Tarnished Halos: Angels in School Clothes

By Linda McDonald Davis

Lydia stood on the steps of SHS reminiscing about her school days. Her long, hair cascaded down her back like a shawl thrown loosely about her shoulders. Although never aspiring to being a teacher she found that she fell passionately in love with teaching, in spite of herself. Comfort Miz Lizzy when her entire fourth grade disappears, and gasp as Bobby falls from the classroom window. Your heart will break to learn that two of Lydias angels have life threatening diseases.
Why is Lydia holding a gun when the principal is shot?
Ready for thrills? Follow Miz Lizzy back through time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 29, 2012
• ISBN: 9781469148496

Linda McDonald Davis

Destined to become a teacher, Linda’s talent and love spanned three decades; from college to classroom, her career lovingly touched young lives. Loved by students and parents, Linda became a “legend in her time.” She traveled during the summer teaching children, from curriculums which she wrote herself. Due to Multiple Sclerosis, Linda finally accepted the fact that she must lay down the beloved torch ; it is with joy that we celebrate lives that have been “lit” by her influence. Linda’s legacy will live through both her students and this record written around her experiences. May these stories live as you read them… By Lynda Delamater, Educator

Book preview

Introduction

Lydia struggled to free herself by twisting and turning every joint in her body to break free from the web of decision. Like a spider’s prey, she became entwined in the web of life and earnestly fought to free herself from her captor. However, the big choice loomed ahead; she alone must work the puzzle to find the wisest answer for her life. In the end, would she have to decide between the career for which she was meant and the man to whom she was engaged? Which would she choose?

Growing up, she and Terry Boston were best childhood friends; he always encouraged her whenever she had a bad day or when something upsetting happened to her. He always left a yellow rose of friendship somewhere that she would find it, just to encourage her. Then, when they became older and fell in love, he began leaving her a red rose of love to encourage her and bring on that sunny smile that he cherished.

High school over, and Lydia had much more time to herself. She stood shielding her eyes from the morning sun as she looked down the road to Terry’s workplace; she wondered how she could ever make it without his encouragement, just in case she went away for college. How would she go through each tough spot without Terry’s red rose of understanding and love? She and Terry had always been together, and parting would be difficult. Deep within her heart, she feared that if she went away, someday she might find only a yellow rose of friendship again, instead of a red rose of love. Terry would always be more than a friend to her; nothing could ever change that! But would he reciprocate that same devotion?

Everyone seemed bent on influencing her in different directions. She mentally placed her fingers in her ears and ran from the voices of temptation and confusion. What will happen if she decides to go away for college? How will Terry react? The thought constantly haunted her thought processes.

Meet her newest ally, a dashing young soldier named Ethan, who captures her heart just prior to her finishing college; what part will he serve in her life?

Who shot Mr. Burton, the town’s elementary schoolteacher? Why does the figure holding the gun look feminine and familiar? Furthermore, why do all the students have guns on the playground?

Saunter down the hallway to discover that Lydia’s entire fourth grade is missing. Lydia searches every corner of the school; nevertheless, she was unsuccessful in finding them. Just before she gave up, the door of a closet was opened, and an unexpected discovery was made.

Feel the spectrum of emotions as you gasp in spite of yourself when Bobby disappears over the classroom window frame and feel fear when a little girl angel gets lost in the woods.

You will wipe tears from your eyes to learn that two little angel children are diagnosed with chronic, perhaps fatal, diseases and see their struggle each day.

To help put her thoughts in order, Lydia Joy imagines leading a group of retirees into the past three decades to look into her classrooms by indulging in her favorite art of storytelling. She imagined her group cheered her on by thrusting their walking canes and hiking poles into the air shouting, Go, Granny, go! The retired ones came along to reminisce; however, the young teachers came along seeking new methods from school days past to energize their classrooms. The story commences with Lydia’s high school graduation! The separation of the classmates is a hard emotion to overcome; they had been friends for the twelve years of school!

After teaching, Lydia has never been the same; after going on the trip back in time, neither will you. Listen to her tell about the children whom she called her little angels with Tarnished Halos. Relax and enjoy the trip as she leads you through a maze of emotions that characterized her classrooms!

