will have to have surgery. Then you will have to have physical therapy to get you back on your feet. If you work hard at the therapy, it will probably take you about four months to be able to walk normally and put full weight on that ankle again.@
AFour months,@ Emily exclaimed. AAnd what will happen to Hiram during that time?@
AWe=ll take excellent care of him, ma=am,@ the nurse answered. We will get his medicines adjusted properly and also give him physical therapy so he can regain the strength he lost because of his stroke.@
I heard another car pull into the front yard. Shortly thereafter the doorbell rang. There was a tall young man at the door. AHello,@ he said, Amy name is Ralph Adler. I was hired by Hiram=s daughter to come by and care for the farm while her parents were laid up.@
I extended my hand and invited him in. I brought him to Emily and Hiram and he introduced himself again, assuring them that he had years of experience farming, despite his youthful appearance. He would make sure that everything ran well until their return.
AUntil our return,@ Emily sighed. AThe nurse knows, though she will not say it, that we may never return. We may be leaving the farm for good.@
ANow don=t think like that,@ Ralph countered. AYou=ll be as good as new in a little while.@
The nurse stared at the floor and said nothing.
Ralph spoke again, AYou know your daughter will be coming to visit you tomorrow. That might cheer you up.@
Emily broke into tears. AThen she will have to visit us in the hospital because that is where we will be. Ralph, will you please call her and tell her that. Hiram and I will try to call her from the hospital once we know more,@
ANow, ma=am, don=t cry,@ Ralph said, trying to be helpful. AAnd don=t you worry about the animals or anything else here. I=ll make certain that everything is taken care of first class.@
AI=m sure you will,@ Emily replied. AThank you.@
David and I stood looking on silently. I felt an overwhelming sadness, a profound pity for this sweet couple who were facing a new, uncertain, and painful era in their long lives. Would it have better for them for Hiram to have died of his stroke, or for us not to have found Emily? David and I had saved their lives, but saved them for what? That was what was mysterious. Yet the mirror had brought us here, so I had to assume that what we did was right.
Once more we had followed the mirror=s instructions and been led to a scene of sorrow and disappointment. Yet, there was a beauty in Hiram=s and Emily=s devotion to one another and their lives bound together as one that at which I marveled and in which I found inspiration.
I felt an urge to stay and care for them. But I could not. I had no skills to offer them, neither for their health or for their farm. I would have just been another burden to them. I knew I loved Emily and Hiram and what they represented to me. They were the opposite of my parents, industrious, caring, compassionate . . .or so I thought. But how could I judge them any more than I could judge my parents. We each have to live our own lives in our circumstances and play the cards we are dealt.
And now I was certain that my love for Hiram and Emily was best expressed by my leaving them to the care of those who were more qualified than I, including their daughter. I had to be about my own business trying to help Samuel and Martha, my own parents, and David as well. , , and, as I thought more about it, myself most of all. I continued to learn what I could never had learned had I stayed with my parents. But one day I had to return to them. I would be a different person then, and I knew that, even they had not changed in the meantime, they would be different persons to me.
A Pair of Hearts
David and I bid farewell to Hiram and Emily. We walked slowly back to the car, both of us lost in our thoughts. As we left, the nurse was calling for an ambulances to take Hiram and Emily to the hospital and Ralph had gone to inspect the animals and see what he needed to do.
I could not help but think about the ravages that old age can bring. My parents were aging, yet they seemed none the wiser for it. Their life together had been difficult from the beginning, and I feared that their life would only get harder as they aged and found themselves unable to do much of what they could when they were younger.
My father would chop wood for cooking and heat, going into the forest to fell a tree large enough to provide ample wood for a cold winter. How long might he be able to carry out such a strenuous task, and what would happen when he found himself unable to do so?
Martha and Samuel were also nearing the end of their long lives. Samuel knew he had only months to live. What would become of Martha if I could not find Robin? How would Martha adjust to life after losing the husband with whom she had lovingly shared most of her life?
And now Hiram and Emily. What terrible adjustments they had to make, leaving their farm and all its memories to enter an uncertain and impersonal future in a hospital and, in all likelihood, a nursing home. Is this the way that human life is supposed to end? Is this the capstone of a life of hard work and dedication? Is this the fruit of one=s love and labor?
And yet. . .and yet Hiram and Emily, like Martha and Samuel, still had one another even in adversity, knowing that they still loved one another with all the strength their weakened bodies were able to muster. And they had their memories, the memories of what they had done together, the successes and the failures, the joys and the sorrows, all the experiences that had bonded them ever more closely to one another as they walked as one the pilgrimage of life.
Was I to feel sorry for their current misfortune, or rejoice with them in their life together? Perhaps a bit of both, but more, I hope, of the latter than the former. All things on this earth end sooner or later, even the best that earth has to offer.
After all that had happened, I was hesitant to consult the mirror again. What situation would we find ourselves in next? But the mirror was our only guide, and so I asked it to give us directions for our travels. It showed us going back to the main highway and turning right, then proceeding to a restaurant that, as best I could judge, was several miles down the road.
