She had seen Steve only once or twice since their date and had decided that he was no more reliable or interested in commitment than any other single man she’d met. Yes, he was apparently attracted to her—but he seemed torn between that attraction and his allegiance to the wife he’d lost. And he was lukewarm, at best, about Cathy’s kids.
Still, when he did call, she found her heart racing and hoped he would suggest another date. She refused to show it, and even prided herself in pretending she was so busy she hardly had a moment to talk.
She expected him to be at the school board meeting, and he didn’t disappoint her. In fact, he was still sitting in his car in the parking lot when she arrived, as if he was waiting for her. She got out of the car and looked around at the other cars already filling the parking lot.
“Looks like a big turnout,” he said.
“You think it’s for us?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Let’s go in and find out.”
Inside, she studied the crowd that had filled the room. There was standing room only. The school board members were scurrying around, trying to find places for everyone to sit. It was an open meeting, but it was clear that the board wasn’t used to a crowd this size.
She made the rounds, shaking hands with some of the people who were still standing, and learned that they had, indeed, come to find out about sex education in the schools. Her heart leaped as she realized that her work had not been in vain. The school board would have to listen to her now!
When they had found enough chairs to seat everyone, the meeting came to order. She waited as the board covered various housekeeping items. Finally, the school board president called on her to speak. She went to the microphone at the center of the table in front, facing the school board with the audience behind her.
“As most of you know, I’m here about something that happened in the junior high and high school at the end of last year, something I’ve been told happens every year,” she said. “I found a condom in my son’s pocket. You can imagine how upset I was. I naturally assumed that he had bought it. But when I confronted him, he explained that he’d gotten it at school, and that they’d had a video about safe sex and how to use condoms. I was told that this was not the first time. I was very disturbed.” There was applause behind her, as if other parents in the room were equally disturbed, and she paused and looked over her shoulder, gaining strength as she went.
“As you can see, I’m not the only concerned parent here,” she said when the applause had died. “And I wanted to appeal to you as the people with the power to stop this madness. Our children don’t need the school system to teach them about sex—especially about condom use. They have parents to do that.”
Again, there was applause.
“I think with teen pregnancy at an all-time high,” she said, “what we need to teach our students is abstinence, not supposedly safe sex.”
“Dr. Flaherty,” one of the board members said, taking the floor, “I understand your concern, but the kids are going to do this anyway. We have to teach them how to keep from getting deadly diseases. I, personally, don’t want to have to bury my son because of AIDS.”
“I wholeheartedly agree—not your son, or mine, or any of the other students in our district,” Cathy said. “But the best way to prevent that is to teach them to control themselves.”
Again, there was jubilant applause behind her, but she held up her hand to quiet them. Her eyes blazed with passion as she went on.
“A few months ago, someone told me that the best we can hope for is to raise our children to adulthood without pregnancy or disease.” The memory of her ex-husband’s statement reddened her face. “But for the last few weeks, I’ve been watching another parent fighting for the life of her child—a child that did have a disease. But that child had such character, even when we thought he might die. Character that his mother instilled in him, not from teaching him a list of do’s and don’ts, and not from giving him tools that enable him to make bad choices. She taught him character by giving him a value system that never changes.” Her voice broke, and she blinked back the tears in her eyes. “If—no, when—that little boy grows up, he probably won’t ask her what’s wrong with sex before marriage as long as nobody gets hurt. He’ll already know that everybody involved is hurt by premarital sex, because he’ll know where his values come from.” She cleared her throat, and tried to steady her voice.
“I haven’t always known that myself, so my children have asked those questions. I’m ashamed to say that sometimes I haven’t had answers. But watching my friend has shown me that we can teach our children better. We can expect more of them. We can demand more from ourselves. If we want to do the best for our children, we can give them a firm base of values that come from someplace specific, someplace like the Bible, instead of passing out condoms or showing titillating videos. We can show them how a moral life works, instead of giving them the means to ruin their lives.”
Again, applause erupted, until Superintendent Jacobs began to speak. “You think they’ll stop having sex just because we tell them to?” he asked. “We have to arm them, Dr. Flaherty.”
Cathy leaned in to the microphone again. “It’s interesting that you would use a metaphor involving weapons, what with all these recent school shootings.” The room got so quiet she could have heard a pin drop. The school board members sat straighter in their chairs. “You don’t give a violent kid a gun and think it’ll deter him from shooting it, and you don’t give a hormonal teenager a condom and think that’s going to somehow keep him from having sex.”
Again, there was raucous applause behind her, and she felt her face reddening and perspiration tingling on the edge of her lip. “As you can see, I’m not the only one here who feels this way.” She looked from school board member to school board member and realized that some of them were smiling and nodding their heads, as if to encourage her. This confused her. Were some of them on her side? Deciding not to dwell on it, she pulled out a magazine article she had brought. “If you’ll turn over the sheet I just passed out,” she said, “you’ll see an article that came out in a major parenting magazine recently, describing an abstinence program that has worked in many cities, bringing down the teen pregnancy and AIDS contraction rate drastically.”
