When Tina headed to the nursery with her baby girl and
spied him in the basement, she dashed past, avoiding him as usual. Even
his name annoyed her: Jerome. He had been mumbling, “Has anyone seen my
phone?” The man misplaced his phone all the time; it probably was in his
pocket, hiding from his vexing voice.
During the church service, Tina had needed to take her
baby to the nursery again. “Ah, so nice and cool down here,” she mused,
settling into a rocking chair. As she fed her baby, singing came over the
speaker on the wall—heavenly, sweet singing to the Lord. Mostly she could hear
the song leader; he sounded so sincere, almost angelic. Wait! Today’s song
leader was … JEROME! Much chagrinned, Tina suddenly started to view this
brother in Christ in a more charitable light.
