The Promise of Palm Grove

by Shelley Shepard Gray

  But even though she was wearing a new dress that covered her braces and matched her eyes, and she was standing instead of resting in her wheelchair, she still wasn’t feeling great. That was too bad, because she was standing in line at Yoder’s, which was the very best place in Pinecraft for pie. She didn’t get to go there all that often, either. Which was another reason she should have been smiling.

  But she wasn’t. Standing in the long line for almost thirty minutes was putting a strain on her legs. This was longer than she’d ever stood without taking at least a five-minute break. If the wait was much longer, she was going to have to swallow her pride and tell her brother, Zack, that she had to sit down.

  As if he could read her mind, he leaned down next to her. “Not too much longer now, Eff. The hostess just seated that group of four, so there are only three more couples ahead of us.”

  “That’s gut. The line was longer than I thought it would be.”

  “I was thinking the same thing.” Looking apologetic, he added, “I promise, if I would have known the wait was going to be this long, I would have suggested we go someplace else.”

  He would have, too, Effie realized. He always put her needs first. “I’m glad we didn’t.”

  “Sure?”

  Zack really was the best brother in the world. He was handsome and easygoing. He took time with her and never acted like he wished he was doing anything else. “I’m fine.”

  But she mustn’t have sounded all that fine because his eyes scanned her face for about the twentieth time since they’d gotten in line. She knew what he was doing; he was looking for signs of strain. Signs that he needed to escort her to a bench or a chair immediately.

  And he would do that in a heartbeat. He absolutely would. And though her legs would be really grateful for the break, the rest of her would feel completely embarrassed.

  “Sure?” he asked again.

  “Positive.” She started to smile, but it faltered when she saw two girls from her class sitting at a table with their moms. They were the popular girls, the girls who everyone wanted to be around. The girls who were invited everywhere.

  The opposite of her.

  Zack noticed her glance and her subsequent frown. “Do you know those girls?”

  “Jah. They’re Melanie and Jennifer C.”

  His lips twitched. “Jennifer C.?”

  “We’ve got three Jennifers in our class.” But only one Effie, she thought with a grimace. She loved her parents, she truly did. But sometimes she surely wished they’d given her a less weird name.

  Okay, she wished that a lot.

  “Do you want to go over and say hi? You can if you want.”

  “That’s okay.” Her muscles were so sore, she knew that her gait was going to be even more uneven than it usually was.

  “Are they not nice?”

  “They’re fine, Zack. Don’t worry about it.” And that was part of the problem, Effie thought. It would almost be easier if they were the type of girls who were mean all the time. But they weren’t. Sometimes, Melanie would seem almost friendly—but then, when she was surrounded by her friends, she would whisper mean comments about someone just loudly enough to be heard.

  Luckily, Effie had never been one of Melanie’s targets. Usually, she ignored Effie or smiled in a distracted way before passing her by.

  Effie didn’t care for girls who did that sort of thing, which was why she’d never been too disappointed that they weren’t better friends.

  But she knew if she walked over there, both Melanie and Jennifer would act like she was their long-lost friend. They’d talk to her as if they actually all talked together when they were at school, which they did not. They were really good at being nice in front of a lot of people.

  Then things would be even more awkward, because Zack would remember their comments. He’d remember their names, too, and then he would start asking if she had plans with them.

  Which she wouldn’t, of course.

  The hostess sat another table and they moved up again in the line. Then at last, five minutes later, they were seated, too. Of course, they had to walk right by Jennifer C. and Melanie. A walk, unfortunately, that was really slow, because she’d been standing in one place for so long.

  When the girls looked up and smiled, she smiled back. “Hi.”

  “Hi, Effie,” Jennifer C. chirped. “Did you come for pie or supper?”

  “Both,” she replied, because it wasn’t like she could ignore them. Then she noticed both of their eyes kept darting her brother’s way. “This is my brother, Zack.”

  “Hey,” Zack said.

