To Trust a Friend. Lynn Bulock
things just from looking at the bones in front of her. But first, she wanted to sip some of this coffee and stretch to get the kinks out of her neck. Deep concentration on these small bones left her physically pained after a while.
When she looked back at him, Josh had a thoughtful look on his face. “What?” she asked, hoping he’d tell her what he was thinking.
“You look uncomfortable. How many more hours can you lean over that kind of close work without making yourself sore for days?”
Kyra shrugged, still trying to get some of the kinks out. “A few. I think I’m close to a breakthrough here, so I’ll keep at it. If I can find a few more facial bones on…gurney B,” she said, unwilling to tell Josh about the names she’d given the girls, “we might have enough to start looking for medical records.”
“Don’t you always need teeth for that?”
“It helps,” Kyra admitted. “But I think I’m seeing a pattern of some old, healed facial injuries in this one skeleton. It’s the kind of thing that would have given her a distinctive look, and probably left a legal trail as well.”
Josh’s expression clouded. “You said these bones probably belonged to teenagers. If the injuries you’ve found are healed, you’re thinking child abuse, aren’t you?”
“It’s one of the top reasons for fractures in kids, unfortunately. I wish I could say it wasn’t.”
“Yeah, me too.” He turned around, then appeared to reconsider leaving and faced her again. For a moment he stood silently. “How can you see stuff like this and still believe in God? What kind of God lets little kids get beaten up?”
“God didn’t beat up this child. A human being is responsible for that,” Kyra said with more fervor than necessary. “If you want to see what God can do in a kid’s life, then come with me tomorrow.”
“To church?” Josh asked, a challenge in his steely eyes.
“No, to the mall for a movie. Bring money for popcorn and ice cream after the show.”
“Sure.” His quick acceptance surprised Kyra. She’d expected him to put up an argument.
“And clean out the backseat of your car if you need to,” she instructed. “My truck will only hold two besides me. You’ve got seat belts for three in the backseat, don’t you?”
“Yes.” He raised one eyebrow, seeming to ask what he was getting himself into. “What were you going to do before I came along?”
“I have no idea,” Kyra admitted. “I figured that if God wanted me to take all of the kids to the movies, then a way to take them all would show up.”
“And you got me instead,” Josh said. Kyra didn’t have the heart to tell him that she thought he was exactly what God had in mind. Josh was nowhere near ready to hear something like that.
FOUR
What on earth had he been thinking? Josh asked himself for at least the tenth time in an hour. Why had he agreed to meet Kyra and take strange teenagers to the mall? He didn’t know the first thing about teens, and especially not girls. The three in his backseat were giggling and making strange noises and speaking some language beyond his understanding, full of phrases like “and then he went yeah and I went no way” while he tried to keep concentrating on Kyra, navigating in the front seat to guide him to a mall he’d never been to.
He’d found the parking lot of Kyra’s church, where they’d agreed to meet, with no trouble. He wished that Kyra had let him pick her up at home, but she had argued that this was a more central location and closer to where they needed to get the girls. So he’d agreed and shown up on time, hoping that his weekend casual khakis were all right for the afternoon.
Probably to put the girls at ease, Kyra wore jeans and a soft sweater the color of honey, picking up golden notes in her glossy auburn hair. The uniform of the day in the backseat was jeans with baggy sweatshirt jackets that Kyra called hoodies.
Only when they were all getting out of the car in the mall’s parking garage did Josh notice that one of his passengers was pregnant. The realization hit him hard; none of these girls looked to be more than fifteen. Kyra chatted with them as if they were old friends, while all three eyed him warily.
“Now, understand that I chose the movie today,” Kyra said to him as they walked to the theater. She talked loudly enough so that the whole group could hear her, even though she was speaking to Josh. “Marta, Ashley and Jasmine are all far too mature to want to see an animated movie, but it was my turn to pick, so they’re humoring me.” The girls nodded vigorously and Josh fought hard to hide any hint of a smile.
He could still remember being thirteen and trying to act tough all the time. If he went to the movies back then, it was always with his sister. At that age it was nice to have Chrissie to blame for them going to watch kid movies. That way he had an excuse in case he saw any of his friends at the movie theater. It had been years later before Josh realized that any friends he met were trying just as hard as he was to maintain a “cool” image. In those days before twelve-screen theaters everybody was there to see one of two or three shows. And back then the ticket sellers were stringent about keeping kids out of R-rated films. Not that Josh would have tried to sneak into one, especially not with Chrissie in tow.
So here he was, surrounded with a gaggle of giggling females who were trying their hardest to act as cool as he had more than over twenty years ago. He suspected they were all secretly glad that Kyra had picked a kids’ movie. That way they could see it without any of their friends thinking that they had chosen to go there. Josh figured it made them happy to have a friend like Kyra who took them to the movies, too. From what Kyra had told him of the kids’ backgrounds, everybody was in foster care or the juvenile-justice system; some of them both.
Today, though, they were just teens going to the mall, and Josh could feel their excitement and high spirits even when they weren’t talking. He looked at one of the family groups passing by them and wondered what those people saw. More than likely they wondered why a middle-aged man was shepherding a bunch of teenage girls at the mall, because Kyra didn’t look much older than the kids in some ways. She had the same lighthearted expression, smiling as she pointed something out in a window to Jasmine that made all the girls comment.
“Hey, Josh. I mean, Mr. Richards,” one of the girls said to him, pulling him out of his fog. “Are you going to spring for popcorn for all of us, or just Kyra? Lunch at the house was pretty bad and I can already taste that buttered popcorn. But if you’re just going to treat your date…”
“Ashley, what makes you think this is a date? We’re just doing a Sunday movie, same as usual. And don’t go trying to talk my friend into buying you popcorn.” Kyra still used a light tone so the girl didn’t feel like she was in trouble.
Marta leaned in close next to Ashley. “Not a date, huh? It’s the only time you’ve ever brought anybody along for a movie that wasn’t a church lady. He’s definitely no church lady.” Marta had an impish grin that made the other girls laugh and Kyra turn a little pink.
“C’mon you two. I want to see a movie and have popcorn. If you keep hassling Kyra she’ll take us back and we won’t get anything. I don’t feel like going back, I feel like having a good time. And maybe even ice cream after the movie.” Jasmine put a hand on her stomach. “We never get ice cream.”
“That’s because you should be concentrating on fruit and veggies, not popcorn and ice cream,” Kyra said breezily. “But you’re right, if you keep speculating on my personal life, you’re more likely to leave without enjoying your afternoon.”
Jasmine put a hand on her hip and glared at her friends. “See? I told you. Now, be good so we can see the movie.” The other two girls grimaced, but they stopped teasing Kyra. Josh marveled at how fast the situation was defused.
In the lobby of the theater Josh turned to Kyra and spoke softly. “Can they still have popcorn? I like popcorn with