Girl in the Shadows (Shadows 2)

I liked that. I liked her interpretation of

Scripture. However, Mrs. Westington was really not a

Bible-thumping, religion- driven woman. In fact, she

often went into tirades about the corruption of the

clergy and the troubles in the world that religions

visited on each other. She said it would take a tow

truck to get her to church and she'd dig ditches with

her heels all the way. She was very opinionated and

very confident of all her opinions. When she went into

one of her diatribes, she often made me laugh.

Sometimes, she wanted to, but sometimes, I could see

she was surprised herself at my smile.

"I'm serious, girl" she'd say, and widen her

eyes, often followed by a quick, hard tap with her

cane. That long, old hickory stick with its pearl handle

was something Trevor -Washington had made for her.

She told me he made it. "Two seconds after I began to

wobble."

"Oh. I know you're serious. Mrs. Westington," I

told her, and she grunted with skepticism. "I do and

I'm not laughing at you!" I insisted.

I didn't want to upset her. She'd been so kind to me. She helped me with my uncle's funeral

arrangements and supported me during the whole ordeal. Brenda, now a professional athlete, was off to Germany for a basketball tournament the day after Uncle Palaver died. It all fell on my head. I knew she thought my problems were my own making. I shouldn't have run away after she had found her girlfriend. Celia, with me, but that wasn't my fault and I couldn't stand the dark cloud of Brenda's anger hovering over me. I couldn't stomach the thought of living with her while she despised me. I felt like a lead weight on her ankles anyway. Having the responsibility for a young teenage sister just when she was developing her own promising athletic career was

a burden she surely would rather unload.

Even so, even after all that. when Mrs.

Westington had asked me to move in. I was nervous

and undecided. After all, she, Trevor, and Echo were

complete strangers to me and I had been on the

property less than a day. I quickly saw, however, that

when Mrs. Westington made up her mind about