“Actually, no, we’ve never personally met until just now, but I’ve been thinking about you a great deal.” Joanna’s beatific smile put Carolyn at ease. Logically, she at least should have been apprehensive; instead, she was burning with curiosity. Something important was happening here, but she didn’t know what it was.

“I don’t mean to be rude, Joanna, but—”

“Why am I here? And why have I been thinking about you given that we don’t know each other?”

Carolyn nodded her head, and Joanna replied, “Well that’s a perfectly reasonable question to ask someone who comes knocking at your back door, imploring you to let them in!” The absurdity of the whole situation suddenly struck both women as so totally ridiculous, they were both reduced to uncontrollable laughter. It reminded Carolyn of being a teenager with Rachel and how they would laugh at the most ludicrous situations without a care. When they were finished, Joanna said, “Well, since I’m now in your house, may I sit down?”

Slightly embarrassed, but still reeling from the sense of absolute joy, Carolyn said, “Oh, of course. How thoughtless of me; can I get you something, Joanna?”

“I would like a glass of water if you don’t mind. It sweltering outside.”

Joanna sat down at the kitchen table, folded her hands, and shut her eyes for a minute. Then she reached into her handbag and started searching for something.

While Carolyn poured the water, she glanced at her guest, trying not to appear too conspicuous. She couldn’t take her eyes off of her, however. She thought Joanna to be one of the most exceptionally beautiful people she had ever seen. Aside from the color of her hair, which was pulled back into a ponytail and almost reached the small of her back, there was something distinctive about her smooth, olive skin, and her extraordinarily wide and brilliant green eyes. Though she had the demeanor of a cleric, she was fashionably dressed in jeans and a bright pink T-shirt, accompanied by an open flannel shirt that was tied at her belt buckle.

She was one of those people who looked much younger than her actual age, or perhaps her hair made her appear older than she actually was. Carolyn guessed she might be around thirty-eight or forty at most.

Just as Carolyn sat down at the table, Joanna found her wallet, produced her driver’s license, and slid it across the table toward Carolyn.

“Everyone always wonders how old I am, and no one believes me when I tell them,” Joanna said with a laugh, accompanied by a girlish grin and just a hint of smugness.

Carolyn pretended she hadn’t just been pondering that very question as she scanned the license for the date of birth.

“You were born in 1950! That can’t be, Joanna! That would make you … fifty-five!”