Please do not look for a heavy plot because the book is mostly built upon unrelated memories of a teacher who passionately loved her job. Lydia turns to her imaginary time travelers and gives them a few last-minute instructions.

There will be no laptops, palm pilots, or GPS guidance, so get out your pencil and paper and let’s begin our trip. Be sure to go to the restroom, fill your water bottles, grab your walking canes, and unlock your wheelchairs! We’re ready to roll! I will do the same, for after all, I now shuffle along with others in that category!

*     *     *

Please remember that the story took place in schooldays past when rules and procedures were somewhat different. Hope you are ready, for adventure here we go back in time! Bon voyage!

Welcome to Sweetwater High’s graduation!

PART II

Friends or Enemies?

I mentally placed my fingers in my ears;

the voices that called to me were friends for years.

You must not leave us; you must stay,

It will be a better day; you will find work.

Be a secretary or a clerk.

Life won’t be so harried.

You must stay here and be married.

Please don’t go; everyone wants you to stay.

You know that your true love will miss you each day!

Be reasonable and alert,

Before you decide wrong and get hurt!

Terry has faithfully waited for you;

stay in your hometown where he will care for you!

I turned to answer with tears in my eyes

I must go; I gave Dad a promise that I cannot deny.

You speak like my enemies instead, my friends.

It is more honorable to keep my word to the end.

Chapter 1

My New Journey

I began this literary journey with the help of my trusty, rusty computer, which was not the warmest friend with whom to collaborate, yet like a teacher, it pointed out the mistakes that I was constantly making. Feeling nostalgic, I drew the memory cloth closer around me to recapture the memories. I blankly stared into the face of my computer, when all of a sudden a thought entered my dulled memory, and I began to type as hard as these well-worn fingers could dance on the keyboard. The story began to spill out of my heart, ricochet off the keys, and onto the paper as I disclosed the tale that is concealed within my breast. The past three decades cannot be repeated, although I endeavored to revisit all my children by transferring the reminiscing to storytelling on paper.

Everyone gather quickly, for the high school graduation ceremony is about to become reality in the lives of thirty-five graduates, well, thirty-six including me.

Looking into the past, I see our graduation class lined up and ready to march in. The school band played Pomp and Circumstance; the ceremony came alive with the sound of music as we graduates marched down the aisle with steady aplomb and mounting anxiety.

The large bouquet of thirty-six red roses and thirty-six white candles was featured on the elaborately bedecked stage. Each rose and candle represented one of us graduates going out into the world of darkness to be a light of hope and love. The vivid school colors created a stunning sight to our eyes as we lustily sang the school song, occasionally brushing a tear from our eyes.

It was May of 1968; we thirty-six graduates waited impatiently to receive our sheepskin from Sweetwater High, located in a little township, near the larger city of Brewer, Alabama. It was named Sweetwater because it had natural springs of the coldest and sweetest drinking water in the south. Best of all, the school was located about a mile from the house in which I grew from a little girl into a young woman!

We received our diplomas and then threw our caps into the air in celebration. Cheering at the top of our voices, we victoriously mingled tears of joy with tears of sadness.

About that time, the class president paused behind the microphone to make an announcement.

Tenth reunion in 1978!

Yeah! Great! we answered enthusiastically.

Let us know when and where. We’ll be there!

We thought that it was a wonderful idea, but somehow, we doubted if everyone would be able to make it; we would all be so old by that time!

Excitement ran rampant as we rejoiced in the battles that had been won over twelve years of study! The feeling in the auditorium was electric; it ran through our spines and bounced off each off our hats! We gratefully hugged our parents and friends then kissed our sweethearts and grandmas; euphoria consumed us for one glorious evening! Following the ceremony, we all hugged each other as we said our sad farewells, wondering if we would ever see each other again.

Wishing to hide my childish excitement, I whispered only to myself, Indeed, shedding our tough, weary cocoons and morphing into beautiful adult butterflies is going to be an adventure with a capital A for us all!

