Read The Pilgrim Song Online

Authors: Gilbert Morris

The Pilgrim Song (39 page)

Jenny stared at the preacher. “I suppose so,” she said. “I’m surprised you have money for that.”

“I may have to work it out, but the kids want you to go.” He hesitated. “And I do too.”

“All right, I’ll spend all your money on a banana split.”

****

Lewis pulled up in front of Missouri’s house in the truck, got out, and brushed off the back of his trousers. He’d cleaned out the truck as well as he could, but it had seen a lot of hard service. He was wearing a dark gray suit and a shirt and tie, which felt strange.
Funny how a fellow can so quickly learn to get along without a tie,
he mused as he walked up to the house. He was surprised at how nervous he felt, and when he knocked on the door, he thought,
I remember when I called on my first young lady. I felt about like this. Here I am older than the hills and still getting goose bumps over going on a date.

When the door opened, Missouri greeted him with her usual warm smile. “Come in, come in, Lewis.”

Lewis opened the screen door and stepped inside. “I’m a little early—” He stopped abruptly, surprise washing over him at her appearance. He had seen Missouri in a dress only a few times, the same one—the ill-fitting brown homespun she had worn in the courtroom. Now, however, he could not speak. When he found his voice, he said, “You look beautiful, Missouri Ann!”

She was wearing a light green cotton dress with a V-shaped neckline. It was loose fitting, with a jacket of the same color, and belted around the waist with a thin black belt. The skirt had gathered side panels, and she wore silk stockings and black patent leather shoes that crossed over and buttoned on the side.

She flushed at Lewis’s words of praise and then touched the sleeve of her garment. “I’m glad you like it,” she said shyly.

“Your hair looks beautiful.”

“First time I ever went to a beauty parlor.” Missouri Ann laughed. “You know, of course, that Hannah did all this. Made me buy these clothes and get my hair fixed.”

“You look wonderful. We’d better get something to put on the seat of that truck. It’ll get your new dress dirty.”

She reached up and touched her lips. “I’m even wearing makeup. First time in my life. Hannah helped with that too. I feel downright sinful, Lewis.”

“You look like an angel. Come along. Let’s go.”

****

“It’s been such a good evening for me,” Lewis said. “I don’t think that movie’s going to pollute your mind.”

“It was silly but funny,” Missouri Ann agreed. The two had stepped up on the porch, and she turned toward him. “I had the best time ever, Lewis.”

“Missouri Ann, I’d like permission to court you.”

Missouri whispered, “I think that would be nice.”

“Are you really sure that God intends for us to get married?”

Missouri dropped her head for a moment. She did not speak for so long that Lewis thought he might have offended her, but finally she lifted her head and said quietly, “I’m not sure, Lewis. I’ve told you that I’ve made a mistake a time or two when I thought I heard from God and turned out I was wrong.” She shook her head. “I’m not as sure about things as I once was.”

Lewis laughed. “Now you really sound like a woman. Always keeping a man on pins and needles.” He smiled slyly and said, “You know, I’m about to break a promise I made to my mother.”

“What was that, Lewis? You shouldn’t break a promise to your mother.”

“Well, I’m going to anyway. I think she would forgive me if she were still living. It was a pretty serious promise.”

Missouri Ann saw he was laughing at her. “I promised her I would never kiss a young woman on our first date.” He waited for Missouri’s reply, and when she said nothing, he put his arms around her and held her tightly. He kissed her gently and she returned the affection. After a few moments, he stepped back. “I can see this courtship’s going to be interesting. Good night, Missouri Ann.”

“Good night, Lewis. It was . . . it was good to be with you.” Then she put her head back and laughed heartily. Putting her hand on his cheek, she said, “You see that you ask me again, you hear?”

“You’d better believe I will!”

****

“Everything looks so dead,” Hannah said, walking along the fields that bordered the house and past the brown, wilted garden.

Clint took her hand and said, “It’ll be spring before long, and everything will be green and alive again.”

Hannah turned to him and said, “I don’t know how to be a wife, Clint. Other girls went through things I missed out on, so there’s a lot I don’t know.”

“We’ll just have to learn together.” He reached out and took her hands and squeezed them. He looked into her eyes for a moment and then said, “I’ll teach you how to be a good wife.”

“How would you know?”

“Well, I’ve studied things like that,” Clint laughed, putting his arms around her. “The best way to have a happy marriage is for the wife to wait on the husband hand and foot—and then give him all the loving he wants.”

Hannah looked stunned but then realized he was smiling at her. She pulled his head down and whispered, “I can manage at least half of that!”

GILBERT MORRIS spent ten years as a pastor before becoming Professor of English at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas and earning a Ph.D. at the University of Arkansas. During the summers of 1984 and 1985, he did postgraduate work at the University of London. A prolific writer, he has had over 25 scholarly articles and 200 poems published in various periodicals, and over the past years he has had more than 175 novels published. His family includes three grown children, and he and his wife live in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

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