Trouble Will Come...
Monday, June 5, 2006
A day for Joe’s first board of review for his Eagle project, a day for Diana’s first interview with Intervarsity Press, and a day for a first forum gathering at the tennis courts.
The archangel had been spotted once again by Elizabeth when she and Carrie had gone to Picasso’s in Old St. Charles the other night. Carrie-Bri hadn’t even noticed before Elizabeth pointed him out to her. Clearly, the archangel was losing some of his majesty.
It was that Monday morning that Collette heard about Mom’s conversation with Mrs. Red the previous afternoon at the English house. The Reds had been around for so long, and there was rather frightening news for them. Gwendolyn, their oldest daughter, had been having fainting spells off and on and had recently been to see a doctor when she had been ill. While there, he discovered that she had something irregular going on with her heart, and when he heard about her sister’s death, he sent her to a cardiologist. When Gwendolyn’s little sister had been eight years old, her family knew that she would not live long, with her bad heart. And one day when they were all at a water park, she had just gone down a water-slide with George, her brother, and died in his arms. When Gwendolyn went to see the cardiologist, they discovered that she had the same condition as her little sister. She would meet with the cardiologist again, July 5th, to determine her options. George would be coming back from Purdue to be with the family then. Collette would be praying for all of them; she could not even imagine what sort of grief they had already been through ten years earlier.
Meanwhile, Aunt Petunia was in surgery that day from 11:30 till 2:00 in the afternoon; she would be headed to Florida to recuperate by the beach for two weeks with her mom at the end of the month. Her travels to China would likely begin the following year. And at the house, Mom ironed on all of Joe’s merit badges while he prepared his documents for his board of review. Frances called from outside:
“Watch me, Collette, watch me!”
He waved to her and hopped on the five-legged bottom of a roller-desk chair, (minus the seat) sitting Indian style on top of the legs. He pushed himself off and began to drift down the street at .5 miles per hour.
“Woo-hoo!” He exclaimed, coasting past the popcorn tree and the pine tree.