Keeping Faith

Adult fiction 

     "Dr. Keppler begins pacing.  'I don't think we've been hearing Faith just right.  Her guard...the words...they sound alike.'

     'What do you mean?'

     'Your daughter,' Dr. Keppler says, 'I think she's seeing God.'"

     Recently I was able to get my hands on one of Jodi Picoult's earlier works.  In a riveting drama centered around a very controversial child custody case it poses two very thought provoking questions.  How, in a hotly contested case with all kinds of complications, can the best interests of a child be determined?  Can God sometimes work miracles through a flesh and blood person?

     Faith, the child in question, has never had any kind of religious training.  Suddenly she's spouting Bible verses, talking to a presence only she can see, and exhibiting stigmata.  Her touch seems to bring her grandmother, who has been declared dead by three qualified doctors, to life.  After the news gets out legions of reporters and people seeking healing begin a permanent encampment near her home.

     Mariah, the mother, was served with divorce papers after she and Faith walked in on an adulterous tryst in their own home.  When Faith begins exhibiting symptoms that have experts puzzled and hordes of people turn their private home into public spectacle she must fight to learn what's going on and to protect her child's right to be a child.

     Colin, the father, marries the woman he was cheating with.  He hadn't initially contested Mariah getting custody.  But when, returning from his honeymoon, he learns what's going on, he decides that being with her mother endangers Faith and starts custody proceedings with a lawyer who embodies every evil lawyer stereotype you've ever heard.

     Ian, a well known tele atheist, has built his reputation around debunking religious miracles he deems hoaxes by exposing them as fraudulent.  When he learns about Faith he feels that he's won the lottery.  How hard will it be to bring down a child?

     Which of these larger than life characters will prevail?  There's one way to find out.

On a purrrsonal note, I was actually thinking of taking one more day to rest up.  Then I remembered Winter Carnival was about to start off with hot chocolate and s'mores.  I hadn't had a s'more since the Great Before!  I managed to take the bus in, get me some of that chocolaty goodness, do my office hours, and enjoy people exclaiming "OMG Jules, you're back so soon (after the operation).  Eugene picked me up right at school.  We stopped at Dollar Tree and he gave me money to buy Peeps! This is the stuff dreams are made of! (Jules)

And she came home to me.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to Eugene and to the people who ran the cocoa and s'mores tables.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone