"Who's Joab?" Christy asked as Doug started up the truck.

"He's a kid from Kenya. Here, I have his picture in my wallet." Doug opened the glove compartment, took out his wallet, and showed Christy a picture of a thin African boy about ten years old. He had a serious expression on his face and was wearing what looked like a school uniform.

"How did you meet him?" Christy wanted to know. She recognized the look in Joab's eyes. It was the same haunting look of the starving girl in the newspaper. Onlyjoab looked much healthier.

"Our G.o.d-Lovers group started to sponsor him when school started. We put this big mayonnaise jar by the front door at our apartment, and everyone drops in pocket change. After about a month, I rolled all the coins, and we had almost thirty bucks, which was more than it costs to feed Joab for a month. Isn't he a cool kid?"

"Doug, that is so neat! I want to do that. How did you sign up for a kid?"

"A bunch of good organizations out there offer sponsorships. Here." He reached for the empty envelope Joab's letter came in. "You can have this. It has the address on the front."

Christy folded the envelope and tucked it in her back pocket. This was a way she could give back some of what G.o.d had blessed her with. Maybe she could even talk Bob and Marti into sponsoring a child. Why only one child? Bob could finance a whole orphanage.

Tracy's mom had made lasagna for dinner. When Doug took a fourth helping, Tracy poked Christy under the table, and they exchanged expressions of amazement.

After dinner, Tracy's dad and Doug went out to shoot hoops. Her mom said she would take care of the dishes, so Tracy and Christy retreated to Tracy's room.

"Where does he put it?" Christy asked. "And how could he possibly go outside and run around after eating like that?"

"I know," Tracy giggled. "One time last year Doug and I went out to dinner, and I was so embarra.s.sed because he kept asking the waiter to fill the breadbasket. I think Doug must have eaten two loaves of bread plus a huge dinner."

"How long did you guys date?" Christy asked. "I mean, how long were you officially going together?"

"I don't know that we ever went together. It wasawell, you remember. You were here then. We kind of went out for about two monthsa"maybe less. It was really silly."

"That's about how long I went out with Rick. But he and I are barely speaking to each other now. How did you and Doug manage to keep your friendship?"

Tracy looked confused. "We were friends for a long time before I developed those crazy ideas about needing him to be my boyfriend. I don't know. The dating part was the strained part. The friend part has always been easy with Doug.

"It's not that way with Rick. With him, it's all or nothing. And right now it's nothing." Christy lay across Tracy's bed on her stomach, dangling her head and arms over the edge.

"I take it you two didn't talk the other night after pizza," Tracy said.

"No, I really blew it. I called him Todd."

"You called Rick Todd?"

"Well, he was coming on strong, pressuring me and saying I didn't trust him. I was thinking that Todd would never treat me like that, and then I slipped and called him Todd."

Tracy rolled over on her back and was silent for a moment before saying, "May I ask you a personal question? You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"What?"

"Did you ever kiss Rick?" Tracy asked.

"Yeah, a bunch of times. Or, I guess if you want to be more accurate, he kissed me a bunch of times. We didn't do anything more than that, in case that's what you're wondering. Why? Didn't you and Doug kiss when you were dating?"

"No."

"No? You dated almost two months, and he never kissed you?"

"Doug has never kissed any girl."

'You're kidding! How old is he?"

"He turned twenty last month. Didn't you know that about Doug? The first girl he wants to kiss is his wife, and their first kiss will be at the altar on their wedding day."

"Really? I never knew that."

"I thought he and Todd had made some monk pact and that you knew about it." Tracy suddenly sprang to an upright position. '"Wait a minute. Do you mean to tell me that Todd has actually kissed you?"

Christy sat up too, feeling a little self-conscious. "Only four or five times, always in front of other people."

Tracy looked at Christy with a glimmer in her eye. "I'm surprised. That really means something, Christy. I'm sure you're the only girl Todd has ever kissed."

The feeling of being special diminished when Christy realized that Todd wasn't the only guy she had kissed. At that moment she wished she had never dated Rick Doyle. She wished she could have the last few months to do all over again, knowing that she would do things a lot differently. Neither Rick nor any other guy would pressure her into being anything other than who she truly was from the heart out.

