Looking For You All My Life Part 56

thing.

Maggie spent nearly an hour interviewing Michael the

next morning, the whole time wondering what possible

angle she might take with this story. He made it perfectly

clear that his main purpose in coming to Pine Mountain was

to be a missionary, or in his own words, "to preach the good

news to the lost souls that my good friend Steven cared so

deeply for..." How could she write that in the newspaper?

She could just imagine certain individuals taking strong

offense to being Michael Abundi's "mission field," and yet

she didn't want to compromise his message either. Finally

Scott stopped by to take Michael outside on the porch to

*shoot some photos, and after that he gave him a tour of the

newspaper office. Maggie sat at her desk, going over her

notes. Perhaps she'd play up the Steven Harris connection,

maybe even contact his parents for a quote-she knew she

could get the number from her mom-then she'd show how

this unusual friends.h.i.+p had motivated Michael to come over

here. She'd already completed her opening paragraph by the

time he stopped in to say goodbye.

Looking for You All My Life91

"Thanks for coming, Michael." She smiled up at him. "I

think I'll try to reach Steven Harris' parents for some com-

ments on this story."

"Steven's parents?" His dark eyes grew wide. "I have

never met them. Do they live here in Pine Mountain?"

She shook her head. "No, but I think I might be able to

reach them."

He frowned slightly. "They did not approve when Steven

chose to leave his home to become a missionary. He wrote

them often, but they never wrote to him. Not until he

became ill ..."

"Oh my. How sad."

"But I would like to speak to them-if you think they

would be willing to speak to me-or maybe they will not

want to...

"If I reach them, I'll remember to ask," offered Maggie,

suddenly unsure as to whether she wanted to include their

quote in her article or not.

"All right. I must go now. Thank you."

"Stay warm!" she called as he left her office.

She returned to her writing until she heard Abigail on the

intercom. Her voice sounded stiff and formal as she spoke.

"Ms. Carpenter, a Mr. Ebbert is in the lobby wis.h.i.+ng to see

you. I told him you were busy right now. But he demands-"

"That's right!" came a loud male voice, also over the

intercom. "I demand to know why you people aren't

printing my letters to the editor in your newspaper!"

Maggie thought for a moment. She hated leaving poor

Abigail on her own to deal with this troublemaker, but she