I was awakened early the next morning from a wonderful dream I was having by loud noises coming from the kitchen. In the dream, Luke and I were married. We were arm in arm standing in a field of white daises watching our children play down by the river shore. I looked behind me and saw Ma standing on the front porch watching us. Then Pa walked up behind Ma, put his arms around her, and kissed her on the cheek. He then looked up at me and smiled.
I arose from bed and walked to the kitchen. The noises that woke me from my tranquil dream were being made by Grandma Viola. She was banging dishes and closing cabinet doors in an obvious attempt to wake the whole house.
Luke was not asleep on his mat by the fireplace. Obviously, Grandma Viola’s ruckus in the kitchen had already woken him. I glanced out the front window and saw the rain was still falling but not the gully-washing it had been the day prior. It was a light steady rain falling from the fully gray sky which seemed to stretch endlessly in all directions. The sun’s light could barely punch through the shielding of the rain clouds, resulting in an eerie twilight effect. A populous of bullfrogs croaked their mating calls and the crickets strummed their legs together in a celebration of the welcoming of the rain.
Ma stepped out of her room yawning. She too was awakened by Grandma Viola’s early morning rampage.
“You’re up early,” Ma said in her low sleepy-voice.
“I’m sorry, but I want to go see Sarah this morning.” Grandma Viola said.
“Sarah…Sheriff Johnson’s daughter?” Ma asked.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I had a dream about her.”
Ma’s blood went cold. The last time Grandma Viola had used those words, it was about Pa. She had warned him not to go to work that tragic morning because of a bad dream she had the night before, but he dismissed her warning as superstition nonsense. Ma had also sensed a dark gloom in the air that morning, but she also disregarded it as irrational fear brought on by her mother’s warning. Now, she wished a thousand times she would have had faith in her mother’s intuition. Ma never questioned her again.
“I’ll hitch up the wagon and put the top on. Lizzy can stay here and watch Billy and Katie.”
Just then, Luke walked in the front door.
“I need Luke to go with us,” Grandma Viola said with earnest.
“Go where?” Luke asked.
“To see Sarah.” Grandma Viola told him.
“Why do you want Luke to come with us?” Ma asked Grandma Viola.
“It’s important.”
“I’ll go,” Luke said.
“Then I’m going to,” I insisted.
“Someone has to watch Billy and Katie,” Ma said. “They’re too young to be left alone and they don’t need to see Sarah in the condition she’s in. It would only frighten them.”
“Annie, you stay here. Let Lizzy come,” Grandma Viola ordered.
“Are you sure?” Ma asked.
“Yes, I think it would be best.”
Luke hitched up the horse to the wagon and put the wagon’s top on to keep the rain off us. The three of us rode through the mud and the muck towards Sarah’s house. I hadn’t seen Sarah since she had gotten sick and, I admit, I was a little apprehensive. Ma and a few women from the church visited Sarah a few times after she became sick but I didn’t go. I felt ashamed for not visiting but I knew it would pain me to see anyone suffering like folks told me she was. I know it wasn’t right to stay away and I hated myself for allowing my fears to keep me away. She deserved better.
Sarah’s house was slightly bigger than ours and a lot more modern. It had pane glass windows, tar shingles, and composite cedar lap siding. The members of the church built the house for Sarah’s parents nearly three years ago. Pa had helped in its construction.
We stopped our wagon in front of the cabin, got out, walked to the front door, and knocked. No one came to the door. We knocked again. It took several seconds before our knock was answered. At the door was Sarah’s ma, Bettie, who answered with a look of surprise on her face. It was obvious she had been crying. Her eyes were tear-stained and red.
“Viola, what brings you’ll out here on such a gloomy day.”
“Bettie, is everything all right?” Grandma Viola asked ignoring Bettie’s question. “Is anything wrong?”
Bettie tried to answer but began sobbing instead. Grandma Viola wrapped her arms around Bettie and held her tight. Sheriff Johnson appeared from down the hallway. He also showed signs of intense crying.
“Hello, Lizzy, Miss Wilson, and Luke. What brings you’ll out here on such a gloomy day as this?”
Grandma Viola smiled kindly.
“You and your wife are so much alike. She just asked us the same exact question.”
“And what was your answer?”
Grandma Viola’s face became weighty.
“Sarah…how's she doing?”
Sheriff Johnson took a deep ragged breath and swallowed hard.
“She was doing better, we thought, but this morning the fever grew worse than it ever has and she…she…she’s in so much…pain.”
His voice cracked and he tried hard to fight back the tears but one managed to free itself and roll down his right cheek.
I looked at Grandma Viola astoundingly. Her intuition had been correct again.
