Return to Harmony by Janette Oke Read Free Book Online

almost running in her haste. “Mr. Russel says he’s in a hurry to teach him some manners, since Sherman’s shooting up so fast. He says Sherman’s got to learn not to greet everybody he likes with two great paws in the center of their chest.”
    Jodie, puffing a little from the pace, said, “Do we have to go so fast?”
    Bethan lifted her eyes to the sky. Jodie knew the approaching clouds were bothering her. Bethan was more than a little uncomfortable about storms. The loud cracks of thunder and flashes of ragged lightning always made her friend nervous, despite her stated belief that God would care for her in all circumstances. It was one thing to hear those words in Sunday school, and another thing entirely to put them to the test out of doors.
    “Momma says I need to be back before it rains. She even told me not to stop to play with Sherman, or visit with Mr. Russel. Just take the scraps in and get my body on home.”
    Jodie could almost hear Bethan’s mother saying the words.
    Her own steps quickened to keep up. “You’re not wearing your eyepatch.”
    Bethan had the ability to sigh with all her body. “I have been wearing it.”
    Jodie felt the tug in her heart at all the sadness those words contained. “Will you have to wear it to school again?”
    Bethan nodded solemnly. “If Momma says I must.”
    Jodie’s brow furrowed. For one short hour, she had understood Bethan’s pain and embarrassment. When she had appeared on stage for the spelling bee wearing Bethan’s eyepatch, none of the others had dared tease her, but she had heard the snickers, seen the snide looks being exchanged and felt the trauma of being a spectacle. It had been one of the most difficult moments of her entire life. Even so, she would not let her friend down. “The next time you have to wear it to school,” she offered, “bring the spare one for me.”
    But Bethan shook her head. “You don’t need to do that,” she said. “Honest. I really did appreciate you standing up for me like you did. But—”
    Jodie cut in. “I’ll wear it every time you do.”
    “No,” Bethan said quickly and followed up with a smile. There was something about the way Bethan could smile that seemed to lift her small frame right off the earth. It twisted Jodie’s heart so, as though suddenly her friend were no longer tied by years or school or anything else Jodie knew and understood. As though somehow she had grown in ways denied to Jodie, and almost everyone else. “No,” Bethan repeated. “It’s okay now.”
    “I don’t see how, if you’ve still got to wear the thing.”
    “Don’t you see, it’s like you changed everything by what you did. Doing it more isn’t so important now. It’s almost like,” she scrunched up her forehead with the effort to explain, “it’s like you made them all see themselves in the eyepatch. Momma says it was the kindest thing you could have ever done for me.”
    A loud crack of thunder caused them both to jump and look upward. The menacing clouds had moved in quickly and now boiled directly above them.
    “C’mon,” cried Jodie, whirling about and reaching for Bethan’s hand.
    “We’ll never make it either home or to Mr. Russel’s before it strikes,” Bethan argued.
    “Well, at least we can reach Tree Corner.”
    A flash of lightning lit up the darkening sky, followed by a loud clap of thunder. Bethan did not need further encouragement. Clutching to the brown bag tightly with one hand and Jodie with the other, she ran as fast as she could for the shelter of the grand maple tree.
    They ducked under the protective branches just as the rain arrived. Straight down it came, encircling them in a sheer curtain of water. It seemed as though the sky were determined to empty every cloud at once. The girls wrapped arms around each other and pressed themselves up closely against the trunk. Faint gusts blew dampness over them, and occasional drops made their way through the great tree’s protection. The rain