and he said to Daddy

"This is a fine car! I just checked it all over!"

and Daddy stopped carrying on

and said to Brother Tom

"Is it?"

and the both of them opened doors and kicked tires

and lifted up the hood

and Brother Tom said

"Did you see the price? It's only twenty-five dollars!"

and Daddy said

"It is?"

and "Whose car is it?"

and Brother Tom said

"I think it belongs to my neighbor

and "Don't you need a car, Pastor Jim?"

and Daddy ran back home

and asked Mom if we had twenty-five dollars

and Mom fished around in her mayonnaise jar

where we kept extra money

but she could only offer twenty-two dollars

and Brother Tom took it for his neighbor

and Daddy had a car.

He was thrilled to pieces.

That's what happened to Daddy that day.

Here's what happened to me...

Brother Tom had brought his daughter with him.

She stood to one side of the car while the men fiddled around

and I stood to the other side.

I came all-over shy.

It had been a long time since I had talked to another girl.

Chances were high that I would do or say something stupid.

I was the type of person that people liked once they got to know me

but they didn't usually take to me right off the bat.

So I kept quiet and tried not to look at her

although I did see her blonde pigtails and blue eyes

and her pretty blue-striped dress

and her brown loafers

with a penny in them.

After a bit we all went back to the house

and Brother Tom said to Mom

"What would you think if I asked your little girl

over to our house for supper, Sister Naomi?"

I almost fainted dead away.

and Mom looked at the pigtailed girl

and then at me

and she smiled and said

"Well, I'm sure my daughter would love to go!"

Her name was Dorothy Mae

although she didn't like that name

and preferred to be called Vera.

She was sassy.

She reminded me some of Jeannie in Gila Bend.

And could she talk!

We sat on the big swing in her front yard

which was under a pecan tree

and there were lots of pecans on the ground

and every once in a while Vera bent down and got one

and cracked it and ate it

and I found out

that her Mom worked in Mobile and was only home on weekends

that her favorite game was Pin the Tail on the Donkey

which you could only play at birthday parties

that her favorite color was purple

that she did most of the cooking

that her Dad was born in the very house we were eating supper in

that her Gramma had died last year

of a coughing disease

that there were two other girls in our church around our age

but they had taken up together

and Vera felt like three's a crowd

and that she wanted a girlfriend of her own real bad.

"I watched you at church last Sunday"

she said

"and I saw you wipe away the tears

when Pastor Jim was telling about your puppies

and I wanted to come right up there

and give you a hug."

To my surprise and shock

I burst out crying

like a nincompoop

and I couldn't stop

and Vera scooted over

and gave me a one-arm hug

and we had barbecued chicken for supper

and her Daddy told jokes

which weren't funny at all

but, being girls, we knew to laugh anyway

and Vera said

"Daddy, it's a good thing I love you."

and her Daddy said

"Dorothy Mae, it's a good thing I love you too."

and they both laughed.

When Brother Tom took me home

and I got out of the truck

Vera said to me

"I'm so happy! Are you happy?"

and no words would come out of my mouth

because of the choke-up in my throat

so I just nodded

and off they drove

her pretty little hand fluttering bye-bye out the window.

At devotions, Daddy thanked the Lord for his new car

and for everything good that had happened since we got here

and I wanted to tell about Vera

and thank God for her

but, being a girl, I knew not to interrupt

although I thought about saying

"Daddy, it's a good thing I love you"

just to see if he would stop!

When Daddy jumped back to Phoenix for things he was thankful for

my eyes were hanging heavy

like they always did after I cried

and I fell asleep.

Music Playing: We'll Sing in the Sunshine

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