"Are you ready? We're gonna be late."

Tyler stood at the front door, and waited for his grandma. She came into the room with her purse on her shoulder, looked around and said, "Just a minute.... I can't find the keys."

"I have the keys," he said, and pulled them from his pocket. 

"Oh." She followed him out to the porch, and closed the door behind them. As they stepped down the stairs she held his arm and said, "You're more eager this week."

"Yeah, well, I've been feeling kind of holy lately."

They walked to the car, and Tyler got into the driver's seat. It was a beautiful Sunday morning, and he rolled down his window as he backed out of the driveway and drove down the street.

When they got to the church, he found a place to park. They crossed the pavement and went in, and one of the red-t-shirt guys approached. "Hi, I'm Josh," he said. "Welcome to Living Water. Is this your first time here?" 

"Nope," Tyler said, and saw Christian across the lobby, talking to another family. 

"Well, let me give you a program." Josh pulled two programs out of the stack in his hand. "If you have any questions, we're here." 

"Okay, thanks," said Tyler, and led his grandmama through the doors. 

He walked down the aisle, and looked toward the stage. Rachel sat in the front row, with her hair in a braid, looking like a yellow summer daffodil, or something. Tyler stepped between chairs until he had a perfect view of the back of her head. He found a seat and his grandma stood beside him, but then she said, "Oh, let's not sit here. Let's move down a little."

"But I want to sit here." 

"Why? Oh, all right," she said, and put down her purse. 

The music began, and a multitude of humans crowded around them. They stood through preaching and prayer and people getting saved, and then came communion. The ushers appeared from the back room, holding the giant plates of bread and grape juice. While Tyler ate the body of Christ he waited for Rachel to ascend to the stage, and was not disappointed. The song she performed was different from the last week's, and she seemed to use more of her voice, moving up and down from high notes to low. 

When the service was over, Paul Matthews got back on the mic and said to have a nice day. The crowd began to leave, and Tyler looked between its moving bodies to see Rachel idling near a side door. When he and his grandma arrived at the back of the church, he leaned down and whispered, "I'm going to go talk to Rachel for a while... if you don't mind waiting." 

"Well, okay," she said. "I guess I'll be in the car." 

He turned and looked back across the room, but Rachel had gone. He made his way along the wall until he got to that side door. Looking through its glass, he saw her on a porch. He dropped his program into a trash can, and stepped outside. 

She turned and saw him, and took a nervous breath. "Hey, Rapunzel," he said, and she laughed. 

The porch was surrounded by a metalic rail, and Tyler leaned back against it. The steps led down to a patch of grass, and two little boys ran back and forth, jumping into the air and tackling each other. Rachel watched them intently, and there were no other people around, so he asked, "Are you babysitting or something?" 

She shook her head slightly. "They're my brothers," she said. "Micah and Josiah. I'm just watching them while my mama and daddy finish up for the day."

"Oh," he said. "Are they adopted?" 

"Mm-hmm." 

He looked down at the concrete floor and thought, Of course they're adopted, stupid. They're black and the rest of their family is white. And they probably get tired of hearing that question all the time... but, oh well, you can't rewind your life.

"That was a really pretty song you sang."

She didn't seem to know how to respond, and then whispered, "Thank you." 

"You could really be a singer if you wanted to," he said. "You have one of those big voices. Like Beyoncé."

"Who?" 

"Beyoncé."

"Who's that?" 

"You've really never heard of Beyoncé?"

"No, we... we only listen to Christian music." 

"Oh. Well, she's a singer." 

"She has a pretty name."

"Yeah. I think it was her mother's maiden name, or something." 

"Oh. I guess it's French." 

"Mm-hmm." 

One of her brothers tagged the younger one, who fell onto his back and looked toward Rachel. "I can't get up!" he shouted. 

"Yes, you can," she shouted back. 

"No, I can't. My leg's broken."

"No, it's not," she said, and laughed. "If your leg was broken you'd be crying."

A second later his injury was indeed proven to be nonexistent. He jumped to his feet and chased his brother across the grass. 

Rachel leaned back against the glass door. "So," she said, "this must be a culture shock. Moving here."

"Well, my mom grew up here," he said. "So she says 'mama' and 'daddy' and 'sodie pop.' Then she moved to Saint Louis to go to college, and she married my dad, so she just stayed there."

"Oh. So are you here, like, permanently?"

"Well, maybe," he said. "For the next three years, anyway. 'Cause... Well, 'cause I'm on probation."

A look of shock flashed onto her face, and she asked, "What? Why?"

"Well, a few months ago I kind of made this dumb mistake."

"You committed a crime?"

"Mm-hmm. Someone I worked with.... Well, let's just say he found an interesting way to supplement his income. He was involved with a meth dealer, and one day he asked me if I would drive a box of meth pipes to this other guy's house. So I said I'd do it, 'cause.... Well, I don't really know why. But then I got pulled over for speeding, and I had this box of meth pipes on the seat next to me. So I sort of threw a sweatshirt over it, but the cop saw it and it was obvious that I was hiding something. So he insisted on looking in the box."

"But you didn't actually have meth with you?" 

"No," he said. "But just possessing drug paraphernalia is actually a crime. But I got off with just probation, mostly because I pleaded guilty, and because I turned in the two other people involved with it. So they actually went to jail for dealing, or for manufacturing, or something. And I just got probation."

"What's going to happen when they get out?" she asked. "What if they come looking for you?"

"Yeah." He laughed. "I should probably keep a low profile."

They were silent for a minute, and then he said, "I've never actually done drugs.... But, anyway, I was fired, and my boyfriend didn't want anything more to do with me."

"So that's why he broke up with you?"

"Yeah.... Well, it probably wasn't the only reason...."

There was a flash of red from the other side of the glass, and then Christian pushed at the door. Rachel stepped away to allow it to open, and her brother looked out and said, "Do you have to stand there?"

Rachel looked back at him. "Someone might want to come out this way," he said, "and your fat butt is blocking the door."

Christian left, and Rachel stepped to the edge of the porch. She looked into the sun and blinked a few times, and Tyler didn't know what to say. Sometimes he was really glad that he was an only child.... Might as well change the subject....

"So, did you, um, did you graduate this year?" 

She nodded. "Mm-hmm. Last spring."

"Are you going to college, or...?"

"No. I work at a daycare center."

"Oh. That must be nice. Not boring, anyway."

"Mm-hmm.... Christian's in college," she said. "He's studying computer graphics."

"Oh. So he's going to design websites?" 

"Yeah," she said. "I guess so."

The door opened, and Paul Matthews looked out. "We're about ready to leave," he said, and the door closed again. "Okay," said Rachel, and then looked at Tyler. "I guess I'll see you."

He pulled his phone from his pocket. "Will you give me your number?" he asked. "We could talk."

"Okay." A dressy little purse hung from her shoulder, and she unzipped it and extracted her phone. They hit buttons and looked at each other's screens until they'd officially proclaimed their acquaintance. Rachel looked out to the lawn and called, "Guys, it's time to go!" 

Tyler grabbed the door handle. "See you," he said, and glanced at her once more before he left. 

The main auditorium was empty and silent, and he crossed the carpet to the front doors. He stepped outside to see an almost-empty parking lot, and his grandmother waiting at her car. She stood at the driver's side door, and Tyler pulled the keys from his pocket. "Are the doors locked?" he asked, when he was close enough. 

She nodded. "Mm-hmm."

"I guess I could have given you the keys."

"Oh well," she said. "As long as you're making friends."