Take One (4 page)

“Produce! Isn’t that wonderful.” She folded her hands in her lap. “My great nephew works in produce. Got a job at the grocer
not too far from his parents’ house and now he unpacks tomatoes and cabbage all day long.”

Chase opened his mouth to tell her he was a producer, and not in produce, but she wasn’t finished.

“He’s only been at it a few months, but I don’t think he’ll end up in produce long term. He wants to finish school.” She angled
her head sweetly. “Did you finish college, young man?”

“Yes, ma’am. But—”

“Well, of course you did.” She laughed lightly at herself. “You must be a produce manager, heading to the farms of Bloomington
for harvest season, making sure the crop’s coming up good and going out to stores across the country.” She gave as hearty
a nod as she could muster. “That’s a mighty important job.” Her finger gave a quick jab in his direction. “The public takes
it for granted, the way we need produce managers. We walk into a store and just assume we can buy a pound of red apples or
Vidalia onions.” She settled back in her seat, but she looked straight at him. “Farming’s the American way.” Her grin held
a level of admiration. “Thanks for what you do for this great nation … what’d you say your name was?”

“Chase. Chase Ryan.”

“Matilda Ewing. Mattie.”

“Nice to meet you, ma’am.”

“Well, Mr. Ryan,” she held out her bony fingers. “It’s a pleasure to meet you too. But what about your family back home? Four
weeks is an awful long time to be apart. My son nearly lost his marriage once because of that. He was in sales … had to figure
out a different territory to save his family.” She barely paused. “You do have a family, right?”

“Yes, ma’am. It’s hard to be away.” He was touched by the woman’s transparency. “My wife, Kelly, is home with our little girls.
They’re four and two.”

She sucked in a surprised breath. “And you’ll be gone four weeks! You must have a peach for a wife. That’s a long time to
tend to a family by yourself.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Chase wondered if the woman was slightly confused. Seconds ago she was singing his praise, claiming the virtues
of his being a produce manager, and now she was practically chastising him for daring to take such a long trip.

“Don’t get me wrong,” she was saying. “Farming’s a good thing. But be careful. Fences pop up when you’re away from each other
that long. Nothing on the other side of the fence is ever as green as it seems.” She chuckled softly. “Even in produce.”

The flight attendant peered into their row. “Something to drink?”

Matilda ordered ginger ale, and in the process she fell into a conversation with the person on the aisle. The diversion gave
Chase the chance to stare out the window again and think about the old woman and her wisdom. Never mind that her hearing was
a little off, Chase almost liked the idea that the kind woman thought he worked producing vegetables and not movies. But more
than that, her words were dead on when it came to his family back home. Especially the part about fences.

With all his concerns and worries, he hadn’t thought about how the four weeks away would feel to Kelly and their girls.

He must’ve fallen asleep as he thought about his conversation with Matilda, because in no time she was tapping him on the
arm again. “Mr. Ryan, we’re landing. Your seatback needs to be up.”

He stretched his legs out on either side of his laptop bag and did as he was told. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure.” She adjusted the vent above her seat. “You were sleeping pretty hard. You’ll need that rest when you hit the
fields.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Chase rubbed his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair. When he was more awake he turned toward her again.
“So … why are you moving to San Jose?”

At first she didn’t seem like she intended to answer his question. She pursed her lips and stared down at her hands, at a
slender gold wedding band that looked worn with age. When she looked up, the sadness was there again. “My husband and I were
married fifty-eight years.” She wrung her hands as the words found their way to her lips. “He passed away this last January.
My girls want me to live closer to them.” She smiled, but it stopped short of her eyes. “We’re looking for an apartment at
one of those … senior facilities. Somewhere that’ll take Max and me, both.” Her expression told him she was uncomfortable
with the idea, but she wasn’t fighting it. “I can get a little forgetful, and, well, sometimes I don’t hear as well as I used
to. It’s a good idea, really.” A depth shone from deep inside her. “Don’t you think?”

