Mary's Rescue

ONE "A lifeguard? At a beach town? For a whole month!" Reverend Camden opened his mouth to speak again, but Mrs. Camden placed her index finger over Reverend Camden's lips, silencing him. She gave her husband a look that said he should stay quiet. She doubted he would. "You can't stop me, Dad," Mary said, tossing a stack of T-shirts into her suitcase. "I'm an adult." "Barely an adult," Reverend Camden countered. "Practically not an adult. You certainly don't always behave like an adult, do you?" "Well, the law says I'm an adult," Mary shot back. "I'm twenty-two years old." She yanked open a drawer and pulled out more clothes, tossing them onto a growing pile on the bed. "Even the law can be . . . in error," replied Reverend Camden. "Once in a while the law can even be wrong . . . sometimes." "See!" Mary cried, closing the drawer with her hip and throwing up her hands. "That's why I'm going away for the month. All I did was come home for a day to pick up some extra clothes, and you're on me to change my plans." "Not change them, necessarily," Reverend Camden said. "Just rethink them a little. When you said you had a month off from the airline, we were all hoping you would spend at least some of that time with the family." "I'm an adult, and I want to be in a place where people treat me like one," Mary replied. "And obviously that's not here. So I'm going to be a lifeguard at Pacific Paradise!" Mary pushed her hair back into place and took a deep breath. She didn't want to start yelling, but her father made her so mad sometimes. "Dad," she said calmly. "I have a job. Responsibilities. People who trust me to do the right thing." "They only trust you because they don't know" "Eric!" Mrs. Camden shot her husband a stern look. Reverend Camden's mouth snapped shut. When he opened it again, his words were spoken slowly and chosen more carefully. "Mary," he said evenly. "You already have a job. A great job. You're a flight attendant, remember? Now, your family . . . Well, we all love you dearly. We want to spend some time with you before you go and . . . fly off into the stratosphere again." "I'm a flight attendant with a month's vacation," Mary said. "So it's not likely I'll go flying off to the stratosphere anytime soon. And working as a lifeguard is a chance for me to earn some extra money." Mary continued to pack her beach gear. She dumped the pile of clothes into her suitcase. Then tried to close it. The suitcase was so stuffed with clothes that it wouldn't lock. She punched the clothes down and tried again. Still no luck. "Since I don't go back to work for the airline until September," Mary continued, "I feel the need to do something constructive for the rest of the summer. When has either of you ever objected to work?" "Never!" Mrs. Camden and her husband said in unison. "Of course we understand," Reverend Camden said. "But couldn't you do something constructive around here? Somewhere within the city limits of Glenoak?" "Like what?" Mary demanded. "Baby-siChristie, Amanda is the author of 'Mary's Rescue' with ISBN 9780375824098 and ISBN 037582409X.