Barely Above Water

by Pallotta, Gail;

  “What did you just do?”

  “I imprinted the liquid with exactly what you require. When you were attached to the biofeedback machine, your information flowed from it into the herbal remedy to meet your specific needs.” Margaret smiled. “It’s designer alternative medicine. One formula doesn’t cure all.”

  Margaret propped her elbow on her desk and rested her chin on her fist. “Are you eating more foods now?”

  “Yes, but I’m afraid one of my choices will set off indigestion.”

  Margaret’s eyes softened. “It won’t. I promise. That problem’s gone. Go out, find yourself a juicy steak, or whatever you’d want.”

  Visions of fried red snapper, amberjack, and cobia with tartar sauce and boiled new potatoes with butter oozing down them danced in Suzie’s head. Her mouth watered. If only she had the nerve. The last thing she wanted to do was exacerbate her condition. “I tried a fish once when I was on a date, and it didn’t bother me. Do you think I could eat it again?”

  “Sure. Carpe piscis. Seize the fish. Don’t waste a minute.” Suzie grinned as Margaret placed her palms on her desk. “We’re going to put you on pulsed electromagnetic therapy today. It’ll help remove more toxins.”

  Gratitude swept through Suzie because she could eat additional foods but she wept inside because she still had the bacteria. “Oh yes, Dr. Granger mentioned that therapy to me.” She stood and followed Margaret to a small room with an examining table made up like a bed. One-inch coils resembling silver hoses lay on it.

  “You’re going to love it. Everyone does. The machine’s so relaxing, some people go to sleep during the treatment. Hop up here.” Margaret patted the table with her small, smooth hand.

  Suzie did as Margaret asked.

  Margaret held out a tube-like hoop. “Put your arms through here as you would a backpack, then lie down.”

  Suzie slipped on the contraption and lay back. What will happen next? The therapies had only helped her. There was no cause for uneasiness, but the unknown triggered it once again, and a shiver filtered through her.

  Margaret placed a matching loop on top of Suzie’s chest and stomach, stuck a pillow underneath her head, and put a bolster under her knees. “This is an electrical impulse. Let me know when you feel it.” Margaret bent over and turned a knob on a metal box beside the bed.

  Could it electrocute her? That was silly. She hadn’t seen anyone come out of the room singed. The device created a throbbing sensation but without pain, and no signs of an electrical shock. In moments her stomach thumped. “Okay, now. What’s it doing?”

  “It targets damaged cells. If they’re not too impaired, it pumps them up to restore their pulsating open/close mechanisms to make them work properly. If there’s irreparable damage, the mechanism causes the body to throw them off so it can grow new ones.” Margaret grinned. “Close your eyes and listen to the music. If I’m not here when it cuts off, you’re welcome to leave. Just rise and sit a few seconds before you stand.”

  Suzie soon grew comfortable with the ticking and thudding of the machine. Her body adapted to the thumping, so she hardly noticed it. Her eyelids grew heavy, and she dozed as the coils pumped renewed energy into her sick body. Finally, it clicked off. Relaxed and thankful for the healing process, she hated to go, but her time had ended. She freed her arms, sat up for a few seconds, stood, and left the room. How long would it take to eliminate the spirochetes burrowed deep inside her wreaking havoc on her life?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  The glow from the parking lot light seeped through the slats in the blinds as Suzie stood in front of the mirror. She adjusted the crocheted jacket that matched the new light blue sundress she’d bought with the payment from The Sun Dial. Outside, water hit the pavement like rain, but a rhythmic clicking commenced. It was only the sprinkler system.

  A car pulled up out front. Matt. Suzie bounded down the steps and arrived at the door as the bell rang.

  “Wow!” Matt’s gaze followed Suzie’s shape from the top of her head to her toes.

  She smiled. “You look perfect for the shore.” And very handsome. His khaki pants and a white shirt set off his dark hair and eyes, not to mention that tan of his.