"Don't" look so serious," Tracy said. "Hey, you know what they say, don't you? Sometimes you have to kiss a couple of toads before the handsome prince comes along."

on New Year's morning, Christy answered the door ready to go, with a blanket in one hand and a bag of cookies in the other.

She couldn't help but look at him differently than she had in years past. Doug had to be the only twenty-year-old guy in the world who fed starving children and was totally saving himself for his future wife. That kind of G.o.dliness was, as Doug had said, irresistible.

"My carriage awaits you, Princess." Doug playfully bowed at the front door.

"I'm leaving now," Christy called upstairs into the early morning stillness.

"Hold on," Bob called back from the kitchen. He emerged with a picnic basket bulging with the breakfast he had prepared for them. "I didn't know if you would find many restaurants open on a holiday. So I thought this might hold you over until you can find some real food."

"Thanks," Christy said.

"Thanks," Doug echoed, reaching for the basket.

"We'll see you and your gang after the parade," Bob said. "Have a good time!"

Christy waved good-bye and followed Doug to his truck. He had left the engine running and the heater on, so it was nice and warm inside. The hour or so drive to Pasadena turned into a picnic adventure. Christy kept Doug supplied with a steady stream of blueberry m.u.f.fins and held his carton of orange juice so he could drink it without taking his hands off the wheel or his eyes off the road. Bob had provided a bountiful feast, and Doug, true to form, put it all away.

"I told my uncle about Joab," Christy said. "And I gave him the address and told him I was going to sponsor a child. I also told him I thought he should sponsor a few kids."

"How did he take that?" Doug asked.

"Pretty well, I think. He didn't say much. See, over Christmas we had this discussion about how could G.o.d be loving when starving people are in the world. I told him yesterday that I thought G.o.d had given him enough money to help do something about starvation, but he had to be willing to share his wealth."

"Whoa, Christy! Harsh attack, don't you think?"

"I felt strongly about it, and I wanted Uncle Bob to see that I was serious. I've always felt free to tell him whatever I think."

Doug flashed a smile at her, "I think you're right about sharing our money. But it's hard to think like Job in the Bible and say, eThe Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.'"

Christy thought a minute. "Job was that guy in the Bible with all the trials, right?"

"Right," Doug said. "He lost everything, but he still hung tough and didn't blame G.o.d for his problems. In the end G.o.d blessed him over and above what he had before all the bad stuff happened."

"I don't know if I could have that much faith," Christy admitted.

"I know I couldn't," Doug said. "And G.o.d knows it too, because He hasn't done to me what He did to Job. G.o.d seems to have a measuring cup for each person and only measures out the dosage that's right. Pretty awesome, huh?"

"Do you think G.o.d really measures out a huge dosage to starving children, and do you really think they can handle it?" Christy asked, not convinced by Doug's answers.

"I don't know." Doug turned off the freeway. "I do know that He knows each one of them by name, and He promises to provide for everything He created. I also know that we're spoiled rotten, and we don't even know it. We expect G.o.d to be our own personal slave and bring us whatever we want whenever we ring the prayer bell.

"It's supposed to be the other way around," Doug continued. "He's G.o.d. He's awesome. He can do whatever He wants. He's the Master. We're the ones who are supposed to be the servantsa"His servants."

Christy knew she had fallen into the spoiled rotten category more than once. She knew she had treated G.o.d that way before, like her personal slave.

"So how does a person become a servant of G.o.d?" she asked.

"By surrendering. Offering yourself to Him."

"I seem to have to do that over and over," Christy admitted.

"Oh, me too. It's a constant thing. We have to keep choosing if we'll serve G.o.d or ourselves. It's usually easier to serve ourselves."

"I'm just glad He doesrr't keep track of how many times I ask Him for forgiveness," Christy said.

Doug smiled. "I know what you mean. G.o.d is pretty awesome, isn't He?"