ABut it isn=t time for dinner yet.@ David objected.
ATrue,@ I agreed, Abut you forget that we haven=t had lunch yet. We=ve spent most of the day helping Hiram and Emily.@
In the excitement of my assisting at the house and David rushing off to town to get the phone line repaired and summon health care, neither of us had thought to eat. Now that we were on the road again, we were hungry. Finding a restaurant for a good meal was definitely in order.
I recognized the restaurant immediately from the image the mirror had shown me, and it was indeed just about ten miles from the entrance to the dirt road to the farm. David parked and we went in.
It was only about 5 p.m. so the restaurant still had many empty tables. The restaurant was not located in a town but out in the country so I had to wonder whether it was ever crowded. Indeed, there was now only one other table that was taken, that by a young couple, who I could tell by the way that they looked at one another and reached across the table to hold hands, were very much in love.
The sight of the young lovers buoyed up my spirits somewhat. These two might well be just starting their life together, still full of hope and dreams for the future.
A waitress brought us menus. AI can=t help but notice that young couple at the corner table,@ I remarked to her. AThey=re clearly in love.@
AYes,@ the waitress replied with a broad smile, Athey are very much in love. The woman is my daughter and the man is her fiancé. They are going to be married next month.@
I could imagine Hiram and Emily when they were young lovers acting just like this young couple. They did not know what lay ahead, and they probably did not care. Whatever it was, they would face it together, and their love would overcome every obstacle.
AWould you like to meet them?@ the waitress asked. ATheir father and I own this place, and we plan on turning it over to them when we retire soon. They=ll make a fine team
.@
AYes, meeting them would be nice,@ David answered, somewhat hesitantly, Abut we don=t want to disturb their dinner.@
AOh, they haven=t even ordered yet,@ said the waitress. AThey just love to come in and sit with one another. You=ll probably be finished with you dinners and leave before they even order.@
The waitress went over to the couple and told them that we would like to meet them. They rose and walked over to us, holding out their hands in greeting.
AHi, I=m Ashley and this is my soon-to-be husband Rick.@
David and I rose to welcome them to our table. APleased to meet you, Ashley and Rick,@ I said, shaking their hands in turn. AI=m Adam and this is David. Your mother told us that you=re going to be running this restaurant soon.@
AThat=s right,@ Rick said, beaming with pride. AWe=ll start our marriage owning our own business.@
AWe want to build it and make it even better than it already is,@ chimed in Ashley.
AI=m so proud of them,@ the waitress beamed. AIf anyone can build this place, they can.@
A few more customers had begun drifting in. AThis place is somewhat far out in the country, isn=t it?@ I asked. AWhere do you get your business from?@
Ashley answered. AThere are a lot of farms around here, and the town keeps moving closer and closer. I expect that within five years we=ll almost be in the middle of a big development.@
AI wish you both all the best,@ David said. AI had a business once , , ,@ He did not finish what he had started to say. AIt was nice meeting you. I guess we both need to get around to eating dinner though. Would you like to sit with us?@
AThank you, but we=ll go back to our table,@ said Rick. AWe still have a lot of plans to make.@
Holding hands, they left us and returned to their table. The waitress watched them, her face beaming. AYou know,@ she said, Amy husband and I felt the same way they do now when we inherited this place. We wanted to build it up too and maybe expand with more locations. But we had a hard enough time just keeping it open. Oh, it provided us a reasonable living, and it enabled us to raise two wonderful girls, but the going was often really tough. There were days I didn=t think we=d make it, but we did. And now it=s their turn.@
AYou=re happy?@ asked David.
AYes, I guess I am. My husband and I have been able to work together. He cooks and I wait tables. Some couples can=t work well together, but we do just fine. Our house is just out back, so we never had to drive to work. We=re our own bosses, and that means a lot. We had no one to fall back on but one another.@
AAnd you=re looking forward to being retired?@ I asked.
ATo be honest, I=m not sure what we=ll do,@ the waitress said somewhat pensively. AWe have enough saved up to get by, and we can help the kids when they need help. But it=s up to them to succeed on their own.@
AOr fail on their own?@ I asked, regretting at once having said it.
The waitress did not take offense. AThey won=t fail, just as Chuck and I didn=t fail. They will experience hard times, just as we did, but that will bring them even closer together.
ABut you two want to eat. Enough of this family talk. Are you ready to order?@
They will succeed. Oh, to be young and in love and full of hope. I am young, but I have not yet found someone to love for a lifetime. My hope for the moment is to find Robin. And ust perhaps, I have begun to learn about love.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow
After we left the restaurant we found a motel near by and spent the night. After seeing Ashley and Rick I felt more rootless than ever. They had a place to call their own with their families nearby. I was not even sure whether I had a family any more because I had not been in contact with my parents for so long. I assumed that Samuel was still
The Magic Mirror Page 14