The person looked at him for a bit. He could almost feel their thoughtful stare from the depths of their cloak before they finally nodded their head.
“I guess that’s the best it’s going to get.” They sighed. “I promise the same. That I will not try to find out your identity, and if I do accidentally figure it out, I will not tell a soul.”
They looked at each other, nodded, and then their gloved hands clasped, and they shook.
Normally, he would have taken his glove off, but just in case the person was still wondering whether they were dealing with a man ora woman, or just in case there was some kind of identifying mark on his hand that he didn’t know about, he kept his glove on.
They did the same. And that was it—a camaraderie, a partnership had been born.
He went to their truck and helped with the last of the wood as they chatted together.
He wasn’t sure whether they had agreed to help each other or just not to tell on each other.
As they finished up, he wasn’t sure how to broach the subject. They talked about other people who needed help and carefully discussed things—carefully as in he tried not to say anything that would give away any of his sources or any of the identities of anyone that he talked to. In other words, he couldn’t mention that he had heard this at a family gathering. He had to skirt around the truth, which did not sit well with him.
She, he was pretty sure it was a she, seemed to be equally careful and equally uncomfortable.
As they walked back away after stacking the last bit of wood, they turned together, almost as if they had decided to, and stood looking at the night’s work. It was a nice, large stack of wood that would definitely see the family through December, although he had plans to bring more.
But the person with him didn’t say anything more about their plans, and he didn’t want to tip his hand either.
“All right, I guess that was a pretty good night.”
“I guess so,” she said as the two of them turned around, walking together through the yard one last time.
He was kind of surprised how well they had worked together. And how at ease he had felt, and he had a grudging respect for their planning and execution. He ought to know that it wasn’t easy to anonymously get an entire load of firewood and somehow arrive at someone’s house at midnight without anyone else knowing. He assumed that the other person had just as much crafty manipulation as he had. He grudgingly admired them.
“Well, it was good to meet you, I guess.”
“Same,” the person said, their head seeming to tilt under the cloak. “I guess…this is goodbye.”
“I suppose it is.”
He wanted to say something, but…he wasn’t sure how they felt and didn’t want to propose something only to be left out in the cold.
“I’d say try to be more careful and not run into anyone in the middle of the night.”
“I’d say the same thing to you.”
They laughed a little, and then the other person put up their arm, and the cloak fell back a bit.
That slender arm could almost only belong to a woman.
But the wave was a quick one, and he didn’t have time to dwell on it.
“Be safe,” the other person said.
“Same to you,” he said, and after another last glance at each other, they both turned and walked away.
Who could that be?
Chapter Seven
Nelly clutched the coffee in her hand and tried to stay awake while she went around the classroom, each student giving their homework answer.
They had switched papers and were correcting them in class.
Nelly didn’t do that often, but she was exhausted today and wasn’t sure whether or not she would be able to correct anything after school tonight. Especially with the emergency churchwide meeting that had been called. Apparently, someone had realized there was no Christmas play scheduled for this year.