  And both girls blushed and giggled. “Hi.”

  After their mamms said hi, too, Effie followed her brother and the hostess to the table. But just as she was walking, a man in front of her abruptly scooted back his chair and got to his feet.

  His motion meant she had to sidestep in the crowded, narrow space between two tables, putting even more pressure on her already tired legs. The muscles in her legs twitched. She shifted her hips in an attempt to support the weight.

  But it was too much. Her left leg buckled. Right there, in front of Jennifer C. and Melanie.

  Instinctively, she reached out for the side of a table. A chair. Anything to help prevent her from falling completely on the ground.

  And in that split second, her embarrassment reached a new level.

  Next thing she knew, a woman about Zack’s age leapt out of her seat and wrapped a reassuring arm around Effie. Immediately, her muscles righted themselves and she regained her balance.

  Just in the nick of time.

  “Easy now,” the woman said with a reassuring smile. “Don’t rush yourself.”

  Effie was breathing hard, both from the effort of holding herself stiff and from the awful knowledge that half the people in the place were now watching her fight to stay on two feet. “Danke.”

  “You okay?” the woman whispered. “You didn’t fall, but I fear you might have pulled a muscle or strained yourself.”

  The lady really was very kind. “I’m gut. Danke,” Effie said again. “I’m sorry for the trouble.” With effort, she pulled herself away from the woman’s grip and righted herself—just as Zack reached her other side.

  “Effie, you good?” Zack asked, his voice sounding unnaturally loud in the lull of conversation.

  “Jah.” But she wasn’t. She wished she could run to the bathroom or right out of the restaurant. Or rewind the last five minutes.

  “Gut.” He smiled.

  Effie returned his grin. And then, just like that, everyone in the restaurant went back to their private conversations.

  Happy the drama was over, she breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn’t making a big deal out of what had just happened. “I think your legs are getting much stronger,” he murmured. “Used to be, you could never have righted yourself so quickly. All that swimming the doctor recommended really has been helping.”

  As nice as it would be to take that credit, Effie knew she couldn’t. “Zack, actually, it was this lady’s quick reflexes which saved the day. I would have fallen if not for her.” Effie looked to her right, intent on showing Zack who had been so kind.

  But it turned out that she didn’t need to say anything at all . . . because Zack was staring at the woman with an almost starstruck expression.

  “Leona?”

  “Jah. And you are Zack, right?”

  “I am.” His chest puffed up a bit.

  Leona smiled brightly. “I can’t believe that we ran into each other again. What a small world.”

  “Well, this is Pinecraft,” Zack replied. “It is a rather small world. I’m sure we’ll run into each other all the time. That said, I can’t believe you’re lending a helping hand again. First you helped me with Serena, and now here you were, just in time to help my sister.”

  “I’m glad I could give you that hand.”

  “This is my sister Effie. Effie, this is Leona. She’s the girl who caught Serena last
night.”

  “Hi.”

  Leona inclined her head in a friendly way. “Nice to meet you.”

  Feeling awkward, all of a sudden, Effie stumbled over her next words. “Thanks again for helping me out.”

  “Again, it was nothing. I’m glad I happened to be sitting close by.” Her gaze darted toward Zack, hesitated, then she smiled at Effie again. “Well, I should go sit back down. It’s pretty crowded in here. Enjoy your meal.”

  “You too.” Zack looked like he wanted to say something more but he turned to Effie instead. Firmly wrapping an arm around her, he guided Effie to their table and held her chair out as she sat.

  “I’m sorry, Zack,” Effie said, feeling her cheeks heat.

  “For what?”

  “Causing a scene.”

  “You didn’t cause a scene.”

  Looking at him more closely, Effie realized that her brother was being completely honest. He hadn’t seen anything wrong with his awkward sister stumbling in between the tables. He probably didn’t have a clue that Jennifer C. was no doubt going to tell everyone how Effie couldn’t even walk through a restaurant. And with her luck, their story would reach Josiah Grimm, the cutest boy in their class.

