Coffee Scoop by Kathleen Y'Barbo Page A

hear someone in the back outbid me.”
    Scribbling as fast as she could, Carrie noted Mr. Renfro’s description of the moment he turned around and saw Ryan Baxter standing behind the last row of seats.  
    “I looked right at him and doubled the bid. Well, he smiled real big and outbid me again. This went on a time or two more until I called a time-out to the auctioneer then stood right up and asked the impertinent kid in the back row what it would take for him to cut out his foolishness and let me have that horse. Would believe he had the gumption to tell me he would let me win that horse if he could have an hour of my time?”
    Smiling, Carrie nodded. “Yes, I can believe that.”
    Mr. Renfro paused and looked away. When he returned his attention to Carrie, his eyes looked misty. “I thought he was the biggest fool I’d ever run into. I took him up on his offer and told him I’d buy him dinner too.”
    Carried turned the page. “I think I see where this is going.”  
    “Maybe you do, but I sure didn’t. I bought that snot-nosed kid a steak dinner thinking I’d soon be seeing the last of him.”
    “Obviously that didn’t happen.”
    “No.” Again he paused. “No, it didn’t. About midway through the best rib-eye I’d ever sunk my teeth into, Ryan starts asking me questions. Well, I didn’t like the answers but he sure did. For everything I said, he had something in response. Pretty soon he’d given me more to chew on than steak.”
    “So was that the night you were changed?”
    Her host stood and laughed. “Hardly, although I wish I could say I listened and learned right then. No, I’m a hardheaded man. I’d heard all about the Lord in prison and I thought that religion was a nice thing for people with lots of time on their hands. Once I got back into the real world I began to fall back into my old ways. Now I can see that the Lord used Ryan Baxter to head me back down the right road. Ryan didn’t have any idea what he was doing that night. He told me later he was just being obedient.”
    “How so?”
    Mr. Renfro touched the glass and seemed to contemplate her question. Outside the muffled squeals of the children floated past. Behind her host, a large utilitarian clock ticked off the seconds.  
    “Seems as though your friend Ryan had something like a hundred dollars to his name: ten in his pocket and another ninety in the bank. He’d been working with a street ministry group in the parking lot when the Lord laid it on his heart to go inside that arena and bid on a horse called Mercy.”
    Carrie swallowed hard and rested her pen against the paper. “So you’re telling me that Ryan Baxter is the reason . . .” She paused to clear her throat and collect her thoughts. “. . . the reason for all the good you do?”
    “No, Miss Collins,” he said softly. “The Lord is the reason for what I do. Ryan Baxter was the messenger.”
    “Wow,” she said softly.
    “Wow, indeed.”  
    The phone rang and her host picked it up. While he spoke, Carrie wandered to the window. Her gaze flitted from child to child, horse to horse, until it landed on Mercy.
    What kind of man would walk into a horse barn and bid for a prize-winning mare with only $100 to his name? Perhaps there was more to Ryan Baxter than she anticipated.
    Perhaps her instincts were wrong.
    “Forgive me, Miss Collins, but it’s time to head back to town.”
    Carrie turned to reach for her bag. “It’s been lovely, Mr. Renfro. Thank you for being so candid.”
    “Yes, well, I don’t see how being any other way serves any purpose. The Lord gave me the experiences I had to either teach me or show others. I’d like to think a little of both, really.”  
    He reached past her to open the door. Immediately the scent of fresh hay combined with the sound of happy children. The result stopped Carrie in her tracks.
    An absurd thought occurred. If not for Ryan, this barn would be silent.
    Interesting.
    “Miss Collins, I understand you’re