Whose Woods These Are I Think I Know or Home At Last

“You’re right, Sissy. It’s beautiful.”

“I told you. Shiloh. Sit, boy. Good dog!”

“Everything here is just exactly as Grandma described, isn’t it?” Tully caught a snowflake on his mittened hand and marveled that the designs were even more intricate now that they were here.

“Her home is exactly what she dreamed of having.” Sissy tried to take it all in, for the first time ever, observing beauty and feeling herself a part of it. No longer did she feel that ache of longing that had been with her since she was a child. “Remember the old place with the missing siding, the exposed tar paper and the space heater that never worked?”

Tully nodded, unwilling to break the silence of the falling snow. They stood gazing together for a long time before he spoke at last.

“Tell me, again, what Grandma did for the king in the old country. Was she a great missionary before I was born or a preacher? I just remember a tiny old woman in a wheelchair unable to leave her house or be away from her oxygen tank. Surely she must have done something great before that to earn a home like this?”

Sissy shook her head and shrugged. “Mama used to call her a warrior – a prayer warrior – she said. She said Grandma may look like a poor old shut-in lady but that was just her disguise. Mama said we were in a war for the kingdom of God and that we were all soldiers fighting for souls, don’t you remember that now?”

Tully nodded his head and threw a snowball at Shiloh.

“Mama said God needed spies who could infiltrate behind enemy lines – people Satan wouldn’t suspect – like Grandma. She said Grandma’s prayers were like smart bombs that exploded in people’s hearts – people near as the next room or clear across the world. Those explosions cleared the way so’s people could be free to receive news of the king.”

“I remember when the ‘lectricity would go out and we’d huddle in front of the open stove under her prayer quilt. Grandma would tell us ‘bout the home Jesus was preparing for her in heaven. Remember that, Sissy?”

Sissy nodded, her eyes shining with pride. Tully squeezed her hand as he spoke again.

“Didn’t she get it just right?”

Sissy nodded, still as full of wonder as she was the first day they’d arrived.

“Let’s go in now. We’ve been waitin’ a long time to see her again, haven’t we, Sissy? Come on, Shiloh. Let’s go home, boy.”