Season of Blessing Page 14

  From time to time throughout the sermon, she glanced to her side. Josh kept his Bible open and took copious notes.

  As they started out of the sanctuary, Sylvia nudged Harry. “That young man is perfect for Annie. He’s George and Sally Haverty’s son. I’ve got to come up with a scheme to get them together.”

  “Sylvia, no matchmaking,” he said. “Come on. You’ve got better things to do. Besides, Annie probably already knows him from youth group.”

  “I doubt it. He told me he’d been away at Vanderbilt for the last four years. But he’s going to medical school here. I love Annie, and I want to make sure she marries well. Introducing them is the least I can do for her.”

  “Let Cathy worry about marrying Annie off.”

  “Well, I’ll sure let her in on it. But can’t you just see the two of them together? I was thinking we could have a get-together, invite both of them, and see what happens.”

  Harry rolled his eyes. “Sylvia, you’re not up for a get-together.”

  “Yes, I am,” she said. “You just watch.”

  The weekend before her third chemo treatment Sylvia had a dinner party. She invited Annie, Cathy and Steve, Tory and Barry, Brenda and David, and Josh and his parents. The young man came into the house completely oblivious to the fact that the whole thing had been arranged for this meeting between him and Annie, but she noticed the amused, accusing look in Annie’s eyes as the fact dawned on her.

  “Miss Sylvia, tell me you didn’t,” she whispered in the kitchen.

  “Didn’t what? Honey, would you grab that tray of hors d’oeuvres?”

  Annie grabbed the tray. “You had this party to set me up with that guy!”

  “Who?” Sylvia asked. “Oh, Josh? He is close to your age, isn’t he?”

  Annie popped one of the hors d’oeuvres into her mouth. “You are incorrigible.”

  “But isn’t he cute? He’s a med student. And he’s very polite, and he took notes like a madman during church last week.”

  Annie’s mouth fell open. “That’s why you picked him for me? Because he took notes in church?”

  “No, because he seems like a godly young man. The kind you deserve. Just give him a chance, Annie.”

  Annie groaned, but Sylvia knew she wasn’t mad. “What if he doesn’t like me?”

  Sylvia put on a shocked face. “Well, that’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard. Why on earth wouldn’t he like you?”

  Annie grabbed a napkin and dabbed at her mouth. “You’re good for a person’s ego, you know that? Do I still have lipstick on?”

  “Yes, you look lovely. Now get out there and talk to him.”

  Sylvia watched Annie walk around with the tray, offering hors d’oeuvres to everyone in attendance. She saved the young man for last, then stood talking to him in the corner as the conversation went on around her.

  Sylvia brought the tangy citrus drinks out and passed them around, and tried to listen in to Cathy’s conversation.

  “So we figure the first step is helping Mark learn to drive, so he can get his license,” Cathy was saying. “But I have to tell you that I dread it with all my heart. Remember what happened when Brenda was teaching Daniel to drive?”

  “Oh, yeah,” David said. “He wrecked our van and my parked truck the first time he pulled into the driveway.”

  Brenda started to laugh. “Not one of our better moments. Cathy, you could hire one of those private teachers to come and teach him.”

  “We thought of that,” Steve said, “but Mark balked. Said he didn’t want to sit in the car with some stranger yelling at him.”

  “I’d rather be beaten than teach my strongest-willed child how to drive,” Cathy said.

  “Well, let me teach him,” Harry said.

  Everyone looked at Harry.

  “Well, don’t look so shocked,” he said. “I taught Rick how to drive, didn’t I?”

  “Well, yes, but that was a while ago. Mark’s got a little more edge.”

  “I can handle Mark,” Harry said. “Can’t I, Sylvia?”

  Sylvia chuckled. “You’d better let him do it. He needs a project.”

  “Guaranteed, I’ll even teach him to parallel park, and that’s no picnic.”

  “They don’t require that on the driver’s exam anymore,” Cathy said. “But I require it. I told him no license until he has enough skill to do that.”

