Entertaining Angels Read Online Free Page A

too. Would you mind giving me a lift?”
    Was he blind? Strung out on something? This car wasn’t going anywhere unless it was attached to a tow truck.
    The pent-up frustration that had been building over the past few hours called for a retort, yet everything Craig had been taught at the seminary tamped down a snide comment. “I wish I
could
drive you into town, but I’m afraid we’ll have to walk.”
    “Mind if I take a look?” The man nodded toward the hood of the car.
    Who was this guy? A down-on-his-luck mechanic?
    “Sure. Go ahead.” Craig crossed his arms over his chest, shifted his weight to one hip, and watched the man release the latch, then lift the hood and peer inside.
    He didn’t do much, just wiggled a wire or two. Then he lowered the hood with a bang and brushed his hands together. “Why don’t you give it another try now?”
    Craig blew out a sigh. With all the trouble he’d been having with this vehicle, he was ready to throw up his hands. Or to stomp his feet and shake his fist. The hold on his temper was stretched to the limit.
    Since none of the service station mechanics who’d taken a look could find anything wrong, it seemed futile to think that this shabby stranger would have any more luck with a lot less effort.
    But whatever.
    Craig slid behind the wheel, turned the ignition, and pumped the gas pedal. The engine started right up.
    The stranger came to the passenger side, opened the door, and peered across the seat at Craig. “How about that ride now?”
    Speechless, Craig nodded and waited for him to get in. Then he put the transmission in gear and pulled back onto the pavement, the engine purring as though the car had just rolled out of a dealer showroom.
    “My name’s Jesse,” he said.
    Craig introduced himself and added, “I’m the new associate minister at Parkside Community Church.”
    “You don’t say. That’s a noble profession.”
    Craig, who didn’t feel very noble right now, supposed that in some cases it was. “My granddad was a missionary for about thirty years. Now he pastors a large congregation in Phoenix, so it seemed like a natural decision.” And one that had certainly pleased his family.
    Jesse nodded, as though taking it all in. Then he pointed to the radio on the dash. “Do you mind if I turn that on for a minute or so? I’d like to get the baseball scores.”
    “Go ahead.”
    Jesse pushed in the button, turning on the power, then tuned into an AM station and sat back in his seat. “Do you follow any of the teams?”
    “No, I’m afraid not. I don’t have time for sports anymore.”
    “That’s too bad.”
    Yeah, it was. Craig did his best not to stew about it, though. At one time, baseball had been his whole life, and giving it up had nearly killed him.
    He glanced across the seat at his passenger, a guy who didn’t appear to do much work—or play—then continued to watch the road ahead.
    As the radio announcer rattled off the scores of tonight’sgames, including a win for the Padres after a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth, Craig stole another look at Jesse, who was smiling, a glimmer in his eye. If Craig didn’t know better, he’d think Jesse had hit the winning homer himself.
    “Did you have money on the game?” Craig asked.
    “Nope. I’m not a gambler.” Jesse crossed his arms. “But just before the game, Dave Ellings stopped by Children’s Hospital and promised a kid named Joey that he was going to hit one out of the park for him.”
    “Oh yeah?”
    “The kid’s going to have surgery tomorrow morning. The odds are against him waking up, but he’ll pull through.”
    Craig didn’t pay the homeless man any mind until the radio announcer said, “Before we cut to the next commercial, I’d like to share a bit of news that was just leaked to our producer. Dave Ellings’s homer went way beyond the left field fence tonight. It seems that just this afternoon, Ellings learned that Joey Grabowski, a ten-year-old baseball fan