Anything

Good morning!

    I won't take up too much time this morning because I have something else I need to do before breakfast.

    This week hasn't been quite as busy. I've taken the entire week off of writing "Phil Wood". I am hoping that by getting some other things done I'll be ready to dive back into writing and  will be able to finish it. I actually haven't written anything this week. But that's okay. Sometimes it's good to take a break and get other things done. I still have a lot of things I need to work on. Like blog posts for Read Another Page. And I'm teaching on Sunday in Children's Church, so I need to get ready for the lesson.

 

    Today's story is from Anything. It's the story I put in. When I wrote the story for this collection, I wasn't planning on it being published in so many places and being pushed so much. But oh well. It's not a bad story, just more like a vignette or something. Anyway, you can find all the places this book is available by clicking on the cover image. Isn't that a lovely cover, by the way?

 

 Anything

 

I glared across the table. “I won’t do it and that’s final! You knew I wouldn’t when you agreed to it.”

            “But—”

            “But nothing! You are the one who got into this mess, and now you can get out. I want nothing to do with it.” Shoving back my chair, I rose and marched out of the room.

            “Abby!”

            Ignoring the call, I stalked down the hall, out the front door, and down the sidewalk. Of all the things my cousin had done since coming to live with me, this was the very worst. I scowled again just thinking about it. Well, she had agreed without asking, so she could inform the committee that they would have to find someone else to be their “media face.”

            “Hey!” A shout from a black truck made me stop and look up, while a half smile answered the grin from the driver. “Are you out for exercise, or can I give you a lift somewhere?”

            “Well,” I started slowly. Then I asked quickly, “Can you just take me for a drive someplace, Aaron? I don’t care where.”

            A look of mingled concern and amusement crossed my brother’s face as he leaned over and opened the door for me. “Sure. Hop in.”

            It was a little difficult to “hop in” since his truck is so tall, and I’m just over five feet, but I climbed in quickly and almost slammed the door shut.

            “Whoa, what’s eating you?” Aaron asked, putting the truck in drive and heading down the road.

            “Tiffany.”

            I didn’t miss the glance he shot my way, though I kept my gaze on the road before us.

            “Going to tell me about it?” Aaron asked at last.

            “She volunteered me to be the ‘media face’ for the children’s charity fundraiser and didn’t even ask me!”

            “And you don’t want to be.”

            I turned quickly. “Are you kidding? Of course not! I hate all that social media stuff, I hate being in front of a camera, and I hate being interviewed! The entire committee knows that! Theo even asked me about doing it once, and I turned him down.”

            “What’d you tell Tiff?”

            “That I wasn’t going to do it, and that since she had gotten into the mess, she could just get out.” The very thought of our argument raised my voice, and I felt my frustration rise.

            Aaron drove a few minutes in silence and then pulled the truck into the parking lot of woodsy walking trail and parked. “Let’s go walk.”

            I climbed out, and we fell into step. Neither of us talked for a few minutes. I was trying to calm down and enjoy the lovely golden and red leaves, the crunch of acorns under my feet, the smell of woods and dry leaves, and autumn.

            “Aren’t you a part of the committee?” Aaron’s voice was quiet.

            “Yeah.”

            “Do you love what you do?”

            “Of course I do, Aaron! But I’m not going to have my face showing up all over social media. I don’t even have social media accounts. And reading some scripted speech about what we do is stuffy and won’t attract anyone’s attention. Tiffany can just tell the committee I can’t do it.”

            “Won’t.”

            I turned quickly. “What?”

            Aaron looked at me. “You won’t do it, not you can’t.”

            I let out a sigh. “Fine then. I won’t do it. What dif­fer­ence does it make?”

            “A lot.” Aaron’s voice was quiet, and something in his tone made me look at him again.

            He didn’t say anything or even look at me. I waited, and when he still said nothing, I at last broke the silence. “Are you going to tell me what you’re thinking?” I was still feeling rather exasperated by the whole thing.

