Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15 "That's so beautiful, Merle." Pearl sniffed, ducking back behind the pillar. "Mary was very young. That must have been scary for her," Merle whispered. Pearl nodded. "But she trusted God and knew that he had a plan for her. That he had a plan for the whole world. He gave her the courage she needed." "Hey!" Merle recalled, "Like Paul wrote later— when you trust God and give him your worries, he'll give you his peace." "A good thing for all of us to remember," Pearl concluded. Merle tapped her on the shoulder and pointed to a man in a brown robe with a rope belt walking through the chapel above the grotto. "Do you suppose he might be able to help us call Michael?" Merle asked. "He looks official." Pearl nodded in agreement, and the squirrels scurried up the stairs after the man. In fact, the brown-robed man was a friar who served in the church. A friar is like a pastor who has taken a vow of poverty and serves people. The squirrels tracked him down a hallway and up another set of stairs into the main

sanctuary of the church. Unlike the darker lower level, bright natural light flooded into the ornate cathedral through windows set into a large dome above the altar. This time, Pearl could not keep her reactions to herself. "Oooooh!" Pearl gasped, her tiny voice echoing off the walls. The friar turned to look but did not see the squirrels, who stood below the level of the pews. The friar then headed into one of several small wardrobe-like booths lining one of the walls of the sanctuary and closed the door. Merle pointed out an adjacent open door. "This way!" The squirrels scurried into the booth. "Hello?" a voice said in the darkness.

Merle jumped, startled. "Who's there?!" "Father Phillip," the friendly voice said with a chuckle through a darkened screen in the wall. "You were expecting someone else?" The squirrels could now see the silhouette of the friar's head through the screen. "We were hoping you could help us contact our friends," Pearl said. "Hold on. I hear two different voices," Father Phillip said. "Are there two of you in there?" "We're not very big," Merle responded. Father Phillip laughed. "Nevertheless, this is a confessional. There's only supposed to be one of you in here at a time." Merle and Pearl proceeded to inform the friar of their dilemma— how they had escaped their captor and were trying to get in touch with friends so that they could go

home. Oh, and that they were squirrels. This last bit of information was met by silence on the other side of the screen, followed by the sound of a door opening. Suddenly, light filled Merle and Pearl's side of the confessional as a wide-eyed Father Phillip looked down. He gasped. "You really are squirrels." Merle and Pearl nodded in unison. "Follow me," Father Phillip said.