The girl ignored his last remark. “Tomorrow will be very special,” she said quietly.
“How come?”
She didn’t answer.
Chapter Seven: Danger in the Rain
Pastor Sawat eased the dust-covered bus onto the academy campus and admired the partially constructed dormitory. “You have worked hard,” he said.
“Uh huh,” Ricki said as she climbed aboard. “I bet we’ll finish ahead of schedule.”
“Good!” The Thai pastor flashed his characteristic smile. “We are glad you are all coming to our church today.”
The eighteen students and their youth leader sang praise choruses as the bus rolled down the two-lane paved road toward Chiang Mai. Even at 8:15 in the morning trucks, motorcyclists, and a long stream of small foreign-made cars crowded the highway.
In town the bus pulled into a street bordering a long canal and entered a driveway near a small white building. “This is our church,” Sawat announced. “Welcome!”
As the students entered the small building, Bucky watched with interest as the Thai members took off their shoes and left them at the door. “How come they’re doing that?”
“Just the custom here.” Gordon bent over and unloosed his own shoelaces. “How often do you get to go barefoot in church? Enjoy!”
Bucky padded in his stocking feet over to an empty chair next to Jo-Jo. In the row ahead of him, Vasana leaned over and said hello in Thai to an older woman, holding her hands together in the traditional greeting.
Pastor Sawat went to the front and made some announcements in Thai, then switched abruptly into English. “We wish a special welcome to our friends from America. They are building a dormitory for us at Maetang and doing a fine job. We are so happy you are here.” He nodded toward the group as Thai believers turned to greet the students.
The pastor followed with one more announcement in Thai and then gave the name of the hymn they would sing. “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” he added for the benefit of the visitors.
Even though the hymnbooks were printed only in Thai, the students sang along with the choruses, relying on memory. After a short prayer, a young man with glasses stepped forward to teach the Bible lesson. Pastor Sawat stood next to him, translating the lesson and questions into English.
“. . . And so in Christ we are all one people.” The minister listened with a smile as the intense young teacher added one more comment. “. . . As we see here today with our brothers and sisters from so far away.” A cheerful rumble of agreement swelled through the congregation.
The church service had barely begun when Pastor Sawat made a surprise announcement. “As most of you know – except for our visitors – we are not having our service here in this building today.” Bucky frowned. Was this the surprise Gordon had mentioned?
“We are going up to the mountain as I promised,” the pastor added. “Those of you with cars or tuk tuks, let us go. The bus will bring the students and any others who need a ride.”
It took fifteen minutes for the congregation to ride up the hill behind Chiang Mai and pull into a small grove near a rapidly flowing river. Along the banks the church family gathered quietly, watching the white water rush past.
The short Thai pastor stepped forward, still wearing his dress trousers and white shirt, but without his shoes. Bucky looked puzzled as the man strode into the water near the edge of the bank, the current tugging at him.
When the water reached almost to his waist, he turned and faced the crowd. With his head bowed, he prayed briefly in Thai and then looked up.
“Today a very special moment has come,” he began. “An old friend has returned to the land she loves, and today is the day of her baptism.”
Bucky sucked in his breath as he glanced around. Making her way through the crowd, clad in a simple white dress, Vasana stepped gingerly into the water.
“Many years ago, Vasana’s father became a Christian,” Sawat said, raising his voice so that all could hear. “Born among the opium families in the north, he escaped to Chiang Mai looking for work. Instead he found Jesus.” He translated his own remarks into the national tongue.
“Now his daughter has returned to the very pool of water where her father was baptized. In this very spot when Vasana was a little girl of three years, her father and mother joined the family of God. Now Vasana, clear from America, has come home to Chiang Mai to do the same.”
Bucky felt tears in his eyes as he watched the girl’s face. The secret she had held locked in her heart throughout the whole trip now unfolded before her new friends.
The simple ceremony over, the group moved to a clearing and listened intently as Pastor Sawat, his clothes still dripping, shared a short message of hope. Switching easily between Thai and English, he concluded with a prayer for unity among God’s worldwide family.
