Prologue

And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. —2 Samuel 23:4

It was summertime, school was out, and with sky-high temperatures reaching near one hundred degrees, even the bees appeared to be chilling out from the smothering heat. Ten years old, Brianna and Alana were outside on the long, covered front porch playing a game of Monopoly—the board type, not something electronic like all the other children their age normally played. Brianna’s father, Amos Wright, didn’t believe children should stay cooped up in the house watching television and playing video games all day. Brianna didn’t mind; she liked being outside. On the other hand, Brianna’s mother, Diane, would have preferred her daughter do things inside, especially on scorching hot days like this.

Around midday, suddenly and unexpectedly, dark clouds rolled in.

"Girls, it looks like it’s going to rain. You probably need to come inside now," Brianna’s mother said as she stood holding the front door open.

"We’re on the porch, Mother," Brianna said. "We won’t get wet on the porch." "Well, if it starts lightning, I want you to come in the house immediately. Do you two understand me?"

"Yes, ma’am," Brianna and Alana said in such perfect unison that it sounded like one voice.

"Older people sure are funny when it comes to rain," Brianna said after her mother closed the front door.

Alana loosely shook the two white dice around in her hand, then threw them on the board, rolling a double three, automatically garnering herself another turn. "I know," Alana said as she counted out loud and advanced her wheelbarrow six spaces. "Boardwalk," she said with obvious disappointment.

"Yes!" Brianna said, picking up her title deed card to that property. "Let’s see now, with two houses, you owe me six hundred dollars!" Brianna held out her hand for payment.

Alana slowly counted out the money, leaving her with only a small amount of money to play with. "It’s a good thing I’m close to passing go and collecting two hundred dollars," Alana said. "I just hope I don’t land on any of your other properties on my next roll, or this game will pretty much be over—two hundred more dollars or not."

The rain started pouring down. And then the sun, just as quickly, came back out, brightly lighting up the sky even as the rain continued to fall.

"Look!" Brianna said. "The sun is shining while it’s raining!" Brianna got up and walked over to the top step. "Wow. With the sun shining like that, all of those falling raindrops look like diamonds bouncing all over the walkway. Do you see how they’re sparkling as they hit?"

Alana stood up and walked over to Brianna. "You do know what this means, don’t you?"

"Know what what means?"

Alana turned and grinned at her friend. "When it’s raining and the sun is shining."

"No. What?" Brianna could see that Alana was pleased, knowing something that she apparently didn’t.

"It means that the devil is beating his wife."

"It does not," Brianna said.

"Yes, it does. If you don’t believe me, then go ask your mother. She’ll tell you."

"Well, I don’t believe you because the devil doesn’t have a wife."

"Apparently, he does," Alana said with a snarky shake to her head as she moved her face in toward Brianna’s. "That’s why the sun is shining while it’s raining: to let us know that he’s beating her. I feel a little sorry for her even if she is the devil’s wife. It’s got to be bad enough to be married to the devil. Then to have him beat on you like that . . . Then again, she should have known better than to hook up with a creature like him. I mean, what did she expect when she married the devil?"

"Well, I’m not going to let any man ever beat on me," Brianna said. "Not ever."

"They say if you stick a pin in the ground, you can hear her screaming when he’s beating her."

Brianna frowned, then winced. "Who would want to hear anything like that?"

"Hey, let’s go get a pin and see if we can hear her. That way, you’ll see whether what I told you is the truth or not."

Brianna and Alana hurried into the house. "Wait right here while I find two pins." Brianna started upstairs to her room, then stopped and looked back. "Does it matter what kind of pin it is? A straight pin, a hat pin, a safety pin, or is it actually a writing pen . . . ?"

Alana shook her head. "As long as it pierces the ground, it should work."

Brianna came back quickly and handed Alana a large safety pin. They started toward the door.

"And just where do you two think you’re going now?" Brianna’s mother asked as she walked out of the kitchen into the den wiping her hands on a dish towel.

