Chapter Ten
Nurse from America
Caleb watched Theodore sit by himself.
It had been only a week since the news. People were preparing, readying a spare room. Marion was talking to a young child, when she saw him. She stood up, when someone grabbed her arm.
“Where are you off to?” The familiar voice asked.
“Matthew, let me go.”
Matthew chuckled and slowly let go of her arm. He saw Theodore in the distance. “Oh, I see. You want to talk to him. Your little blind friend.”
Marion let free of his tight grasp. “Stop calling him that.” She went to leave but he followed her.
“Well, that’s what he is, isn’t it? You know, Marion, I believe we haven’t really gotten to know each other much.”
“That’s perfectly fine with me.”
Matthew laughed sheepishly. “Why, you don’t mean that, do you?”
Marion stopped in her tracks and faced him. “What if I do? What then?”
Matthew’s mischievous grin turned into a cold glare. “You know, you’re funny.”
“Funny, am I? In what way do you find me amusing?”
“You, Andrew, Caleb, all standing up for each other, always pitying that certain one. Why should he get more attention than the rest of us?” He talked extra loud.
Marion pushed him away. “You—you are so cold-hearted. He just lost his father.” Marion walked away and left Matthew standing there alone.
“Did you hear that?” Marion asked, sitting down.
Theodore nodded. “It’s pretty hard not to hear it.” He sighed and looked toward the horizon. “ ‘Your little blind friend.’ That’s what he said. That’s all I am. That’s what I’m always referred to as.”
Marion looked down. “Don’t listen to what Matthew says. He’d do anything to get my attention and win my heart over. But I won’t. I won’t do it. He’s selfish and cruel. I wouldn’t ever want to be with someone like him.”
Theodore stayed quiet.
Marion looked around and sighed. Then she spotted something out in the distance. A mountain. A waterfall.
“Theodore,”
“Yes?”
“Do you like climbing?”
Theodore was surprised. “Well, maybe. I can’t say I’m very good at it.”
“Do you want to see something?”
“What?”
“Take my hand.”
Avery shouted out, “It’s coming! The plane is coming!”
Caleb gasped. “He’s here.”
A big red jet swooped down from the sky and took a swift, gentle landing.
Caleb ran up to the jet. “Can I help you with your bags sir—” Caleb stopped to see that inside the jet was seated a lady with a doctors’ bag. She had deep blue eyes and golden blonde hair. And in that brief moment, Caleb kept getting a tingly feeling that told him, That will be my wife one day. I just know it.
The pause was awkward. Caleb realized he had been staring at her for a few minutes now.
“I mean miss. Sorry, I just assumed you’d be…something else. Not—not what you are. I mean—” Caleb felt his head. “That doesn’t sound right.”
The lady laughed. “Do you always stutter this bad?” She hopped out the jet and breathed in the fresh air. “It must have just rained.” As she walked, her short blonde air bounced.
“You are our nurse?” Avery asked.
“Yup.”
“Where is she?” Andrew was parking the jeep.
“She’s right here.” The nurse picked up her bag and hopped on the jeep. “You guys comin’ or not?”
Caleb and Andrew exchanged glances and shrugged.
Ten short minutes passed, when they were arriving at Avery’s home.
The second the jeep was parked, the girl was already off and walking in. The rest didn’t know what to think of it.
“Where’s Marion and Theodore?” Caleb asked.
Avery shrugged.
Andrew walked up to Caleb. “She’s not odd, she’s just…different.” He whispered in Caleb’s ear.
Avery came in next and sighed a content sigh. “What might be your name, miss?”
She came forward and shook his wrinkled hand. “Erin. Erin Micheals. Now,” she rubbed her hands together. “Got any patients?”
“You—you want to see someone now, at this hour?”
“Sure, why not? Thanks for asking.” Erin went back outside and Avery laughed out loud. “She seems very energetic and athletic. This is good. You have to be quick and strong to survive in the Amazon.”
Marion took him deep through the trees.
“Are you sure you know where you’re going?”
“I’m sure. I have a very keen sense of direction.”
“Right.”
Marion stopped and sighed in awe.
“What is it?”
“I hear a waterfall. I see it just up ahead.”
“Should we turn back now?”
Marion turned to him. “Turn back? We haven’t even started!”
As they grew closer, Theodore recognized the rushing sound. It was the same waterfall Caleb had shown him.
Marion looked around. “There’s—” She laughed.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong! There’s—there’s a rope here.”
“So?”
“So, the Amazonian peoples probably climbed this thing and shot animals from high up. Do you want to?”
Theodore backed up. “I, uh, I don’t think it’s safe.”
“Safe? Is safe all you think about?”
Theodore blushed. “Not particularly. But…mostly…yes. In my situation.”
Marion grasped his hand and placed it on the rope. “You feel this? It’s strong.”
“I really don’t think we should. What if one of us were to slip? What if I slip?”
Marion sighed. “Just trust me.”
Theodore nodded. “Okay.”
Up, up they went. The water rushing and soaking their clothes.
“I can’t believe I’m really climbing a waterfall.” Theodore said.
“There’s always a first time for everything. Don’t let anything hold you back.”
“It’s easy for you to say that. You’re not…you know.”
“I have asthma.”
“What?” Theodore paused.
Marion nodded. “Yeah. I can’t do much. I’ve never been able to do much. Only Caleb and Andrew knows. But—but that never stopped me. I never just accepted my life and gave up everything I loved to do. I stayed strong…and I…I just never gave up. You shouldn’t either.”
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