  Matt helped Suzie in his car, and they drove from her unit onto Highway 98. The sound of the tires turning on the asphalt whirred into the quiet morning. The light of day pushed away the dark of night and turned the sky gray.

  “I owe you more of an explanation than saying I needed to process the reality of your illness. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve regretted that statement.”

  Suzie had to forgive Matt if they were to have any type of relationship. “I understand. At one time or another, we all say things we regret later.”

  “It’s more than that. I should have told you. My mother was diagnosed with liver cancer and died two weeks later.” Matt’s eyes grew teary. “I’ve had such a hard time dealing with it.”

  Suzie put her hand on top of Matt’s on the steering wheel. “That must have been so difficult for you.”

  “Yes, but I had no right to transfer it to your situation and let it ruin everything between us.”

  “No worries. No hard feelings. We’re friends.”

  “That’s a start.” Matt pulled off the shoulder of the road and parked in a paved lot with a thin layer of sand. He jogged around the car and opened Suzie’s door.

  The salty breeze bent the sea oats in front of them to the right. Matt grabbed two folding chairs from the trunk, the slam piercing the soft sound of the ocean lapping in the distance.

  He put his other arm around her waist and guided her down a lighted wooden pathway between high sand dunes. Within seconds, they reached the beach, where fifty people sat in folding chairs facing the sea. Reddish-orange colors with a yellow ball in the center danced on the horizon, casting pink and golden hues over white foam as the waves curled ashore.

  The minster, wearing a white suit, rose from the first row of chairs and stood in front of the podium as Matt and Suzie settled in their seats.

  With opened arms, the preacher motioned for those gathered to stand. “We’ll begin by singing ‘Morning Has Broken.’”

  As the sweet sound filled the air, the colors low in the sky rose slowly, breaking through the cloud cover, brightening the world as the soft washing of waves lulled it. The minister motioned for them to sit down. Then he turned to a place in the Bible marked by a burgundy ribbon.

  He read from Matthew nine, verses twenty-seven through twenty-nine. The Scripture told the story of two blind men who followed Jesus and asked him to have mercy on them. Jesus asked if they believed he was able to heal them. They answered “Yes,” and Jesus told them it would be done according to their faith. The preacher then flipped the pages to another place and read from Matthew seventeen, verse twenty, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

  Nothing impossible? Suzie mouthed the words. They should have filled her with assurance, but they didn’t. Margaret’s information about the bacteria that still lived in her body sounded much louder in her mind.

  The minister held up a small, clear jar. “You probably can’t see this from where you’re sitting, so I’ll pass it around. It’s a mustard seed. Take a few seconds to look in the container and observe how much faith you need to move a mountain.” The pastor held out the specimen. A man wearing white pants on the first row sprang up and accepted it.

  The guy peered at it with interest for a few moments then passed it to a woman sitting next to him. She handed it to Suzie, the sunlight bouncing off it.

  Suzie stared at the tiny seed. Surely, she could have that much faith. That’s all it would take for God to heal her. That must have been God’s intention when he sent her to Dr. Granger. Why wasn’t she well? She handed the mustard seed to Matt and turned her attention back to the minister.

  “Jesus told us, w
hen we pray, we should ask that God’s will be done. If we think God isn’t answering a prayer, maybe it’s because He knows what we need, or don’t need, better than we do. Then, too, the Bible tells us to wait on the Lord. He will respond to our prayers in His time. That may be very different from ours.”

  Suzie absorbed the minister’s words. Unfortunately, she’d learned first-hand that evil existed. The world was imperfect, but the minister was giving Suzie a new perspective like the optometrist when he put the corrective lenses over her eyes.

  God was with her, making it possible for her to move, coach, write, walk on the beach, swim, and meet someone nicer than Carson. She had to admit, the Lord seemed to be taking a long time healing her, and she wanted to get well in her time. That was only human, wasn’t it?

  She glanced at Matt. He squirmed a little as though he was ready to go. Did something about the sermon disturb him?

