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can afford a secretary. And do they offer a salary for all that? No, they don’t. And Larry thinks that’s perfectly all right. He says most churches figure they’ll get two for the price of one anytime they call a pastor. That’s why congregations always want a married man.” Emma Sue straightened her back and made one last swipe at her eyes. “And I’m tired of it. I’ve done my part right here in Abbotsville, and I don’t want to start over in another place. But don’t tell anybody I said that.”
    â€œWell, I don’t blame you.” And I didn’t. Emma Sue had never stinted herself when it came to contributing time and effort to church activities. She had always been part and parcel of every mission—home or foreign—that the church supported, so much so that many of us backed away and let her take over.
    â€œSo, will you talk to him?” she went on. “You can talk him out of it, Julia. You and Sam, both. He’ll listen to you, I know he will. Point out to him that he’s too close to retirement to start something new. Tell him it’s not fair to me to lose my home. And, and, Julia, I hate to even think of this, much less say it, because you know I’m not mercenary. But if Larry leaves the denomination, he’ll lose his retirement pension.”
    â€œHe will? Oh, my, that would be bad. Surely he’ll think twice before risking that.”
    â€œNo, he won’t. He says the Lord has always provided in the past and he’ll keep on providing. And I know I’m not showing any faith, but, Julia, all I can see being provided is Social Security, and since I’ve never worked, it’ll be a pittance. Just a pittance!”
    Yes, and if the politicians she and Larry so avidly supported had their way, there wouldn’t be even that.

Chapter 9
    I promised Emma Sue that I would do what I could to deter Pastor Ledbetter from answering a call he hadn’t yet received, but frankly I was of two minds about it. There had been times when I would’ve rejoiced to see the last of him. Here lately, though, he had seemed somewhat resigned to doing things our way. Although he did change the order of worship, as well as the starting time of the Sunday service, just to prove he still had some authority.
    So I had also become resigned to keeping him on, especially since his retirement wasn’t that far off. And, I reminded myself, getting a new preacher in his place would surely create a new set of problems, which I didn’t want to deal with. A new preacher would undoubtedly be young and untried. He’d be full of modern ideas he’d want to try out on us, like coming up with new names for every activity and adding new committees when we had a Lord’s plenty already. It would take years to calm him down and get him settled into the routine we were accustomed to.
    So as much as I would’ve willingly contributed to a going-away present for Pastor Larry Ledbetter, I came down on the side of sticking with what we knew, rather than risking what could be outrageous fortune.
    â€œI’ll talk to Sam,” I told Emma Sue, when she finally seemed to have cried herself out. “He’s much better at dealing with the pastor than I am. He’s so sensible, you know, and people listen to him.”
    â€œBut you need to talk to him, too, Julia. I know you and Larry have had your ups and downs, but he respects you. Really, he does.”
    So I promised, though not believing for a minute that I could have any influence over the pastor, since I’d never had any in the past.
    â€œI’ll see you over at Mildred’s,” I said, as she prepared to leave. “Lillian’s carrot cake should be done by now, and I’m hoping there’ll be news about Horace.”
    â€œOh, me, too,” Emma Sue said. “It’s just so awful, not knowing what’s happened to him. But listen, Julia, have