A New Beginning by Michael Phillips Read Free Book Online

had envisioned the scene already in my mind a hundred times.
    We didn’t talk about it. The day was coming, and we would just do what must be done when the time came to do it.
    By March 10, a Wednesday, I didn’t think I could stand it another day. We would be leaving in less than a week and I wished we could just leave right then and get it over with. The hours crept by so slowly. The waiting was awful!
    Then suddenly a shock wave slammed into our lives that changed everything.
    The first evidence of it came that afternoon of the tenth when suddenly the sound of galloping hooves came pounding up the road. You could tell something was wrong just by the urgent sound of them.
    Becky and I were talking together. We ran out of the bunkhouse about the same time Almeda appeared on the porch of the house with a look of concern on her face.
    â€œPa, Pa!” cried Zack as he flew up to the front of the house. “Where’s Pa?”
    â€œUp at your uncle’s,” replied Almeda, “—why, what’s—”
    But she could not even finish her question. Zack had already wheeled his horse around and was making for Uncle Nick’s as fast as he could go.
    â€œWhat is it?” I said as Becky and I ran up.
    â€œI don’t know,” replied Almeda. “He wanted your father, that’s all he said.”
    We were still standing there a couple minutes later when Zack again appeared, still galloping furiously. This time he didn’t even slow down as he came but kept right on back in the direction of town. Before the sound of his horse was gone, Pa’s feet sounded on the path as he came running down from Uncle Nick’s as fast as I’d ever seen him go.
    â€œAvery’s had an attack!” he called, not even coming to the house, but running straight to the barn.
    Almeda’s hand went to her mouth as she gasped in shock.
    â€œOh, the dear man,” she whispered. “God bless him.”
    For a second or two she and Becky and I stood there looking at each other in stunned silence. Then, as if we all suddenly realized the same thing at the same instant, we all tore off to the barn to hitch up a buggy.
    Pa was off before we were done, just about the same time Uncle Nick came riding down from his place. He and Pa galloped off together toward town. Tad and Christopher had by now heard the commotion and had come running. Tad quickly saddled his horse, while Christopher gave us a hand with the buggy.
    In a few minutes more Christopher and I, along with Becky, Almeda, and Ruth, were in the buggy, following about a minute behind Tad, with Aunt Katie and her family right behind us.

Chapter 10 Passing On of a Legacy
    By the time we reached the Rutledge home, already several buggies and horses stood outside.
    Christopher reined in the horse to a trot, then to a walk as we approached the house. Already a sense of eerie quiet was stealing over us.
    Christopher parked the buggy and set the brake. We all got out quietly, suddenly becoming very aware of noise. We walked inside.
    No one was in the living room. We continued toward the bedroom, tiptoeing as we crept forward. The door was open and we could hear a few subdued voices coming from inside.
    Harriet Rutledge glanced up from the bedside as we entered. She rose and came toward us.
    â€œOh, Almeda . . . Corrie,” she said, then was suddenly in both our arms together.
    â€œHarriet,” whispered Almeda tenderly, “I am so sorry. Is he . . .”
    Harriet shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said, then began to cry softly.
    Christopher walked past us toward the bed, where Doc Shoemaker and Pa and a few other men were gathered. Pa and Uncle Nick had arrived only a few minutes before us, and the doctor was trying to explain to them Rev. Rutledge’s condition.
    â€œHe’s had a stroke of paralysis,” I heard him say in a subdued tone. “You never know exactly what part of