  The minister picked up a hymnbook. “Turn to page three hundred three.”

  The congregation stood and sang “Holy, Holy, Holy.” The powerful song filled Suzie’s pores with strength for living.

  The reverend raised his arms. “Go forth into the world in peace. Be of good courage. Hold fast to that which is true. Render to no one evil for evil. Strengthen the faint-hearted. Support the weak. Help the afflicted. Honor all. Serve the Lord with gladness, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.”

  Matt sat with his head lowered as those around him picked up their seats and left. He gazed up at Suzie with soft eyes. Then he stood and gathered their chairs.

  A tall, lanky man with dark hair and dark eyes trudged to them, sand spilling from the sides of his white shoes. “Mornin’, Matt.”

  Matt shook his hand. “Hi, Tom. This is Suzie.”

  “How do you do, Miss Suzie. I hope the two of you enjoyed the service, and you’ll come next week.”

  Matt’s mouth went up on one side in a half grin. “Oh, you know I will. I hope Suzie will join me.”

  “I’d love to.”

  Tom gently slapped Matt on the back and laughed. “See you then.”

  Matt stiffened, and an awkward moment seemed to pass between him and the man. “Right.”

  Matt tucked the chairs under his left arm, turned toward Suzie and clasped her hand, escorting her toward the dunes.

  Within five minutes, he tossed the seats in the trunk and situated Suzie and himself in his car. Pebbles crunched underneath the tires as he turned around on the shoulder and pulled onto Highway 98. They drove between sandbanks glistening in the bright sunshine on both sides of the road.

  Suzie fiddled with the strap on her brown purse. “What’d you think about the sermon?”

  “I’m still mulling it over. How about you?”

  “It was a good reminder that we need to leave things in God’s hands and trust Him.”

  “Do you often think about that sort of thing—faith, I mean?” Matt glanced at Suzie.

  “Yeah. Do you?”

  “Not until this morning. I’ve never made a connection between what happened in my life and God being in control of it.”

  It was all Suzie could do not to gasp at Matt’s detachment, but she turned his words over in her head, trying to assess them. “I think most people try to control their lives to a large extent. It’s only human.”

  “That’s what I mean, sort of, but with me, I think it’s even worse. It never crossed my mind that God would take care of my needs. I’ve been kinda like the Frisbee the kids throw around, tossed here and there, and landing somewhere by chance or at someone else’s whim.”

  “Like when your dad and your girlfriend told you to give up the football scholarship?”

  “Exactly.” The color drained from Matt’s face.

  “Pray about that and see if God still wants to use your talent for football. You’d set an excellent example of character and consistency for kids who need Christian role models. Who knows? God may be calling you.”

  “It doesn’t make sense. If God wanted me to do that, why didn’t He let me play college football?”

  Matt’s apparent lack of faith sent an ache to Suzie’s heart. “I don’t know. We are subject to the imperfect world we live in.”

  “Isn’t God omnipotent? Couldn’t He have fixed it if He’d wanted me to play football?”

  “Yes, but that’s where trust comes in. He knows things we don’t. Maybe you would have ended up in the National Football League and suffered a debilitating injury, or maybe that’s not where God needs you. In an ideal world, we’d believe the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which tells us our purpose is to glorify God, and we’d just want to use our talent for Him. I don’t think God likes for us to be unhappy. You’re not miserable in your work, but you’d enjoy coaching.”

  “That puts the entire situation in a different perspective.” Matt puffed out his chest.

  “I’d be honored to use my skills and know-how to help youngsters.” His shoulders slumped. “I don’t see how I could manage that now. I’ve been out of football for a while, and I’m already settled in my job with the county.”

  “If that’s what God wants, He will work it out. Just follow His lead.”

  Matt bit his bottom lip. “Is that what you were doing when you moved to Destin?”

  “Yep.”

  “It must have taken a lot of faith for you to give up the life you knew, come to a strange place when you weren’t well, and look for a job with no assurance you’d have enough money to live.”

