“One Sunday after services I was confused and disillusioned, so I called my grandmother in Acorn Hill.”
“Ah, God guided you in that decision.”
“I believe so. It was June when I arrived. Everything was blooming. I’d forgotten how pretty the town was with its cozy homes and modest places of business. I took Grandma out to eat at the Coffee Shop. While we were waiting to be served, Fred came in. He saw us, of course, and came over. He and my grandmother had become friends. I couldn’t believe it. He ate with us, and afterward Grandma raved about what a wonderful Christian he was and how he’d made great improvements to the hardware store.
“With Grandma’s blessing, Fred and I spent the afternoon together. The next weekend he came to see me. I fixed a picnic lunch and we went to the park. I was so nervous, I ate more than I should have and got a stomachache. Fred was so sweet and concerned. He really made me feel cherished. It didn’t take long to figure out I was making a huge mistake with Derrick and that I still cared for Fred.”
“Oh dear. What a different life you would have lived if you hadn’t made that visit.”
“I know the Lord gave me that feeling of disquiet about my relationship with Derrick. It was very humbling to know God cared that much about me, to guide me when I was trying so hard to please others. I’ll never forget the day I told my parents. Mother cried. Father tried to talk sense to me. He advised me to take time to pray about it. I told him I had been praying about it. I talked to Aunt Agatha and she advised me to follow my heart.”
“Somehow, I can see her saying that,” Alice said.
Vera nodded. “So I broke up with Derrick. He was furious and accused me of playing him for a fool. From his reaction, I don’t believe his heart was broken. More likely I hurt his pride. Then I applied for a teaching job in Acorn Hill, praying that something would open up if it was God’s will. I couldn’t believe it when I got a call that same week. The fifth-grade teacher had just given notice. Her husband had been transferred unexpectedly. So I moved in with my grandmother in Acorn Hill. And you know the rest.
“We got engaged at Fairy Pond and later we had a simple ceremony in the church we’d both attended at school.” Vera flipped several pages and found their wedding pictures. She looked lovely in a simple white gown. Fred looked handsome wearing a suit.
“Fred’s a lovable guy.”
“He sure is. And I can’t wait to get home and see him. It’s been fascinating to see Shelton Cove and what’s happened to some of my old friends, but I don’t miss it at all. It was worth coming here to learn that. Especially since Aunt Agatha will be well taken care of. Reggie may not always understand the way a woman thinks, but he’s good to her.” Vera closed the photo album. “Olivia is coming over in the morning to start getting the house redd up for Aunt Agatha’s return. I’m thinking we can help her tomorrow—if that’s all right with you—then leave things in her capable hands. We could go say good-bye to Aunt Agatha and be back in Acorn Hill by dinnertime.”
Alice smiled. “I think that’s a fine idea.”
Jane shoved the peeler down the carrot, shaving off more than the outer skin. She gave the carrot a turn and shaved it again.
“There won’t be anything left of that poor carrot when you get done peeling it. What’s wrong?”
Jane looked up, startled. Louise stood in the doorway watching her. She looked down at the carrot and the peels in the sink. She’d done in three carrots without realizing she was taking out her frustrations on them.
“I didn’t want to leave any skin on them,” she responded. “I guess I got carried away.”
Louise came over and looked in the sink. “I’d say you’re right. Know anyone with a rabbit?”
Jane laughed. “No, but they’ll compost, so it’s no loss. I have lots of carrots.”
“True. Tell me what the carrots did to deserve such punishment.” Louise took two plates out of the cupboard to set the table.
“Add a plate. I heard from Alice. They’re coming home early. She’ll be here for dinner.”
“Good. I’ve missed her.” She reached for another plate.
“I talked to Carrie Blankenship, the race coordinator, a little while ago. I wanted to clear it for the ANGELs to give out cookies at the end of the race. It was their idea and I figured it’d be a nice thing to do. Well … it seems they have rules about who can do what. As if the finish line isn’t on public property. Now I wish I hadn’t even called her. Just let the girls do it. I was trying to be nice.”
“Did she say no?”
“Not exactly. She said they had to be careful about what people offered the race participants at these events. I told her the girls just want to give out cookies.” Jane shaved another strip off a carrot.
“So can the girls pass out cookies or not?”
“If the cookies have the ingredients listed, or at least the amount of carbs and sugar and whether they contain nuts. They have people with diabetes in the race and they have to be careful about people with food allergies.”
“That sounds reasonable. Can you do that?”
Jane sighed. “Yes. I have a computer program that tells me all that information if I enter the ingredients. It’s not that.” She set down the peeler and carrot and turned, wiping her hands on the towel tucked in her belt. “Of course I want to make sure our cookies don’t harm someone. It’s her attitude that gets to me. She always has to have the upper hand. There’s always some objection to anything I suggest. She has to win.”
