Hannah's Dream Read Free Page B

for the kitchen."
    "I'll go to," Marian said.
    "You don't have to, Mama," Hannah said.
    Both she and Becky knew how Marian felt about going to the store.
    "No, I want to go with you.  I'll be fine."
    "Well, I think it's a grand idea," Becky said.  "Maybe we can get a soda at Liberty Drugs."
    "Oh, can I get chocolate?" Hannah asked.
    "That sounds good," Marian replied.  "I think that's what I'll have, too."
    "Me, too," Becky said.
    Hannah felt so happy.  She loved to see her mother smiling and couldn't wait until Monday morning.  She could already taste the chocolate ice cream soda.

Chapter 4
    On Sundays Marian, Becky, and Hannah would walk to the old church on Oak Street.  The church, which began as Presbyterian a hundred years before, had been abandoned by the denomination twenty years ago when the parent church in East Brunswick chose not to send a new minister to the small beach town.  In the absence of an organized denomination, some townspeople decided to find a minister of their own and called the church The First Church of New Beach.  
    The man they chose to pastor them, the honorable Reverend Armstrong, had graduated from the divinity school at Yale in 1870 and had some radical ideas about the preaching of the gospel.  He instituted a church choir and allowed women to speak from the altar.  While some of the citizens of New Beach found his ways too "new" and chose to go to the denominational churches in Red Bank, a small, devoted group always came to the little church on Sundays. 
    Hannah loved the church.  Reverend Armstrong had used his own money to install four stained-glass windows in the nave and as he preached, Hannah would study the intricacy of the designs.  She would sit right next to the depiction of Jesus baptizing John the Baptist and run her finger over the edge of Jesus' foot.  
    If Becky noticed Reverent Armstrong looking their way, she would gently elbow Hannah to bring her attention back to his sermon.  But Reverend Armstrong was grateful someone appreciated the fine workmanship that went into creating the windows and loved seeing Hannah's finger climbing up the glass.
    The words being spoken didn't affect Hannah as much as the scenes portrayed on those windows.  Besides John the Baptist's baptism, Reverend Adams had chosen Christ in the Garden, Jesus healing the blind man, and Mary at the foot of the cross.  The redness of the blood on Jesus' forehead as he agonized over his fate, the blue the artist used to create the sky, and the green leaves on the trees all fascinated Hannah.
    She had seen these windows every Sunday for as long as she could remember, but lately they drew her in as never before.  She wanted to know how to create something that beautiful, something that would move people and make them cry, laugh, think, and ponder the mysteries of life.
    Today, she was sitting in the pew behind Johnny Liberty and looking at the Mary window.
    Johnny's right, she thought.  I want to make something that will last.
    She tapped him on the shoulder and he put his head back without turning around.
    "What?" he whispered.
    "I'm going to the dry goods tomorrow for clay," she whispered back.
    "Good," he said quietly, and his mother elbowed him.
    "And what do you think, Hannah?" Reverend Adams said.
    Hannah heard her name and looked up.  She could feel the eyes of the congregation on her and her heart began to pound in her chest.  She looked at Reverend Adams, an attractive man in his early forties whose hair had grayed prematurely, and who always had a twinkle in his blue eyes.  He walked away from the altar and stood by her pew.  Becky and Marian sat between Reverend Adams and Hannah.
    "I don't know," Hannah said softly.
    "What do you see when you look at that window, Hannah?" he asked.
    Her mouth was dry and she tried to think.  How could she express feelings in words?  How could she describe the way the colors made her heart soar, or how amazing it felt to see the look of anguish