“May’s doing fine. She’s going to finish up her course next month. They have a ceremony at the technical college. I’m going to see her get her certificate. You want to go with me? Eddy won’t go. He says graduations bore him. May would sure like it if you were there.”

“I’ll think on it.”

Don’t think so long that the day comes before you give me some excuse why you’re not going to go, June thought. “I know you’re fond of Billie, Mama, but Billie’s got him a new girl and new life, and May’s kids are all busy with their families. They’re glad enough their ma’s getting on with her life, but none of them are going to see her get her paper. That’s a shame. I wish you’d stop being mad at May. She’s got her a job waiting for her at Pardee Hospital. She’s making something of her life. We all ought to be happy for her.”

“Lil going to the graduation?” Ida leaned against the car door, her body turned away from June.

Exasperation crept into June’s voice. “Tell me the Lord’s truth, Mama. What’s Aunt Lil done you’re so against her? She’s been right good to May, and you should be glad for that.”

“I’m too old to be beholding to Lil.”

“Aunt Lil is mighty lonely since Uncle Jimmy passed, and May’s been good company. There’s no question of you being beholding to her.”

“Well, then, that’s different. I’ll go with you. I’m not gonna let her be the one to see my daughter finish her classes and me not there.”

June rolled her eyes and turned the car into her driveway.

Ida approached Denny’s office with trepidation. Nervous as a cat, she’d visited the bathroom a dozen times before leaving the house and now her mouth was so dry, she wondered if she’d be able to say a word.

Pastor Denny greeted her warmly, offered a seat, and settled into a chair across from her. “How have you been, Ida?”

“Same as Sunday,” she replied, avoiding his eyes. “Fine, I guess.”

Denny waited. Counseling parishioners made him uncomfortable. His training consisted of several courses in pastoral counseling followed by two months of practice, during which he never felt adequate to the task. It seemed like he could never fill Pastor Johnson’s shoes. Lately he was called to do more listening and counseling, and he sure could use some reassurance that he was doing it right.

“Your job as a pastoral counselor is to listen,” an impatient instructor had once told him. “And if that’s not enough, quote scripture. The answer to every man’s problem lies in the scriptures.”