Healing

 Good morning!

It's still rather dark since the time change and it's cloudy. But there is a cardinal who is singing and singing. We have a squirrel making a nest in one of our trees. I hope she gets to have babies there. Spring is here. Daffodils are blooming and our purple crocuses are blooming. Yesterday it reached 82º F. So nice to have windows open and a warm breeze blowing in. Today it's supposed to be in the 50s and rainy. But the cold isn't supposed to stay around.

This week hasn't really been a good writing week. I wrote 2k on Monday, then 1k on Tuesday and only a few hundred words on Wednesday, followed by nothing yesterday. This story has slowed down. I have 19k words of it written, but now it's a bit slower. And yesterday I had an idea for the next little part of the story, but when I sat down to write the idea was gone completely. I have it again this morning and I jotted it down, so hopefully I can write.

Today I decided to just take a break from the long story and give you a short one instead. At least I'm not making you read the long story one part every two or three weeks. Right?

Anyway, here's the short story. Enjoy!

 

Healing

 

    With a sigh, Jenavieve sat down on the bench overlooking the placid waters of the lake below. Around the waters were the steep mountain sides sloping down to the water’s edge Everything seemed covered in dark pines but if one looked closely it appeared as though winding paths made their way among the pines but in reality they were nothing more than trees of a lighter green. Over head the sky was a rich blue while far away the horizon was blanketed by wispy clouds.
    The wind whispered through the tall pine near the bench stirring her honey blonde hair, and Jen blinked back a tear as she brushed away a gnat which had landed on her arm.
    “Jen,” the rich deep voice spoke her name tenderly. “Honey, I know this is hard.”
    Biting her lip, Jenavieve didn’t reply but kept her face averted and her eyes on the scene she didn’t see.
    The man moved around the bench and sat down beside her. His hair was dark except for the gray near his temples. After a moment of sitting in silence, he put his arm around the girl beside him. “How do you hang on to hope when death takes a loved one?”
    The question wasn’t directed to Jen and she knew it. Her arm slipped around the man’s back and she rested her head on his shoulder. “It will be okay, Daddy,” she whispered. “Hope might be shaken, but faith is not. We know we’ll see Mom and little Hope again, but . . .” her voice quivered and she drew a shaky breath. “It’s so hard at times!”
    “I know, JenJen, I know.” Dad hugged her tighter. “That’s why I thought this move would be good for us. We’d have a chance to move on. Ministering to kids from the inner city who have never experienced green trees and open sky like we have out here–” His voice died away.
    “I do think it will be good, Dad,” Jen answered. “It just may take me more time to . . . well, to find my spark again.”
    “That’s okay, Jen. God won’t leave. And He can still use you even with the pain and sorrow.”
    “Thanks, Daddy.”
    In silence the father and daughter sat on the polished wooden bench and soaked up the mountain air, the sunshine, and the warm breezes.
    “You know,” Jen said slowly, “we may need to talk to the Thompsons about getting someone else to help us here.”
    Dad looked down. “Oh? For what?”
    “Aquatics. Don’t you think these kids should get a chance to swim in a real lake that isn’t filled with chlorine and chemicals?”
    Chuckling, Dad said, “Does this person happen to have blond hair and go by the name of Dale?”
    Jenavieve laughed. It was the first real laugh she’d had in weeks. “Don’t you think he’d make a do aquatics teacher?”
    “No, but he’d make a good swimming teacher.”
    “Dad!” And Jen gave her dad a teasing push before hugging him. “I suppose the kids would know the word swimming better than aquatics, but aquatics is so much more fun to say.”
    “Well, teach it to ‘em for all I care. Now, what do you say we head back down and talk to the Thompsons about Dale?”
 

Do you have spring weather or winter still?

Did you enjoy this short story?

Would you prefer to say swimming or aquatics?