“Reverend Johnson just left to go fetch Doctor Harris,” Bettie managed to say, wiping more tears from her eyes.
“Again I must ask, what brings you here?” the sheriff asked.
“Grandma Viola had a dream that something was wrong with Sarah. We rushed right over,” I told him.
“You have a miraculous gift, Miss. Wilson… a God-given gift. We appreciate you coming, but there’s not much we can do until the doctor gets here.”
“I believe there is,” Grandma Viola said. “Can Luke see her?”
Luke pulled Grandma Viola aside…far enough that Mr. and Mrs. Johnson couldn’t overhear their conversation.
“Miss Wilson, I know what you have in mind, but I just don’t know about this!” Luke whispered worriedly in her ear. “She’s a child, not a wolf! I don’t know if it will work the same.”
Grandma Viola placed both her hands on his shoulders and looked him directly in the eyes.
“You can do this. I have faith in you and there aren’t many people I can say that about. Besides, you can’t make her any worse than she already is. Just go in there and try. That’s all I ask of you… for the little girl’s sake.”
Luke looked scared and unsure of himself, but he knew Grandma Viola was right. He had to at least try.
Grandma Viola approached the Johnsons. “Luke is ready to see Sarah.”
“What do you think Luke can do for Sarah?” Sheriff Johnson asked. “Is he a doctor?”
“No, he's more. Just allow him to see Sarah, and then you'll know. I'm asking you to trust me.”
Sheriff Johnson looked at his wife who nodded her head in approval. They both showed us to their daughter’s room.
Sarah was lying in her small bed, her blond hair wet and matted to her head from perspiration. I barely recognized her. Her skin was extremely pale and ashy and looked very dry. Her lips were cracked and her forehead showed lines of pain as did her tightly closed eyes. Her whole body looked tense…she was hurting. I couldn’t hold back the tears when I looked upon her frail body.
“She doesn’t respond to my voice anymore, but she cries out in pain,” Bettie said in a somber voice. “It’s like she’s half awake and half unconscious.”
“Would everyone mind leaving the room?” Luke asked.
“Why…why do you want us to leave?” Sheriff Johnson asked with much concern in his voice.
“Please, let’s just do as Luke says,” Grandma Viola said as she herded everyone out of the room. “Everything will be all right. We’ll be just on the other side of the door.”
The bedroom door was shut and Grandma Viola stood in front of it like a sentry. The Johnson’s faces were filled with worry and concer
n and topped with confusion. They didn’t understand what she and Luke were up to, but they trusted Grandma Viola or perhaps they allowed it out of pure desperation.
Several minutes passed without a sound coming from the other side of the door. The apprehension from the sheriff and his wife was growing thick in the air. Even Grandma Viola looked a little anxious. I could tell she was wishing Luke would hurry for she didn’t know how much longer Sarah’s parent’s patients would last.
Suddenly, an intense light poured from under the door for just a second and then a thump was heard from inside the room. Grandma Viola immediately opened the door. Luke was lying on the floor not moving and Sarah was sitting up in her bed, confused but awake. Her skin was its normal color and her eyes shined with the sparkle of youth. She was obviously no longer in any pain.
Sarah’s parents ran to her and held her tight, sobbing uncontrollably. I rushed to Luke’s side just as he was coming to. He shook his head to remove the cobwebs and opened his eyes to see me smiling. He smiled back.
“What did you do to my little girl? How did you heal her?” Sheriff Johnson enthusiastically asked.
“I’m not sure. I just laid my hands on her and she took what she needed from me to get better,” Luke explained in a voice that sounded like it belonged to an old man.
“Then she’s healed?” Bettie asked with zest.
“Yes, ma’am, I believe she is.” Luke responded.
Mrs. Johnson went to Luke, who was still sitting on the floor, got on her knees, and hugged his neck tight.
“Thank you, so very much! I don’t know how you did it and I don’t care! My little girl is all better now thanks to you!”
She then joined her husband still hugging his daughter.
“We’re going to get out of your hair and let you be with your daughter,” Grandma Viola announced. ”We’ll see you’ll in church Sunday… all three of you.”
“Oh, we’ll be there!” Bettie said. “You can be assured of that! We have a lot of praise to give, both to God and to Luke.”
"Please, Mrs. Johnson, don't tell anyone about this!" Luke pleaded.
"Okay, if that's what you want." Bettie promised with a bewildered look.
I had to assist Luke to his feet, because he was extremely weak and his legs were shaking under him. He leaned on me for support, not willing to trust his legs to carry him to the wagon. When Grandma Viola opened the front entry door to exit, Reverend Johnson and the doctor were just arriving.
