"He's not home."
Jenna and Rebekah let out a sigh of disappointment. Eli sat beside them stoically, his expression unreadable. All three of them were seated around Jenna's kitchen table, watching Sarah try to reach the Longs by telephone.
Setting the phone back in its cradle, Sarah walked over to her friends. "I'm really sorry—Beth and her mom just came back from grocery shopping. She said her dad is away at some kind of out-of-state teacher's conference. He won't be back until the day after tomorrow."
Rebekah sighed again. They'd been trying to call Elias Long all afternoon, attempting to arrange an interview with him in order to convince him to make up with his estranged family back in Nappanee. Unfortunately, none of them had counted on his absence.
"I'd really hoped we could reach Uncle today," Rebekah looked downcast.
"I know," Sarah tried to reassure the other girl. "But we can call him when he gets back. He'll be home soon."
"Well, never mind," Jenna added cheerily. "Rebekah and Eli don't exactly have to leave tomorrow, right? So we'll just wait until he gets back, then we'll go see him. For now, let's go sight seeing!" She hopped off her chair with a bounce and turned to the others. "I want to show Eli and Rebekah all the cool places around here. We can start with shopping!"
"Um…actually, Jenna, I can't. I'm sorry." Sarah bit her lip.
Jenna stared at her friend in consternation. "Why not?"
"I have volunteering today."
Jenna groaned. "But Eli and Rebekah are here! Can't you skip it just this once, for me? Pleeeeaaaseee? Pretty-pretty please with a great big mammoth cherry on top?"
Sarah looked amused, but she shook her head firmly. "Sorry Jenna. I've been volunteering all my life. I can't just stop now." After a pause, she grinned. "And besides, I don't like cherries very much. Especially the fake kind they put on ice cream sundaes."
"Fine. Strawberries, then. Or blueberries. Whatever you want. But only come with us just this one time, please?" Jenna threw her arms around her friend and put on her best puppy face. Sarah laughed and gently but decidedly disentangled herself from Jenna.
"Sorry, Jen. I really have to go. They're expecting me at the hospital."
Jenna, finally acknowledging defeat, slumped in her chair with a drawn-out sigh. "But it won't be fun without you."
Sarah patted her consolingly on the shoulder. "I'm sure you'll manage, Jen. You always do."
Jenna pretended to frown, muttering darkly about dull depressing antiseptic hospital buildings.
"You volunteer at a hospital?"
The three girls turned to look at Eli, who had been silent up until now.
"Yes," Sarah replied.
"What do you do there?" Eli's deep blue eyes shone with interest.
"I perform with a small group of kids for the patients. It's kind of like music therapy."
"May I go?"
Sarah blinked, taken aback. Elijah looked a little shy and hesitant, as if he could hardly believe that he'd just made that request. Yet he seemed truly eager to go.
"Sure," Sarah answered, after a brief moment of silence. "We'd be glad to have you. Would you like to come, Jenna?"
Jenna made a face. "No, thank you. Hospitals scare me. They're all so white and shiny and…clean."
Sarah then turned to Rebekah. "How about you? Would you like to come?" Rebekah looked slightly disappointed. Rebekah had been looking forward to touring with Jenna, but she couldn't possibly refuse Sarah's invitation, that would be rude…
"Wait! I have the perfect idea!" Jenna exclaimed, glowing with excitement once again. "Me and Rebekah can go sight-seeing, while you and Eli can go play for the kids at the hospital. Awesome. Let's go!" With one mighty bound, Jenna raced to the door, whisking it open.
Sarah let out a surprised burst of laughter. "Whoa! Jen—don't you have to think things through a bit before you leave?"
"Things? What sort of things?"
"Well…letting your parents know where we're going, bringing a jacket in case it gets cold, making sure you have your wallet and cell phone. Those sort of things."
Jenna's hand fell from the doorknob. "Oh, yeah. Good thing you reminded me." Jenna closed the door to prevent the flies from getting in. Then with a sudden spurt of energy, she propelled herself up the stairs. "Mo-om! We're going out, okay?"
Downstairs, Sarah, Eli, and Rebekah chuckled to themselves. Jenna's impulsiveness was definitely one of her more interesting qualities. Sarah turned to Elijah. "Eli, are you sure you want to come to the hospital with me instead of going with Jenna and your sister?"
Eli nodded. "I think I will find this volunteering more interesting, personally. Rebekah, are you alright alone with Jenna?" He looked at his younger sister in concern.
"Don't worry, Eli, I'll be alright. This town looks safe." Rebekah assured him.
"Alright, Rebekah. But be sure to take care—"
Eli was interrupted by heavy footsteps on the stairs. Presently, Jenna appeared, trailed by her two younger brothers.
"I'm back. Mom said we could go, but I have to drop Junior and Squirt off at their friend's house on the way."
"Junior and Squirt?" Rebekah looked puzzled.
