Season of Blessing Read Online Free

tell him that he wasn’t as grown up as he thought he was, when Rick’s cell phone rang, injecting life into the otherwise silent twenty-one-year-old who sat staring at his food. He pulled the phone from his belt clip.
    â€œHello? Yeah. What’s up, man? Nothing much.”
    Steve met her eyes in silent encouragement to rebuke him.
    Cathy touched Rick’s arm. “Rick, could you please take that somewhere else? We’re trying to have dinner conversation here.”
    He didn’t answer, just got up from the table and strode to another room. She watched him leave, wishing she’d made him turn off the phone before they sat down to eat. Since he lived on campus for summer school, he seldom came home to eat with them, and she hated calling him down when he did.
    She turned back to Mark. “Mark, let’s say you did get your GED. You’re only sixteen. You’re probably not ready to jump right into college.”
    â€œI told you, I’m not sure I even want to go to college. I’m tired. I need some freedom after being locked up for a year.”
    Tracy started drumming her fingers on the table.
    Steve reached out and stopped her hand. “But, Mark, there’s no freedom in having to work without a college degree. It’s hard. Why would you want to put yourself through that?”
    â€œSteve’s right,” Cathy said. “Honey, school is the best place for you now.”
    â€œOkay, but where?” he asked. “Do you want me to go to public school or do you want me to go to Brenda’s and study with Leah and Rachel and Joseph?”
    â€œAnd Daniel,” Cathy said. “Don’t forget Daniel. He’s exactly your age.”
    â€œBut he’s different, Mom. He’s a good friend and all, and I’m glad to have him as my buddy, but he’s basically clueless. I’ve been in jail for a year. I’ve been around people who are hard to get along with.”
    â€œThen this should be easy for you.”
    â€œI don’t want to be baby-sat all day and hovered over. I can take a GED course and get out of school and have some freedom.”
    Steve got up and took his plate to the sink. “Mark, you don’t even have a driver’s license yet. You’re kidding yourself if you think this is going to give you extra freedom. And I think you need to define what freedom is.”
    â€œI know what freedom is,” Annie piped in, flipping her dark hair back. “Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.”
    Cathy smirked. “Thank you, Annie, for bringing the wisdom of Janis Joplin into this conversation.”
    Rick came back into the room just then and took his place at the table. “Freedom? Oh, freedom. That’s just some people talking.” He broke into singing “Desperado,” and Annie joined in. Mark threw his napkin across the table. Annie deftly caught it in the air and threw it back.
    Cathy ducked. “Hey, not at the table. Come on, guys.”
    Tracy wadded one of her own and threw it smack into Cathy’s face. Cathy caught it in her fist. The girl cracked up at the hit.
    â€œNice going, Tracy.” Annie high-fived her. “Only I wouldn’t recommend you repeat that.”
    Cathy waited for Steve to call Tracy down, but his eyes were still fixed on Mark.
    â€œMark, you must have given this job thing some thought. What kind of jobs are you thinking of?”
    â€œI don’t know. Maybe something like an electrician.”
    Steve came back to the table. “Electricians are trained. Some of them go to college. If they don’t, at the very least they go to vocational school.”
    Mark shifted in his seat. “They need assistants, don’t they?”
    â€œWell, yeah, but that’s a minimum wage job. And you’ve got a background, Mark. You’ve got a few strikes against you since you’ve been to jail. If you offset that with a college