by Mary May
Sabrina nodded her head in agreement. “Exactly! That’s how I felt, too. Such a sense of relief. I felt the burden lift from my shoulders the minute I started telling Him the true way I felt. Then I could feel Him just wrap me up and hold me and I swear I heard Him tell me, “Now we are getting somewhere.”
Catherine had gotten up and went to her room and came back with her Bible in her hand. “Right here in first Peter chapter five verses six and seven it says, “Humble yourselves before the mighty hand of God, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your cares upon Him; for He cares for you.” You had to humble yourself and admit to Him that you needed help. God is big enough to take our anger and, more importantly, He understands it, but He wants us to be honest with Him about our feelings because, think about it, telling Him we are fine when we are not is lying to Him.”
Sabrina and Sherrilyn stared at her. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
Sabrina laughed. “Well, just listen to you! You went and grabbed your Bible and went to the exact passage we needed to hear and then preached a nice little sermon on it.”
Sherrilyn nodded. “Oh, yeah, you are growing so strong in your relationship with the Lord; I can really hear it when you talk about Him or when you read the Bible.”
Catherine blushed. “Being married to Evan helps a lot when it comes to learning the Bible; he is a natural-born teacher.” The ladies spent the rest of the evening chatting and finally everyone turned in for the night.
Gideon was pretty impressed with how Catherine was able to grab her Bible and turn to the perfect scripture. She had grown in leaps and bounds in her relationship with God. It was an amazing process to watch, her growing from the cold, self-centered person she used to be to this beautiful, loving and open woman that could easily hug her daughter or rattle off a scripture to bring comfort to her friend. You could tell at a glance that she was truly happy, and that kind of true happiness comes only from God.
Chapter 16
The following afternoon everyone except Sherrilyn met at a local outdoor restaurant for lunch. Luke’s father came and brought his fiancé Keelie. She was a striking woman, tall with the most gorgeous cheekbones Sabrina had ever seen. She had long black hair and dark eyes and looked to be of Native American descent. Sabrina hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to her very much at the party so she was glad for the opportunity to get to know her. She waited for the right moment to try and bring her into the conversation. Keelie was very shy and withdrawn, almost trying to blend in with her background and not be noticed. As beautiful as she was, that would be hard to pull off. Finally Sabrina just jumped in.
“Keelie, I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful you are and you look to be of Native American descent. What tribe was your family part of?”
“I am of the Kiowa tribe,” she quietly answered.
“I’m sorry; did I offend you when I asked?” Sabrina looked upset that she may have unknowingly offended Keelie.
She smiled at Sabrina. “I’m honestly not used to people showing interest in my history. Usually I’m never asked or, if I am, it’s in a negative way. You asked in a most respectful way, thank you.”
Carl put his arm around Keelie’s shoulders. “Keelie is actually what we would consider royalty; her great, great, great grandfather was a great war chief and medicine man Satank. He lead his people until his death in 1871. Her people were forced onto the reservations after her grandfather was put into prison for an attack on a wagon train.”
Keelie turned her beautiful brown eyes to Carl. “Look who has been studying my history!”
Carl smiled. “Yes, ma’am, I want to know all there is to know about you, your history and everything about you that makes you so special.”
Keelie didn’t have to say a word; the love she felt toward Carl was easy to see.
“That is really interesting! I bet you can trace your lineage back for several generations, and isn’t Satank your last name as well?” Evan asked.
“Yes, I carry his name as a tribute to him. All of the children that carry a direct line of descent to him carry his name. When I marry I will still use my name. I have traced my lineage back as far as the early 1700’s. My people originally came from up north in the Yellowstone area and possibly Canada. We were a nomadic plains tribe.”
Catherine sat forward in her seat. “Now what does that mean nomadic tribe?” she asked.
“It means that we followed the buffalo; where they went we went. Our people depended almost solely on the buffalo for everything. We ate the meat, of course, but we used every part of the animal: the hide for blankets and clothing, the bones for tools and weapons, and even the veins and sinew were used for sewing thread and ties.”
Keelie was blushing and looked uncomfortable at being the center of attention. Sabrina took mercy on her and took the conversation in a different direction. The rest of the lunch the conversation flowed around the table and they covered a variety of topics. Keelie would offer an opinion now and then, but mostly she just smiled and nodded. Sabrina decided she liked her and would try to get together with her at the first opportunity. When they got up to leave, she hugged her and asked if they could get together sometime soon. Keelie smiled and said she would like that.
When they all got back to Sabrina’s house, Sherrilyn came out of the guest bedroom. She still looked tired to Sabrina’s eyes. “How was lunch?” she asked.
Sabrina flopped down on her sofa. “It was really good. Carl brought Keelie and she is really nice. She is from Indian royalty; did you know that?”
Sherilyn shook her head. “No, really?”
Evan sat down in the recliner. “Yes, apparently she is from the Kiowa tribe and her great, great, great grandfather was a great chief and medicine man.”