“I’ve read all about this program,” Jacobs said. “But I don’t think it would work well in this community.”
“Why wouldn’t you try it?” she demanded. “Don’t you think our children are worth that?”
“I wouldn’t try it because it’s a waste of time.”
“A waste of time? You’d rather encourage them to go to bed with each other than to teach them how not to act like animals?”
The crowd roared behind her, and the superintendent slammed the gavel and took control of the microphone. “Thank you, Dr. Flaherty. I think you’ve made your point. Does anyone else have anything to say?”
At least fifty parents stood up and raised their hands, and the members began to look at their watches as if they might be there all night. Finally, the superintendent leaned back hard in his chair. “All right, please line up at the microphone. You have three minutes each. We won’t have time to hear all of you out, but we’ll hear some of you before we take a vote.”
Cathy left the microphone and sank down in the seat Steve had reserved for her. She felt as if a hundred pounds had floated off of her shoulders. He was grinning from ear to ear. One by one, other parents added to what she had said, conveying comments their children had made after viewing the video, and tearfully sharing incidents of teen pregnancy and abortions—in some cases, as a result of the sexual activity that began the day they’d been given condoms.
After forty-five minutes of testimony, the superintendent suggested that they take a vote. When all was done, the school board had voted six to two to allow parents to view any sexual material before it was shown to their children, and to do away with the current sex education program. To Dr. Jacobs’ chagrin, the school boar
d president assigned someone to look into the abstinence program Cathy had suggested, and set a date to vote on its use locally. When the gavel struck to adjourn the meeting, the parents all cheered.
After the meeting, Cathy was treated as a celebrity. They patted her on the back and thanked her for what she had done. Steve stood back, letting her bask in the adulation. When the room had mostly emptied except for the school board members, one of them came and set her arm around Cathy’s shoulders. “Way to go,” the woman whispered.
Cathy gaped at her. “You were on my side all along?”
“You got that right,” the woman said. “I’m a parent, too. I have kids at the middle school and high school.”
“Then why haven’t you objected to what’s going on?”
“Didn’t know about it,” she said. “Here I am sitting on the school board, and none of my kids ever told me what’s going on. Until it came up on this agenda, I didn’t have a clue. I’ve only been on the board a year; they implemented this program before that.”
“I’m glad I came, then,” Cathy said.
“Good thing you did,” she said. “You know, the people on this school board are good people. They’re trying to do what’s best for the kids. But sometimes we need the help of parents like you to call our attention to problems and help us get things across to those of our members who don’t agree. It’s not easy, this education thing.”
“No, I don’t suppose it is.”
She squeezed Cathy’s shoulders, then let her go and started out the door. She stopped at the door and turned back. “Woman, you pack a wallop when you want to. Next time you’ve got a beef with the school board, how about giving me a call first so I can brace myself?”
Cathy laughed and followed her out.
Steve was talking to a few stragglers in the parking lot, and when she got into her car, he came to the window and leaned in. “I’m pretty proud of you, lady,” he said.
She laughed. “I’m kind of proud of myself. So…you want to go have a milkshake and celebrate?”
He smiled apologetically. “Wish I could, but Tracy’s home with a baby-sitter and I promised I’d be the one to tuck her in.”
“Can’t argue with that,” she said. “I like a man who’s a good dad.”
His smile faded. “I like a woman who’s a good mom.”
She hadn’t heard those words in a long time. There was no one to praise her mothering skills and tell her she was doing a good job. More often, she had a million reasons for selfcondemnation. It almost brought tears to her eyes. “Do you really think so?” she asked, feeling a little foolish.
“I know so,” he said. “How many moms would have fought this hard for their kids?”
“Well, my children wouldn’t agree. They’re embarrassed to death. They said their friends are calling me ‘the condom lady.’”
He laughed softly. “They’ll appreciate it one day.”
“Yeah, maybe.” She cranked her car. “Well, looks like we’re the last ones here.” Their eyes met, locked for a long moment. Finally, he leaned in and pressed a kiss on her cheek. Her heart jolted.
“I’ll call you tonight, after I get Tracy to bed,” he whispered. “And then we can relive your moment in the spotlight.”
“I’ll look forward to that.”
As she drove home, she thanked God for helping her to pull the whole thing off, for getting the school board to vote for her instead of against her—and, most of all, for letting her still have a chance with Steve.
CHAPTER
Forty-Nine
Sylvia sat at the patio table covered with papers, and looked out at the empty corral. She had expected to be sad about the loss of the horses, as she had been after Sarah’s wedding, when the house had felt so empty. But she realized now that it was a blessing and not a curse.
Harry came out drinking a glass of iced tea and sat next to her. “So whatcha doing with all these papers?” he asked.
