Whispers in the Wind by Al Lacy Read Free Book Online

me.”
    “We couldn’t let you face it alone. And I want to tell you something else: you can stay in the apartment another week at no charge.”
    “Really?”
    “Really. I wish we could afford to let you stay in the apartment indefinitely, but we’ll have to rent it out after next week.”
    “I understand, Mr. Bendrick. Thank you for the extra week.”
    When Dane entered the apartment, its utter silence overpowered him. The place had always been filled with sound. Mama would hum happily as she did her household chores. Dane, Diane, and Ronnie were usually involved in some activity or game that kept the apartment filled with chatter and laughter, and Papa’s voice would boom joyfully over all the rest when he returned home at the end of the day from work.
    In the evenings, Mama often read aloud to the family from one of the few books they possessed, and often Ronnie would fall asleep on the couch while listening to the soft sound of her voice.
    Now as Dane stood just inside the door, the only sound was his labored breathing. He took a deep breath and said aloud, “Someday I’ll have my own family, and I’ll make sure that our house is filled with laughter and music and other sounds that make a house a home.”
    These thoughts gave him a measure of comfort and hope. His mother would sometimes say,
“Without hope, there is nothing to live for.”
The thoughts of his mother brought another rush of tears.

    The next day, Dane went back to the Baxter apartment to let them know that his family was being buried on Friday morning.
    When Friday came, dark rain clouds hung low, making the day even more somber. Dane was pleased to find the entire Baxter family at the cemetery when he and the Bendricks arrived. Having the Baxters there meant a lot to him. It was especially comforting to have Todd standing beside him during the service.
    The rain slanted down on the little group as they huddled beneath their umbrellas.
    When it came time for the four coffins to be lowered into the cold, unfeeling earth, Dane broke down and sobbed. The Bendricks and the Baxters encircled him, giving all the comfort they could.
    That evening, after eating supper with Mitchell and Sylvia, a weary Dane Weston climbed the stairs and entered the apartment. It was still raining outside. He was glad he had left a lantern burning low when he went down to supper. A shiver washed over him, and he decided to build a fire in the stove.
    The little stove looked cold and forlorn, too, he thought as he wadded up a portion of the
New York Times
and stuffed it with the paper. He placed several pieces of kindling on top of the paper, then struck a match and lit the paper. He closed the heavy door, and the flames flickered brightly through the small window, sending out its warm glow and dispelling some of the gloom in the parlor.
    Dane went to the shabby sofa, sat down, and let his mind run back over the sad day. Soon his thoughts settled on the scene at the grave site when the grave diggers lowered the four plain pine coffins in the ground while the rain continued to fall. It had been the worst moment of all in the devastating loss of his family.
    The thoughts that had filtered through his mind while the coffins were being lowered into the ground came to him anew. Herecalled how the only thing that kept him from totally giving in to the despair that was trying to claim him was his dream of becoming a doctor and helping the sick, injured, and wounded of this world. Holding tight to this determination had enabled him to survive the horrific day.
    He adjusted his position on the sofa, sighed, and whispered, “Mama, Papa, someday I’ll make you proud of me. I’ll find a way to get my education and be the doctor that you always wanted me to be.”
    On the following Tuesday, the Bendricks had a little birthday party for Dane at suppertime. Later that evening in the apartment, he picked up
The History of Medicine
that his parents had bought for his birthday and wept as