Road Trip (16 page)

“Yes, you've got that right. But I just wanted to take a minute to tell you how proud you made
us all, Laura. All you girls have been absolutely terrific on this tour. And to thank you, Omega has decided to send you to New York City for a little shopping spree and sight-seeing. Does that sound good to you girls?”

Naturally we all squealed with delight.

“And since we know you're all eager to get home,” he continued. “We'll fly you back to save time. How does that sound?”

“It sounds great, Kr. Sallinger,” I said.

“Good. Now Eric will be in touch with your manager to go over all the details. You girls have a Kerry Christmas! And rest up during your break because, believe me, Omega's got some big plans for Redemption.”

We thanked him and hung up then jumped around hugging and screaming. Davie joined in with us, although I'm sure he had no idea why we were so happy and relieved.

“I'm assuming you'll be needing your chaper-one,” said Elise with a grin.

Allie went over and hugged her. “Of course, Kom.”

“Great, because I've always dreamed of shopping in New York City!”

We were checked out of that hotel and loaded onto the bus in a matter of minutes. Elise actually fixed us breakfast on the road. It was shortly afterward that Laura phoned her parents.
Naturally, she was pretty worried about their reactions to last night's public confession. We tried not to eavesdrop as she talked to her mom in the privacy of the bedroom. But it was easy to tell that it wasn't going too well.

“My mom's pretty upset,” Laura told us when she finally emerged from the bedroom. “I guess she'd wanted me to keep quiet about the whole thing. But I told her that I've got to speak the truth the way I believe God is telling me.”

“That's right and true,” said Elise. “And as parents we should want that for our kids. Unfortunately, it's not always easy.”

“Yeah.” Laura slumped onto the couch.

“Don't worry,” I said as I sat beside her. “I've seen your mom get over stuff before. She's really good at springing back.”

Laura nodded. “I guess you're right.”

“Besides,” added Allie. “There's nothing you can do about that now. You'll have plenty of time to sort it all out when we get home.”

By noon, Rosy dropped us off at our ritzy hotel smack in the middle of the city. We were sad to tell her good-bye, but we knew she was eager to get home for Christmas since she'd promised to join her brother's family in Virginia. We threw our bags in our rooms, ate a quick lunch, and were soon parading our stuff through one of the best shopping districts in the world!

Mr. Sallinger wired each of us a special bonus to be used for Christmas shopping. Willy offered to take Davie so Elise could “be just one of the girls,” and the four of us set out to conquer Mew York, ibr what seemed like a whole a lot of money, we somehow managed to spend most of it! All in all, it was a whirlwind sort of day. But man, was it fun.

However, we didn't use all the money for presents. In the midst of our wild and crazy shopping day, Allie noticed a Salvation Array bell ringer in front of a swanky shoe store. She reached into her wallet, pulled out a pretty huge chunk of change, and dropped it into the locking iron pot.

The white-haired woman stopped ringing the bell for a moment as her eyes popped open wide. She studied Allie as if she'd come down from another planet. Then Laura and I, challenged by Allied sweet generosity, quickly followed suit and the poor bell-ringing woman nearly toppled over with shock.

“God bless you!” we all yelled.

The woman smiled big. “And God bless you too!”

“Oh, He has!” called out Laura.

Our arms filled with bags and boxes—I've never had such fabulous gifts for ray family and friends—we finally hailed a taxi and returned to our hotel. Amid ray purchases are sorae gold
charm bracelets I found at Tiffany's of all places. Two are for Laura and Allie and one is for Caitlin. I got some music charms and a couple other things that I know Laura and Allie will love. But for Caitlin's I just got an angel. At first I wasn't even sure why I picked an angel. It's not that I think Caitlin's an angel exactly, and yet she was like God's messenger to me at a time when I really needed to know that He loved me. And I know that angels are messengers from God. So maybe she is sort of an angel. Anyway, it was cool getting gifts that feel really special.