“I do.” He wanted to hug the woman. Poor dear.

“My girls say I’m dragging my feet.” She shifted her gaze straight ahead once more. “And maybe I am. When I close up that
house and shut the door for the last time, that’ll be that.” She looked at him through a layer of tears. “We spent five decades
in that house. Every square inch holds a hundred memories.”

“Leaving won’t be easy.”

“No.” Matilda sniffed. “That’s why I’m saying,” her composure gradually returned, “look out for fences, Mr. Ryan. Produce
or no produce, home’s the better place. Kids grow up and God only gives us so many days with our loved ones.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The captain came on, advising them that they’d be landing soon, and the announcement stalled the conversation with Matilda.
She started talking to the passenger on her left once more, and not until they were at the end of the jetway did she turn
and flash her twinkling eyes his way. “Good luck with the produce, Mr. Ryan. And remember what I said about fences. The greenest
grass is back at home.”

Chase thanked her again, and then she was gone; between the gate and baggage claim he didn’t see her again. He rented a Chevy
Tahoe and headed for Bloomington. Once he arrived, the first thing he did was call Kelly.

“Hello?”

“Honey … it’s me.” Chase felt a sense of relief. His words spilled out far faster than usual. “There’s something I should’ve
said, back at the airport when we were saying goodbye. I mean, we stood there all those minutes, but I never really told you
what I should have, so that’s why I’m calling.”

She laughed. “Someone’s had too much coffee.”

“No.” He exhaled and slowed himself. “What I mean is, I appreciate you, Kelly. You have to handle the house and the girls
for a very long time, and I never … I never thanked you.”

For a few beats there was no response. “You really feel that way?” A tentative joy warmed her tone.

“I do.” Another picture flashed on the screen of his heart. The two of them holding hands in front of a church full of family
and friends, and Chase knowing that in all the world he could never love anyone as much as he loved the beautiful bride standing
before him. “I love you, Kelly. Don’t ever forget that, okay?”

“Okay.” She laughed and the sound was wind chimes and summer breeze, the way it hadn’t been for a while. “You don’t know how
much it means … that you’d call like this.”

“I miss you already. Give the girls a kiss for me.”

“Okay. Oh, and Chase … one more thing.” She laughed again. “Go get ’em tomorrow … I know you can do it. I’ve been praying
since you left and I feel like God cleared some things up for me. This is going to be bigger than Keith and you ever dreamed.”

Her confidence breathed new life into his dreams. “Seriously?”

“Yes.” The sound of the girls singing about Old McDonald’s Farm came across the lines from the background. “I believe in you,
Chase. I promise I’ll keep believing.”

“Thank you.” He thought about old Matilda and how she would smile if she could see the conversation Chase was having with
his wife. “Okay, then … I guess I’m off to the harvest.”

“The harvest?” Kelly still had a laugh in her voice. “What on earth?”

“Nothing.” He chuckled. He told her again that he loved her, and he promised to call that evening to tell the girls goodnight.
After he hung up, he caught himself once more drawn back to the sweet woman’s words. In some ways he really was headed out
to the fields, out to a crop that needed harvesting—the crop of human hearts and souls that might only be found if they created
the best movie possible. But more than that, he thought about the fences.

With Keith and him producing, the months ahead figured to be crazy at times. But no matter how bumpy the ride, he vowed to
stay on the same side of the fence as Kelly and the girls. Because Matilda was right.

God only gave a person so many days with their family.

Two

I
T WAS AFTER MIDNIGHT, AND THE
house was quiet when Keith Ellison finished packing and headed into the small study off the kitchen in their two-story tract
home in south San Jose. The study was the only room that gave any indication of the world they’d left behind, the villages
and tribal people from the different regions of Indonesia where Keith and Lisa and their daughter, Andi, lived for more than
a decade.