Bucky slipped over to where Vasana stood under a tall banana plant, her cotton dress almost dry in the warm Chiang Mai air. “Why didn’t you tell us?” he whispered.
She smiled. “It was a secret.”
“Pretty awesome.” He leaned over and gave her an awkward one-arm hug. “I’m happy for you.”
“Thanks.” Her eyes still brimmed with emotion as the other students on the volunteer mission team offered hugs and congratulations.
“All aboard,” Gordon announced. “We’re going on a picnic!”
The students chattered happily as the bus crept higher up the mountain highway, stopping at a wide spot in the road.
“What’s here?” Benny wanted to know.
“Listen!”
“What?”
The youth director pointed. “Right over there. See that waterfall?”
The students clambered out. “All right! Are we having lunch here?”
“Yep.” Gordon and Bucky carried two huge bags of sandwiches and fruit over to a large spot of grass near the river’s edge. The group devoured the food and then spread out to hike or wade in the cool water near the waterfall’s edge.
“Check it out!” Carl stood directly under the pounding spray, letting the water drench him. “This feels great!”
“But now you’re sopping wet,” Bucky pointed out.
“Aaaah, who cares? Look how fast Vasana dried out.”
With a grin, Bucky joined his friend under the falls, letting the pounding rush of water massage his head and shoulders. “Man, that does feel good.” He beckoned to Vasana. “Get in here!”
“No!” She shook her head vigorously. “I just got dry.”
“So get wet again.”
Once more she shook her head.
“Do I have to come get you?”
She squealed. “Bucky!”
Moments later the three of them clung to each other under the spray. “See there,” he grinned. “Ain’t this great?”
She laughed, the drops of water dancing on her smooth brown skin.
That evening Bucky sat in on the regular Rook game, Vasana’s hand resting on his shoulder as she watched the action. She pinched him when he inadvertently tossed the wrong card on the pile, sending his partner to a second defeat in a row.
“Come on, Stone!” Benny complained with a glare at his friend. “You are sinking our aircraft carrier, my man.”
“Sorry.” Bucky eyed the rest of his cards. “With Vasana here, I can’t think straight.” He looked up at her with a teasing smile.
The following week the work routine started up once again. Under Prasert’s watchful eye and Gordon’s cheerful enthusiasm, the new dormitory was rapidly taking shape. Bucky and the rest of the crew, following the youth director’s motto “Work hard, play hard!” dug in for long hours of labor under the hot Thai sun.
Wednesday morning the Thai building supervisor examined the structure with a critical eye.
“Pretty good, huh?” Bucky felt a surge of pride.
“Yes, good.” Prasert’s gold teeth flashed. “But not done.”
“We still have today and tomorrow.”
“Yes.” P
rasert looked at the distant horizon and the clouds forming. “If no rain, we can finish.”
An hour later the students learned the meaning of the word “monsoon.” Without warning the heavens opened up, drenching everything in sight.
“Go quick! Cover!” Prasert shouted to the scurrying teenagers as they pulled tarps and plastic sheets over everything they could.
“Buck-EE!” Even after a week Prasert still emphasized the second syllable. “Run to truck and bring here. More covers!”
“Me?” Bucky mopped rain water out of his eyes.
“Yes! Go quick.” The supervisor tossed the keys to Bucky.
Dashing through the downpour, he splashed toward the truck parked near the entrance to the campus. In the blinding torrent, it was difficult to see the path. He was three - quarters of the way when a tree root poking out of the soil tripped him up. With an agonized thud he hit the ground. Wet sod and leaves clung to his face as he twisted around and tried to clear his vision. A searing pain shot through his ankle.
With a gasp he sucked in his breath. Was it broken? He wiped the water and grime from his eyes and looked down at his left leg, the bare skin streaked with mud. Pulling himself to a sitting position he put a little weight on it. Again the sharp pain returned.
