WHEN A LITTLE GIRL BELIEVES
“Good morning,” a familiar little voice said from the doorway.
Sam and Claire turned to see Analisa standing barefoot in the kitchen. She wore pink pajamas and held Lucita in her arms.
Claire offered her a cheerful smile. “Hello, Analisa. Did you sleep well?”
The child nodded, then yawned, as she made her way to Claire. “Are you still going to be my babysitter?”
“Yes. I am.”
“Good. After Uncle Sam goes to the office, are you and me going someplace in a car today?”
“Well, we can go to the park if you want. But there’s a story time at the library on Mondays. And Heritage Museum in Old Town is always fun.”
“Maybe we should go visit Mrs. Richards at the hospital,” the child said. “I want to tell her that God is going to make her better. I prayed about it and He told me He would…”
Books by Judy Duarte
MULBERRY PARK
ENTERTAINING ANGELS
THE HOUSE ON SUGAR PLUM LANE
Published by Kensington Publishing Corporation
MULBERRY PARK
JUDY DUARTE
KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.
http://www.kensingtonbooks.com
“To my Heavenly Father, who didn’t respond in writing to the letter I left for Him when I was a child, but who answers each of my prayers with wisdom, power, and love.”
Jeremiah 29: 11–13
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
A Reading Group Guide
Discussion Questions
Chapter 1
Analisa Dawson stood in the center of Mulberry Park and stared at the biggest tree in the whole world, with branches that reached all the way to Heaven.
She fingered the gnarly trunk, then looked way up to the top, where the dancing leaves poked through the cotton clouds and waved to the sun and beyond.
It was perfect. If she put her letter high enough in the branches, God could reach it. But there was one little problem. She was going to need some help.
She glanced across the lawn where Mrs. Richards was sitting on a green park bench under the shade of another tree—one a whole lot smaller. The nanny’s eyes were closed, her head was drooped, and her hands rested in her lap.
Sometimes, when Mrs. Richards brought Analisa to the park and she didn’t have another lady to visit with, she dozed off while Analisa played, which is what she was doing now. But even if Analisa wanted to wake her up—and she didn’t—poor Mrs. Richards couldn’t walk very good because she had arthritis in her knees. So no way could she climb up a tree, especially that one, which meant Analisa would have to find someone else to help.
As she searched the park, she spotted the man who always sat at the same picnic table by the winding walkway that led to the restrooms. Today he was wearing a yellow baseball cap and a green shirt with brown suspenders, and as usual, he was playing a game all by himself.
Mrs. Richards called it chest. It didn’t seem like a fun game, though, because the man hardly ever smiled.
He did smile and say hello once, but when she started toward him, Mrs. Richards pulled her aside and said, “Analisa, we don’t talk to strangers.”
So she wouldn’t ask him for help.
Trevor was here again today, sitting by the monkey bars and digging a hole in the sand. He didn’t usually talk to her. At first Analisa thought that was because she was a girl, but then she realized he didn’t play with boys very often, either.
Mrs. Rodriguez would help, if she was here. But she only brought her children to the park in the afternoons or on Sunday mornings, after they went to Mass, which was the same as church but with a lot more candles.
Analisa missed going to church, like she used to when she lived in Rio del Oro with her mother and father. At least people talked about God there and could answer her questions.
It was different in California. So far, she hadn’t been able to find anyone who knew anything about Heaven. So she’d written a letter to God, which was why she had to find someone to put it in the tree.
And the only someone she could see was Trevor.
He wasn’t a whole lot bigger than her, but he was older and might be a good tree-climber. Besides, asking him to do a favor wasn’t the same as playing, so she walked back to the playground toward the boy.
He wore a red shirt and jeans, and when the summer breeze blew a piece of his hair away from his forehead, she spotted a scar over his eye. She wondered what had happened to him, but knew better than to ask. Mommy had taught her not to stare at people who had something wrong with them.
As her shadow covered him and his hole, he looked up but didn’t talk or smile.
Analisa nibbled at her bottom lip, kicked at the sand, then cleared her throat. “Excuse me, but when you get done with your hole, can you help me do something?”
He shrugged. “Depends. What kind of help do you want?”
She turned and pointed toward the branches that reached clear to Heaven. “I need someone
