Part 60 (1/2)

Maggie filled her in on the recent details of Jed's life and

how things were going in Pine Mountain in general. ”The

main reason I'm calling is because another good friend of 96Melody Carlson

your son's has shown up in town recently and I am writing

an article in the paper about him.”

”Oh, who's that, someone famous?”

”Not really. Your son helped him out while living in

Papua New Guinea. The young man's name is Michael

Abundi.”

”Yes, I do remember that name from some of Stevie's let-

ters. Didn't his parents die when he was a young boy?”

”Yes, and Steven raised him and sent him to school. But

Michael was a little worried that because you and your hus-

band had disapproved of Steven's decision to become a mis-

sionary, that you might be reluctant to discuss all this

Although, I must say, you seem very open to me, Mrs.

Harris.”

”Please call me Barbara. And that whole opposition thing

was mostly Stevie's father's doing. He thought Steven was

throwing away his life, and then when he got sick and died

my husband blamed his death on his choice to go live

some 'G.o.d-forsaken foreign country.' My husband died last

winter. Ironically, he also died of cancer.”

”Oh, I'm sorry, Mrs.-Barbara. Have you other chil-

dren?”

”No, Stevie was our only one. He was such a dear boy. $