Hope and Her Gift

Hope: Dish Detergent Snow

"What is going on?" Anya asked the next day as she walked into the Scavinsky's backyard. Jenna, Ian, and I were walking around on a white and blue powder and you could hear a crunching sound.
"It's like snow!" Jenna jumped a little.
"It's kinda cool." Ian said. I stopped walking.
"Remember when we talked to Ella on the phone that one time last winter?" (Ella is the daughter of Kelsey and Matt who are very close friends of Anya and my parents) "and she said that walking on the snow that was over the frozen sleet was like walking on compacted dish washer detergent?" I moved her foot around the powder while saying this.
"Yes." Anya said.
"Well, I thought, maybe listening to a little snow crunch would help me think about how to deal with Mr. William Reinstein." With that I started walking again.
"So, you actually dumped a bunch of dish detergent in your back yard?" Anya asked. Then she shook her head. "Never mind, you would do that. That's not really shocking. But what are your parents gonna say about the dish detergent wasted?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know. It takes money to buy dish detergent, and you've probably unloaded seven or eight boxes here." Anya matter of factly stated.
"Oh yeah, that. I thought of that. I bought these with my own money." I countered, still crunching. "You should try walking on this, it's great." I grabbed Anya's arm and soon we were both walking and crunching along with Ian and Jenna. About twenty minutes later I raised her finger in the air. "I got it!"
"And it is?" Anya asked.
"Come on!" I grabbed Anya by the arm again and started running.
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"You wouldn't have a Reinstein staying here would you?" I asked the man at the front desk of the town's one very small hotel.
"Actually we do, Hope." He answered. "A fella about your parent's age and his son, about your age."
"Really?" Hope tapped her fingers on the desk. "There isn't a way you could just, kick him out for some stupid reason is there?"
"Why would I do that?"
"He's after my mom. I don't know what he plans to do to my mom, but he's after her."
"Well, unfortunately, I can't kick him out, but I can do my best to keep him stuck in here until he leaves, he's paid through Tuesday. If anybody tries to book a room for after Tuesday, I could give them that room, but if he just takes another room after Tuesday, I have to give it to him."
"What if all the rooms are booked after Tuesday?" I wiggled my eyebrows. I knew I could convince enough people to stay one night.
"If you can do that, then go for it. I could sure use the business."
"We'll make something work." I smiled. "You know Anya, I really like dish detergent."
Anya wrinkled her forehead. "I have a feeling dish detergent is going to cost me some money."
We bumped into somebody. "You!" A gruff, angry voice mumbled, then the person attached to that voice grabbed for me. Anya and I were both quick and were too fast for whoever it was. He soon stopped chasing us and we were back at the my family's home.
"That guy had three demons hanging around him." I was frustrated. "Good thing God had us surrounded by a legion of angels."