  “Good call.” Harry was getting excited. “Come on, let me do it. I would consider it an honor.”

  “Well, all right.” Cathy looked at Steve. “You didn’t have your heart set on it, did you?”

  Steve laughed. “No, I didn’t. Harry, you’re a lifesaver.”

  Harry chuckled. “I’ve been called that before.”

  “Yeah, but in your medical hat. We’re talking real life-saving here.”

  As the dinner party went on, Sylvia watched the two kids out of the corner of her eye. They seemed to be getting along well. Everyone there was having a good time. She only hoped that her efforts were not in vain.

  CHAPTER

  Thirty-Three

  A week after Sylvia’s third chemo treatment, when she felt human again and was able to ride in a car without getting sick, Harry decided to take her along on a driving lesson with Mark. He’d already taken Mark out numerous times, starting with country driving, then moving into city driving and even highway driving. Today was the day he’d teach Mark parallel parking. For fun, Daniel, Brenda’s son, rode along next to Sylvia in the backseat.

  Harry instructed Mark as he drove the streets of Breezewood, then braved the interstate. When he was satisfied that Mark knew what he was doing, it was time to teach him the art of parallel parking, to satisfy Cathy.

  “All right,” Harry said in a calm voice as Mark drove gently along the street heading to the coliseum’s parking lot. “That’s not bad. Now I want you to make a right turn up here. Put your blinker on. Easy. Easy. Slow down. All right, now turn. That’s great, Mark. You’re a natural.”

  Mark grinned and drove like he was the king of the road. They got to the parking lot of the coliseum, and Harry got out and set up an obstacle course of two-liter pop bottles he’d filled with sand. Mark wove through them as adeptly as if he’d been driving in the Daytona 500.

  When he’d woven through them several times, Harry was satisfied. “I think you’re doing fine, Mark. You’ll get your license in no time. Now all we have to do is learn to parallel park.”

  He got out and set up another obstacle course with bottles a car’s width apart, then he got back in. “Now, Mark, I want you to pull up to half a car’s length in front of the spot you’re trying to get. Half a car’s length now. There you go.”

  “I can do this,” Mark said. “Piece of cake.”

  “Now start backing up slowly. Now cut your wheel hard to the right. There you go. Now let your rear end go all the way in, then cut hard back to the left and straighten it out.”

  They heard a pop, and Mark slammed on his brakes. “What was that?”

  Harry got out and looked. “You hit three of the bottles, Mark. If that had been a car…”

  “I can do it,” Mark said. “Let me try again.”

  He pulled out, straightened the car, and began backing up again.

  “Cut hard now,” Harry said. “Pull in…”

  Another two pops, and Mark stopped again. “Man, those bottles are too close.”

  Sylvia started to laugh, and Daniel did, too.

  Mark grinned. “Don’t make me turn this car around.”

  Sylvia fell against Brenda’s boy, raucous laughter coming from both of them.

  “Hey, I can do better.” Mark pulled the car back out and started over again. This time he didn’t turn quite so sharply. He pulled into the parking space, then tried to slam on the brakes. His foot accidentally hit the accelerator and he mowed down the cones. Sylvia yelled.

  “Hey,” Mark said, “that was an accident, okay? I realize that if that had been a real car I would have totaled
it. But it wasn’t a real car, and now I’m sure of the difference between the accelerator and the brake. Man!”

  Harry shot Sylvia an admonishing look. “If you can’t stop laughing, we’ll have to put you out of this car.”

  Sylvia dabbed at the tears in her eyes. “I’ll be good. I won’t laugh.” She looked at Daniel, her lips closed tight. They both spat out their laughter.

  By now, Mark was laughing too. “Is this hopeless?”

  “No, it’s not hopeless,” Harry said. “It just takes practice. Nobody can do it on the first try.” He got out of the car and righted the mangled plastic bottles. He got back and put his seat belt on. Bracing himself, he said, “Okay, Mark, try it again.”

