Read Online The Calling by Suzanne Woods Fisher - Free Book Online Page A

past. But you’re still here,” she whispered urgently and exerted a gentle pressure on Bethany’s arms. “And I’m glad. You be glad too.”
    Tears sprang in Bethany’s eyes. How did Sylvia know how troubled she’d been feeling this summer? She’d never said a word.
    Sylvia gave the carriage house one more look-over and waved her hand. “Oh goodness—this old carriage house can wait another week. What would you think about helping us today? We could always use an extra pair of hands, especially at the end of the month.”
    Bethany wiped away a tear. “I’m all yours.”
    “Excellent!” Sylvia said. “The more the merrier for this project.” She pointed to two little red children’s wagons, filled with food, waiting on the front walk. “You can help us pull those wagons.”
    “Where are we going?”
    “To the Grange Hall. To make lunch.”
    Bethany was about to ask why, but decided against it. She’d find out soon enough.
    Like any town, Stoney Ridge had good areas and not-so-good areas. The Sisters’ House, one of the oldest in the area, was in the not-so-good area. As the town grew, the original area became run-down and neglected. The Sisters’ House was only a block from the main road. The Grange Hall stood atthe corner. On one side of the Grange was a vacant lot. On the other side of the Grange was a group home for wayward teenage girls. The entire block looked tired and worn-out and neglected.
    As the women pulled the wagons past the Group Home, Bethany looked at the house more carefully than she ever had. No one tended the grass. There were no flowers in pots, no curtains on the windows. A television screen, always on, could be seen from the road.
    Hopeless. That’s what the house looked and felt like. It seemed a little disturbing to Bethany, as if the house had a personality of its own—which was ridiculous—but the sisters just waved to the wayward girls and walked right on by it. Only one of the wayward girls waved back.
    When they got to the Grange Hall, they went around back and parked the wagons by the kitchen door. “We’ll need to take a few trips to get all that food inside.”
    “That’s an awful lot of food for lunch for you,” Bethany said.
    “It’s not for us.” Sylvia walked up the three steps and unlocked the kitchen door. “We run a soup kitchen for the folks in Stoney Ridge who are a little down on their luck.”
    Fannie put a large bottle of Dr Pepper at the base of the door to hold it open. “A few years back, when the recession hit head-on, we sisters kept seeing a need in this town. So we talked to the fellow who had the keys for the Grange and he told us we could use the kitchen to serve the hungry. Once a week, everybody in Stoney Ridge who’s in need gets a hot meal.”
    That , Bethany thought, would be a very small group. She didn’t know a soul in Stoney Ridge who was in need.
    Lena read her mind. “Child, look out the window.”
    Bethany turned to see what she was talking about. She could see into the backyard of the Group Home. Five or six girls sat at a picnic bench, a few of them smoking. “You mean, you feed them ?”
    “That home is for girls who are in trouble, or their parents are. There’s a woman whose job is housemother. She does her best with what the county gives, but it’s not enough to stretch the week.”
    “So how many people come for a lunch?” Bethany asked. “Those five?”
    “Anywhere from twenty to thirty-five,” Fannie said. “Busier at the end of the month when food stamps run out.”
    Ada handed Bethany a bag of onions. “And we send out five meals to the homebound. Can’t forget them.”
    Bethany was shocked.
    “We cook most things from scratch,” Fannie added.
    “A good cook starts from scratch and keeps on scratching.” Ella chuckled at her own joke while Fannie gave her a look like she was sun-touched.
    “We haul the wagons over here and do the cooking and serve it up,” Lena said.
    “You pull those wagons