"I'm sorry," said a sympathetic female voice over the telephone line. "The application period for that position closed last Friday. The advertisements have been out for a couple of months, already."
Josh felt his heart sink. False alarm! Oh, well. "I'm sorry, too. I don't know a lot about the job - just what it said in the ad - but it looked like something that would really interest me. I didn't see the ad until Saturday."
"Too bad. We didn't get as many applications as we thought we might, but the position has been vacant far too long, and we just don't feel we can wait much longer to fill it.”
"Oh, I understand. I'm disappointed, but I do understand. Thanks for your time." Josh started to hang up.
"Wait just a minute, please." There was a short silence. "Are you still there?"
"Yes, I'm here," Josh replied, and felt a little hope return.
"Would you mind telling me what attracted your attention to the position, and what your qualifications are?"
Josh swallowed hard, and formulated his thoughts. "I'm a church pastor, right now - have been for almost twenty years - but I have a degree in English. I like to read and write, and I've had a strong feeling lately that books are one of the most powerful ways to get Christian messages to a lot of people. It seems to me that a publishing house would be a great place to help others get their writings in print, as well as maybe being able to get some of my own thoughts out before the public."
"Twenty years," the voice mused. "That's a long time to have invested in a ministry. This would be quite a change."
"I know, but it seems like a good change. I'm feeling more and more strongly that preaching in a church is not the only form of ministry."
There was another silence on the line. "Can you hold a few minutes?" the voice asked, at last. "I need to put you on hold."
"Sure," replied Josh, suddenly feeling unreasonably optimistic.
He waited nearly five minutes before the line clicked open again. "Reverend Felton, are you still there? Sorry for the delay. You said you were in Portland, now. Is there any chance that you could bring your application up here tomorrow? If you could get here by one o'clock, we could interview you at the same time. In that case, we wouldn't be losing too much actual time from the selection process."
Josh agreed that one o'clock Tuesday in Seattle would be just fine.
***
Josh spent the rest of the day preparing his job application and resumé, getting a haircut, gassing up the car, and in general getting ready to go. Evalyn left him pretty much to himself to get everything done.
He left early Tuesday morning, earlier than he needed to, but he didn't want any problem to make him late. He left Evalyn with the expectation that he might be home very late that night. If he got delayed, he'd call her from wherever he was staying.
***
The phone rang about three o'clock, and Ev caught it on the second ring. It couldn't be Josh yet, still...
"Ev, this is Ted Blacker. How are you folks doing?"
"Fine, Ted. How are you and Connie?"
"We're fine. Say, the reason I'm calling is that we really need to have a board meeting soon. If we don't, Salem will be upset with us. Any chance of you and Josh being available tomorrow night?"
Ev thought fast, and lied a little. It didn't seem appropriate to commit to a meeting until they knew more about their situation. "Josh was called out of town, Ted, and I'm not sure when he'll be back."
"Oh. You don't think he'll be back by tomorrow night?" Ev didn't want to tell an outright untruth, so she waited without saying anything. When Ted didn't get an immediate response, he went on. "I hate to wait too long. We really need to resolve this."
She had an idea. "I think Josh may be back, but I think Pete and Donna are out of town all week. Have you tried them yet?"
There was a silence. "No, I haven't called there, yet. I didn't know they were going.”
"It came up suddenly. I don't know the details."
"Drat! That does mess things up. Well, if I can reach them, can we go for tomorrow night?"
"Wouldn't Thursday be better, Ted? Prayer meet tomorrow, remember?"
They left it that he would call back if he could get hold of the Newsoms. She hung up the phone. Please, God, let them be out of town. We don't need this, right now!
** *
Josh arrived home at midnight, having waited for the evening traffic rush to abate before trying to leave town. Ev was in bed, but had been reading.
"I don't know what to think," he answered her inquiring look, as he sat on the edge of the bed. "It was a good interview, I think. They asked a lot about my background, and my reasons for wanting the job. They didn't seem too concerned that I didn't have journalism experience, although they asked a lot of general questions about writing and publishing, some of which I had a little trouble with." He got up, and started to undress. "I really don't know what to think," he repeated. "It all seemed very positive, but I guess good interviewers can make any interview seem that way. And, of course, I have no idea what the competition is."
"Did they give you any idea about when they'd make their decision?"
“Nope. We know that mine was the first interview, and we know they didn't get as many applications as they thought they would. Of course, we don't know if that means one or a hundred."
Josh went into the bathroom. Ev turned off the light. "So, I guess we just wait," she said to herself. Interestingly, she found that she didn't feel anxious or discouraged. Just sleepy.
***
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday came and went. Most of the regulars who usually attended Wednesday prayer meeting were there, but the meeting itself proved uneventful. The Newsoms proved to be unreachable, so no board meeting was held. Everything seemed to be on hold, not just for the Feltons, but for everyone. It was a peaceful week.
Friday morning, Josh received the job offer. He wasn't really surprised; everything about the possibility had seemed so unreal and unlikely that another improbability was easy to take. He agreed to call them back that afternoon, as soon as the kids were home from school, and they could talk about it. They talked - there wasn't happy agreement, but there was general consent - and he called them back and accepted the job. He then called Salem, and told 'Denomination' that his resignation would be in the mail the next day. Next, he called as many of the "Tuesday group" as were in town, and arranged a meeting for Saturday night. Finally, he called Milt Thomas, and told him the news.
By six o'clock, it was all done. The Feltons had - to use words Karen came up with - begun a new adventure.
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