  Slowly, Mark made it, this time slipping into the parking space without killing any hypothetical others.

  “Now let’s try it about twenty more times,” Harry said, “and then maybe you can convince your mom to let you get your license.”

  CHAPTER

  Thirty-Four

  When Mark got back from practice driving, he got Annie to take him to the local grocery store. She waited in the car while he went in and found the manager.

  As soon as the man came to the front, he rolled his eyes. “Mark, I told you I’m not going to hire you.”

  “I know.” Mark held up both hands. “But I wanted to try again. October’s almost over and I still haven’t found a job. I thought I’d have one by now. I’ve applied just about everywhere.”

  “That happens when you’ve been to jail, Mark. It limits your choices.”

  “But I can bag groceries!” Mark said. “My brother worked here for years, and my best friend works here now. You know my mother. I made a few mistakes, but I’ve changed, and I really need a job.”

  The man shook his head. “I don’t hire kids with records. I’ve kept that policy for years, and it’s worked well for me. I have enough problems with the good kids.”

  Mark swallowed. “I’m a good kid. I know you wouldn’t know it from my past. But if nobody ever gives me a chance, how can I prove it?”

  “I’m sorry, Mark.”

  Giving up, Mark shuffled back out to Annie’s car and slammed into it.

  “No luck?” she asked.

  “Nope.”

  “Bummer.”

  “Annie, don’t be cute. This is my life, and it’s not going very well.”

  “Mark, you’ll get a job soon. It’s no big deal.”

  “It is to Steve. Every single day he asks me where I looked and what my prospects are. I’m getting sick of telling him how many times I’ve been turned down. I’m starting to feel like a loser again.”

  “Well, you’re not one, okay?” Annie pulled out of the parking lot. “Maybe God just wants you to concentrate on getting your GED.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s another thing. I took the test as soon as my class started. I didn’t tell Mom or Steve because I wasn’t sure I’d pass. And I was right.”

  “You failed?”

  “Yeah. So I’m stuck taking this class until I can try again. This isn’t turning out like I hoped.”

  She shook her head. “You should have gone back to school, Mark.”

  “No, I shouldn’t have. I still think this could work out, if I could just get a stinking job. Isn’t there anybody out there with compassion? Somebody who messed up once himself, and understands that one stupid act shouldn’t mean a life sentence?”

  Annie pulled back onto Cedar Circle and whipped into their driveway. “There is somebody like that, Mark. Just keep looking. And pray. God’ll work things out.”

  Mark was quiet as he went into the house and hurried up to his room to start studying before class.

  CHAPTER

  Thirty-Five

  Though she wasn’t feeling her best, Sylvia continued with the Bible study she’d started in her home. The effort of keeping it going had been good for her. It had forced her to stay in the Word when her instinct might have been to wallow in her own problems and forsake the very book that gave her strength.

  It also gave her a reason to see her friends. It seemed that the only time they came around now was on Bible study night, and before they did, they always called to make sure she was up to having company.

  Of course I’m up to it, she thought. Did they think that she enjoyed being a hermit? She thought back to the day when she’d shaved her head. It was the last time they’d really laughed and shared together. Since then, they seemed to walk on eggshells around her, like they feared they would say exactly the wrong thing to send her over the edge.

  She leaned back on the couch, trying to get comfortable, and looked at Tory who sat next to her. “So tell me about your job,” she said. “You haven’t talked much about it.”

  “Well, it’s great,” Tory said. “The kids are sweet. They keep me busy, but I like it.”

  She looked at Cathy. “And what about your family? How’s the whole stepfamily thing going?”

  “Good,” Cathy said. “Great.”

  Monosyllables, Sylvia thought. Why couldn’t they answer her in paragraphs instead of sentence fragments?

  “And Brenda? What’s new at your house?”

  “Just the same old thing,” she said. “Nothing new, really.”