Jenna merely motioned behind her. "Alan and Freddy."
"Don't call me Freddy! It's Fred! Fred," protested the younger of the two boys.
"Whatever." Jenna waved a hand carelessly. "Well, c'mon, let's get going!" With a flourish, she whipped open the front door and gestured dramatically, like a stage butler. "Guests first!"
:--:--:--:
They parted ways at the driveway; Rebekah, Jenna, and Jenna's brothers turning toward the left, and Sarah and Eli heading right. On the latter's part, the walk to the hospital took only ten minutes, including shortcuts, and most of the walk was spent in silence, both teens too preoccupied with their own thoughts and the sights and sounds of the neighborhood than with conversation. Sarah did emerge once from her reverie once to note with an air of surprise that the silence was a comfortable, rather than awkward one. The thought didn't last long, however. Presently, she slid back into old memories worn and bittersweet, swinging her violin case absently from one hand, and dangling a bag full of music scores and stands from the other.
As they neared the large hospital, Eli stopped gaping at the outside world long enough to notice that his companion seemed to be troubled in spirit. Sarah clutched the fabric of her dress tightly, the knuckles of her hands turning white. Her eyes seemed larger and more luminous than usual, glimmering unnaturally bright with unshed tears.
"Do you come here every week?" Eli asked, seeking to draw Sarah's attention from whatever painful thought was occupying her mind.
She seemed to awake from a dream, shaking off the dark web of unhappiness like a duck shaking the water off its back. "Yes," she replied with a somewhat forced smile. "I used to come here every week with my…my…" She bit her lip.
"Your father?" Eli filled in softly.
Sarah nodded, unable to speak.
"He must have been an extraordinary person."
Sarah swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded vigorously. "Oh, he was. He loved to help everyone. He used to take me and a group of the teenagers at our church to the hospital every month or so to sing for the patients. Everybody loved him. I think it made it easier for him, knowing a lot of the nurses and doctors here, when he was…admitted." Sarah looked as if she were about to cry again.
"Here we are," Eli noted as they came up to the hospital's automatic doors. "Let me help you with that." Before Sarah could protest, Eli whisked the bag of music stands and scores off her shoulder and opened the door. Sarah had refused to allow him to help her carry the burden the whole walk to the hospital, and he was glad to finally be able to do something now.
"Oh. Umm…thanks." Sarah entered, with Eli following close behind.
:--:--:--:
"Good afternoon, Sarah," the receptionist smiled at Sarah. "Learned any new music?"
"Hi, Joanna. I have plenty. I was working on my repertoire all week."
"I'll say. Want to introduce me to your friend?" Joanna glanced at Eli's peculiar clothing.
"Oh! This is Elijah Longacre. He and his sister are visiting from Nappanee."
"I see." Joanna smiled brightly at the two. "Well, thanks for visiting, Elijah Longacre from Nappanee. Do you play the violin too?"
"No, unfortunately. But I'd like to help in any way I can."
Joanna laughed. "Way to pick out a good helper, Sarah. Well, I won't detain you any longer. Your audience is waiting." She waved them off cheerfully before turning back to her computer.
Sarah and Eli made their way to the elevator and Sarah punched the right button. Presently, they arrived on the second floor and entered a small auditorium, where a small group of patients waiting eagerly in wheelchairs and regular chairs. At the opposite end of the room, a group of teenagers stood with instrument cases open on ground—flutes and violins, cellos and more. Upon Sarah and Eli's entrance, they rushed toward the door.
"Sarah!"
"You're here!"
"Hi!"
"Who's this?"
Sarah greeted her fellow musicians, before introducing them all to Eli and Eli to them all. After all the preliminaries, Sarah stepped to the front of the room.
"Okay, guys, ready to get this show on the road?"
The concert went along splendidly. Sarah and the kids from her church played several chamber works for the patients on their various musical instruments. Then they sang—some old hymns, some patriotic songs. Sarah even convinced Elijah to stand on stage and sing with the rest of the group, and was pleasantly surprised by his clear mellow tenor voice.
When they finished, and took their bows, the teens packed up their instruments and music and went to visit other patients who were too sick to be removed from their beds.
Elijah watched from the background as Sarah and her friends moved from floor to floor, and bed to bed—sometimes talking and laughing quietly, sometimes holding the patients' hands and praying in silence. Knowing what he did about Sarah's painful memories of her dad's illness, Eli doubly admired Sarah's courage to speak to the sick people—some of whom were dying of cancer themselves.
When they arrived at the oncology ward, Elijah noticed that Sarah had to stand outside for a few moments to compose herself. He watched as another girl came over and gave her a one-armed hug.
"You okay?" The girl asked quietly.
Sarah squared her shoulders and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks, Liz. It's just—it still gets me, sometimes. But I'm good now, let's go in."