  “Zack, I almost fell down in the middle of Yoder’s. Your friend had to leap out of her chair to catch me. It wasn’t one of my best moments.” She smiled at him before dipping her head to read the printed paper menu. Maybe she shouldn’t have even said that much, but while she felt that it was best to show him she wasn’t going to let it ruin her whole day, she also felt obligated to point out the extent of her flaws.

  “Hey.”

  She popped her head up. “What?”

  “Don’t worry about it, okay?” For once, even his eyes weren’t smiling. Instead, his whole expression was serious and solemn. “Things like this happen to everyone. I promise. It feels big because it happened to you, but everyone else has probably already forgotten it. It’s only a big deal if you make it out to be.”

  She knew he was probably right. But she also knew that he would never be able to understand what it felt like to be a twelve-year-old girl with a wheelchair and plastic braces attached to her legs. “I just wish I was normal.”

  Something new entered his eyes and he leaned forward. “Don’t ever say that again. You are normal. You are fine.”

  “Zack, you’re right. I am fine . . . but I’m not like everyone else.”

  “Everybody’s got something, Effie,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “You just happen to have some problems with your hips and legs. That doesn’t mean you can’t do things, because you can. It doesn’t mean you’re not as good as anyone else, you surely are.”

  “Okay,” she whispered, hoping he would stop.

  But her brother was on a roll. “You know, Effie, Gott doesn’t give us anything He doesn’t think we can’t handle. He’s given you this problem, but He’s also given you a lot of gifts. Remember that.”

  His voice was so intense, his expression so fierce, that Effie nodded. There was no way she was going to even think of arguing with him about this. Especially not in the middle of Yoder’s. “I’ll remember.”

  “Gut. Now, let’s have lunch, okay?”

  She nodded, and when the server came, she ordered the special, which was barbecue chicken. Zack did the same. Just as she geared up for what was probably going to be round two of the ‘Effie is normal’ discussion, she noticed that he was looking beyond her. At Leona.

  “Leona is really pretty,” she said. “She seems mighty nice, too.”

  “Yeah.”

  “How did you meet her?”

  “Last night, Mrs. Sadler asked if I could try and get Serena out of the tree in the front of Palm Grove.”

  Effie refrained from rolling her eyes, but just barely. “Serena doesn’t need help getting out of trees. Especially not the ones in the front of the Mennonite church. She’s up there all the time.”

  “Well, I know that, and you know that. Serena probably knows that, too.”

  “But?”

  Slowly, his lips curved. “But Mrs. Sadler loves that cat. And she was fretting. When she knocked on our door, she was near tears. What could I do?”

  Privately, Effie thought he could have told Mrs. Sadler that Serena had come down from the tree just fine the day before. But she wasn’t Zack. And Zack always put other people first.

  “Okay, now I get why you were trying to rescue Serena. How did Leona come into play?”

  “She was walking by the church with her girlfriends and they saw Danny, Jeremy, and me trying to get Serena out. Actually, I was in the tree.”

  She paused. “Wait a minute. You were climbing the tree?”

  “Oh, jah. I was half stuck in there, too. We were laughing something fierce.” He leaned back and braced his hands on the edge of their table. “It was obvious that Serena didn’t want anything to do with us. However, it was also becoming obvious that some bees, ah, didn’t appreciate us being in their space.”

  “Oh, Zack. It’s a wonder you three didn’t get stung.”

  He shrugged off her worry. “Next thing I knew, Serena jumped down from the tree limb like it was six inches off the ground instead of six feet, and pranced over to Leona. Right then and there, she rubbed herself against Leona’s legs and meowed. Leona bent down and picked her up, just like that cat was her long-lost friend.”

  Serena wasn’t known for being an especially cuddly cat. That, Effie thought, was one of the reasons she escaped so much. If Mrs. Sadler had her way, Serena would be in her arms or on her lap all day long. “Did Leona get scratched up?”

