, far away. But she could still see his face. He looked like maybe
     he was crying. “Thank you, Gideon. Thank you so much. Thank you… thank you… thank you…”
    His voice got quieter with each word. Gideon shook her head, confused. She looked up at the tall man beside her. “Why’s he
     telling me thank you?”
    The man said nothing. A smile moved across his face and he pointed back at Earl.
    This time when she looked she saw something she hadn’t before and she breathed in sharp and quick.
    He was wearing the gloves! The red gloves she’d given him for Christmas!
    She tugged on the hand of the man beside her. “Look at his hands!” Her happy heart lifted her and she began to fly around
     the golden city like an angel.
    Earl was wearing the red gloves!
    From her place in the clouds she looked at Earl once more to make sure it was true. It was. Earl waved at her with both arms
     and smiled again as he disappeared through a gate in the city. Gideon came down from the clouds and landed near the tall man,
     but his voice began to fade. In fact, everything was fading. The man with the shining hair, the golden city, and even the
     road she was standing on.

    B it by bit the light returned and Gideon opened her eyes. A nurse stood beside her with a fresh bag of medicine. She wasn’t
     in heaven; she was in the hospital. Earl hadn’t changed. He’d probably never even opened her gift.
    It had all been a dream. But that fact didn’t leave her sad like after other dreams. Because this time she had a feeling God
     was trying to tell her something very special.
    Christmas miracles weren’t just for the old days.
    They were for now. For anyone with faith enough to look for them. Gideon smiled to herself as the nurse hooked the medicine
     bag to a tube in her arm. Yes, Christmas miracles still happened. God had let her see Earl, after all.
    The way he still could be, still might be.
    If only he would believe.

CHAPTER NINE
    T his time Earl didn’t take them off.
    When sunup came, Earl wore the red gloves as he made his way a block south to an old gas station. There, for two dollars,
     a man could shower, shave, and run a clean comb through his hair. Earl scrounged up the money from his knapsack and did all
     three.
    Then he headed for the mission.
    D. J. was in his office looking at his computer when Earl knocked on the door.
    “Yes.” The mission director looked up, his expression blank.
    Earl resisted a smile. “You don’t recognize me?”
    The man narrowed his piercing blue eyes. “Earl?” His eyebrows lifted so far they looked like part of his hairline. He stood,
     came around his desk, and shook Earl’s hand. The man’s smile was as much a part of his face as his eyes and nose. “I can’t
     believe it! You look twenty years younger. I guess I’ve never seen you without a beard. It’s a nice change.”
    “It’s not the only one.”
    D. J. leaned against his desk. “Really?”
    “Yes.” Earl’s heart ricocheted off the insides of his chest like a pool ball. “God found me last night, D. J. He found me
     good.”
    He saw a dozen questions flash in D. J.’s eyes. “It wasn’t a church service or anything like that.” He paused. The shame of
     how he’d treated the child was still painfully fresh.