Keith flipped on the standing lamp, the one that cast just enough light across the small room to see the pictures that hung
on the wall. He stopped at the first one, always a favorite, and smiled as he let it take him back. The picture was from their
first month on the mission field. On the left side an eight-year-old Andi stood boldly next to Lisa, hands on her hips ready
to tell the entire tribe about Jesus. Lisa’s eyes were a little less lively. She’d been sick that week, but more sure than
ever that Indonesia was where they were supposed to be.

Chase and Kelly—newly married—were on the right side of the picture. Determination shone in both their faces, as brightly
as the love they had for each other. And in the middle, more than a foot shorter, were three leaders of the tribe. Keith laughed
quietly to himself as he remembered the conversation they’d had just before the pictures were taken.

Through a translator from Mission Aviation Fellowship, the leaders explained why they hadn’t beheaded the missionaries on
their first visit into the bush. “You came off the plane,” the chief leader explained, “and we knew you wouldn’t go back home
alive. But then …” his eyes grew big, “your guards came off the plane behind you. Big men. Ten feet tall with shining golden
hair and long swords. You were our honored guests after that.”

Both Lisa and Kelly had lost a few shades of color in their face as the full meaning of the story became clear. They brought
no ten-foot guards with them. The tribal leaders could only have seen angels, heavenly protection visible only to the tribal
leaders and sent by God so that Keith and Chase and their families might get the job done. After that, Keith never once felt
concerned for their safety. Like the Bible said, if God was for them, who could be against them?

Even now. When the mission field was no longer Indonesia, but the hard and mostly dried ground of Hollywood.

“Hey.”

Keith turned to see his wife’s silhouette in the doorway. “I thought you were asleep.”

“No.” She came to him and eased her arms around his waist. “I’m too excited for you. I can’t believe it’s finally here.”

“Me either.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “You sure you can’t come with me tomorrow?”

“I want to.” She swayed with him, her eyes never leaving his. “I’ll be there Wednesday.”

“And you’ll stay for the entire shoot?”

“Most of it.” She touched her lips to his, and for a while their eyes did all the talking. “I’m so proud of you, taking this
step.” She eased away from him and turned to the same photo he’d been looking at, the first one on the study wall. With her
fingertips, she brushed off some of the dust that had accumulated on the frame. “I loved every minute we spent with those
people. But even back then I used to ask God how we wound up in Indonesia when you were born to make movies.” She looked over
her shoulder at him. “I don’t think there’s another producer out there like you, Keith. I mean that.”

“Babe, there are lots of producers.” He put his arm easily around her shoulders.

“Not like you.” She leaned her head on his shoulder. “I’ve seen what you can do. You’re amazing, Keith. The films you made
in college blew everyone away, remember?”

“Not everyone.”

“Your professors.” She pulled away just enough to make eye contact. “They wanted you to submit a couple of those films to
Sundance.”

“I guess.” Those days felt like they’d happened to someone else, a lifetime ago at least.

She slipped her arm around his waist and snuggled close to him again. “No one has your talent and passion for a life-changing
message. I can’t wait to see what God’s going to do over the next month.”

“Remind me of that.” He smiled at her, at the fierce belief she had in him. “Remind me when I feel like giving up, okay?”

“God brought us this far.” She had nothing but utter confidence in her voice. “He won’t let you give up now. Neither will
I.”

They were quiet a moment, studying the other photos on the wall, the pictures of Andi at age twelve, sitting in the cockpit
ready to fly the bush plane on her own, and the one of Lisa holding two babies born to village women who had given their lives
to Christ. Chase and Kelly performing minor surgery on a man whose leg had been cut open, and a photo of two tribes who had
come together for a Bible study after decades of warring against each other.

“The job we had to do, it was all so black and white back then.” He removed his arm from her shoulders and lifted a framed
photograph of their daughter from the cluttered desk. “I worry about Andi … if she’ll make the transition well.”

They’d been home from Indonesia for almost two years, and Andi had finished her high school education at King’s Way Christian,
fifteen minutes from their new home. As always, she’d been a bright light, but sometimes her enthusiasm and zest for each
day crossed the line from exuberance to daring. Something wild and adventurous shone in Andi’s eyes, and more than once Keith
and Lisa had prayed fervently for their daughter, begging God to protect her and to use her charisma and curiosity for good.