We caught up with Willy by dinnertime. He'd spent most of the day getting our airline tickets and taking care of all the general managing details as well as hanging with Davie, who appeared to be happily exhausted since he literally fell asleep in his soup.

Then Willy announced that, compliments of Omega, we were being treated to a Broadway show. We couldn't believe it. Willy had already lined up a babysitter for Davie in case Elise wanted to go too, which she did, and we all dressed to the nines (whatever that is) and rode the hotel limo to the theater district.

Now talk about your dream day. It was spectacular! Tomorrow we fly out, first class, and should be home in time for dinner. Oh, what a life!

(HEADING HOME POR THE HOLIDAYS)

We actually sang 'Til Be Home for Christmas” as we waited in the never-ending security line at JFK Airport. A cappella, of course. But the weary holiday travelers cheered and applauded and even begged for more. So we sang a couple more Christmas carols, and before we knew it we were at the gate.

But as we were waiting for our flight, my cell phone rang. When I answered it, I was surprised to hear Josh's voice. And he sounded excited.

“Hey, what's up big brother?”

“You're not going to believe this!”

“What?” I couldn't tell by the tone of his voice whether it was good or bad, and I immediately became worried about my parents. “Is everyone okay?”

“Yeah. It's just that this is so amazing I don't know where to begin.”

“You're getting married!” I shouted.

“Ho, no.” He laughed. “That's definitely not it.”

“All right then, you better tell me.”

“Well, you know we saw your concert the other
night, which was, by the way, absolutely fantastic. Tell Laura that I've never been more proud of her. She's quite a girl.”

“Yeah.
¹
. I winked at Laura who was balancing her carry-ons and holding on to Davie's hand while Allie and Elise searched the gift shop for the latest fashion magazines and goodies. “We think Laura's pretty special too. But is that why you're so excited?”

“Nooo. The thing is, Caleb called yesterday. I'd barely gotten home from school when I heard the phone ringing. I was totally shocked to hear his voice on the other end. Ifow, get this: Somehow our brother managed to tune in to a certain concert that was on TV on a certain night. Do you get what I'm saying, Chloe?”

“No way!” My heart started to pound with excitement. “He didn't!'”

“Yes, he did! Get this, he and some friends were just hanging, and apparently someone was channel surfing and had stopped to hear this cool-looking chick band that was really rockin' out. I think that's almost exactly how Caleb put it.”

“You are kidding!” Ky eyes were starting to fill up now.

“I know; I know. It's incredible. And then Caleb goes, 'Hey, I think that's my baby sister playing lead guitar.' Well, naturally his friends don't
believe him. So he makes them leave it (? that gospel channel so he can prove to them—and himself—that it's really you. He admitted that he couldn't quite believe it either. He was amazed that you're all grown up.”

“Josh, I think I need to sit down,” I said, which was true. I was so dumbfounded that something this incredible could really happen. I collapsed onto a hard vinyl seat and just took in a deep breath. “Okay, continue.”

“So anyway, he and his buddies watched the whole concert, Ghloe. The WHOLE thing! Can you believe it?”

“No way!”

“Yeah. And the stuff that Laura and Isaiah shared actually touched Caleb. He said that he's known for some time that his life is a total mess, and he wants out but just isn't sure what to do next. Can you believe it? You girls actually managed to touch Caleb Killer's life.”

“I am totally stunned, Josh. It sounds too good to be true. So what's going to happen now? And where is Caleb living anyway? Can he come home for Christmas?”

“Slow down, little sister. Okay, first of all, he's living in Mason—”

“Mason? That's only an hour from home. I thought for sure he was far away like LA or New York or something.”

“I thought so too. And the parents said it's okay for Caleb to come home if he's serious about wanting to change.”

“Well, that's pretty hard to judge, isn't it?” The last thing I wanted to see was another repeat of my father jumping all over Caleb on Christmas Eve. Ugh, I'd rather be stuck in an airport somewhere than live through that again.