“Counting up all the money we’ve raised,” she said. “It looks like we’ve covered all of the bills they’ve received so far. Of course, most of the bills haven’t come in yet. But I still have some pledges coming in. You know, I think we might just cover it all, if we work really hard. I think God is helping us keep the Dodds on our street. Since the couple who wanted to buy their house didn’t qualify for the mortgage, we have a little more time. If we can raise enough money, I’m sure David will take the sign down.”
“So how much of these donations came from your visits to corporate America?” he asked.
She smiled. “About half.”
He leaned on the table. “Excuse me, but aren’t you the woman who had nothing left to contribute?”
She threw her head back and laughed. “Okay, so I may still have a little life left in me.”
He picked up the letter from the Nicaraguan couple who had asked for advice and help. “You know, I feel bad. All this time we’ve been so busy with Joseph, I haven’t had time to look into much of anything for Maria and Carlos.”
“It’s not too late,” she said. “Besides, I’ve done a little thinking.”
He set the letter down and looked up at her. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” She fixed her eyes on him for a moment. “Harry, what would you think about our offering our house to Carlos and Maria while he’s in seminary? We could also pay his way, and line up a job for him and a school for their son while they’re here.”
He frowned. “You wouldn’t mind having them live with us?”
She held his gaze for a moment. “We’re not going to be here, Harry.”
He sat up straighter, and his eyes widened. “What do you mean?”
She reached out and clutched his hand. “We’re going to Nicaragua.”
His eyes misted over. He studied her face for a moment as if waiting for her to scream out, “Gotcha!” But she didn’t. “Are you sure?” Harry asked.
“I’ve been praying a lot about this,” she said, “asking God to change my heart. A few months ago, when all this came up, I didn’t think I had much to contribute. But now I can see that I do still have talents God can use. I can work with the children, and I can teach the mothers. I want to go. You have so much you can take to those people, and I think I have some things I can take, too. I may not be able to cure their diseases, but I can help to cure their hearts.”
“You’re absolutely sure?”
“Absolutely,” she said. “And if Carlos and Maria stay in our house, I’ll have the peace of knowing that we’ll have it to come back to. Or, after they finish seminary, we can sell it if we want.”
Harry leaned back hard in his chair and let out a laugh that seemed to shake the trees. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this!”
“Believe it,” she said. “I asked God to change my heart if He wanted us to do this. I didn’t want Him to, and I didn’t expect Him to. But He did. Now I’m getting excited.”
Harry got up and hugged his wife with all his might.
CHAPTER
Fifty
That night after supper, Tory, Sylvia, and Cathy went to the hospital to sit with Brenda and Joseph. He had been moved to his own room and was doing well, so while he slept, they went into the small waiting room across the hall and talked softly about the best moments of the last few months.
“When they told us they’d found a heart,” Brenda whispered. “That was a good one.”
“Me, too, when you called to tell me,” Tory agreed.
“When my kids wanted to help raise money,” Cathy said.
Sylvia began to laugh. “When Ed Majors gave me that first check.”
Brenda grinned. “Rolling my own yard with my kids for Joseph’s party.”
“The animal fair,” Tory added, “when Spencer finally got to ride Sylvia’s horse before she sold it.”
Brenda smiled. “When they prayed over Joseph at church.”
“When I met Steve Bennett,” Cathy added. They all looked at her and smiled knowingly.
“
When we discovered Brenda’s church,” Tory whispered.
“When I discovered Sylvia’s church,” Cathy echoed.
“When Harry came in and told us the surgery was a success.”
“When your kids made all those videos,” Sylvia said.
“When Joseph opened his eyes after the surgery.”
“When you told me what you did about investing our children wisely.”
“When I told Harry I wanted to go to the mission field.”
They all got quiet for a long time, their thoughts centered on blessings instead of trials, on joys instead of heartaches. It was so much different than the night they’d gotten together months ago, after Joseph’s first collapse—when they’d thought they had so much to complain about.
“Some of the best moments,” Tory whispered finally, “have been sitting right here with you tonight, and knowing that we’re all different people than we were when we started out.”
“Yes,” Sylvia whispered. “These are definitely some of the best moments.”
Barry was asleep on the floor with the children—in front of the television—when Tory got home that night. She stood quietly over them, filled with an overwhelming love for her family. She knelt there beside them and wept for the blessing of them.
An idea came to her, and quietly she went into the laundry room, turned on her computer, and began to write her feelings down. She wrote about the little cul-de-sac of Cedar Circle, about the child who needed a heart, and how the neighbors had banded together to raise the money. She wrote about the things she’d learned about loving her own children, about the blessings she was too busy to see, about the joy she was too rushed to experience. She wrote about God changing her heart, and Sylvia’s and Cathy’s, and she wrote about the courageous love of Brenda, who trusted God enough to open her hand for Him to take Joseph away from her. She talked about the lessons of investing her children wisely, and how God had taught her, through Brenda, that her children, not her writing, were her life’s greatest work.
Seasons Under Heaven Page 27
