The Boy Who Appeared from the Rain
Page 66
As church let out the next day, Kara thrust her keys into Zach's hand. "Quickly, kiddo," she told him in a low voice. "In the trunk of the car is the last pot of roses, the ones I was working on the night you found us. Bring it inside, and then—do you see that woman over there in the teal dress?" She pointed across the room. Six hundred people mingled and slowly exited around them; she hoped this one woman wouldn't exit too quickly.
"What's teal?" Zach asked.
"Sort of bluish-green," she responded, "like on the Mariners' uniforms."
"Oh, yeah, I see her," he said.
The woman was Hispanic, perhaps a year or two over thirty, a new member in their church who had started coming for the free English classes and had since stayed—and one who, Kara had learned, loved to grow potted plants on the porch of her apartment. She was just the kind of person to whom Kara liked to give the miniature roses.
"Her name is Rita," she continued. "Get the roses and take them to her, okay? Hurry—make sure you catch her before she leaves. And if she asks why you're giving them to her, just tell her, 'Welcome to our church.' Got it?"
"Got it," Zach replied confidently. He took off and exited through the main doors. He must have run all the way to the car and back, because he returned sooner than she expected, breathing heavily. His eyes hunted across the room and found Rita—she and her two daughters had moved toward another doorway and looked as if they were ready to depart.
He carried the potted rose to her boldly, as if he did this all the time. She received it with predictable surprise, her daughters caught as much off-guard as she. She spoke gratefully to Zach, and he started to turn away, but she suddenly stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
"Zach?"
Kara read her lips from across the room. Did this woman know the boy?
Rita bent down to look Zach in the eye. Suddenly, he recognized her, too, and gave her a huge, open-mouthed grin. Handing the potted rose off to her older daughter and taking both of his shoulders, Rita hugged him, but only very quickly, releasing him before he could pull away. She launched into conversation with him for a moment, and then he excused himself and ran back to Kara.
"Mom! Mom!" he cried. In his excitement, he grabbed her arm; he hadn't done that since riding the elevator at the Space Needle. "Mom, come on! Rita! It's her! The first one, the good one!" He bounced up and down, eyes bright with exhilaration as he tugged at her.
"The good what, Zach?" she asked, befuddled.
"Mom," he declared, "she was my nanny!"