Jo

Amy and I got on either side of Sarah and together we walked up the nine flights of stairs.

Sarah had forgotten her keys so I knocked.

Beth answered the door. It was like seeing an angel. I hugged her tightly.

"It's good to see you too Jo--and Amy!" The three of us joined Sarah as the tears fell.

Bob popped in with a tray of homemade cinnamon buns. "You ladies look like you could use a snack."

The smell of cinnamon and cream cheese icing pulled us in. We ate them while they were still ooey and gooey and wondered what we should do next.

After we had calmed down and finished our coffee and iced buns I asked Amy and Beth to meet me in the bedroom. Doing my best imitation of tactful I asked,  "Sarah and Bob would you mind if we had a bit of family time?"

Bob put his arm around Sarah as if to say, "I've got it from here." while my sisters and I had a powwow in the other room.

I'm not known for beating around the bush. "We need to find Meg but Manhattan is on lockdown."

"Before we do that we need to find out what's going on with Allie. We can't leave Sarah so distraught. Besides, we need to figure out what's really going on with this plague thingy."

Amy interrupted. "You mean pandemic. I don't think we should go anywhere near Allie. They say it's highly contagious and deadly."

I clicked my tongue. "A deadly common cold?"

Beth explained, "It's more than that... I've read as much as I could... It's like the flu mixed with... " She searched for the right word, "Lymes Disease on acid. Some people get bit--so-to-speak and they're fine. They don't even get a fever. Others catch it and they get pneumonia with hacking coughs and convulsions and die."

I became angry. "This sounds like a bioweapon--something man made. It's so stupid how people are blaming eating bats. Eating weird food doesn't cause a pandemic."

"You're right Jo," Beth agreed, "But I think instead of getting angry we do something about it?"

Amy perked up. "You mean like starting a revolution with banners and protests? I wonder if Bob has any poster paint and glitter?"

Beth looked sweetly at Amy. "No... but you're brainstorming and I like that."

I blurted, "Okay positive Polly! Let's come clean. What are your powers?"

Amy and Beth feigned surprise.

I opened my arms. "Come on girls. I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."

My sisters pretended to be shocked.

Amy played dumb. "Jo, what on earth are you talking about? We're not members of The Umbrella Academy."

I groaned. "No we're not Amy! That is a show on Netflix and this is real life! We've all been reading mom's journals--and even if we haven't there's stuff you remember doing as kids... Mom called them God-given gifts. What are your gifts?"

Amy and Beth looked at one another as if to say, "Should we tell?"

"Spill it girls!" I shouted, "We don't have much time!"

Since the girls were having trouble coming clean I thought reading mom's journal outloud might help.  I pulled mine from underneath my pillow and began reading.

Dear Future Readers,

I see there are three of you reading today. That is special. For the time being Meg is safe but you've gotta get to her. Time is of the essence!

Amy grabbed the journal out of my hand. "Let me see that. Jo, you're making this up!

She began reading:

Jo, I woulda taken you for the biggest sceptic and not Amy.

Amy threw the journal. It hit the window facing a partial brick wall.  "How is mom doing that? It's soooo spooky."

Beth retrieved the journal from across the room. "It's not spooky Amy. Mom had a very powerful gift too. She used to tell me she had the gift of faith."

I began shutting down. "Assuming it was some bible thing I paid no attention."

Amy rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "No kidding Jo. And you know what happens when you assume..."

I lost it. "I assume you're an ass Amy!

Beth uncharacteristically shouted, "Sisters! She held up the journal.  "In this book mom wrote how we need to work as a team. We are like North, South, East and West coming together. Once we do it will be very powerful. We each have our part to play!"

Jo laughed. "Amy's gotta be the Wicked Witch of the West."

Beth stomped her foot. "Jo Marsh. Stop it this instant. You're teasing Amy will not help matters."

I felt bad. The writer in me can't help myself sometimes. It's those darn one liners... I've got a million of 'em. I knew I needed to apologize. I didn't want to heed the process even if I didn't quite believe all of it--yet.

I took a deep breath. "I'm sorry Amy. I didn't mean it. This is stressing us all out. You know stress seeps out of me as if sarcasm and skepticism had a baby."

Beth signed. "All of us need some faith seeds growing--even mustard seed sized ones will do."

We all put our hands in the center and yelled, "Little Women. Big Things!" It's a cheer our mother taught us as children.  I always thought it was a bit corny but now? Maybe our mother had been preparing us all along.

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