            “Abby,” Aaron’s words were gentle, “you once told me you’d do anything to show Christ’s love to Tiffany. Did you really mean anything? Or did you mean anything you enjoyed doing?”

            “I—” What could I say? I had told my brother that when Tiffany first moved in with me. I thought I had really meant anything, but had I? I didn’t want to have to learn about social media, or talk into a camera, or anything like that, but should I?

            A twig cracked under my foot and I remembered the hurt in my cousin’s eyes when I lashed out at her. How was she supposed to know I hated being in front of the camera? She knew I didn’t have any social media accounts, but I hadn’t said I didn’t like them for business things. What if my words and actions had pushed Tiffany further away from my Savior instead of showing her His love?

            I felt tears spill from my eyes and roll down my cheeks. I had said I would do anything, but I wasn’t willing to face a little inconvenience and some uncomfortableness. The wind tried to dry my tears and I shivered.

            Without a word, Aaron took off his jacket and put it around me. As he did so, I turned and hid my face against his flannel shirt.

            “Why does anything have to be so hard?” I cried.

            Aaron hugged me tightly. “Christ didn’t promise us an easy path, Abby, but He did promise that He would be with us always and would give us the strength we need. Even for the anything we don’t want to face.”

            Drawing a deep breath, I looked up and tried to smile. “I don’t even know where to begin if I do this.”

            “Don’t you think Tiffany would help you?”

            I wasn’t sure. Not after the way I had blown up at her. What if she’d already called the committee? I reached for my phone, only to realize I had left the house without it.

            Aaron offered his before I could ask and then walked a little ways away so I could make my call in private.

            As I waited for the call to go through, I wondered if Tiffany would even talk to me. What if she wouldn’t pick up the phone? But it’s not my number.

            “Hi, Aaron.” The answer was a little shaky and my heart broke. I had left my cousin in tears and hadn’t even cared.

            “Aaron?”

            “Tiff, it’s me, Abby. I’m so sorry. You didn’t know. I shouldn’t have blown up at you. I—”

            “Abby, I’m the one who’s sorry. I didn’t realize you disliked social media that much.”

            “It’s not that exactly,” I floundered, wondering how to explain. “I have no idea how social media works and—”

            “I was going to set it up and stuff, but since you’re so passionate about these kids, I thought—”

            “You’ll help?”

            “You’re going to do it?”

            I started to laugh and cry at the same time. “Don’t do anything till I get home, Tiff. I can’t explain over a phone.”

            “I’m not going anywhere.”

            Ending the call, I looked over at Aaron. “Can you take me home?”

            He jogged over and took his phone. “Sure. If I pick up pizzas later, can I come over for supper tonight?”

            I hugged him. “Of course! Tiffany and I are going to need some brotherly advice.”

            When I got back home, I ran into the house and hugged Tiffany and cried and apologized again. So did she. Then we laughed and dried our tears and settled on the couch to talk. Tiffany explained what I wouldn’t let her explain before, that she had offered to set up and run the social media pages about the children’s charity fundraiser and had only volunteered me to tell about it because I cared so much about the children and what we did.

            “And it won’t be a real camera,” Tiffany assured me. “Or some scripted speech. You can just talk to me about it like you did when you first got me interested. I’ll have my phone camera set up beside me, so you won’t feel like you’re talking to a screen.”

            I felt rather foolish that I had been so focused on what I thought was going to happen that I hadn’t waited for her to explain. And, while it did still make me somewhat uncomfortable, I was glad to find I wasn’t on my own.

            By the time Aaron arrived with pizza, I was ready for food. Tiffany ran upstairs for a minute, giving me a chance to say something to my brother as I got out plates and glasses.

            “Aaron, next time I get upset about doing something, remind me that I did say anything.”

            Smiling, Aaron wrapped an arm around my shoulder and hugged me. “I will.”

 

The End

Do you take intentional breaks from writing?

Did you enjoy this story?

What should I post next?