Love, Lilli

By Sharon L. Gala

Love, Lilli by Sharon L. Gala

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781646703005

Book preview

Chapter One

It was a very warm evening in early May, and there was no breeze at all. Dinner was over, the dishes were done and put away, and it was the time of day when the Scott family gathered in front of the television set to watch the New York teams play baseball.

Wendy and Ken were just like the rest of the family when it came to baseball. If there was a bat, ball, and glove, they were there like white on rice. They were right there, on the spot, and as close to the field as humanly possible. Wendy wasn’t much of a cheerleader, but Ken made up for what she lacked and then some. Tonight they piled onto the living room couch with, perhaps, a little more excitement than usual. It wasn’t just any Thursday evening; it was the one where cousin Brian made his debut to the major league. Tonight there was no squabbling over where anyone was going to sit, nor was there any teasing nor whining as everyone assembled in the most important room in the house.

Oh no, Wendy said, after only a few minutes. The Mets are playing. The Yankees must have the night off. That meant they would have to watch for Brian another evening, and she knew how nervous he was with firsts. But that wasn’t where the oh no was going to end. There was a loud cracking of thunder and immediately the ball field was blurred by a downfall of pouring rain. People in the stands were donning plastic ponchos, huge garbage bags, and other plastic sheet-type items to protect themselves from the pounding rain. Oh, Ken, look at that come down. It’s a good night, after all, for Brian not to be there," Wendy said as she thought to herself. Wait until later in the summer when we really need rain to keep the grass alive, and it’s bone dry here in the valley. A few minutes later and stadium staff were running back and forth across the field spreading a tarp to protect the manicured field from the muddy rivulets that usually followed one of these cloudbursts. Now all they could do was to wait to see if the rain passed over. It wasn’t dark outside yet, so Wendy went out onto the front porch and looked at the clear sky with only a few puffy white clouds present. Nope, we aren’t going to get anything here." She noted that the grass and flowering shrubs were lush already and that being after almost all the flower blooming plants in the valley had opened at virtually the same time.

At the hospital, the doctor with whom Wendy worked had suffered greatly from those beautiful blooming flowers. As Wendy had entered the hospital offices corridor on Monday morning, Wendy noticed that Dr. Rogers appeared to be feeling really ill. When Wendy asked the caring physician what was wrong, he took her into his office and pointed through his window to the flowering trees, shrubs, and bedding plant areas that extended along that whole side of the hospital building. His eyes were red, puffy, and watering as was his nose. His throat was raspy and sore, leaving him with a barely understandable voice and the embarrassment of having to repeat himself many times. But as dependable a physician as Dr. Rogers was, he refused to take the day off to allow his medication to have a chance to work or to allow his symptoms to subside.

After about twenty minutes had passed without any hint of the rain stopping and two interruptions in transmission attempt of the game, Ken turned off the television and suggested that everyone find another activity to fill the evening. Would anyone like to go for a walk with me? he asked.

There was an immediate, Yes, yes! from Lilli, Wendy and Ken’s youngest grandchild. Lilli was in the second grade at TriStates Elementary School. She visited with her grandmother, Wendy, often while her mom and dad went to work and was both a refined and precocious eight-year-old who would challenge in a heartbeat, the quick thinking of the adults around her. Lilli was the youngest perfectionist that Wendy had ever known, and although Wendy loved her dearly, sometimes Wendy felt that Lilli was a little too demanding and perhaps bullying of the adults with whom she played. Lilli loved to act, and she would create plays in which she would role play with anyone who was with her at the time. Lilli enjoyed a variety of role playing situations and playing different persons, both good and bad in those vignettes. It seemed to Wendy to be a good way to teach the child how to respond appropriately in sometimes adverse situations, but when Lilli wanted to include vignettes depicting violence, Wendy stepped in and redirected her toward more peaceful alternatives.

Lilli loved going to Sunday school at the Church By The Brook every week and to the youth group on Wednesday evenings as well. She thought that young Pastor Nied knew all the answers to everyone’s questions and was known for her numerous referrals. Pastor Nied loved Lilli’s innocence as well. Where many of the eight-year-olds he worked with had serious behavioral issues, Lilli was an example of obedience without question. He often commented to Wendy, when the child was not present, about how different she was from the new generation of children that was appearing in the communities which he served.

One of Lilli’s most favorite activities was to make and decorate cupcakes for the monthly potlucks at church. She had become almost a pro at baking and providing these, and everyone looked forward to seeing what flavor cakes Lilli would bring each time. Pastor Niel often teased that the reason the attendance at the potlucks was so robust was because of Lilli’s cupcakes. As for Lilli, she did what she loved and didn’t care why people came, just as long as they did. After all, it was an occasion to talk about Jesus and give praise to God for how he had worked in the lives of everyone. Lilli was all about doing things for God.

So, that evening, Lilli went for a walk with Ken. They went down the lane toward the train tracks, then around to the Tow Path to where the road crossing over the E-L train tracks, that led to the river, was located. All the way Lilli and her grandpa talked about the day’s activities and then went on to discuss tomorrow’s plans, things they saw while on their walk, and about what they would be doing when they returned home. Times like this were more precious for them than one could imagine. Times like this were the ones that gave their lives meaning.

