Wheeling Gull Isle in the summer of 07, i was sure i'd go to heaven

Ah ha! Simeon doesn't say it, but he's sure he knows what's going on! Dee must get distracted while praying, too!! Suddenly he doesn't feel so bad about his own mind drifting -- or at least, not as guilty. Dee is already the epitome of what he thinks his faith should be, and he admires her for it. Her love for God, how much she talks about Him, how much she seems to think about Him! He loves God, too, but he finds his expressions wanting. A little too graceless, a little too quick-tempered when his buttons get pressed... even though he tries to be a good brother to all his little siblings.

Simeon's grin broadens when his sister beckons him up, and he gives his butt a little wiggle before he launches himself up to join her - sneaking in a scrunch of his nose against her cheek in proper greeting!

But there is still something so sad about her. It's a shadow that twists her mouth and slants her brow the way Juju does whenever he starts to cry, only this one is deeper and scarier, almost.

With tall ears, Simeon listens.

Well, sort of.

Mad at you! he says, almost too loud, and he shuts up to a whisper and a duck of his head, at you? Why?

As far as his judgment went, God couldn't be mad at Dee! She hadn't done anything to make Him upset! ... had she? God couldn't be mad with Dee; Simeon had only ever seen her love Him.