Read Online Sunshine and Shadows by Pamela Browning - Free Book Online

moment, watching the man and the children working together.
    If you don't tend the garden, nothing will grow, Lisa thought fiercely. The same thing applied to relationships, and now that the seed had been planted, she was not about to let her budding relationship with Jay Quillian wither and die.
    She threw the car into gear and backed out onto the road. It was late afternoon, and Nina should have returned from her work in the fields by this time.
    * * *
    A pair of small scrappy boys in dirty blue jeans stared curiously as Lisa stepped out of her car in front of the small drab house.
    "I'm looking for Nina," she told the boys. "Is she around?"
    "Inside," one of the boys said. The other one gaped at her openmouthed.
    "Thanks," Lisa replied. The boys stopped jabbing each other and watched silently as she knocked.
    A woman whose face was baked hard by the sun opened the door slightly. She eyed Lisa through the tiny chink between the warped door and its frame.
    "Hi," Lisa said, offering a smile. "I'm Lisa Sherrill, a friend of Connie's from the mission?"
    The woman—Lisa was sure it was Nina—silently and reluctantly widened the crack to a space barely large enough for Lisa to slip through. Inside, a piece of linoleum was laid upon the bare concrete floor, and a lumpy couch of indeterminate color faced a blaring TV
    "Is Connie in trouble?" Nina asked abruptly. One of her front teeth was missing.
    "No, everything is fine. I'm hoping that I can set your mind at ease about our invitation —Jay Quillian's and mine—to go the zoo on Saturday."
    "It's only a matter of time before that girl gets in trouble," muttered Nina with great certainty.
    Lisa refused to be thrown off balance by this remark, which as far as she could tell was unwarranted.
    "Jay would pick Connie up in the morning around eight o'clock, and we'd bring her home by nine or ten o'clock that evening," she said.
    "Connie has to take care of the younger children on Saturdays till I get back from work. Anyway, I can't let Connie run off on pleasure trips when her cousins never get to do nothing."
    Lisa gathered her thoughts for a moment. There was a way to overcome this objection.
    "Nina, we'd be happy to take the other children if it means that Connie can go," she said.
    Too late she saw the crafty glint in the woman's eyes and realized that she'd been had. Nina clearly relished the idea of getting all the children off her hands for the entire day. Lisa stifled a feeling of revulsion and kept her expression neutral.
    "If you mean they can all go, sure, but Connie has to wash the clothes in the morning first."
    Lisa heaved a sigh of relief. She couldn't believe how edgy and anxious this woman made her feel. Now that her purpose had been accomplished, she could hardly wait to leave.
    She backed up until her hand found the doorknob. "Thank you. We'll pick up the children on Saturday."
    Nina dismissed her with a triumphant jerk of her chin, and Lisa nudged the door open. On her way out, she almost tripped over the two small boys listening through the screen.
    "We're going to the zoom? We're really going to the zoom?" asked the littlest one. He plucked at Lisa's jacket.
    "Zoo, stupid—it's called a zoo," the older boy said gruffly. He shoved the smaller boy behind him and gazed up at Lisa with liquid brown eyes. "Are we going?"
    "Yes, we are," Lisa said, smiling down at them. They might be grubby, but they were certainly cute with those floppy home haircuts and round rosy cheeks. "Since we're going to spend all day Saturday together, you'd better tell me your names."
    "I'm Miguel, and that's Alejandro," the older one said.
    "Connie's name is Consuela, but she doesn't like it," Alejandro volunteered.
    "I like to be called Mike," Miguel told her.
    "Well, Mike and Alejandro, I'll see you on Saturday. Tell the other boys I'm looking forward to meeting them."
    "Okay," Mike said. They stood and watched silently as she walked to her car.
    When Lisa drove away, Mike and Alejandro