"To listen to the devil beat his wife and to see if we can hear her scream," Brianna said as easily as though she were saying that they were going to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

Brianna’s mother shook her head as she smiled, but didn’t protest—essentially telling Brianna that she had no objections to what they were about to do or the idea of it.

Brianna opened the large, lead-glass door and allowed Alana to go out first. Brianna grinned. She saw him before he saw her, and she ran full force, straight into his arms. "Granddad!" she said.

"Hey there," sixty-year-old Pearson Wright said as he picked her up and spun her around two full turns. He set Brianna back down. The two of them now stood close to the man who had come with him. "So where are you two going in such a hurry?" Pearson asked.

"We’re going to listen to the devil as he beats his wife and to see if we can hear her screaming." Brianna held up her safety pin to prove they were serious.

"Oh, that," her grandfather said as he looked back at what he’d just come in out of. "You’re talking about the rain with the sun shining. That’s a beautiful sight for sure: rain and the sun shining at the same time, a phenomenon that’s always fascinated folks."

The good-looking man standing next to her grandfather began to chuckle as he smiled at Brianna.

"Gracious, where are my manners," Pearson said. "This is my granddaughter"—he placed his hand on top of Brianna’s head—"the lovely and talented young poet and short story writer, Miss Brianna Wright."

"And this"—Brianna pointed to Alana as soon as her grandfather finished introducing her—"is my best friend in the whole wide world, Alana Norwood."

"Pleased to meet you, Miss Alana Norwood. And this is David R. Shepherd, aka King d.Avid," Pearson said, pronouncing it "King dee-Avid." "That’s a small d, period, capital A, small v-i-d. You’re looking at the next world-renowned, recording artist."

"Are you a real king?" Brianna asked the tall man with black wavy hair and caramel-colored skin. She placed her hand in the man’s waiting hand he’d presented to her to shake.

"No, not in the way you may be thinking," King d.Avid said. "But I do plan—with your grandfather advising and managing me—to rule the world of music someday."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Brianna said. "I plan on being the queen of something myself. Just not exactly sure what I intend to rule over. But I’m going to be somebody great, or at least produce something great one day, just like you. I promise you that. A lady at church spoke that Word over me last year. That’s what she called it: ‘A Word from God.’ "

"I’m impressed," King d.Avid said, smiling at her as he continued to hold her young hand in his. "And I believe that." He gave Brianna a slight bow with his head, then let go of her hand. He reached over and held out his hand to Alana. "And you are the best friend of the queen-to-be?"

Alana walked over, shook his hand, and giggled. "Yes. Although, it’s likely we’ll both be queens. That’s how a lot of friends roll, you know."

"Absolutely," King d.Avid said. "It’s always good to be in the company of those who are going somewhere, instead of hanging around people who are going nowhere. That’s precisely why I hang with Mister Wright, here, the way I do. The man is good at what he does." He glanced over at Pearson. "And I believe he’s going to help get me where I’m destined to be." King d.Avid turned his attention back to Alana and gave her a slight nod. "So, how old are you?" Alana asked.

King d.Avid laughed. "Why, I’m twenty-five."

"You’re kind of old," Alana said, turning up her nose slightly. "Me and Brianna are only ten. Well, we don’t mean to be rude, but we need to finish before the rain stops just as quickly as it started. Otherwise, Brianna won’t believe that the devil really is beating his wife."

"Okay." King d.Avid sang the word. "But I don’t think the devil really is beating his wife. Because I don’t think that the devil is married."

"That’s what I told her," Brianna said triumphantly with a grin.

Alana trotted down the steps into the rain and stood in the grassy, manicured yard. She looked back up at the porch, her eyes blinking with the raindrops before she eventually shielded her eyes with her hand. "Brianna, will you come on, already!"

Brianna hurried and caught up with her friend. They unlatched their safety pins, kneeled down, stuck their pins into the ground, and placed their ears over their respective pins with the rain drenching them and all.

Pearson shook his head, laughed, then escorted King d.Avid into the house.