IT HAD BEEN several weeks after Christmas and Faith was concerned that Angie had not begun working on her blanket again. She noticed that Angie had placed her project in the corner of her room and there it sat untouched.
“Angie,” her mother said as she entered her bedroom, “I noticed you’re not working on your blanket. Is something wrong?”
Angie shook her head and went back to working on her homework.
“Don’t you want to finish your blanket?” Faith inquired, insisting on facing the subject.
“You can finish it if you want,” Angie said, not looking up at her mother.
“It’s not my entry in the fair,” her mother said sitting down on the bed next to Angie.
When no response came from Angie, Faith asked, “Dear, why have you lost interest in your blanket? I thought it made you happy.”
“It makes me sad,” Angie responded.
“For goodness sakes, why?” her mother was surprised at her answer.
Angie shrugged her shoulders and didn’t answer.
“Because of Pearl?” Faith suggested.
Again Angie shrugged her shoulders.
“I see,” her mother smiled, “Are you going to let Pearl Hubbard run your life? Are you going to let her take away your blue ribbon at the fair next summer? I think that would be a tragedy. Then Pearl would have gotten the best of you after all.”
Angie looked up into her mother’s eyes with a newfound interest.
“Don’t let Pearl take away your blessings, my dear,” her mother softly said, lovingly stroking the top of her head, and then rose from the bed and left Angie to ponder her words.