Fumbling around in the soft mud, he tried to find the keys he had dropped. All at once his heart began to pound. Perched in the driving rain less than five feet away from his injured leg was a long, ominous shape. Symmetrical rings of black and yellow scales slid slowly in a coil toward him.
His breath coming in little gasps, he tried again to climb to his feet, but the throbbing pain held him riveted in place.
“Snake!” In the roar of the monsoon rain, his voice sounded like a weakened squeak. “Snake!”
A good hundred feet away he could see a shadowy figure begin to move toward him. The tropical snake remained motionless as Bucky tried desperately inch away.
“Help!” He gasped in fear. A memory from an Internet article back home sent fresh tremors of panic through him. Yellow and black stripes – deadly poisonous.
“Buck-EE!” It was the voice of the foreman. “Do not be moving.”
“I won’t.” His voice shook. For the moment at least, the driving rain was holding the viper at bay. “What should I do?”
“Stay very still.” Prasert’s cotton T-shirt stuck to his broad chest in the downpour. “Say nothing.” Moving with instincts honed by years in the tropical jungle, the man picked up a large stick and slipped in behind the snake.
“Bucky.” Standing about ten yards away, Vasana’s quiet voice reached his ears. “Bucky, don’t move.”
He nodded imperceptibly. Somehow the girl’s words had a calming effect. He could feel his pounding heartbeat slow just a little bit. Taking a deep breath, he glanced over at the sinister stripes.
“Quiet now.” Prasert’s whispered words were barely audible in the hiss of the rain as he edged closer and closer, the huge stick poised in his hand. Ten feet . . . nine . . . eight. Without warning the snake began to move forward, slithering rapidly toward Bucky’s exposed leg.
With a shout Prasert darted forward, bringing the club down on the snake’s body close to the head. Twisting away, the viper’s body trembled for a moment, then continued toward the crippled teenage boy.
“Bhai!” The harsh word froze Bucky’s heart. Mesmerized with fear, he watched as the construction foreman rushed forward again. Twisting the club under the snake’s body, he flipped the deadly serpent away from Bucky. The yellow-and-black coils sailed through the air, landing in the path a good thirty feet away.
“Bucky!” With a sob, the Thai girl rushed to his side. “Are you all right?”
His body shaking, he sank to the ground in relief. “Yeah.” He clutched at her.
“Look!” She pointed to the path where Prasert landed a well-aimed blow at the snake’s head. The stunned viper shook momentarily, then lay still. A second and third blow finished the job.
“Dhai lao!” With a note of satisfied triumph, the powerfully built foreman raised the stick aloft.
“What’s that mean?” Bucky’s voice was still weak.
“Dhai. What does that sound like?”
He forced a tired grin. “Dhai. I dunno. Die? Dead?”
“Uh huh.”
The pounding rain was already easing as Prasert approached the couple. “Buck-EE. You are all right?”
“Yeah.” With Vasana’s help he struggled to get to his feet. “I just hurt my ankle a little bit.” When he tested it, he found the pain definitely easing.
“Very close with snake.” The man spoke matter - of - factly. “Banded krait. Poison.”
“I know.” Bucky held out a hand. “Thanks.”
Prasert smiled. “Never mind truck now. Rain gone.”
When Bucky looked up at the sky, he could see blue patches already starting to appear as the rain clouds passed to the north.
“You can walking?”
“Uh huh. I think so.” Vasana slipped an arm around him as he began hobbling back to the group. “Wait! The keys!”
It took just a moment to find them gleaming in the mud. The student group applauded as he approached them. “That man’ll do anything to get a pretty girl to hold him up,” Benny declared, giving his friend a high five.
The building foreman clapped softly. “Rain gone. Now we work harder?”
It soon became apparent that the rain had made the entire dormitory project a race against time. The tired workers toiled by lamplight until 9:30 that evening and started again at dawn the next day.
“Train pulls out at 6:30 tonight,” Gordon grimaced as he helped plaster the east wall. “Come on, guys!”
