What T Didn't Know - Part 8

Happy Valentine's Day, dear readers,

I know many single girls and young ladies seem to be almost against Valentine's Day. They talk tough because they don't have a boyfriend to give them chocolates or roses. Some try to mask the hurt of being single another day when love is celebrated. But guess what? We don't have to feel that way! We are loved with an everlasting love! The King of glory loves us. Can it get any better than that? Yes, getting roses, chocolates, or other gifts from special guys is nice, but flowers fade, chocolates get eaten, and gifts wear out. Even boyfriends leave, or husbands die. But the everlasting love is just that–everlasting. So, if you start to feel sad or depressed today, remember Who loves you.

Last Saturday we had our Widows' Valentine Luncheon at church. Only one widow couldn't come. We had a wonderful time. Now I'm working on getting people signed up for this new year of ministry.

Writing is a bit slower this week. I've still written something each day, but some has been on a new "Ria and the Gang" story, last night I worked on a "Kelsey" story, and another night I worked on "Lawrence and Lenexa." I have no idea what I'll work on tonight. My nieces and nephews will be here over lunch instead of for supper, so I should be able to get something written.

And now, here is the final part of "What Tommy Didn't Know." I hope you enjoy it.

What T Didn’t Know

Part 8

    “Tommy.” A hand rested lightly on his good arm. “Come on, Tommy, wake up.”
    “Go ‘way,” he muttered without moving.
    A soft chuckle answered him. “I’m not leaving until you eat a little bit. Nurse Wilson is quite upset because you didn’t wake up for her. You can sleep again after you’ve eaten a few bites. Come on now, wake up, son.”
    It took great effort for Tommy to force his eyes open. Dr. Hall was standing beside his bed, and the room was flooded with light. “Time is it?” he mumbled, blinking and then yawning widely.
    “A little after two. You’ve been sleeping so soundly that you haven’t heard a thing. How are you feeling today?”
    “Don’t know.” And Tommy’s eyes closed again.
    Dr. Hall chuckled again. “Now yet, Tommy. Just a few bites first.”
    With a sigh, Tommy opened his eyes. He was a little hungry. As he obediently swallowed what was held to his lips, he grew more awake, and memories of last night came back. “Am I dead now?”
    “Sure are. The Times says so. It was a robbery gone wrong according to our fine editor. Have you ever gotten to meet the editor of the Times, Tommy?” Dr. Hall offered another spoonful of the warm soup.
    “No.”
    “He would like to meet you. After you come back to life next year we’ll make it happen.”
    “Do you think the police will get–them?” Tommy didn’t like thinking about what might happen if Edward Stratamyer didn’t get caught, or– He drew a quick breath and choked on his soup.
    “Easy there!” Dr. Hall carefully raised him up a little and gave him some water. “I don’t want you to breathe it.” He smiled. “Feeling better now?”
    Tommy let his head fall back onto the pillow. “What if–” He gave another little cough. Maybe he shouldn’t bring it up. Maybe–
    “What if what, son?”
    Tommy liked how the doctor said “son.” It was a name he was never called. Folks who didn’t know him called him boy or sonny, or sometimes lad, but Dr. Hall was the only one who said son. He wondered, as he had so many times before, who his father was and who his mother was. It would be nice to have a last name. “I guess I’ll get me one,” he murmured.
    “Get you what?”
    “A last name. I might like . . . to be somebody . . . one of these days.” He looked across the room at the wall. There was no gold gilded mirror there, instead there was a framed verse. He couldn’t read it from the bed. “What’s that say?” He pointed.
    “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart . . . And He will direct your paths.”
    “Even almost bein’ killed twice?”
    “Yes, Tommy. Even then. You weren’t killed either time, were you? And you remembered what evil was planned and were able to tell the authorities so it can be stopped.”
    For a minute Tommy lay silent and still. He knew God directed the steps of those who trusted in Him, and that would mean him, for he had trusted Christ to save him from sin several years ago. But nothing big had ever happened. Life had just gone on like usual, except for getting an actual paper route. “If I didn’t have that paper route, I wouldn’t a been sittin’ in that doorway an’ heard them talkin’,” he said, not realizing he was speaking aloud. “An’ then I wouldn’t a been beaten up.” He frowned at that unpleasant memory. “Nor almost shot in bed. But I were. An’ I told what I heard. But–” Fear sparked inside him, and he looked up at the man who had been a friend to him, “if they do catch ‘em, they’ll know who told an’ then they’ll try to kill me again!”
    “No,” Dr. Hall assured him quickly. “The police will wait until they can catch them in the act of robbing the house. Then they can be sent to prison. And by the time they get out, you will have grown older, and who knows, perhaps you’ll have found a last name.” The doctor smiled. “You don’t have to worry about it, son.”
    A knock on the door made Dr. Hall rise. “That’s probably Bruce with Diego. Are you ready to see him?”

*

    The trees outside Tommy’s windows were covered with a blanket of snow. Some flakes still fluttered down in the gray of early dawn. Tommy had been awake for some time. He wasn’t sure if it was his long sleep yesterday or a wondering excitement and nervousness about this new year. Had the police caught the men who had planned robbing just for a wager? Would he be able to go back to his own little home, cold and small though it was? And who would do his paper route until he could return to it? How could he live without it until he was well? And the doctor’s bills. How could he afford them?
    His eyes moved from the window and rested on the framed verse. It was still too dark to read it, but Tommy knew the verse by heart and quoted it in a whisper. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
    His whispered words roused Diego from his blanket on the floor, and he whined softly to be petted. Tommy had a hard time doing this to his dog’s satisfaction because his bed wasn’t on the floor as it was in his own little shack. “Sorry, Diego,” he whispered. “If you were on the bed I could do it better.”
    This was all the invitation Diego needed, for with a bound he sprang onto the chair, and then it was easy for him to cross the gap to the bed.
    Tommy smiled. “Ya know we’ll get in trouble if Nurse Wilson comes into the room ‘fore Dr. Hall, don’t ya?”
    Diego stretched himself out beside his young master, being careful not to get too close. Resting his muzzle on his front paws, he looked with deep brown eyes at Tommy, and his look said plainly that he wasn’t scared of anyone.
    This was how Dr. Hall found them some time later when he went to make his morning call on his young patient. A smile twitched the corners of his mouth, and he stood for a moment stroking his mustache. Diego raised his head and regarded the doctor for a moment before lowering his head once more.
    “Well, Diego,” Dr. Hall said quietly, “if anyone deserves to be left there, you do, but I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to move.” He stroked the dog’s head. “Tommy.”
    With a sleepy sigh, Tommy yawned and then opened his eyes drowsily. All at once he was wide awake. It was the new year. “Did they catch ‘em?”
    “Yes, son, they did. They were caught in the act by the police and Mr. Vandermark. Both men are in prison now.”
    Tommy felt as though a great weight had been lifted from him, but he only said, “I’m glad.”
    “The Lord did direct your paths, son, didn’t He?”
    “Yes, sir.”

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