Catherine came in from the nursery with Charlie and Gideon followed. He wanted to hear about Keelie himself. Catherine put Charlie in the middle of the living room and dumped out her box of toys; the toddler immediately climbed on top of the box. Gideon propped himself against the kitchen doorway. The family gathered around and discussed everything Keelie had told them.
“Well, I think she is just beautiful!” Catherine stated.
Evan nodded in agreement. “Yes, she is and she also has a beautiful spirit about her. If I am remembering my history right, the Kiowah Tribe were a pretty rowdy bunch. They were well-known for their dislike of the white man entering into their lands. We truly did do a great disservice to the Native Americans. They were here first and we just ran roughshod over them, forcing them to leave their lands, and tried to take away their beliefs.”
Sherrilyn nodded and said, “I’ve always found it fascinating that they believed in the Great Spirit in the sky. They recognized there was a Great Creator.”
“I wonder how they met,” Sabrina asked.
“Carl told me at a church retreat in Oklahoma,” Evan said. “Her church is made up mostly of Native Americans and they hold a yearly Powwow for Christ where all the different tribes and local churches get together.”
Sherrilyn spoke from her corner of the room. “Ok, give the blind lady a break here; describe her to me. I’m dying over here!”
Sabrina laughed. “Of course. I’m sorry. I honestly forget you’re blind half the time! She is exactly what you would imagine a royal Indian princess would look like. She is tall and slim with long glossy black hair and dark eyes and she has the most beautiful bone structure. She is really quiet most of the time, but I think she is just shy. I bet once she gets to know us she will open right up.” Sabrina was so animated that she cracked everyone up.
“What? What did I say?” She looked around at everyone.
Catherine spoke up, “Nothing, sweetheart, you just get so excited when a new person shows up that you get to love.”
Sabrina frowned. “What’s wrong with that?” she asked.
Sherrilyn rolled over to her and stopped inches from her foot. “That’s what we love about you, honey. You are so open to other people a
nd your heart always has room for one more.”
Sabrina took her hands and asked, “Are you ok? You look really tired and I’ve noticed that you haven’t had your usual spunk since you have gotten here.”
Sherrilyn patted her hands. “I’m ok, sweetie. This old body has gone through a lot and sometimes it just needs more rest is all; don’t you worry about me, ok?”
Sabrina held her hands. “I can’t promise you that, but I will promise to pray for you every time you cross my mind; how about that?”
Sherrilyn smiled. “That sounds perfect.”
Gideon eyed Sherrilyn and agreed with Sabrina she did look tired. He walked over to stand beside her and he knew she was aware of his proximity; she always tilted her head in his direction. He reached his hands out and “felt” her life force that surrounded each living creature. It was almost like a pulse that the body would give off; the stronger the pulse, the stronger the life force. He slowly ran his hands over her body, and he didn’t like what he felt! Her pulse was weak and it felt hollow. He knew her body had been through traumatic experience and not all of the damage was visible on the outside. He would talk to her later about how she was feeling, because despite what she told Sabrina, she wasn’t fine.
Sabrina and Catherine were washing up breakfast dishes the next morning when Sabrina remembered to ask her about the mysterious lady from her childhood.
“Mother, I have been meaning to ask you something. When I was young, maybe around three or four, I remember this beautiful lady used to come and play with me. She had long light brown hair and the lightest green eyes I’ve ever seen. She always wore this white gown that swished when she walked and she never wore shoes; her name was Charlotte. Do you remember her? Was she a relative or a friend of yours perhaps?”
Catherine put down the dish towel she was using to dry dishes. Her brow was wrinkled in thought. “I don’t remember anyone like that, honey. Did she come to the house?”
Sabrina nodded. “Yes, she would come nearly every day and play with me and then one day she just stopped coming.”
Catherine shook her head. “I’m sorry; I just don’t remember her. Is that who you named Charlotte after?”
They walked over to the table and sat down. “Yes, when she turned out to be a girl instead of a boy, I wasn’t prepared. I hadn’t thought of any girl names at all, but I remembered this lady who was just so beautiful and graceful, and she was just the very image to me of what a lady should be. So I named her Charlotte after her and Marie after daddy’s mother.”
Her mother suddenly sat up in the chair. “I bet I know who you are talking about. You had an imaginary friend you called Lottie. I bet you anything that’s who you think you’re remembering. You used to draw pictures of Lottie and she did have a white dress on.”
Sabrina frowned. “No, I clearly remember seeing this woman. I wish I could draw because I remember every detail of her face. This is all so strange!”
Catherine chuckled. “Well, sweetheart, I wish I had a better answer for you, but if this lady came every day to my house and played with my child, I think I would have seen her and if she as beautiful as you describe I would have remembered her.”
Sabrina was silent for a moment. “What if you didn’t see her because you couldn’t see her?”
Catherine frowned at her. “What do you mean? Like a ghost?”
Sabrina laughed. “No, nothing as ominous as that. I was thinking more along the lines of a Guardian Angel?”
Her mother relaxed. “Oh, I suppose that’s possible. The Bible talks about Guardian Angels and I’ve heard somewhere that children and animals can see more into the spirit world than adults can. We should ask Evan about this. I’m honestly not real sure.”