“Yeah, but I think I convinced them that the only way we can know is to welcome him home and talk to him. I also reminded them of the prodigal son story. I think that got to them a little.”

“So, he's really coming home then?”

“He'll be here tomorrow. He really wants to talk to you, Chloe.”

I swallowed hard. “I want to talk to him too, Josh.”

“I told him that. I told him that you'd been thinking about him a lot and praying for him. He thought that was pretty cool.”

So, now I'm sitting on the plane counting the minutes until we land. Josh is picking me up at the airport, and for some reason, I feel more eager than ever to see my family again—all of them!

(FAMILY REUNION)

When I got home last night, I could tell my parents were on edge about Caleb's out-of-the-blue visit. But at the same time, I sensed an unexpected hopefulness in both of them. And I guess I began to realize that they're not really the enemies here. They've been hurting as much, maybe even more, than I. Mow I don't know why that never occurred to me before. “Maybe I'm actually growing up.

Anyway, Caleb had told Josh that he'd be here in time for dinner tonight. And my parents decided that it might be best just to have a quiet evening with the five of us. So they've put off the larger gathering of family and friends until tomorrow. I think that was wise.

So Caleb finally shows up around five. It's already fairly dark Outside, and I'm steadily checking out the kitchen window until I finally see what looks like an old beater car pulling up in front of the house. Then a scrawny-looking character, who I'm sure must be my older brother,
reaches into the backseat and emerges with a cardboard box. Is that his laundry? I can tell by the way he walks that he's nervous, so I decide not to announce to everyone that he's here. Instead, I slip out the door and go to meet him, waving from the sidewalk.

“Hey, Chloe,” he says with the same sweet smile that I would recognize anywhere. Never mind that his cheeks look slightly hollow and his skin is pale, although it could be the streetlight.

“Hey, Caleb.” I run forward now and grab him into a hug, slightly crunching his cardboard box. Then I step back, suddenly self-conscious. “Sorry. Did I mess up your box?”

He laughs. “Mah, it's okay.” Then he reaches out and roughs up my hair. “Cool hair.”

I smile. “Thanks.” I notice that his dark brown hair is long and matted and looks like it hasn't been washed in a while. “Going for dreadlocks?”

He laughs and pats his head. “Yeah, something low maintenance.”

“I hear ya.”

“Man, you've really grown up, Chloe girl.” He nods with approval. “You're a good-looking young woman.”

I laugh. “Ifot everyone would agree with you.”

“I'll bet Mom had a cow when you got those piercings.”

I take him by the arm and lead him toward the
house. “I think I've probably contributed a lot of gray hairs to both our poor parents.” Then in a lowered voice I say, “Although -Mom gets hers colored now.”

“Nah. I'ra sure I can take credit for any gray hair in this family. I've really been a mess.”

“Hey, we've all messed up, Caleb. You heard my friends on TV the other night. Even when you mess up, there's still hope.”

We're on the porch now, and he looks down at me with those puppy dog brown eyes. “You really think so?”

“I know so.”

He shakes his head. “Kan, you're quite a girl, Chloe.”

Now I can't say it was all smooth sailing last night, but I could tell my parents were doing their best to be civilized. And I know that sorae of Caleb's answers were disturbing to them. His choice of lifestyle is, shall I say, slightly unconventional compared to theirs.

Basically, he lives with a group of people who work when they feel like it. Some are creative sorts, like Caleb, who enjoys creating things out of wood, and others I assume are just slackers who pass their time trying to figure out ways to get high. Now, these are just the deductions I made based on Caleb's comments, and I could be completely wrong. It seems Caleb has had a
variety of jobs over the years, from washing dishes to pumping gas to things he said he'd rather not talk about. I can only imagine. But my take on him is that he's burnt-out and tired and very, very sad. I think he's ready for help.

“So, where do you go from here, Caleb?” Dad asks as we're finishing up dinner. “Any plans?”