Shackles: The truth will set you free
Page 25
Drawn from the deep recesses of her orphanage days, the song came alive in Rebecca as she joined her voice with Jason’s, “Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so.”
They started again, louder this time. Their feet left the path and found beach sand. Caught up in the simple song, Rebecca didn’t notice.
“Jesus loves me when I’m good. When I do the things I should. And He loves me when I’m bad. Though it makes Him very sad.”
Moonlight sparkled on the ocean and icy water tumbled around their ankles. Gasping at the cold, Rebecca kept singing and worshipping completely unaware that the fear was gone.
Chapter 34 – Beginnings and Endings
It was a perfect day for being on the beach. An Eastern Cape bergwind13 infused the cold of winter with mid-summer warmth, which usually lasted a day or two, before plunging the area back to freezing. The temperature of the surf was still a few degrees below what the average person would dare to venture into, but true to the hardcore nature of a surfer, Shane was determined to give Tim and Kenneth their first surfing lesson.
Eager to spend some time alone with Rebecca, Jason had declined Shane’s offer. This had loosed a spate of ridicule from the guys in which the words “wimp” and “chicken” featured strongly.
Brushing them off happily, Jason settled onto the warm sand next to Rebecca.
“How are you settling in at Stanton’s?”
“Amazingly. He and Lisa have been so kind. I can’t believe I’ve been there a week already.” Her nose wrinkled, “It doesn’t feel like home yet. I suppose it will take time.”
Jason’s fingers traced patterns in the fine sand around his feet. “Any wedding bells for the two of them?”
“Definitely. They’re just settling on a date. Stanton’s no longer housebound. Apparently, I was responsible for getting him out the house for the first time in years.”
“You are a very useful young lady, I hope you’ve noticed.”
She rolled her eyes at his compliment. “I don’t know how to thank you for the other night. I didn’t think it was possible to conquer that fear.”
Jason shook his head, “It’s sounds clichéd, but don’t thank me. Thank Him. I just heard right for once.”
“I know that. But you had the courage to listen at the risk of upsetting me. Thanks.”
“I’ll accept that.” He changed the subject, “And Claude?”
“He’s responding well to the treatment. The Rochester’s have relocated down here temporarily so that they can see him as often as possible. Kenneth will be going back within this week to oversee the farm in their absence and also to keep Hazel out of mischief.”
Jason smiled at her joke, studying her profile, drinking in her loveliness. “Rebecca, aren’t you angry with Claude at all? He put you through so much.”
“Left to myself, I would surely hate him, but God showed me something that changed everything.” Staring into the waves, her eyes lost focus. “I saw who he was as a little boy. Once you understand where someone comes from, it’s easy to forgive, no matter what they’ve done. It’s like Jesus. He came down here and lived with us so that He could fully understand what we go through. Because He understands, He can also forgive. Understanding brings forgiveness.”
“That’s profound. Even more so because you’re actually living it.” Something she said needled him. “Did you say that you saw him as a little boy?”
She pressed her lips together and nodded, “I suppose it was a vision or something. Do you think I’m crazy?”
He laughed. “Far from it, my dear. You haven’t heard my story.”
“Jason? Is that you?” A bikini clad girl with waist length auburn hair stopped in front of him, cutting him off before he could elaborate. Squinting up into the sunshine, Jason recognized Tina and stood up to hug her.
“Tina! It’s good to see you.” Reaching down, he helped Rebecca to her feet. “Tina, this is Rebecca. Rebecca, this is the Tina that I told you about. The one who helped me find you.”
Tina greeted Rebecca with somewhat less enthusiasm than she had Jason.
Just then Tim returned from his surfing lesson, lips blue from the cold. “Surfing is for the birds, or more accurately, the mentally deranged.” Toweling off, he continued to berate the sanity of his mates without the customary self-consciousness that descended on him in the presence of females.
With a helpless shrug, Jason grabbed Tim by the arms and turned him around to face Tina. “Tim, meet Tina.”
“Oh my gosh.” was all Tim could manage.
Tina chuckled, and held out a hand, “It’s nice to meet you too. What do you do?”
Tim was staring at Lisa, not capable of answering. Jason filled in for him, “Tim is an Information Technology Honors student.”
“Really? I’m busy doing a first year IT course through correspondence. It’s really tough not having a lecturer to ask when I get stuck.”
Tim miraculously found his voice, “You’re studying IT? Incredible. I’d be happy to help, if you ever need someone to explain stuff.”
Tina’s eyes sparkled, “Actually, I’m pretty stuck on this one section in Systems Analysis. Do you mind if I ask you?”
They walked off down the beach, Tim more animated than Jason had ever seen him.
Jason sat down and wrapped a towel around himself to ward off the breeze that had picked up. “What do you know? I was beginning to wonder if Tim would ever talk to a girl, let alone find common ground with one.”
Rebecca flopped onto the sand next to him, “Stranger things have happened. So, are you going to tell me how you came to find me?”
“First I need to ask you something.” Still tracing patterns in the sand, he threw her a sidelong glance to check her response.
“Ask away.”
“Tell me about yourself and Kenneth.”
“There’s nothing to tell. Why?”
“The way he’s been carrying on, one would swear the two of you are an item.”
Completely taken aback, Rebecca snorted, “Oh please! He’s really like an overprotective big brother.”
“I don’t think he’d agree with you.”
“That’s his issue not mine. My turn.”
“Go for it.”
“You’ve got a photo of a beautiful young woman in your bedroom. Who is she?”
“That is my little sister Nicole. She died of Leukemia.” He swallowed hard and for once didn’t care about the dampness in the corner of his eyes.
“I’m so sorry. I thought—never mind.” Before the moment could get awkward, she asked again, “So, now are you going to tell me your story?”
“My dear, Rebecca. My story is going to take a very, very long time to tell.” Looking up from the sand, he locked her pale blue-eyed gaze with an intensity that probed deeper than the superficial comment he’d just passed.
She returned his look, connecting them on a level far deeper than the words they exchanged, “That’s okay, Halloway. I’m not going anywhere.”
Liquid satisfaction flowed through his insides. “Good.”
They both felt the warm smile of the One who had drawn them together in such a strange way.
Wrapping his towel clad arm around her, he drew her close and began, “It all started the day I was exploring an old shipwreck just off the coast near here…”
Footnotes
1 - Baas: Afrikaans - “Boss”, term of respect
2 - Medem: Colloquial pronunciation of ‘madam” meaning ‘my lady’
3 - Ja: Afrikaans - ‘yes’
4 - Jammer Baas: Afrikaans - ‘sorry boss’
5 - Tant Sannie: Afrikaans - ‘Aunt’, not limited to use only in family context, term of respect towards an older woman in the Afrikaner culture
6 - Sangoma: African witchdoctor
7 - Enkosi: Xhosa - ‘thank you’
8 - Babotie: A mildly curried, traditional Cape-Malay mince meat dish
9 - Dankie, Liewe Here:
Afrikaans - Thank you, dear Lord
10 - Oom: Afrikaans ‘Uncle’, not limited to use only in the family context, term of respect towards an older man in the Afrikaner culture
11 - Molo, Madala. Kunjani? Xhosa - Hello, old man. How are you?
12 - Groot Baas: Afrikaans - Big Boss, term of respect
13 - Bergwind: Afrikaans - mountain wind
More from Dianne J. Wilson at www.diannejwilson.com
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