In every room, Sarah and her friends seemed to bring a happy glow to the patients' faces. It was a small hospital—more like a nursing home than a hospital, actually, except that there were young people as well as old. Though many patients seemed to be in bad shape, every one that Sarah and her friends spoke to seemed to color with new, if fleeting, health. Eli had always admired and appreciated the close community he had at home in Nappanee with his friends and family around him, but he couldn't help being touched by this demonstration of love and care between strangers.
:--:--:--:
Sarah and Eli were the last to leave.
"It always makes me happy and sad to come here," Sarah suddenly stated pensively, too wrapped up in her emotions to feel shy about revealing them to the boy walking beside her.
"Really?" Eli replied.
Sarah nodded. "I'm glad we can help those people feel a little better, but I wish we could do it every day instead of just occasionally, and I wish every single one of them would get better. Once in a while I come back to play for them, and I find a bed empty, or occupied by someone else. Sometimes, it's because they got discharged. But other times…" she stopped, tears filling her voice. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have mentioned that. I'm always troubling you with my concerns, aren't I?" She laughed quietly.
"It's alright," Eli answered magnanimously. "I'm glad to hear them, if you want to share." And he was. Sarah was more interesting than anyone Eli had ever met before in his life. Her deep love for her deceased father and even for complete strangers intrigued Eli.
"Thank you." Sarah said simply.
After bidding farewell to Joanna the receptionist, who was working a double shift that day, they passed by the gift shop on their way out the door. Neither paid much attention to it, since Sarah had seen it often and Eli had no interest in gift shops, but a small commotion made them stop.
"Hey! Hey you—young man. Stop there!"
Sarah and Eli turned to see the gift shop proprietor calling after a boy in a gray sweater, his back facing the door.
"Whaddya want?" the youth replied, in a familiar, irritated voice.
Sarah froze and Eli's eyes popped open in surprise. Levi?!
"Where are you going with that get-well card? Thieves are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law here, no matter how old they are."
Levi Dewberry sneered. "I think you'd better have your eyes checked, old man. I'm not a thief. And this is hardly a get-well card. It's a CD. My CD." He shoved the accused item in the man's face. The storekeeper took a step back, reluctantly conceding through his body movements that the object was what the boy claimed it was. "You better watch what you say, or I'll sue you and this stinking hospital for hiring a blind and incompetent worker like you." With a flick of his wrist, Levi shoved the CD into his pocket before sauntering out the door, leaving a fuming storekeeper in his wake.
As soon as he stepped outside, he nearly ran over Elijah and Sarah, who were still staring at the scene before them in disbelief. A flicker of surprise lighted in Levi's eyes, then quickly snuffed itself out. "Hello," he drawled. "What are you two doing here this fine afternoon? Having a romantic stroll in the House of Death, are we?"
Eli ignored his cousin's barbs. "Levi," he said in a low, angry tone. "Why are you here? And what kind of tricks were you trying to pull in there?"
"Just having some fun, cousin. That old man was annoying me, standing there looking suspicious and stupid." Levi shrugged, deliberately side-stepping Eli's main question. "Stop looking down on me, Elijah Longacre. You know deep inside you're no better." Levi slid his eyes over to Sarah. "What would your Pa and Opa say if they knew you were out with a pretty girl…alone?"
Eli flushed angrily, and his hands involuntarily curled into fists. "Levi, watch what you let out of your mouth, or you may come to regret it."
"What? Is the great Elijah Longacre challenging me to a fight?" Levi glanced pointedly at his cousin's clenched fists.
Eli relaxed his hands. "No, Levi. I will not fight you—you know that. But any words spoken in haste and bad feelings may have serious consequences later. I only do not want you to regret what you say."
Levi snickered. "Yeah, right. You never cared two bits about me, little black sheep Levi. Stow it, Elijah. I'm done listening to you." He stuffed his hands into his pockets and moseyed out the hospital's double doors.
At his cousin's exit, Eli sighed and seemed to sag, leaning slightly against the wall for support.
"I'm…I'm very sorry for my cousin's behavior," Eli apologized to Sarah, unable to look her in the eye. "Levi has had an unhappy childhood, and he often acts out. I wish…" Eli paused, not quite knowing what to say.
But he had no need to say anything. Sarah had impulsively laid a hand on his arm and was looking up at him sympathetically, as she often did for Jenna when she was feeling down. But Elijah didn't know that. He could still see the angelic effect of the afternoon's volunteering work shining through Sarah's eyes.
"It's alright," she assured him, in the same tone she had used to talk to the patients. "We all know people like that. And it's not your fault that your cousin is…high-strung." Sarah petted his arm lightly, gave him a brief smile, then turned and walked away, out into the late Indiana afternoon. The golden-red sun blazed around her--a fiery halo of light. Sarah looked, though she did not know it, exactly like an angel.
After a brief pause, Elijah followed.