“Okay, you two, we have the whole day ahead of us.Where would you like to go?”
“Chinatown,” they shouted in unison.
“Chinatown,” she moaned, as if it were some great tragedy, but a laugh lay barely beneath the surface.San Francisco’s Chinatown was exciting.The largest community of Chinese people living together outside Asia, in many ways it seemed like visiting a foreign country.
Skye located a parking place with easy access to the well-defined area, and soon the three made their way down the crowded streets.
Billy insisted upon handling the wheelchair himself, but Skye found it necessary to help him several times as they moved up and down the narrow, hilly streets on and off Grant Avenue.Several of the stores had sidewalk displays, and Billy was able to investigate their wares without having to maneuver his wheelchair through the narrow shop doors.
They stopped to eat lunch in a nearby restaurant.Ushered by the waiter, they were given their own private dining room.Both children loved the privacy and took delight in teasing each other, especially over the chopsticks.
The food was delicious.Janey and Billy quickly devoured the traditional Chinese dishes, leaving Skye to sample the moreexotic ones.The fortune cookies were the highlight of the meal as far as either child was concerned.
“What’s yours say, Skye?”Billy wanted to know.
To appease them both she examined the tiny slip.The words seemed to reach out and slap her.beware of the stranger dark and bold.stay true to your love of long ago.
“It says—” She faltered slightly.“—it’s time to take Billy back to the hospital.”
They both objected, but not strenuously.Billy fell asleep in the car, and Janey was unusually quiet.Whether it was because she was exhausted, too, or as a thoughtful gesture so as not to wake Billy, Skye didn’t question.
As the silence settled over the car, the message of the fortune cookie kept repeating itself in her confused brain.It was uncanny, inexplicable, and the words deeply troubled her.Was God using this silly fortune to warn her about Jordan?The words echoed through her mind a hundred times as she drove from the hospital to her brother’s house.Although she’d made the proper responses when spoken to at the hospital, her mind was far from the matters at hand.It was something she couldn’t explain or reason away.Above all else, Skye realized that nothing in her life happened by accident.God had a purpose in everything, no matter how minute.
Home looked good; her feet hurt after the extended hike.After hanging her jacket in the entryway closet, she went directly to the Bible set on the nightstand.For all her Bible study and all the verses she’d memorized over the years, she didn’t know what to make of the message of the fortune cookie.
“Dear Jesus,” she began silently, sitting cross-legged across the top of her bed.“I don’t know why You allowed this message to come to me, or if it has any significance at all.I realize You guide me through life and I am trusting You.Thank you, Lord, for sending Jordan into my life.At first I didn’t knowhow to handle the feeling he awoke within me.Although I find myself still unsure, I’m far less afraid.I’m asking You, Lord, to guide me in this relationship.I desire only Your will in my life.”
Familiar with several books in the Bible, Skye read until she felt a soothing peace come over her spirit.
Because the situation was in God’s hands, Skye forgot it, later fixing herself a light dinner.While she was washing the dishes her phone rang.
“Hello, Pollyanna.Been saying your prayers like a good girl?”
“Hello, Jordan.”It felt good to hear the sound of his voice, and she didn’t take exception to his greeting.“And, yes, I have been saying my prayers, including a few for you.”
“I’m going to need them.Listen, Blue Eyes, I’ve got to cancel tomorrow.Things have gotten out of hand here in LA without me.I flew back this afternoon.”
“Oh.”Disappointment settled over her.Jordan had left the city.“That’s all right,” she assured him.Nervously her fingers looped a strand of ashen hair around her ear.
“It’s not all right,” Jordan said impatiently.
The doorbell rang, jerking her attention to the apartment door.“Jordan, there’s someone at my door.Hold on...or do you want to hang up?”
“No, I don’t want to hang up.Answer the door,” he said, and sighed heavily in irritation.
Laying the phone on the small table beside her davenport, Skye rushed to answer the repeated buzz.If it was John Dirkson, she thought, she’d scream.
She didn’t, of course.“Yes?”she said brusquely, hoping she sounded as unfriendly as she felt.
Indolently John placed himself between Skye and the door.“Hi, yourself.I’m just being neighborly.I wonder if you happen to have a tube of anchovy paste?”
“Anchovy paste?”Skye laughed.“No, John, I don’t normally keep anchovy paste lying around.”
“Maybe you should look,” he persisted.“One never knows what lurks in the backs of cupboards.”
“Listen,” she said pointedly, glancing back into her living room, “I’m on the phone and it’s important.”
John beamed her one of the irresistible smiles meant to melt the defenses of the most determined woman.“I don’t mind waiting.”Before she could stop him, he had let himself in, sunk down on the davenport, and made himself at home.