Louise raised an eyebrow. “Always? How would you know that?”
Jane hung her head. “She used to live in the area. That’s why she picked Acorn Hill. She was on the cross-country team a year ahead of me. We raced together.”
“Ah. I’m beginning to get the picture. I think I remember her. She used to do a victory dance when she crossed the finish line, sort of like the football players on television when they get a touchdown.”
Jane nodded grimly. “That’s her. So it wasn’t just my imagination. She really was a show-off. This may not be very Christian of me, but I want to beat her so badly I can taste it.” Just admitting it made Jane feel small and ashamed, but she couldn’t help it. She felt like a high schooler again, talking to her big sister, who’d been like a mother since their mother had died after Jane’s birth.
Louise’s eyes softened with compassion and she opened her arms. Jane fell into her sister’s hug. “I’ve been embarrassed to admit my feelings, even to myself,” Jane said against Louise’s shoulder. “I should be above such pettiness.”
“Don’t be ashamed of wanting to win. The Bible admonishes us to run for the prize. I’m not sure it means a 10K race, but wanting to do your best is a good thing. Maybe Carrie beat you in all those high school races, but she was older, and perhaps running was the one thing she excelled at. Maybe her finish line posturing was exuberance that she did well. Who knows what’s in her heart? Sometimes when I catch myself thinking disparaging thoughts about someone, I try to say a prayer for that person. It usually turns my attitude around, and that’s what you’re really battling.”
“I haven’t prayed for her or for the race to be a success. I’ll do that. But I’m still going to try to beat her.”
Louise smiled. “And I’ll be there rooting you on. You are a winner, you know. Someday you’ll have a golden crown to prove it.”
“Maybe. If I get my attitude straightened out. Thanks, Louie. I don’t know about a crown, but I’m certainly blessed. And I will put the nutrition values on those cookies, on the back of the Bible verses the girls picked to go with them. Maybe we’ll give away some apples, too, for those who can’t eat the cookies.”
“I don’t know if this is good or bad, but you’ll get a chance to work on that attitude problem. Your nemesis has booked a room here for the race weekend. She’s coming Friday afternoon.”
Jane’s eyes widened. “That may be more of a challenge than a chance.” She picked up a carrot and carefully, gently, ran the pee
ler down it, removing a thin strip of skin.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Until Fred, Vera and Craig showed up Sunday afternoon with a harness contraption, the pumpkin weigh-off hadn’t seemed real to Louise.
The men unloaded lengths of wide heavy-duty straps with chains and hooks on the ends and carried them into the garden. Next they dragged out a heavy tarp and set it near the pumpkin cage. Vera went over to talk to Louise, Alice and Jane, who stood at one side of the cage, watching.
“When Craig came by the store with the equipment to get the pumpkin ready to move for next weekend, I thought I’d come over to see what they’re going to do,” Vera said. They watched the men lift the tarps off the pumpkin. “I think it’s larger than when Alice and I left last week.”
“It’s still growing, but not as fast,” Louise said. “Jane and I tried to measure it yesterday. We came up with one hundred and sixty-six and a half inches, which is larger than last week.”
“If you’re not all field-tripped out, will it still be all right for me to bring my class to see it?” Vera asked.
“Yes. If you’d like, bring them Friday morning and watch the men move it. That should be quite a sight.”
“Good idea. We’ll give you a royal send-off,” Vera said.
Louise turned to watch the men remove the cage they’d built to keep out raccoons. “How are you going to get that equipment under the pumpkin?” she asked.
“We’ll have to rock it side to side,” Craig said.
“Like the way we make a hospital bed with the patient in it,” Alice said.
“I hope you don’t have any patients this large,” Fred said, “but I expect it’s basically the same idea. We’ll slide the tarp and winch straps underneath one side, then roll it over and pull them through.”
Louise wondered how they would accomplish that, even with all of them pushing and pulling.
“Don’t worry about the pumpkin,” Craig said, as if he’d read her mind. “I called in reinforcements.”
A truck pulled into the driveway and parked next to Craig’s truck. Sam Bellwood and his oldest son Caleb got out.
“Howdy,” Sam said, coming into the garden. “Looks like we got here just in time.” The two men looked so much alike, no one could mistake they were father and son. Sam stood an inch taller than Caleb, but both men were tall by any standard. They came over and grabbed the sides of the cage. With all four men helping, they lifted it away from the pumpkin patch.
The women folded the tarps and blankets while the men carried the cage to the far side of the harvested garden.
