The Earring

Book 2 Part 4

Faith went to sleep thinking about her parents' early years of marriage. Evidently it hadn't exactly been a picnic if they had enough disagreements to provide ideas for weeks of marital conflict for Mama's sociology class.

"I wonder if any of their problems were of the magnitude of mine and Aaron's," she thought as she drifted into sleep.

The next morning, Faith prepared to put her plan to meet Kyra into action. She went to a dollar store and picked up a notebook. While she ate breakfast on the patio, she scribbled her book outline into the notebook. She wrote the name of an abortion book on the top of a page and penned a few notes from her reading of the previous day. She wrote They Chose Life and made notations about some of the stories she had read.

On another page, she wrote the snippet of conversation between Kyra and her friend. She didn't know if she was going to tell Kyra that she had overheard that conversation. If she did, she could show it to her. If she didn't, then she would still have the information. The more Faith thought about it, the more excited she was about the book concept. Maybe she would actually try writing a novel based on her research.

Finally, she drew a rough layout of the area around the nursing building. Deciding that she had enough to look like she was actually doing research for a book, she tucked the notebook into her backpack, along with a couple of books on abortion.

By the time Faith finished her preparations, it was 10:00. She imagined that Kyra was probably finished with her morning shift and into study mode. Taking her backpack, she headed for Starbucks.

Today the coffee shop was relatively quiet. Evidently nursing was not the only class dismissed for the day. Only Kyra and one other student hunched over books while sipping steaming cups of brew. A couple of patrons dressed for business waited for drinks to be prepared.

Faith bought a cup of Chai Tea and settled at a table adjacent to Kyra. She placed her notebook on the table and took out a book that was pro-abortion. She had spent the previous day reading the con side of the issue. Any author writing on a young woman's struggle to decide whether to abort would have to be versed in both viewpoints. She hoped Kyra would notice the title of her book and strike up a conversation.

After 20 minutes, Kyra had hardly even glanced Faith's way. After another 15 minutes, Kyra stretched and called out, "Hey, Justin. I need another mocha. It's about time to douse my brain again."

Deciding this was her chance, Faith took the plunge. She smiled at Kyra. "You look like you need a break, and I need a medical student whose brain I can pick." Kyra's eyes narrowed slightly. "Purely research," Faith added hastily. "I'm trying to write my first novel. One of my characters is a nursing student, but I don't have any inside knowledge about the schedule of an aspiring nurse. Things like that."

Kyra picked up her heavy textbook. "I'm a nursing student, but I'm studying for midterms," she said.

"Mocha's up," Justin shouted.

Faith shrugged. "Midterms are definitely more compelling than novelists. I'm not going anywhere. If you need a break, think of me."

"Will do," Kyra said as she got up to go get her coffee.

Faith resumed reading, masking her disappointment with an open volume. She did notice Kyra glance down at her book as she returned to her table. Her eyes widened, but she said nothing. Over the next 30 minutes, Faith noticed Kyra cut her eyes towards her several times. Faith was certain she had the girl's attention and that eventually Kyra would take the bait.

Faith got up and ordered another cup of tea. As she returned to her table, Kyra looked up and said, "I need that break now. Why don't you join me? I haven't got much of a brain left to pick, but I'm all yours."