Even with his slightly sore ankle, Bucky worked furiously with Benny to complete the roof as Prasert scurried from one side to the other, barking cheerful orders. “Everyone doing good! We make it OK. I think!” He laughed as he checked a door’s hinges, then nodded approval to the perspiring boys.
At 4:00 Bucky laid down his tools with a sigh of relief. “Done!”
“Very good! Very good!” Prasert repeated over and over. “Everything done OK.”
“Dee mahk!” Benny tried to give the Thai supervisor a high five.
“Yes. Dee mahk!” The students congratulated each other.
Gordon and Pastor Sawat, both dripping with perspiration as well, shook hands with the grinning builder, then motioned for the volunteer group to gather around.
“I’m so proud of you kids,” Gordon said quietly. “Just a tremendous job all the way. Especially last night and today.”
“Yes,” nodded the Thai pastor. “Thank you, young people. This dormitory will serve our Thai young people for many years to come.” He laughed. “If the roof ever leaks, we will have you come back to Chiang Mai and fix it!”
“No way!” Benny shook his head. “Me and Buck did that roof right, dude!” Everybody laughed.
Gordon motioned for silence. “Pastor Sawat has made a suggestion I think is excellent. What if we let this dormitory be called Helen Morton Hall?”
The name triggered a memory in Bucky’s mind and he strained to remember where he had heard it before.
Ricki beat him to the question. “Who’s that?”
Pastor Sawat’s eyes sobered. “Dr. Morton came to Thailand to work for our people,” he said quietly. “From America. She worked here alone. Her family was all in America. For many years she lived here in the small house by the path.”
Suddenly Bucky remembered the tombstone. “What happened to her?” he asked.
“Robbers.” The pastor’s voice was heavy with grief, as if remembering it again. “Robbers came here and killed her. They shot her on the steps of her house.”
One of the girls winced, clapping her hand to her mouth. “Oh, no! How sad!”
“Yes. Very sad.” Sawat nodded. “She was a good friend to Thai people. Now her grave is here, very far from her home and family.” He paused. “But she has home a
nd family here with us.”
During the long silence Bucky thought again of the lonely grave so far from the United States.
“What do you think, kids?” Gordon broke the tension. “The Helen Morton Hall?”
“For sure.” Bucky spoke for the group. “Moved, seconded, all in favor say ‘aye.’” With one voice, it carried unanimously.
“We will put up a sign on the wall. Helen Morton Hall, built by volunteer young people from America.” The pastor’s eyes shone with gratitude.
It was a tired but satisfied group that said goodbye to Pastor Sawat and Prasert at the train station that evening. “Come back to Thailand again!” The two Thais waved until the long blue train had almost pulled out of view.
Chapter Eight: “R and R in Bangkok”
The monotonous clicking of the metal wheels on the track beneath the railroad car lulled Bucky into a state of thoughtful solitude. He looked around the crowded passenger area at his new friends. There was Benny, strumming a “hot lick” on Pastor Humboldt’s guitar, laughing boisterously as he butchered the lyrics to a popular song. Ricki with her short, staccato laugh and variety of “funny noises” she could mimic. Carl’s quiet grin. Jo-Jo’s endless storehouse of pranks, mostly played on Benny.
The moonlight danced its way through the thick glass window and cast shadows on the wall as he reflected on their week of work and fellowship. Day after day of mingling and sweating together with fellow believers. Eighteen kids – all of them vibrant, born-again Christians just like him . . .
And yet there was Dan. And Sam. Solid guys who had found the Lord because he had gone to public school. And somewhere up in Washington, a pretty girl named Lisa who, because of Bucky’s influence, at least was thinking about what part Jesus should have in her life.
His eyes fell on Vasana. Perched on the arm of her seat, she gazed idly at the “Go Fish” game that was just starting, but her thoughts seemed far away.
For a moment Bucky almost went over to talk with her. But something held him back. Memories of high school . . . Lisa . . . Deirdre. Girls and romance led to such turmoil, especially when God was a factor. And now here was Vasana, so different from anyone he had ever known.
Bucky Stone: The Complete Adventure (Volumes 1-10) Page 48