“She loves life.” Lisa smiled. “She can’t get enough.”

“But she needs to love the life God wants for her.”

“She will.” The strength in Lisa’s eyes was unwavering. “And if it takes a little time, we’ll just love her through it.”

“Right.”

Lisa kissed him once more. “See you upstairs.”

After she left, Keith stared a little longer at the picture of their only child, their precious daughter. As a young girl,
Andi’s unbridled love for God had led countless people into a relationship with Jesus. The tribal people were drawn by her
blonde hair and blue eyes and the innocent full-hearted way she sang songs of praise and raised her hands in prayer.

From the time she could walk, Andi had been fearless around strangers, showing them unrestrained attention and concern and
making friends as easily as she breathed. One time when she was thirteen, she hadn’t shown up for dinner so they quickly formed
a search party. Half an hour later they found Andi talking about her faith with the women of the neighboring tribe, telling
them in their native tongue about the grace and mercy of Christ.

But as she neared sixteen, Keith and Lisa had to admit that their daughter might not be safe in the bush. She was willowy
and long-legged, her straight blonde hair hanging in a single sheath halfway down her back. So much time outdoors had given
her a honey-colored complexion, and rather than seeing her as the delightful pixie she’d been as a child, the village people
began treating her differently—like there was something almost mystical or special about her. The men especially took extra
notice of her wherever she went.

Keith and Lisa directed her to wear men’s pants and baggy shirts, but even so, Andi had a way of making people catch their
breath when she walked up. Now, dressed in fitted jeans and stylish sweaters, Andi was a stunning, fresh-faced beauty, wide-eyed
and innocent, afraid of nothing. Keith could only imagine the impact she was having on the freshmen boys at Indiana University.

And what about her interest in acting? Ever since he and Chase determined to come back to the States and make movies that
might influence the culture, Andi had been driven to appear on the big screen. Keith and Chase had met at USC’s film school,
and both of them had been around enough young actors to recognize talent. There was an “it” factor that was absolutely essential
for young people looking to make it in the movies. That indefinable something.

Whatever that something was, Andi had it. Keith and Chase both agreed. But so what? She could be the next Reese Witherspoon
or Kate Hudson, but how would that make a difference for eternity? And what about Andi’s faith? Could it survive the movie
industry, the fame and attention, the ridiculous scrutiny?

Keith set the photo back on the desk. Sometimes he wished they could all move back to Indonesia, back where life truly was
simpler, and the activities of their days were clear-cut and singly focused. Before the contemporary American culture could
change Andi. But there was no turning back now. This was where she wanted to be, and Keith and Lisa had no choice but to let
her follow her dreams—including her desire to embrace all of life—to experience it.

Whatever the lessons involved might cost.

Keith was grateful he’d have the next four weeks to interact with her, to meet her roommate, and see how she was settling
in at college. But even so he felt a heaviness in his heart.
Keep her safe, Lord … please. She has to grow up, and we have to let her … but keep her on the right path. Please.

A line from last week’s sermon sounded again in his heart. “Don’t worry about your children,” the pastor had said. “Raise
them in the way they should go, pray for them, and trust them to Jesus. He loves them even more than you do.”

Yes
, Keith told himself.
That’s true.
He and Lisa had done that, hadn’t they? They’d raised Andi in the way she should go, and they’d prayed for her. Now, in her
first year of college at Indiana University, they had to trust her to Jesus. That meant they had to believe that the roommate
she’d been assigned to was exactly the right person for this new season in both their lives. They knew the girl’s name now,
and Keith had been praying for her as often as he prayed for Andi. She was a local girl, the daughter of an NFL coach and
the oldest of six kids. A theater major like Andi, whose faith was important enough to list on her housing application.

A girl Keith believed would not only be a great roommate for Andi, but something far more than that.

An answer to their prayers.