Before they circled around at the resort golf greens to return home, Lilli suddenly became unpredictable. She dropped from the conversation in progress and took off down the side of the embankment toward the river’s edge. Without warning and catching her grandfather off guard, she disappeared from sight in seconds. Ken called after her but didn’t waste time waiting for her to return on her own. He flew over the top of the embankment also, his long legs meeting the earth again halfway down the hill, and was able to see Lilli once again. She had stopped at the water’s edge and was staring across the river at the trees on the other side. A light mist was over the river, which appeared to be heralding the coming of the night and the darkness that could make a pleasant walk a dangerous undertaking. Lilli, who ordinarily had something to say about everything, was absolutely silent. She stood still, unmoving, as if in a trance. Ken fixed his gaze on the area where Lilli was staring, but nothing was visible. Abruptly, Lilli looked upward at Ken and said, Grandpa, let’s go home now. So they went. Lilli did not talk on the way home. The little voice that had been so animated and bubbly was now silent, and there was no obvious reason.

Ken and Wendy talked about what had transpired during Lilli’s walk, but since nothing further out of the norm had happened, it was soon forgotten, written off as a child having a whim and a spurt of energy together. Lilli was back to her usual self.

Chapter Two

Wendy watched over Lilli again a few days later. They drew pictures and made up and told their stories. Wendy attempted to ask Lilli about what had happened when she and Grandpa had gone on their walk, but Lilli honestly appeared to have no recall of the situation other than to say that it smelled bad. Since Ken had said nothing about a bad smell, Wendy didn’t know what Lilli meant. It didn’t seem like it was anything important, and Wendy soon forgot about it. The next few weeks passed very uneventfully.

Wendy was Nana’s fourth child with her second husband and was born and raised in Nevada. Wendy had moved to New York right after high school to go to nursing school at NYU. The campus was in New York City, and Wendy was drawn to big city life at that time. She completed her education there and then decided to move to a more rural area where her training would be recognized and she would find employment without delay. She and her friend, Lynne, moved to Deerpark and were hired on immediately by the local hospital where they quickly escalated their positions to charge nurses, then to head nurses of their departments.

While Lynne went her own way and became a DNP RN, Wendy met and married Ken and they put down roots, beginning their own family and becoming part of the local Christian community. The years passed and after having and raising three children of her own, Wendy became a grandmother of several very intelligent and beautiful grandchildren. Wendy had left her full time employment at the hospital and enjoyed an early retirement so that she could both help her children and enjoy her grandchildren to the utmost. Although Wendy had moved far from her mom, who she now called Nana Bev because of her own children and grandchildren, she and Nana were always close and spent time together every year. Nana Bev had been blessed with a special relationship with her great-granddaughter, Lilli.

Around Easter time, Nana Bev, who still lived in Pahrump, Nevada, and shared a home with her oldest son, Chris, who was from her first marriage, started to plan her trip to visit with Wendy and Ken for the summer. She had started doing this several years earlier because the summers in the western deserts were just too warm for her as she got older. Chris traveled a lot as part of his employment which gave Nana much free time to pursue her own interests. Nana Bev, now an octogenarian for some time, was a hardy woman with strong faith whose two husbands had both gone to be with the Lord many years earlier. Rather than living alone in Arizona, where she and her first husband, Dewey, had lived, Nana had moved to Nevada where she remarried and began a second family. After the death of her second husband there, their children had put together a plan where she could enjoy the best climates all year long. Nana taught Sunday school, Vacation Bible School, led the women’s prayer chain, women’s Bible study, and was active in her local church’s office, frequently doing the Sunday Bulletin and changing the letter board of church activities. Nana never missed anything, or so it seemed. She had a gift of timing, accuracy, and tact, and she could be counted on. If she gave you her word, it was written in stone.

Nana had helped in the children’s programs at the Church By The Brook previously, and the pastor was always eager to have her return. Many of the children in the church grew up in the classes of this soldier of the Lord, and remembering her from past years, were excited to see her again. In addition, Wendy, Ken, and Nana would go to the family cabin up at the lake together several times during the summer. Lilli always went with them, and they all really enjoyed that excursion. Ken would fish, and sometimes Lilli would fish with him. Other times Nana and Lilli were able to update each other on what was happening in their lives, tell stories, read books, swim, go for walks, and in general just have a wonderful time as a family. Wendy was the hub for all the action. She always knew who was where, doing what, with whom, and for how long. She cooked, read, and joined in as often as possible in whatever activity Nana and Lilli were doing. She couldn’t bait a hook and didn’t want to. She could cook a fish if Ken caught one, but she could not take it off the hook or clean it. Likewise, she didn’t want to learn how. That’s what the man is for, she told Lilli one day.

Nana used inhalers to help with her breathing when the weather was smoky or humidity hung heavily in the air. She was pleased because she had not needed one of her inhalers for an extended period of time, and she was in no distress. The summer began and, with it, many fun-filled days of swimming, sunning, softball and snuggling for Lilli. Nana Bev recognized how smart Lilli was and encouraged her to learn to write letters so that she could write to Nana after Nana returned to Nevada. She planned to teach Lilli how to write letters this summer and then leave the little girl with a supply of stationery, envelopes, and stamps that she hoped would last until they met again next May. They were going to begin by writing letters to God. He would understand what Lilli was trying to tell him, even if she spelled it wrong or couldn’t make the right letter.

The days grew longer and after-dinner walks around the Erie Barge Canal Tow Path became a regular activity. If not with Ken, Lilli would go with Wendy or they would try to get Nana to go with her wheeled walker. The Tow Path had not been used since the 1800s and had minimal daily traffic, but enough so that the dirt road always remained open and did not become overgrown by vines and weeds. Turtles and ducks lived there as well as some small fish called sunnies. There were lots of grasshoppers, frogs, toads, snakes, and lizards too. In the winter, the teens used to take old tires and put them onto the frozen water and light them on fire for heat while they ice skated on the canal. Cat tail stalks protruded through the ice irregularly so that one had to have extremely good balance or else, upon hitting a reed patch, one would be vaulted forwardly into the air landing in an unpredictable and often painful