I heard the roar from the sixties popular music coming from somewhere nearby and felt the beat of the melody as it pounded its hands on the drum of my heart. It reminded me of romantic times that I had spent with Terry; I couldn’t get him out of my mind, not even for five minutes. He thought I was too pensive for my own good, and perhaps he was right. I would frequently get caught up with too many things that could wait for another day, crossing bridges before I came to them! What an insightful man Terry was.

Lydia, Terry told me later, you looked more like an angel playing a harp on the golden streets of heaven than a graduate holding a diploma on the steps of the gym last night. He was so romantic! My graduation gown was white, and to him, my black hair shined like a falling star as it cascaded down my back like a lovely shawl thrown loosely about my shoulders. He had requested me to let my hair blow freely in the wind, and I happily consented.

Before I had a chance to leave for a quiet place alone, I heard the sound of footsteps and turned to see my very best classmates coming to say good-bye!

I’ll miss you! we all called to each other, and then coming together, we embraced in a group hug before going our separate ways.

That was a terrific suggestion that Allen made for a reunion, and we all promised to meet each other in ten years. I wondered who would be gray and who would not; who would be thick and who would still be thin. I wondered who would be married and already have offspring, and which ones would still be single. I looked forward to the event already!

*     *     *

L  L  L

(Stands for little lessons learned and appear at the end of the chapters)

Everyone faces the most important decision that life requires whether or not to follow God’s plan for our lives! Only when we decide to allow our Creator to guide us will we find happiness that’s real and complete.

Chapter 2

Continuing the Journey

The next day, Dad and I had an argument about my future, and of course, he won. College acceptance had come from my choice of two colleges, now I relented, promising to attend his alma mater for one year to see if that was the life that I wanted. His choice was for me to teach!

Dad, I have never had a desire to wipe runny noses, stop bleeding from a wound, look for head lice, or be given a bouquet of dandelions that make me sneeze! Nevertheless, I want to prove to you that I’m open-minded, so I’ll give it a try! I guess I will use that scholarship from the North Bible University after all!

Lydia, under no circumstances are you obligated to stay if you are unhappy.

Thank you! I believe you are the most thoughtful daddy in the entire world! And I meant it with my whole heart, for Dad had always been easy to work with if we could only wait on him! I took after Mom; therefore, I had a revved-up motor inside of me that went into overdrive when I had to wait!

I hung around the homeplace for a while to get my courage up to relay my plans to my fiancé. Finally, I knew that I had lingered long enough; thus, I slowly moped to his workplace and to the battle that I knew waited for me. We were engaged to be married, and I wondered what he would say about my choosing the college far away from him. Lydia! Terry yelled. Why did you change your plans without consulting me? Are we going to become as one or continue to hide things from each other? I didn’t have a good answer; if Terry only knew how hard I had tried to decide which school to attend! After all, he had graduated the year before and had waited on me for a year already. I suppose he thought that I could agree with him today.

In spite of Terry’s disappointment, I felt my lips curl in a smile as I thought of the good times that he and I had growing up together and the lovely times that we anticipated enjoying together in the near future! Someday, we would live in good old Sweetwater, where everyone in the town had always expected us to tie the knot someday. I was certain that we could work things out between us very quickly, and all would be okay again!

As the Creator pulled a velvet curtain of night over the quiet little town of Sweetwater, I again stared at my tired but faithful keyboard. I spent a lot of time just waiting—waiting for the next episode to appear on the screen of my memory allowing me to peek into the twelve years I spent at Sweetwater School and especially that first year so long ago! Scenes suddenly appeared; in my imagination, I heard the school bell ring on the first day of first grade and heard my teacher shout, Everyone line up! I looked too long, and before I turned away, I saw a little girl get her first spanking in first grade—she stomped a crayon—my little buns were warmed!

I shook my head to clear my memory; that couldn’t have been twelve years ago! How can I be a graduate already? I never realized how short the time would be from first grade to twelfth. Now it seems like yesterday.

*     *     *

L  L  L

Be the best you can possibly be every day, for we never know how much longer we have to exhibit love and patience with our class. Of course, we want to spend all the time we can to help the needy ones under our charge. My mother used to tell us that we were worth more than a million worlds. That’s the way I felt about my schoolchildren also.