Sabrina smiled. “That’s ok, Mother. I think I’ve gotten my answer after all.”
A couple of hours later Sabrina’s mother and Evan were getting ready to leave. Gideon found Sabrina and her mother in the guest room. Sabrina sat on the bed with Charlotte and watched while her mother packed.
“I know you said you felt like you got your answer about your mystery lady, but I was curious so I asked Evan what he knew about Guardian Angels. Apparently there are different types of angels. I never knew that. I guess I thought an angel was an angel.”
Sabrina shifted Charlotte to the floor to play with her blocks. “I’ve never given much thought to it either. What different kinds are there?”
Catherine put the packed suitcase on the floor then she lay across the bed. She held up her hand and started counting off the different types of angels. “Well, you have your Guardian angels, then your ministering angels, messenger angels and warrior angels.”
Gideon raised an eye brow. Evan had done his homework. He sat on the dresser and waited to see what else Evan might be right about.
Sabrina got down on the floor with Charlotte and was helping her stack her blocks. “Ok, I understand Guardians and messenger angels, but I’m iffy on the ministering ones and the warriors.”
About that time Sherrilyn rolled into the room and stopped just inches from the foot of the bed.
Sabrina laughed. “How on earth do you do that?”
Sherrilyn cocked her head. “Do what? Roll my chair? I just grab the wheels and push forward to move forward and I roll the wheels back to go backwards! And if I’m in a really big hurry I use both hands!”
Sabrina rolled her eyes. “No, smarty, how do you know when to stop rolling? You just seem to know where every piece of furniture or a wall or my foot is and you never roll into anything.”
Sherrilyn laughed. “Honey, you should have seen me when I first got this thing! All I did was run into or over something, furniture, walls and feet! Remember when I told you that after I lost my sight, my hearing got really, really good? That’s how I know where everything is. I listen to echoes.”
Sabrina glanced at her mother. “You listen to echoes? Like a bat?”
Sherrilyn nodded. “Exactly like a bat. There was a man in California that was born blind, but he learned how to use echo location to get around. He rides bikes and goes for runs all by himself!”
Gideon had never heard of a human using echo location, but the idea intrigued him.
“How did you learn how to do it?” Catherine asked.
“Well, I have never been able to let someone else do something that I wanted to do without at least trying it. When I heard about it, I was determined to learn how, just to have little bit of my independence back. Now what he does is to make a constant clicking sound and listen while the sound waves bounce off the objects around him. The longer the bounce, the further an object is; the shorter the bounce, the closer it is. I tried making the clicking sound and that just got on my own nerves so I could imagine how everyone around me felt about it. Then one day I noticed that every time I moved this chair, it made its own sound. Now it’s faint, so I’ve got to listen closer, but it didn’t take me long to master the use of echo location and I was ripping along my house in no time!”
Gideon was very impressed. That took some serious dedication and determination to master that. Sherrilyn Foster continued to amaze him.
“Wow! That’s just amazing! I never in a million years would have thought that was possible!” Sabrina said in amazement.
“Well, I promise you, it didn’t happen overnight and I’ve had to repaint my walls more times than I like to think about. But the worst was when I rolled over poor Edgar and broke his foot!”
Ok, he tried not to laugh, he really did, but the image of stuffy, uptight, old Edgar jumping on one foot while holding the other was just too much. Gideon snorted and covered his mouth, trying to keep Sherrilyn from hearing him, but the harder he tried not to laugh, the worse it got. Sherrilyn cocked her head in his direction and he knew he was busted!
“Oh, come on,” he said. “That’s funny, and you know it!” She just shook her head but there was a small smile playing around the corners of her mouth.
“When I came in here, did I hear you
talking about different kinds of angels?” Sherrilyn asked.
“Yes, mom had talked to Evan about guardian angels.”
Sherrilyn kept her head cocked toward Gideon and he knew she was warning him to behave. “Why is that, sugar? Don’t you know that everyone has one?”
Catherine spoke up. “Sabrina thinks she remembers seeing her guardian angel when she was little.”
Sherrilyn turned her head toward Sabrina, much to Gideon’s relief. “You really remember seeing your Guardian? What do you remember about him?”
Sabrina told her the story she had told her mother earlier.
“Ok, so you had a lady guardian. They can come in either a male or female form. But most children don’t remember seeing them, or if they do, they usually just chalk it up to a child’s imagination.”
Sabrina sat on the floor rolling a block back and forth in her hands until Charlotte squealed and took it from her. “I remember her really well, she would play nearly every day with me, and then one day she just stopped. I can’t remember when exactly. I just noticed one day that I hadn’t seen her in a while and wondered what had happened.” She reached out and caught Charlotte’s tower before it fell.
“I bet you were three or four, weren’t you? When she stopped coming to play?” Sherrilyn asked.
Sabrina thought for a moment. “I believe so; that’s sounds about right. Why?”
“Well, according to different scholars and different religions, a child can see and communicate with their Guardian until they reach the age of around three or four, depending on the development of the child. Once a child is able to start communicating what she is seeing, then the spirit eye closes and she no longer can see her guardian,” Sherrilyn answered.
