Sustaining Grayce

By Sandra Hare

Grayce is coping with as much stress as a fourteen-year-old can handle, and then she is asked to help Peggy, a fun-loving teen who happens to be fighting cancer. Share the laughter and heartache as Peggy and Grayce try to live normal lives amidst the craziness that swirls around them. Set in Lancaster, Pennsylvania during the late 1960s, Sustaining Grayce explores how two girls with totally opposite religious beliefs and very different families can learn to love each other and the broken people surrounding them. Their story is a miracle made possible only by Gods sustaining grace.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Aug 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512749069

Sandra Hare

Sandra Hare has worked with grieving children and adults for twenty-three years as a hospice bereavement coordinator. Raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Sandra now lives with her husband, Skip, in Bloomsburg, the only town in Pennsylvania. Sharing hope and encouraging others are her passions.

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Copyright © 2016 Sandra Hare.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Bloomington, IN 47403

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5127-4907-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-4908-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-4906-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016911198

WestBow Press rev. date: 8/18/2016

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

This book is

dedicated to Lily Grace and Summer Rose, two of the most beautiful girls God has ever created. Being your grandmother has brought unspeakable joy to my life.

Chapter 1

G RAYCE SAT RIGIDLY ON A chair outside the principal’s office while scenes from her life passed before her. Now she knew how convicts on death row felt while awaiting execution. Once again, she unfolded the note that had summoned her to Mr. Pane’s office. Could it possibly be meant for another Grayce Elizabeth Haggerty in the ninth grade? She shook her head, knowing full well she was the intended victim. The thing she didn’t know was why.

She went through a mental checklist. Classes were going fine. Check. She never caused trouble for her teachers. Check. Maybe there’s a problem at home, she thought. Oh no. The familiar knots began to form in her stomach. She tried to distract herself by studying the portrait of President Lyndon B. Johnson hanging on the wall in front of her.

Several years ago, a magazine article had shown the president lifting his dog by its ears, and Grayce had developed an instant dislike for the man. Your days are numbered, she thought with satisfaction, staring at the portrait. Yesterday, America had elected Richard Nixon as the thirty-seventh president of the United States. Grayce didn’t understand much about politics. She couldn’t even comprehend why anyone would want to be president.

Earlier this year, she had witnessed television reports of the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy. They were two good men trying to help their country, and they were killed for it. The world was going crazy, it seemed. Every day in the news there were reports of antiwar demonstrations, racial violence, college campus riots, and protests over high crime and even higher taxes. Who could possibly have solutions to all the problems in the world? Grayce smiled despondently. She knew who had the solutions, but He was less popular than taxes!

Grayce, you can go in now, the secretary announced. Traitorous feet escorted her to the door bearing Mr. Pane’s nameplate. She lifted a shaking fist and knocked.

Enter, ordered a deep voice.

Grayce slowly approached the desk, smoothed out her note, and handed it to Mr. Pane. He briefly scanned the note and turned his full attention to Grayce. She briefly scanned his handsome features and turned her full attention to the floor. She could feel heat rush to her face and wished for the thousandth time she didn’t blush so easily. It was one of the curses of fair skin. She stood there blushing, shaking, and full of stomach knots. She hoped Mr. Pane didn’t notice.

Grayce, have a seat, he ordered.

Her hope vanished. He knew, and he wanted her in a chair before she fainted. She sat down and risked a glance in his direction. He looked worried. Not a good sign. Grayce’s heart started beating overtime, not wanting to be left out of the panic attack.

Do you know a girl named Peggy Hartman? he asked.

Grayce relaxed a bit. She liked questions she was capable of answering. Yes, she said. She was in some of my classes last year. I haven’t seen her around lately. I thought she moved.

Mr. Pane walked around to the front of his desk and leaned against the edge. No. She’s coming back half days tomorrow and needs your help, Grayce. She’ll be using crutches, so carrying her own books from class to class is impossible. She also needs to leave each class five minutes early to avoid crowds in the hall. I’ve checked your schedule, and it matches Peggy’s. Would you be willing to help her get to classes each day?

Peggy studied Mr. Pane’s hopeful expression. Did he actually think she had a choice? How can you turn down a direct request from your principal? Besides, broken legs don’t last forever, and soon Peggy would be carrying her own books.

Sure, I’ll be happy to help, she answered.

He looked relieved. The other students will be watching how you act with Peggy. Your attitude will set the stage for their behavior. Please try to help her fit in.

Grayce almost choked. For fourteen years she had been trying to fit in somewhere, anywhere. How was she going to set the stage for Peggy? What was the big deal anyway? Having a leg in a cast—unless it was from a really stupid accident—wasn’t cause for ridicule.

How did Peggy break her leg? Grayce held her breath, hoping it was a simple fall down the stairs.

Mr. Pane lowered his head and exhaled with such force that Grayce was sure her chair blew backward an inch or two. When he raised his head, he looked exhausted, ready to crack. She didn’t break her leg, Grayce. It was amputated. Peggy had a cancerous tumor below the knee, and the doctors removed her left leg at the thigh. She’ll be in my office at seven thirty tomorrow morning.

Grayce realized she was being dismissed, but her legs felt like anchors when she tried to move. Nice, solid anchors. A right one and a left one.

Mr. Pane moved to the corner file cabinet, pretending to look for something. Grayce knew it was an excuse to keep his back toward her. He reached up to wipe his eyes, and she wondered if he cried for every sick student or whether Peggy was special. Grayce felt an urge to comfort him but didn’t know how. She had no experience with crying men. Or teenage amputees. She quietly left the office.

It took exactly eight minutes to walk from the bus stop to her family’s house, and Grayce relished the few moments of solitude. She loved the beauty of the red and gold leaves still on the trees and the crunching sound the fallen ones made underfoot. Small pieces of demolished pumpkin still littered the street from Halloween pranks the week before. Aside from the annual mischief night on October thirty-first, her suburban neighborhood in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was peaceful. In fact, she thought her home was in the perfect spot. She lived far enough from downtown Lancaster to be free of heavy traffic and pollution and far enough from the remote Amish farms to enjoy modern conveniences.

Grayce marveled at how different her life would be if she had been born ten miles away to an Amish family. She would do homework by a kerosene lamp instead of electric lights and travel by