Mustard Seed (Freedman/Johnson, #2)

by Laila Ibrahim

We don’ get to pick how big our good gets to be, but each of us picks if we gonna do some good right where we

are.”

She’d believed this was over, that slavery had been ended, but now she knew another truth. That boy’s desperate brown eyes would startle her awake in the night. She was abandoning him, all of these boys and men, to this unjust fate. They’d succeeded in their mission to rescue Samuel and William, but that meant nothing to the ones they were leaving behind. She’d have to live with that for the rest of her life.

The three women laughed. Lisbeth was grateful for Mattie’s enthusiastic encouragement of Sadie’s naïve beliefs. Someday she’d have to explain to her daughter that it would be a long road, perhaps a very long road, to true liberty for all. But Lisbeth was glad that for today her daughter could hold on to her belief in a better future.

Mattie walked up to her son and placed a calming hand on his arm. “God don’ like ugly, even when it deserved. God love mercy.”