The Girl in the Sink

Tamika asks Bernard whether God still sends angels to help people in need. She has noticed that her widowed neighbor, Mrs. Davness, needs her house painted and lawn mowed, and she hopes angels might complete the work. Bernard answers with a story from the summer he turned ten, when he visited his grandfather's farm and met a huge traveling laborer named Ezekiel.

Ezekiel is strong enough to move an enormous oak beam, yet he credits God for giving him a strong back and an opportunity to use it. Young Bernard helps him repair the barn, and they quickly become friends. Ezekiel has no family or settled destination; he travels with an open heart, hoping to be wherever God wants him to become useful.

A local boy named Percy arrives with a BB gun and shoots a bird despite Bernard's protest. Ezekiel cradles the motionless creature, prays, and breathes over it. The bird suddenly revives and flies away. Ezekiel refuses to take credit and says only that God acts as God chooses while he tries not to get in the way. Bernard begins to wonder whether the mysterious traveler is an angel.

That night, the town gathers because Mary Beth Pearson has disappeared. Percy accuses Ezekiel simply because he is a frightening-looking stranger, then produces hair ribbons stolen from Ezekiel's pack and claims they belong to the missing girl. The sheriff warns everyone against assuming guilt, but the frightened crowd begins to turn against Ezekiel.

Bernard runs to the farm to warn his friend. Ezekiel admits that the ribbons are his and calmly walks toward town to speak with the sheriff. Along the road, he explains that they belonged to his own daughter, who drowned years earlier while he was drunk and too slow to save her. Afterward, another faithful man helped him understand the forgiveness Jesus offers. Ezekiel has avoided alcohol and water ever since and now wanders wherever he may serve.

Sheriff Long meets them on the road and brings Ezekiel in for questioning and protection, not arrest. Mary Beth's mother has already confirmed that the ribbons are not her daughter's. Before they return to town, word arrives that Mary Beth has been found at the Sink, a dangerous cliff above a deep, icy river.

Mary Beth lies unconscious on a ledge beneath loose rock. Rescuers cannot climb directly down without showering her with stones, and a narrow tree root offers room for only one strong adult. Ezekiel braces himself on the root and lowers the much smaller Bernard by rope to the ledge.

Bernard finds Mary Beth breathing and wraps the rope around them both. Ezekiel strains to pull the two children upward while Bernard holds her. They reach the top safely, but Bernard steps too near the edge and falls into the river below.

Despite his painful memories of his daughter's death, Ezekiel dives after Bernard without hesitation. He drags the boy onto the narrow shore, prays over him, and helps him breathe again. When Bernard asks what happened, Ezekiel says that God made a man useful.

Mary Beth recovers, and the sheriff praises Bernard and Ezekiel as heroes. Ezekiel quietly disappears before the town can honor him. His sudden departure and the extraordinary events leave his identity mysterious, but Bernard does not tell Tamika that an angel has certainly visited the farm. He describes Ezekiel as a man who placed himself at God's call.

Bernard tells Tamika not to wait for heavenly strangers when she already sees a need she can meet. She should make herself useful. Then he offers his own free day to help mow Mrs. Davness's lawn, joining Tamika in becoming the answer for which she has been waiting.