Read Online Dominion by Randy Alcorn - Free Book Online Page A

from a black world to a white one. Dr. Newman thinks it’s just too much after losing their mother. I agree.”
“So what are we supposed to do?”
“I talked with Hattie,” Geneva said. “She’s like a grandmother to them. She’ll keep them as long as we want her to. Since she’s right across the street, it would be the closest thing to home.”
“Closest thing to where their mom was murdered. The neighborhood’s the problem, not the solution.”
“I told Dr. Newman about Hattie’s offer. He said given the limited options, the pros probably outweigh the cons.”
“That’s encouraging. If somebody else gets killed will he take responsibility for it?”
“You have another solution? I’m listening.”
“Okay.” Clarence sighed. “I’ll talk to the kids.” He walked down the stairs to the family room where Celeste was reading the Berenstain Bears with Keisha. Ty, looking like a caged animal, paced in the far corner, talking quietly on the portable phone.
Celeste seemed to be doing amazingly well, all things considered. With Ty it was hard to tell. Clarence sat down with them to explain the options.
“You could stay here with us or go back to your neighborhood for awhile, stay with Mrs. Burns.”
“Don’t want to stay here,” Ty said. “Need to get back to my friends.”
Celeste’s big brown deer eyes, identical to Dani’s, peered up at her uncle.
“What do you want, Celeste?”
“I want to stay at the hospital with Felicia.”
“I know, but we can’t do that. But we’ll keep visiting her every day till she’s better.”
“We could move your house to our hood,” Celeste said. “So we could still be with you and Aunt Geneva and Keisha and Jonah.” She smiled broadly, having come up with the perfect solution.
“We can’t do that either, sweetie. But we’ll figure something out.”
Clarence heard the doorbell ring, warning of an intruder. He listened from the bottom of the stairs.
“Jake!” Geneva exclaimed. “Hi. Come on in.”
Clarence bounded up the stairs. “Hey, Jake. What’s up?”
“Nothing, really. GI Joe’s has a big sale going. Thought maybe we could check out fishing rods or tennis racquets or whatever.”
“Sounds good. Let me change. Just take a minute.”
“No need, Clabern. You look fine. It’s not Club Med.”
Truthfully, Clarence in his designer jeans and classy Green Bay Packers sweatshirt was almost overdressed for GI Joe’s, especially compared to Jake in his faded Levis and stained gray sweatshirt. But that was one of Clarence’s peculiar habits, Jake had noticed. They’d gone to a mall together a few weeks ago on a hot sweaty day and Clarence had dressed up like he was taking a brief to the Supreme Court.
“How is he?” Jake asked Geneva, knowing he’d get a straight answer from her he wouldn’t get from Clarence.
“He’s really struggling. But he’s pretty good at pretending. I’m glad you dropped by. He came up those stairs with a spring in his step that hasn’t been there since… everything happened. He needs a friend.”
“Yeah. We all do.”
Clarence reappeared in slacks, sweater, and a tie. As he walked past him and out the front door, Jake stared at him.
We’re headed to a sporting goods store, and Clarence looks like he’s going to close a deal with Bill Gates at Microsoft.
Jake looked back at Geneva for an explanation. None came.

Sunday morning Clarence’s family drove to Covenant Evangelical Church in Gresham, where they’d been attending the last few months, their third church since moving to Gresham ten years ago. Ty had been painfully uncomfortable, the only black teenage boy in the church, the only black at all besides Clarence’s family. Clarence insisted he go to the high school Sunday school class and peeked in to be sure he followed through. He saw him sitting sullenly in a corner, defying anyone to reach out to him. As far as Clarence could tell, no one did.
After steaks and salads at the Road House Grill, Clarence and his