"Imagine," Todd said, "we were looking at the same stars the same night except I was sitting on a beach five thousand miles away. What were you thinking about that night?"

Christy wished she could tell Todd that she had been thinking about him and dreaming about when he would come back. She couldn't lie, so she told him, "I was thinking about Jesus, when He was a baby. I was wondering if He noticed the bright Bethlehem star from His manger."

"Do you know what I was thinking about?" Todd asked. Without waiting for her to answer, he continued, "I was thinking of Abraham."

Christy wished he had said he was thinking about her. Still, why should she be surprised that Todd would think of something spiritual and bizarre on Christmas Eve? After all, I was thinking about Jesus watching stars from His manger. Oh no, maybe I'm starting to think of everything in spiritual terms like Todd!

"Remember how G.o.d made him a promise?" Todd interrupted her thoughts.

"Wasn't he supposed to become the father of a great nation?" Christy asked.

"Right. Father of a great nationa"a guy who had no kids. It seemed like a big joke. Then G.o.d told him to step outside his tent one night and said, 'Look up in the heavens, Abe. Count the stars if you can. That's how many descendants you're going to have.'"

"I remember that story," Christy said.

'Well, did you know that after G.o.d made that promise, He turned silent? G.o.d didn't speak to Abraham again for years and years.

She had always enjoyed Todd's insights into G.o.d, and tonight they seemed even more wonderful with the sky above them ablaze with the very same stars G.o.d had pointed out to Abraham that holy night thousands of years ago.

"Don't you see?" Todd said. "G.o.d made one promise, and He disappeared. Can you imagine how Abraham felt year after year? He had no kids. He had no proof G.o.d had ever talked to him. All he had was a bunch of silent stars up in the sky to keep counting and keep believing that G.o.d really did make him a promise."

"That takes a lot of faith," Christy said.

"I want to have faith like that," Todd said, turning to Christy.

His voice became low and serious. "I don't know exactly what it is G.o.d has promised me about you, about us, and about what the future holds."

Christy could feel her heart pound faster. She had waited two years for Todd to verbalize some kind of commitment to her. Could this be it?

"I believe that G.o.d has planned for us to be friendsa" close friends. I promised you I'd be your friend forever, Kilikina. I want to have faith like Abraham that whatever that means to G.o.d, He'll work it out for us in His time. I want to keep listening for G.o.d's voice."

Then, slipping his arm around Christy and drawing her close, Todd said, "For now I guess we keep counting stars."

Christy snuggled her head on Todd's shoulder and whispered softly into the starry night, "Then this is where I want to be. Right beside you, forever counting stars."

To Ethel Herr,

who taught me with her life

that I can never love too much.

And to The Parts of Speech Critique Group,

with wonderful memories of all the years

we sat together with our feet beneath Ethel's table.

I thought we were learning to write.

Now I know we were learning what love looks like

when it's dressed in grace.

we were coming this afternoon?" redheaded Katie Weldon asked her best friend, Christy Miller, as they ascended the outdoor steps of the apartment building.

"Of course. I told Todd yesterday we would leave right after church. He said it would take about an hour to drive down here," Christy answered, her long legs taking the stairs two at a time. "The directions were really clear. I'm sure this is the place."

"Number twelve is at the end there," Katie pointed out. Then striking her usual athletic stance, she knocked on the door. No one answered. Katie looked into Christy's distinctive blue-green eyes with an unspoken, "Well? What do we do now?"

Christy bit her lower lip and scanned the piece of paper in her hand. "I know this is right. Knock again. Louder."

Katie pounded her fist on the door and called out, "Hey, Rick, Doug, Todd. We're here!"

Still no answer.

Christy brushed her nutmeg-brown hair off her forehead and cautiously peered in a window. From what she could see, no one was inside. "What should we do?"

"They're probably playing a joke on us. They know what a big deal it was for you to talk your parents into letting you come to San Diego. They're probably trying to freak us out. You know, the 'big college guys teasing the little high school girls' trick."

Katie sounded so confident of her answer that Christy almost believed her. But then Katie usually sounded confident.

"Should we find a phone and try to call them?" Christy suggested.

"Lower your voice," Katie warned. "If they're in there, they can hear what you're saying."

"I don't think they're here. Maybe they ran to the store or something." Christy looked around.

Below them she noticed a cement courtyard with a swimming pool surrounded by lounge chairs. "Why don't we go down by the pool and wait for them?"

Katie surveyed the situation, her bright green eyes scanning the apartment complex for any sign of life. "Doesn't it seem weird to you," she whispered, "that for a place that's supposed to be crawling with college students, n.o.body's around?"