Christy agreed, and looking out her window at all the parked cars lining the streets, she added, "I really appreciate your driving me up here today, Doug."

Her emotions had begun to flirt with the idea of what it would be like to go out with Doug like this on a regular basis. He was a special guy. After all, Bob, Marti, and even Jon seemed to think she should recognize what a treasure he was.

"I'm glad it worked out. You're like a little sister to me, Christy, and I enjoy keeping an eye on you for Todd." Doug glanced at her as if he weren't supposed to have said that.

Christy felt disappointed and not quite sure if she should feel insulted. It was embarra.s.sing to have romantic thoughts about someone who saw himself as her bodyguard.

"Can I ask you something?" Christy asked, speaking fast before she lost her courage. "Are you interested in being with me because I'm your friend, or did Todd make you promise that you would guard me or something while he was gone?"

"What I said sounded kind of rude, didn't it?"

"I'm not sure what you were trying to say," Christy said.

"I like spending time with you, Christy, and I think you're a really awesome sister in the Lord. But I would never think of seriously dating you as long as that bracelet is on your wrist. Todd's my closest friend, and I'd never snake him."

Christy glanced down at the gold chain on her wrist and realized it was the one part of Todd she hadn't buried in the box with the rest of her souvenirs during her memorial service. She was so used to wearing it that she hadn't even thought to take it off.

"But did Todd put me up to this? No. I want to spend time with you because you're you and I value our friendship. I'm not much into dating anyway. Tracy probably told you I'm much better at being friends."

Christy appreciated Doug's honesty, and she knew they were both better off keeping their relationship just the way it was. Still, she couldn't help but wonder if anything would be different between her and Doug if Todd hadn't found his way into her heart.

She had met Doug and Todd the same day. What was it that made her and Todd close while it left her and Doug "just friends"?

"Oh, good!" Doug said. "There's a spot for us to park over there."

He pulled the truck onto a dirt area alongside dozens of other cars and turned off the engine. He and Christy loaded their arms with blankets, a small ice chest, and of course, the bag of cookies they had been saving.

They walked for several blocks until they came to Colorado Boulevard, where hundreds of people lined the streets, huddling in beach chairs with their sleeping bags pulled up to their chins. On one corner they pa.s.sed a portable outhouse with a short line of people waiting to use it.

Christy noticed an older house with a wide front porch and a huge tree in the front yard. A hammock hung between the porch and tree, and two boys around her brother's age were wedged together in the hammock, covered with blankets and looking like a big coc.o.o.n suspended in the moist morning air.

Uncle Bob was right Everyone sleeps outside waiting for the parade. If my parents could see this, they would know it would have been harmless for me to have done it too.

A few yards up, Christy noticed some college-age guys tossing a Nerf football in the blocked-off street.

"That looks like Rick," Christy said. "I don't know who that guy with him is though."

The guy receiving Rick's pa.s.s had on a navy blue sweatshirt with the hood pulled over his head, which made it difficult to determine his ident.i.ty.

"You don't supposea" Doug began and then stopped.

'"What?" Christy asked.

"Oh, it's crazy," Doug said. "For a minute I thought the guy over there with Rick might be Todd. Todd always wears a sweatshirt like that."

Christy felt an immediate rush inside as if she had just taken a dip on a roller coaster with her eyes closed. It can't be Todd. Can it? What if it is?

"Hey, Rick!" Doug called out, waving.

Rick held the football and looked around.

"Over here," Doug yelled.

Rick spotted him and waved back. The other guy jogged over with him, and Christy eagerly tried to see who it was. He didn't run like Todd.

The guy pulled down the hood of his sweatshirt and revealed flaming red hair that could only belong to Katie.

"Hi!" Katie greeted them enthusiastically.

Christy drew in a deep breath and felt her stomach do another dive.

"Where did you get that sweatshirt?" she snapped at Katie.

"It's my brother's. Why?"

"Oh, I just wondered." Christy tried to calm down. "So, where's everybody else?"

"We never found them last night," Katie said.

"You mean you and Rick stayed here all night, just the two of you?" As soon as she said it, Christy realized how accusing she sounded.