“Oh, you scared me,” Doctor Harris said. “I was about to turn the door knob when the door suddenly opened. What brings you’ll out on such a rainy day?”
“We came by to see Sarah,” I answered.
“Please excuse us,” Reverend Johnson said as he pushed his way into the cabin. "But the doctor has to see Sarah right away. She's very---”
Reverend Johnson froze in mid stride as his mouth dropped open. His little niece was standing in the living room between her parents, all three of them supporting huge smiles on their faces.
“What’s going on? What happened to Sarah? She looks so good!” Reverend Johnson asked in a confused excitement.
He dropped to his knees in front of Sarah and placed both his hands on the side of her rosy cheeks. His eyes filled with tears.
“You look so good,” he exclaimed and hugged her tight.
“You’re squeezing the breath out of me,” Sarah said.
“I’m sorry, I’m just so happy you’re awake! But how?” He looked up at his brother for an explanation.
“I’ll tell you everything later.” Sheriff Johnson said.
“I take it I’m not needed here,” Doctor Harris commented.
“Nope, we beat you to it. You’re a day late and a dollar short,” Grandma Viola playfully said as she followed Luke and me out into the drizzling rain and into the wagon.
Luke passed out in the back of the wagon as I headed the wagon towards home. He was exhausted; his energy had been drained from him to save Sarah. Grandma Viola placed one of the blankets we always keep in the wagon over Luke to try and keep him dry from the rain leaking through the wagon’s worn canvas top. The cold rain was chilling me to the bone and I shivered violently. I pulled the blanket that was over me up over my nose with my free hand, trying to breathe some warm air into it.
Finally we arrived home and I pulled into the barn. Ma ran from the cabin, through the rain and met us inside the barn.
“Where’s Luke?”
“He’s in back with Grandma Viola,” I said while unhitching the horse from the wagon.
Ma walked to the back of the wagon.
“I need help with Luke,” Grandma Viola said.
“What’s wrong with him? What happened?”
“He’s fine. Don’t get your dander all up in a wad.”
Grandma Viola started gently slapping Luke in the face.
“Luke, wake up. We’re home now. You have to help us get you inside.”
Luke woke up and stumbled out of the wagon. Ma and I wrapped our arms around his waist and helped him inside the cabin.
“Take him to my bed,” Grandma Viola ordered.
We led him into Grandma Viola’s room and tucked him into bed. Luke was very lethargic and passed out the second his head hit the pillow without uttering a word.
After watching him sleep for several minutes, I quietly left the room closing the door behind me. I found Ma and Grandma Viola sitting on the front porch.
“Okay, you two, tell me what’s going on. What’s wrong with Luke? What happened?” Ma asked.
Grandma Viola looked at me and then bluntly answered. “Luke healed Sarah.”
“What do you mean, Luke healed Sarah?”
“Sarah is no longer sick. Luke made her all better.”
“How?”
“He doesn’t know how he does it,” I interjected.
“He’s a healer,” Grandma Viola added.
“A healer? You mean like miraculous healing, like we read in the Bible?”
“Yep!” Grandma Viola answered.
“Are you serious about this? You two aren’t making a joke?”
Grandma Viola looked seriously into Ma’s eyes. “I wouldn’t joke about this!”
“So, that’s why you insisted Luke go see Sarah. You knew he was a healer, but how?”
“A few days ago he saved Katie’s squished and mostly dead rat,” Grandma Viola said.
“Katie’s chipmunk was squished?” Ma asked. “Doesn’t anyone tell me what goes on around here? Did Katie see him do it? Did she see him heal her chipmunk?”
“No, he hid it from her,” I told Ma. “He tried to hide it from me to, but I caught him.”
“And I figured out what happened when Katie came running around the cabin with her rat in her hands and it was alive,” Grandma Viola added. “I knew I had squished it a good one… flatter than a flapjack… but there it was, running around like nothing had ever happened.”
“And neither one of you thought this was something I would like to know?”
Grandma Viola and I just looked at each other, realizing that perhaps we should have told Ma.
“Anamosa’s cow!” Ma suddenly exclaimed. “Luke healed it to, didn’t he?”
“Yes, he did,” Grandma Viola said proudly.
“How did you know he could heal Sarah?” Ma asked.
“I didn’t really and I don’t think Luke knew for sure either, but I had to try…we had to try.”
“Healing ain’t the only thing he can do,” I mentioned.
Ma looked out towards the rain and sighed.
“He really did make it rain,” she said as a matter-of-factly.
Chapter 10
Lizzy and the Rainmaker Page 9