  She sighed and opened her Bible and flipped to the page they’d be studying tonight. For a moment she just stared down at the page, feeling the grief of lost friendships.

  But that was crazy. She knew they were still her friends. They weren’t sharing their lives with her for one simple reason. They didn’t want to burden her. They felt that her problems were so huge that she couldn’t handle the weight of theirs too.

  She knew all that, but it didn’t make it easier. So many things had changed. She hated the cancer that had altered her world so drastically. Oh, for the day things would be normal again!

  She started reading the passage they were studying, and silently asked God to clear her mind and make her stop feeling so sorry for herself. And slowly, moment by moment, she got over the hurt of being shut out of her friends’ lives, and concentrated on the Word of God.

  CHAPTER

  Thirty-Six

  Days after her fourth treatment, Sylvia curled her body more tightly into the fetal position she’d been in for the last five days. She lay still, focusing on the backs of her eyelids, hoping that if she didn’t move, the room wouldn’t begin to sway and she wouldn’t have to launch out of bed like a toilet-seeking missile.

  Vaguely, she remembered the days in León when she’d worked from daylight until dark helping out in the orphanage, a surrogate mother to the broken and abandoned children. She’d hardly ever given a thought to her balance or her equilibrium, her energy or her metabolism. Health had been a given. She’d never even thought of it as a gift.

  How she longed for that now! She would never again take it for granted.

  Sores bubbled on her lips and in the soft tissue inside her mouth, making it hard to eat or swallow. Yet somehow she’d still managed to gain weight. How could that be? She could hardly stand anything in her mouth other than ice chips or water, and almost inevitably, whatever she did swallow came right back up. So how was it that she’d gained almost ten pounds since her treatments had begun?

  Just another perk of cancer, she thought. She doubted the disease was going to kill her, but she felt certain the treatment would.

  When the doorbell rang, she pulled herself tighter into a ball and tried to figure out what day it was. Monday, she thought, but she wasn’t sure. Visitors didn’t often come on Mondays.

  She hoped Harry would send them away. She had no strength to be on display for anyone who’d come to get a first-hand glimpse of her suffering. The grapevine was going to have to be adequate for anyone looking for gossip.

  You’ve grown bitter, Sylvia.

  The self-admonishment was no more welcome than the ringing doorbell. She didn’t care if she was bitter. She had every right to be.

  But the moment that thought crossed her
mind, she took it captive. How dare she be bitter? She had always claimed to trust in God, whatever he brought her way. Now he had brought her something difficult, something challenging. Was she going to spit in his face now?

  She heard Mark’s voice in the living room, laughing and talking as if he’d just won the lottery. He must have gotten a job, she thought. He must have passed his GED.

  Then she heard “driver’s license,” and she carefully lifted her head to hear more.

  “The guy testing me said I was the best he’d ever seen.”

  She heard Harry laughing. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Let me see that license.” More laughter, and she realized Daniel was with Mark.

  “I told him not to smile,” Daniel said, “but he stretched up like that monkey on that commercial and showed all his teeth.”

  “Hey, I was proud.”

  Sylvia smiled.

  “We wanted to tell Miss Sylvia. Does she feel like visitors?”

  “Uh…” His voice dropped. “Sylvia’s not really feeling well right now, guys. Maybe you should come back later.”

  But she didn’t want them to come back later. Mark was excited now. As sick as she felt, she didn’t want to miss one of the boy’s best moments.

  She raised up on her bed and straightened the robe she’d been wearing. “Harry,” she yelled out with as much strength as she could muster. Harry stepped into the doorway.

  “I want to see them,” she said. “Give me a few minutes, then let them come back.”

  She forced herself to get off the bed, grabbed her wig, and pulled it on. She straightened her robe, then sat down on the mattress. “Come in, guys,” she called, “and let me see that license.”

  Mark looked around the doorway and stepped in tentatively, and Daniel followed. Mark brandished the license as if it was an FBI badge. “You believe this, Miss Sylvia? I’m a licensed driver.”