  If Matt only knew. Now that she looked back on it, what she had in Destin was so much better than what she gave up. She just needed full-time work and more treatments with Dr. Granger for life to be almost perfect. Almost perfect. A smile bubbled inside her. That was what Dr. Granger said when someone asked how he was. “I suppose, but I believed this was where God wanted me.”

  “I knew there was something different about you. Now, I know. It’s faith.” He pulled into the parking lot of a brick building, Eggs and Such. “How about breakfast?”

  “That sounds great. Sunrise service makes you hungry.” Suzie chuckled.

  They meandered inside to a large room, and the smell of coffee tickled Suzie’s nostrils. They wound around pine tables and chairs in the middle of the floor past a chattering crowd and slid into a burgundy booth against the wall.

  A waitress appeared, carrying two empty cups. “Welcome to Eggs and Such. Decaf or regular?”

  Matt looked at Suzie.

  “Decaffeinated, please.”

  “Coming right up. Grab a menu from behind the syrup jars.”

  Matt reached for the big, plastic booklets with a photo of over-easy eggs on the fronts and handed one to Suzie.

  The waitress returned and set down a steaming insulated, plastic coffee pot. “What’ll it be?”

  “I’ll have steak and eggs.” Matt slid his menu back into place.

  “Scrambled eggs with cheese, grits, and toast, please.” What a blessing to eat whatever she wanted.

  Matt leaned across the table as the waitress walked away. “Your diet has expanded. Are your allergies gone? How’d that happen?”

  Suzie couldn’t have stopped the wide grin that spread across her face if she’d wanted to. “Dr. Granger’s getting rid of the bacteria and toxins from the Chronic Lyme disease and desensitizing me to allergies. It’s hard for me to believe that. Sometimes I hold back rather than try food I haven’t eaten since this malady struck me. But it’s true.”

  “I knew you’d get well.” Matt smiled wide, his eyes sparkling with sincerity.

  “I have a ways to go.”

  “Yes, but you’re going to make it.”

  “So far, so good.”

  “Ellie said you believed I’d betrayed you when I told her about the disease. It was selfish of me. I did it because I was so upset, and I knew I could trust Ellie. I promise you, from now on, I’ll discuss
any concerns about you with you and only you.” Regret lined Matt’s voice.

  Suzie was glad Matt brought up the faux pas and apologized. It put their relationship on firmer ground. People made mistakes, and when they apologized, other people had to forgive them. Now, maybe, she could get rid of the little voice whispering in her head like a pesky mosquito that she couldn’t trust him. Could things work out between them? Tears of joy threatened to spill over her eyelashes, but she blinked them back.

  The waitress served their food, and Matt cut into his steak.

  He swallowed a bite. “We just have to find you a full-time job. I believe they’ll put someone on at The Sun Dial.” He held his fork in the air. “But if they don’t, I think the county could use a public relations person to put out brochures and leaflets, even if we had to hire her on a freelance basis.”

  Gratitude filled Suzie’s heart. “That’d be great. I’m hoping something works out by the time summer league ends. We may have a few swimmers qualify for the county and state meets. That would keep me on the payroll until the end of July, but after that, I’m on my own.”

  Matt gazed at Suzie with loving eyes. “You have me.”

  His words nearly took away Suzie’s breath, and her heart beat at peace. She was like seaweed finally landing on a soft sandy beach from a turbulent ocean. “We’ll have to look for a coaching position for you.”

  Matt chuckled. “You’re not going to leave that alone, are you?”

  “No.” Suzie grinned then scooped up a bite of scrambled eggs. She had Matt. Did that mean the two of them had a future? Yes. She believed it did. So much joy exploded inside her she put her hands on the seat to see if she was still in it.

  EPILOGUE

  Two years later

  Suzie marched down the hall past the administrative offices and lockers, her heels clicking on the terrazzo floor. She stopped and opened the door with gold lettering that read “Coach Combs.”