He made sure that nothing more than his forehead and nose were sticking out as he watched the people opening up the bags.
“Oh my goodness! It’s freshly baked bread!”
“It’s still warm,” Mr. Harney said.
“I wonder who could have done that? Wow. We could have that for breakfast.”
“If we keep making all of this noise, the kids will be up and we can have it now.”
He didn’t sound like that was such a terrible thing. The bread must smell really good and inviting.
“George, what’s that?” the woman said.
Mr. Harney’s gaze followed to where her finger pointed.
“Maybe more fresh baked bread?” he asked, and the hope in his voice was unmistakable.
Roland’s stomach fell. They were going to be sorely disappointed if they were expecting eight bags of freshly baked bread.
Suddenly, he didn’t like the idea of being a Secret Saint, especially if people weren’t going to appreciate what he did.
But that was wrong, wasn’t it? The idea of working for man’s applause rather than God’s praise. He knew what he had done was good and necessary, and it shouldn’t matter whether or not it was appreciated.
He stopped thinking about that when the woman said, “Oh my goodness, George. These are groceries. Someone left us eight bags of groceries!” she said, the excitement in her voice making it tremble. Her hands went to her cheeks.
“Oh, George. I didn’t know how I was going to afford the groceries, with the money that I had to put back to pay for Riley’s braces. Oh my goodness. This is amazing.” She turned and started going through the bags without even picking them up.
“It’s everything that we could possibly need. Plus a few little extra things. Look at this! Some treats for the kids. And a six-pack ofyour favorite energy drink. Who would have thought to get the exact kind that you like?” She sounded amazed.
Roland silently thanked God that he had picked out the right kind. He hadn’t had a clue, other than he remembered seeing Mr. Harney standing beside the gas station in town, an energy drink in hand. He hadn’t had the slightest idea of which one it was.
Lord, You knew. You guided my hands to the right one. Thank you.
It was amazing and so satisfying to see their excitement and the emotion that they displayed.
He wanted to slip quietly away, but he was stuck behind the tree until they carried all the groceries in. Then, it seemed like a couple of the kids had gotten up, and he could see heads moving around the kitchen as the groceries came out on the table, and the kids peppered them with questions.
That was when he slipped away, feeling very satisfied, although there was still a nagging feeling in his heart. Who had left the bread?
Chapter Three
“Even though you’re young, there are always things that you can do to help out.” Nelly Bushnell stood in front of her third-grade classroom after closing the book that she had just been reading.
Nothing made her happier than to hear her classroom completely and totally silent, despite the fact that they were wiggly, squirmy eight-year-olds who had more energy than should be legal, and listen raptly to her reading.
It was a book that she had enjoyed when she was young, and she loved reading it to her students. Not just because it was a great, entertaining story, although it was, but because there were so many lessons to be learned.
“Yes, Robert?” she said as Robert McBride raised his hand. He had been making great strides since the beginning of the year, when he was still a little down about his mother’s death, and was so much better than last year, when he had been devastated. She was thankful for Summer, who had walked into that family and been a blessing in every way, becoming the children’s stepmom not long ago.
“I help my Uncle Roland with the Christmas trees. He gives a lot away.”
“That’s very nice, Robert,” Nelly said, not making any other comment but calling on another student immediately and listening as they spoke.
The mention of Roland McBride made her want to curl her lip. She and Roland had been enemies ever since the valentine incident.
She supposed she was too old for such shenanigans, but he had been her sworn, lifetime enemy, and they had never reconciled.
Maybe part of her actually enjoyed having a sworn enemy, but most of her just thought that Roland was a selfish, immature brat who never grew up.