Christy was starting to get the heebie-jeebies. "Come on. Let's go down by the pool. At least we won't look so obviously lost standing by their door with our luggage."

"Oh yeah, we'll look real natural lounging around the pool wearing jeans and clutching our luggage. If anyone from these other apartments sees us, they'll probably think we're homeless and call the police," Katie sputtered as she followed Christy down the stairs to the pool.

"Then let's put our stuff back in the car."

"Good idea. I'm starting to feel like an orphan. Why would they ditch us like this? You'd think one of them could manage to leave a note or something."

The two girls stood at the trunk of Katie's car while she fished for her keys. "Did I give you my keys?"

"Very funny," Christy said. "Of course I don't have your keys. Stop goofing around and open the trunk."

"I can't find them."

Christy let out a sigh. "Did you leave them in the car?"

They both peered in the front window and at the same time noticed the keys dangling from the ignition. Of course, all the doors were locked.

"Good, Katie. Real swift! Now what are we supposed to do?" Christy snapped.

"Hey, relax, will you? I've done this before. All I need is a coat hanger."

"And where are we supposed to find a coat hanger?"

"Let's try the Dumpster over there."

She opened the gates to the garbage area and began to rummage through trash bags.

Christy stood nervously beside the car, guarding their gear. Now they really looked like a couple of b.u.ms with Katie sifting through the trash.

This was supposed to be a nice, simple Memorial Day weekend in San Diego to visit the guys' G.o.d-Lovers Bible study and to have a fun trip to the zoo. It's turning into a disaster!

"Found one!" Katie lifted her prized coat hanger into the air. A rotten banana peel clung to her arm.

"Nice work," Christy said. "Now why don't you try to leave the rest of the garbage in the Dumpster?"

Katie beamed a victory smile as she shook off the banana peel and straightened out the hanger. She cheerfully gave Christy a rundown of the last time she had locked her keys in the car.

"I was at work, and I had to go in the mall to find a clothing store that would give me a hanger. I figured out that time how to make the loop on the end just right so it'll catch on the k.n.o.b there. Good thing my car is so old. Your car doesn't have locks like this. We'd be stuck if it was your car.

Christy kept glancing around, aware that now they looked like homeless, garbage-digging hoboes and car thieves.

"Can you hurry it up, Katie?"

"I almost have it." She gingerly wedged the hanger between the window and door frame, then maneuvered the loop over the lock b.u.t.ton. Her tongue stuck out slightly, and she squinted her eyes.

Christy thought Katie looked like she was playing one of those games at the video arcade where the player has to manipulate a metal claw inside a gla.s.s cage to pick up a small stuffed animal. Christy could never win that game. She had ceased wasting her quarters on it long ago.

Not Katie. She was always up for a challenge. Anytime, anywhere.

"Almost," Katie breathed between clenched teeth as the two girls pressed their faces against the car window, pleading with the loop to connect with the black peg.

"Hey!" a loud voice called out behind them.

They jumped and spun around. They were surprised to see that the big voice belonged to a pet.i.te Asian girl.

"Are you Todd's friends?"

She had a bag of groceries in her arms and apparently had arrived on foot, which explained why they hadn't heard her approach. Her long, silky black hair hung over her shoulders, and she peered at them with a delicate smile.

"Yes!" Christy said eagerly. Then feeling obligated to explain what they were doing, she quickly added, "We locked the keys in the car, and we're trying to get them out."

Katie continued recounting their adventure. "We went to the guys' apartment, but no one was there. We thought maybe they were playing a trick on us, which would be typical of those guys, but they never jumped out and said 'Boo,' so we thought we would put our stuff back in the car."

The girl listened as they rattled on with their nervous explanations.

"That's when we found out the keys were locked in the car," Christy said.

Then becoming aware of how silly they must sound, like two inexperienced high school girls babbling on to this independent college woman, Christy lowered the pitch of her voice and tried to sound calm. "So do you know where the guys are?"

"At the hospital."

Christy felt like a huge fist had just reached into her chest and squeezed the air out of her lungs. She found just enough breath to ask, "Is it Todd? Is he okay?"

"It was Rick," the girl replied.

The fist released her lungs, and she let out a wobbly sigh.

"Rick?" Katie said, looking like the invisible fist had just grabbed her by the heart. "Is he okay? What happened?"

"I'm sure he'll be fine. He hurt his arm when the guys were in the pool this afternoon. They were doing handsprings off the diving board, and Rick had some kind of compet.i.tion going. He twisted his arm the wrong way."