Shaina Straightens Things Out
by Ida Alexander
Part 3
It’s too cruel! Shaina caught sight of herself in the hall mirror. “Get a grip!” she commanded the stricken face that gazed back at her. As she opened the door to Mother’s room, she willed herself to keep her voice calm and confident.
“Mother!” Shaina took her hand.
Mother blinked open her eyes and raised up on an elbow. “What is it?”
“Mother, I have some bad news. It may be nothing serious. They don’t know yet. But Father was in a car accident. He’s in the hospital. Mr. Jones is coming to take you there.”
The color drained from her mother’s face. Shaina wondered if she was going to faint, but she recovered almost at once. In moments, she was hurrying around the room, smoothing her hair and putting on a fresh dress.
Mother was ready when Mr. Jones rang the doorbell. Before she went out, she gave Shaina a hug. “It will be all right,” she whispered. “Don’t look so frightened, my child. God is very merciful.”
Caring friends
Alone, Shaina paced the floor. She longed for the serenity she had seen in her mother’s eyes. She thought of her father. His love. His tenderness. The way his eyes crinkled up when he laughed.
When the telephone rang, she jumped at the sound in the silent house. It was Mr. Jones again, calling from the hospital. Her father was conscious, he said. Although he had many broken bones, including his hip, several ribs, and his collarbone, he seemed in stable condition. He would have to stay in the ICU for several days, but the doctors thought he would do well. It was too early to say, of course, but everything seemed hopeful.
After Shaina put down the phone, she collapsed into a chair, letting the tears come like a relieving flood. She scrambled to dry them when the doorbell rang. It was Mrs. Ryan. She had been crying, too, Shaina could see. But her face lighted up at the news Shaina had to tell.
“Thank the Lord!” she cried. “Your mother has been so good to me. I’ve come to help any way I can.”
Shaina’s mind groped back to the morning. It now seemed so far away. She remembered the sick child. “But you have illness at home,” she objected. “Thank you so much, Mrs. Ryan, but please go back to your boy.”
Mrs. Ryan had hardly left before the bell rang again. “Here’s a fresh-baked loaf of bread,” a neighbor told her. “Just wanted you to know we care, and are praying for your father.”
Another neighbor brought an apple pie, and still another a tray of sandwiches. Many others also brought something to eat or an offer of assistance. Even blind Mrs. Webber persuaded her daughter-in-law to lead her to the Fosters’ door. Tears ran from her sightless eyes. She took Shaina’s shoulders and drew the girlish head down to her broad bosom.
“My dear! My dear!” she croaked. “I’ve been a cranky old woman, but that is going to change. Your folks have always been kind to me, and I know it is because of the God they serve. I want to follow Him, too—to let Him make me into a different woman. I want to stop complaining—to do my best to make it easier for people, instead of harder. And Lizzie here says she’ll help me.”
The younger woman brushed away a tear. “I’m turning over a new leaf, too. I know I need to learn many lessons of kindness. But, with God’s help, I will!” As they left, Shaina stood at the door, watching as the younger woman put her arm around her mother-in-law, tenderly guiding her down the street.
Later that evening, Mr. Jones stopped by with still more encouraging news. The doctors were now quite hopeful that Father would be out of danger soon. In all likelihood be out of the ICU in a day or so. He described how Father had smiled and joked with the doctors, and he brought a cheerful message from Mother. Little things, but they took away the dull dread that had lurked in Shaina’s heart since she learned of the accident.
The next morning, Mr. Jones dropped by and offered to take Shaina to the hospital.
“But do you have time?” Shaina asked.
“My time is yours,” he boomed. “It’s the least I can do—after all your family has done for me. As long as you need me, I am at your service—morning, noon, or night.”
How beautiful! Shaina thought. I think that cancels another “debt.”
That night Mr. Jones told his wife, “Young Shaina Foster reminds me so much of her mother.” Shaina would have considered it the crown of compliments if she had heard it.
Homecoming
Two weeks later, Mr. Foster was able to leave the hospital. Mr. Jones brought him home, a wheel chair tucked in his large trunk. A group had gathered in front of the Fosters’ home to watch and cheer as Shaina and Mother escorted Father up the sidewalk to the front porch. Once Shaina would have thought these neighbors were intruding. Now she understood that they shared in the joy as they had shared in the sorrow.
During the quiet hour before bedtime, Shaina sat on a low stool and leaned her head against Mother’s knee.
“What’s on your mind, my dear?” Mother asked. “How good it is to have Father home?”
Shaina shook her head.
“Not exactly. I’m remembering how I thought I’d straighten things out when I came home. Mother, I was the one thing who needed straightening! I had a crooked viewpoint. But it has changed—and I hope it stays changed forever!”
(Concluded.)
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