Other People

In the barn, Kate found Chris sitting alone in the middle of the floor, stirring up the paint with an electric mixer. “I’ve never seen one of those used like that before.”

“It sure beats doing it by hand,” Chris replied, “John came up with the idea when we were working inside.”

Kate knew she had to talk to these people, and Chris was probably the best person to start with. “Can I talk to you for a minute, Chris?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“I know that we don’t really know each other very well, and you may not want to talk about what happened at all, but I want you to know that if you need to talk to someone, I’m here to listen.”

Chris stopped the mixer and put it down near the can of paint she was working on. She didn’t say anything at first, she just looked at Kate as if she were seeing her soul. “Thank you. It means a lot to have people to talk to, and, actually, I do want to talk about it. That’s the only way any of it makes any sense. I don’t want to talk about it right now though, because once I get started, I might not be able to stop, and there’s a lot to get done today.”

“I know, I just wanted to let you know that I’m here and ask if I could pray for you,”

“You want to pray for me? Don’t waste your time. God gave up on me a long time ago.”

“What in the world would give you an idea like that?”

“The good people down at 2nd Street Church. I went in there once and was told, point blank, that there was no place for people like me in God’s house.”

“Well, they were wrong. God doesn’t give up on us, Chris, we give up on him and each other.”

Chris picked up a couple of the cans of paint. “If you really want to, go right ahead. I could use all the help I can get. Here, help me with these cans,” she said, indicating the two cans she couldn’t carry. The two of them each grabbed a couple of cans and walked off together toward the house.