Chapter 3

Battle Weary as Victory Is Won

Several mornings after graduation, I awoke with the thought that I no longer had to do homework or study for a test. I felt a new sensation running through my thoughts, a guilty emotion that welled up into my heart because I wasn’t studying or writing a term paper. Something seemed to be missing in my life! Some people call it a version of the old, a recurring dream about being in school again. Usually, it is about losing something extremely important, losing something we need, or some other emotional memory of school days.

Realizing that it was due to habit, I smiled to think that now I had much more freedom I had than before graduation! This life was going to be great! And for that one sunny day, I simply enjoyed being me, doing the things that I never had time to do before and loving every minute of it!

About a week later, the sun smiled and laid his ray on my windowsill, so I reluctantly got out of bed to begin my day. Pausing for a moment, I silently prayed from the depths of my heart, "Here I stand on the threshold of the open door for my life, but I can’t enter on my own. I need you to give me a push!

I loved my parents and wanted them to be proud of my choices, but each night over the past several months, I had prayed the same urgent prayer that I just breathed again at this desperate moment. It seemed that Mom and Dad just couldn’t get there this time. They almost solved each crisis, but not completely. I covered my face with my hands and gave way to the insistent tears forcing their way out of my eyes and down my face. Upon seeing this outburst, Dad came into my room and wrapped his strong arms around me and drew me close as if I were still his little girl! Perhaps it comforted him to think of me that way. Then he made a suggestion that had never entered my poor confused brain before!

Lydia, you must sit down with God and count the cost of doing whatever he asks, and then make your final decision, realizing the possible consequences. For instance, how would you feel if you actually go away and you lose Terry to someone else? Would that discourage you?

Well, Dad, that’s the least of my worries. I have decided that our love will stand any separation! All my childhood fairy-tale books ended with ‘And they lived happily ever after.’ I’m sure that our lives will be like that! Terry might have disagreed with my decision at first, but he will never think about deserting me, never! Will you pray and think about God’s will for my life, Dad?

I promise! Will you do the same, with an open heart, Lydia?

I promise!

Dad handed me a token for the promise between us. It was an exquisite glass butterfly to remind me that God has plans to make something beautiful out of my life if I kept an open heart toward Him. I promised that I would, and at that moment, I felt much like the old, crusty cocoon from which the lovely butterfly broke free! Then Dad promised to pray for me every day for the rest of my life. What a promise! I was confident that God answered his prayers, and I felt safer and more satisfied knowing that they followed me everywhere.

As I turned and walked away, I felt more in harmony with Dad’s plans than before our talk! I fingered the glass butterfly over and over and wondered how God planned to change and use me in my new life. One thing I knew, I must keep my promise to Dad for this one year at school. I knew he would be keeping his!

*     *     *

L  L  L

God’s way is always best, for He sees into our futures where we cannot see!

Growing up is a natural part of life, and parents offer excellent advice about how to avoid trouble. They have been there, have done that, and have won the T-shirt! They understand the trials that youth go through as they begin life on their own!

Listening to them can help avoid many dangerous pitfalls along the way of life!

Also, as we get older, there are key persons who can help and advise us, and scriptures to point us in the right way. Avail yourselves of them; they are priceless!

Glancing over my group, I saw heads nodding and smiling, and I responded with a smile for them.

If we always keep our word, our friends will trust us, and so will everyone else.

Chapter 4

Calm after the Storm

My faithful alarm clock, the sun, spread its fingers apart to allow his warm rays of cheer and joy to spread into my soul. It seeped through the curtains and bounced around my room like a ball thrown from the hands of a little boy. I lifted my face to soak in the rays, and then I walked outside on the veranda to relax and have a bit of breakfast.

Later that morning, I spoke with Dad for a few minutes. With much love in his deep blue eyes he placed his strong hands on my shoulders and said, I trust your decision about your future plans, my little love. Keep a willing heart, and God will show you without doubt what He wants! My little love," he said again as he squeezed me very hard, as if he had just realized that I had finally grown up! He had repeated his sweet, favorite expression of endearment that had always made