Gideon's Gift Read Online Free Page A

her dad warned her about the mission.
    “Some of the people might seem scary, Gideon. But most of them just look that way from living on the streets.”
    “On the streets?” Gideon pulled the covers up to her chin and studied her father. She couldn’t tell if he was teasing her.
     “No one lives on the streets, Daddy. There’re too many cars.”
    “Not right on the street, honey. But on the sidewalk. In doorways and under stairs. Sometimes in alleys or under bridges.”
    Gideon could feel her eyes get big. Her father wasn’t teasing at all. He was serious. “Under bridges?”
    “Yes.”
    “That’s sad, Daddy.” A scared feeling came up in Gideon’s heart. “How come?”
    “Well…” He reached for her hand and immediately she felt safe again. “Some people don’t have a place to live. Those are the
     people who go to the mission for dinner.”
    “So the mission is sort of like their home?”
    “It’s where they eat. But most of the people who take meals at the mission don’t have a home.”
    Gideon thought about that. About being outside without her blankets and warm pillow, without her mom and dad. If the people
     at the mission didn’t have a home, then maybe—“Don’t they have a family, either?”
    “No.” Her dad took a long breath. “Most of them don’t, baby.”
    Tears filled Gideon’s eyes and she had to blink to see her father clearly. “That’s the saddest thing. Isn’t there someone
     they could live with?”
    Her father looked like he was thinking very hard. “It’s not that easy, Gideon. You’ll see.” He squeezed her hand. “The best
     thing we can do is serve them dinner and pray for them.”
    Gideon’s heart felt like a wet towel: heavy and full of tears.
    Then she got an idea. “They probably aren’t very happy people.”
    “No. Probably not.”
    Gideon wiped her fingers across her eyes and sniffed. “Then maybe… maybe we can make them smile.”
    For a moment her father said nothing, and Gideon thought his eyes looked wet. Then the corners of his mouth lifted just a
     little. “That’s my girl.” His voice was quieter than before. “Let’s get the whole place smiling.”

CHAPTER FOUR
    E dith Badgett’s heart had ached for her missing son since the day he disappeared. The fact that she was an old woman and her
     son a man in his fifties did nothing to ease Edith’s pain.
    It made it worse.
    Life didn’t wait forever. She knew that better than most people. If Earl didn’t come home soon, if he didn’t call or leave
     a message or write a letter, she and Paul might not be around when he did. They were pushing eighty now, and neither of them
     in good health.
    Edith lowered herself into a chair by the window and stared out, the same way she did every morning. It was December already.
     Five years since that awful day when their family had changed forever. She drew a shaky breath and dismissed the memories;
     they were not welcome, not now or ever. She and Paul had spent enough time grieving. There was precious little time left,
     and she refused to spend it dwelling on a moment in time she could do nothing about.
    She reached for her leather journal and the blue pen she kept tucked inside. The book held hundreds of lined pages, but after
     nearly five years most of them were written on, filled with letters she’d penned to Earl. At first the letters had been about
     the tragedy of that long-ago afternoon. But eventually Edith wrote about other things—Earl’s childhood, his high school days,
     the feelings she had for him and wasn’t sure she’d told him.
    The times he had lost since leaving.
    Earl’s brother and sister still lived in Redding, still came by every few weeks for Sunday dinner or a game of Hearts. There
     were nieces and nephews and whole seasons of life that Earl was missing.
    But… maybe he wasn’t missing them. Maybe he was delusional or drugged or even dead.
    Edith found the first blank page and began to write. Today she wanted to