  “Nee. Fact is, Serena didn’t fight her at all.” He shook his head in wonder. “It was something to see.” He looked beyond Effie again, his gaze settling on Leona.

  “I bet. So that’s how you met Leona?”

  “Yeah. I introduced myself. Well, all three of us boys did. Leona and her friends are down from Ohio on vacation.”

  Effie felt her spirits sink, though she wasn’t quite sure why. The actual population of Pinecraft was pretty small. She didn’t know all the Amish, of course, but she recognized most of the folks who lived in her area. Still, if Leona were a local, Effie would have remembered her. With her blond hair, brown eyes, and high cheek bones, Leona was so very pretty.

  And, judging by the way Zack kept looking in her direction, it was fairly obvious that he thought Leona was attractive, too.

  After their server brought them their drinks, Effie made a decision. “Zack, why don’t you go over and see if they want a tour of the area or something?”

  “What?”

  “All right. Maybe not a tour. But maybe you could show them how to get on the bus to go to Siesta Key. It’s a little tricky, at least the first time. I mean, everyone says that. And then, since you’ll be on the bus with her, you could go to the beach, too.”

  Something flickered in his eyes before he firmly tamped it down. “I bet she’d think that was a bit much, me going up to her table and offering to take her to the beach.”

  “I bet she’d think that was nice. How else is she going to figure things out? I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t ask you to take her.”

  “Why wouldn’t she?”

  Effie rolled her eyes. “Because she’s the girl, Zack. Even I know that answer.”

  “I don’t know. I don’t want to say the wrong thing. Or scare her off.”

  “You don’t have to say another word to her if you don’t want. But I kind of think she would be relieved if you offered. Ain’t so?”

  “You think?”

  “Jah. Those girls have probably been wondering how much it costs, how to get tickets, where it stops . . . all that stuff. I’ve read the guides. If you don’t know the streets, it don’t make much sense. It’s much better to be with someone who knows what to do and where to go.” She smiled then, really pleased that she was able to help him out for once.

  Her brother cracked a few of his knuckles, something he always did
when he was thinking hard. “You may be right.”

  “I know I’m right.” Eager to help him, since he was always looking out for her, Effie added another thought. “I think there might be another reason she’s gonna be glad you asked.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because I saw her looking at you the same way you’ve been darting glances at her.”

  “Really?”

  “Really.”

  Zack frowned. “A girl like that is probably taken, though, don’tcha think?”

  “You won’t know unless you start talking to her, silly. It’s not like she’s going to be wearing a ring on her finger like the Englischers do.”

  “You’re probably right,” he muttered under his breath.

  Effie almost laughed. Her brother was one of the most confident people she’d ever met. Nothing ever seemed to fluster him. Not his life at home—which basically amounted to taking care of everything—not his friends, not even her handicap. He took everything in stride.

  Except this girl. Yep, there was something about this Leona that had his stomach in knots and set him on edge. And though she was only twelve, she thought it was cute. “Go on and ask before she leaves.”

  He braced his hands on the table, obviously ready to push away, then paused. Indecision shone brightly on his face, so vividly that Effie could have sworn a ticker tape of thoughts flickered in his eyes.

  At last he stood up. “I’ll be right back,” he murmured, then walked over to Leona’s table.

  Taking a sip of iced tea, Effie smiled to herself.

  Thank you, Lord.

  When she’d arrived at Yoder’s, she’d only been thinking about herself. About her legs, about her handicap, about the girls in her class and how she wished she’d never heard of Perthes disease.

  But now He had given her the opportunity to concentrate on someone else. To be the encourager, the strong and confident one. It was a nice change. It was a really nice change.

  So much so, she hardly noticed when Jennifer C. and Melanie walked by, waving at her slightly before they followed their mothers to the cashier.

  For the first time in a long time, what she wanted and how she was feeling didn’t matter to her at all. Not one bit.