Kid woke up with a splitting headache. The morning light hit his eyes like daggers. He knew what would help fix that. He saw his jacket neatly folded over the chair and staggered toward it. It occurred to him to wonder why his jacket was draped so carefully when he usually threw it down any old place, but he didn't give it too much thought as he was eager for the flask. It felt abnormally light in his hand. He turned it upside down and failed to hear any sloshing. Empty. He unscrewed the lid just to check. Completely empty.

His eyes squinted in confusion and a hand moved to his pounding temple in hopes that he could still it to help him make sense of the situation. Remembering he had more whisky squirreled away for emergencies, he searched it out. Both bottles were empty. If he'd drank that much, he'd be dead. Somebody had done something with his whiskey.

Last night started coming back to him in bits and pieces. He groaned as he remembered grabbing Ruth. How was he supposed to face her after that little incident? He smiled to himself. He had liked the feel of her in his arms. It had felt so right even in his drunken haze. He remembered her taking him back here and putting him to bed. It seemed like maybe he had said something to her, but he couldn't remember what, which might have been just as well.

"Ruth," he grumbled out loud. There was no doubt in his mind she had disposed of his alcohol.

He checked his pants pocket. She hadn't taken his money. He could go down to the saloon and buy a drink to soothe his headache. He cursed under his breath all the way over there and people gave him and his bad mood a wide berth.

"Whiskey," he groused to the bartender as he took a seat at the bar.

The bartender was quick in filling his order.

A couple of his drinking buddies from last night joined him one on each side with wide grins on their faces. They seemed to think one night of drinking together made them best friends.

Two of the saloon girls drew closer swaying and twirling in a graceful manner, no doubt at the orders of the owner who'd been missing Kid's money lately in that department; their dark Spanish eyes flashing enticingly, but the thought of being with them felt as sour to him in the wake of his sobriety as the whiskey that set in his stomach. All because a pair of blue eyes haunted him. He cursed again, which made his companions think he was ready for a conversation.

"Did you spend last night with that Catholic evangelist woman?" the one on his right asked. "Some folks saw her walking you back to your hotel room."

"If she's putting out, I'd like a turn when you're through with her," said the other.

"You spread rumors like that to sully her reputation and the only talking you'll be doing is to St. Peter," he said in a low, but serious voice, never even looking away from his glass.

"Easy, Kid. We were just funning with you," the one on his left said with a nervous laugh.

The other didn't have as much sense. "Don't tell me you're falling for a good girl. Them types like to have you wrapped around their pinky. They get a kick out of rehabilitating you. You get married to them and the first thing you know she's harping about your drinking and your fighting with a bunch of whiny brats in tow. Then she wants you to go to church every single Sunday. That ain't no kind of life."

"Who I do or do not fall for is none of your concern." He stood up. It was time to walk Ruth to the store and he didn't intend to waste any more of his time with these idiots.

sss

She was waiting for him in front of the boarding house, and they took off walking their usual route.

Instead of a good morning, he greeted her with, "You dumped out all of my whiskey."

"I did," she answered without hesitation.

Her honesty made him angrier than if she had tried to lie or skirt around the issue. "Why?

"The Lord made you for better things than to lay around in a drunken stupor while life passes you by. He's got His hand on you, Kid."

It grated on him, and it prickled his conscience because his mother had told him the same thing growing up. If he had a penny for every time she had told him 'the Lord's got His hand on you, son', he'd be a rich man right now. He'd swear she'd been in contact with her if he didn't know better. "And how would you know that?"

"I don't know His exact plan for you, but I do know He's got one. You're special to Him. All His children are."

Then she began to relay the funny conversation that had gone on at breakfast and she could do such funny dead-on impressions of her fellow boarders that he couldn't help smiling. Her bright chatter made it next to impossible for him to stew like he wanted to.

sss

Saturday evening rolled around, and he couldn't help being curious. As he drew closer to the backyard of the boarding house he could hear her singing. It was the first time he'd heard her singing voice. It wasn't the clearest tone he'd ever heard, but her singing had heart, and she had an adorable way of adding a growl into the toe-tapping melody that utterly charmed him.

"Alas, and did my Savior bleed? And did my Sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head for such a worm as I
At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light
And the burden of my heart rolled away
It was there by faith I received my sight
And now I am happy all the day."

She was clapping the beat as she sang and trying to encourage the others to join her. He'd never seen a person glow with so much inner joy. It was as if God was pouring love and happiness into her soul. Her eyes occasionally went upward as if she were singing only for Him.

Some of the boardinghouse chairs had been brought out for the event. He took a seat on one, and her smile grew wider when she saw him.

"Was it for crimes that I have done, He groaned upon the tree
Amazing pity, grace unknown. And love beyond degree
At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light
And the burden of my heart rolled away
It was there by faith I received my sight
And now I am happy all the day."

There were only a handful of people and that was counting him and Rosa, but she didn't seem phased by the low turnout. "Where 2 are gathered in my name," she began and the small gathering chorused, "Amen."

"Who comes to be healed today?" she asked.

"I do," said a thin, young man. He limped to the front as if he were much older than his 20-some years.

"Do you believe, brother, in the Lord Jesus Christ?"

"Since I was a small child," he answered her.

"Do you believe in His power to heal you?"

"I do, sister," he said more firmly than before.

She crouched down and put her hands on his legs. "Do you feel His power moving in you?" she asked.

The man's eyes widened. "I really do." He walked up and down in front of her, his stiffness apparently gone.

Kid felt his fists tighten. If he'd faked it in order to have Ruth's hands all over him, he'd be limping when he got through with him.

A woman that looked to be his mother stood up from her seat with tears of joy streaming down her face and she embraced the young man. Kid relaxed at the sight. He knew Ruth wouldn't be involved in such duplicity. Maybe something had happened.

"Is there anyone else who will be healed today?" she asked.

A man picked up his wife from her seat in the chair. The woman was pale. She looked eat up with whatever disease she had. Her husband had to carry her up to Ruth.

"Do you believe Jesus Christ is your one and only Savior?" she asked.

The woman gave a nod, the effort seeming to cause her pain.

"And you believe in His healing power?"

Again she gave a barely perceptible nod. Ruth took her hands in hers and said, "Do you feel His power in you?"

He watched as color returned to the woman's cheeks right in front of his eyes. Then she slowly got down on her feet until she was standing next to her husband. His eyes felt like they were about ready to pop put of his sockets. He was witnessing miracles right in front of his eyes.

She gave the call again, but no one else came up, and she dismissed the group with prayer. He could tell the others were as amazed as he was. She talked with the ones who had been healed, but he stuck around until she was through.

"I'm so glad you decided to come after all," she said beaming up at him.

"You were extraordinary," he told her, meaning it.

"I wasn't. God was," she said firmly. "It's Him and Him only that gave them healing. I was only an instrument."

He gave a shrug. He didn't want to delve into spiritual matters.

"I was a mite nervous. That's the first time I've ever led a meeting like that, but I knew He'd be with me."

"You couldn't tell it was your first one."

"Still think I'm crazy?" she asked with a grin.

"Absolutely," he answered.