“We need to be very careful of the stem,” Craig said, moving to the head of the giant pumpkin. “It’s brittle by now. Louise, if you could help us free it up,” he said.
Louise went to the main vine and removed leaves and tendrils that were caught on other vines and tendrils. Jane helped her loosen the vine connecting the giant pumpkin to the main plant.
They carefully lifted and adjusted the vine while the men rolled the pumpkin to one side. The sand underneath helped cushion it. As the men offered directions, Alice and Vera folded the ends of the straps and carefully arranged them beneath the pumpkin, pressing the chain and hook down into the sand to prevent them from harming the pumpkin, then they did the same with the tarp. Alice and Vera stepped back.
“Ready?” Craig asked.
“As ready as we can make it,” Alice said, holding up her crossed fingers.
Louise held her breath as the men slowly rolled the pumpkin back. She glanced at Jane, who was likewise holding her breath. Jane caught her gaze and gave her a reassuring smile. She let out her breath. “It’s going to work,” Jane said.
“I hope it works for Craig’s sake. He’s put a great deal of time and energy into helping me,” Louise said.
“Watch the stem,” Craig said. “We’re going the other way now. Alice and Vera, get ready to pull the straps and tarp through.”
The men grunted as they pushed and pulled. Trying to roll a thousand-pound pumpkin slowly was a strain, even for four strong men.
“It’d be easier if this baby was perfectly round,” Sam said. He was turning red in the face. “Pushing one of my bales of hay is easier than this.”
“Hold it there for a second,” Alice said. “We’ve almost got it.” They pulled the tarp through and up over the pumpkin, giving the ends to the men, who held the pumpkin with the tarp.
“Hang on a little longer,” Vera said. She and Alice dug into the sand and freed the straps. They spread them out, so they crisscrossed in the middle and fanned out like spokes in a wheel.
“That should do it,” Alice said, standing back. “Let her down gently.”
The men repositioned the pumpkin, letting it roll back slowly to its original place.
“How did the stem do?” Craig asked, coming to examine it where it attached to the pumpkin.
“Fine,” Jane said. “Great job, guys. Now what?”
“We’ll put the cage back over it and keep it under the blankets at night to protect it. We’ll cut it free Thursday night and load it to move Friday morning.”
“How will we transport it?” Louise asked.
“Fred is lending us his truck with a heavy-duty trailer. We’ll strap it on,” Craig said.
“I reserved two rooms in Baskenburg,” Louise said. “I think I got the last two rooms in town. Evidently, this is a very popular event.”
“Good. It’ll be just you and me,” Craig said. “I promised we’ll take lots of pictures. By the way, Jane, there are other categories, if you want to send something. They have tomatoes, long gourds, cantaloupes, watermelons and squash.”
“If they had a category for the smallest or lightest or maybe the best-tasting vegetables, I might have a chance,” Jane said. “They’re looking for size and weight, aren’t they? Most of my vegetables are the miniature varieties. I prefer them for flavor and cooking.”
“How do you plan to lift this giant out of the garden?” Alice asked.
“I thought we’d bring my front-end loader over,” Sam said.
Louise frowned. She’d seen his loader at their farm. It was very large. “How will you get it into the garden?”
Sam looked around. “The gate’s not wide enough.” He walked over to examine the back of the fence, where it bordered the field behind their yard. “I could come in this way. We’d need to take down part of the fence and remove a couple of posts here.”
Louise glanced at Jane, who showed no reaction, but Louise was hesitant. She’d already disrupted her sister’s garden enough. She shook her head. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“We can put it back when they’re done, Louise,” Jane said.
The men looked at each other helplessly. “Let us think about it,” Fred said. “We’ll come up with a solution.”
“Yeah. We’ll think of something,” Caleb said. “Trust us,” Craig said. “Just be ready to go Friday morning.”
“All right. We’ll see,” Louise said, crossing her arms to emphasize her determination. She intended to be in the garden early Friday morning, to keep any damage to Jane’s garden to a minimum.
“How’s the training coming?” Alice asked Jane as they stripped beds Monday morning.
“I’m doing better since I started running with Eleanor. She’s a terrific coach. I’ve enjoyed getting to know her a little better too.” Jane had been out early for stretches and a short workout. After school, she’d meet Eleanor to run together. “It’s interesting to think of her and Vera as college roommates. They’re very different.”
“The serious student and the athlete. Vera was a bit of a tomboy growing up, though.”
“Really? I suppose that doesn’t surprise me. She likes to exercise. The two of you walk all the time.”
“True, but our walking isn’t all that athletic,” Alice said. She tossed a handful of linens in the laundry pile. “We talk as much as we walk.”
Jane laughed. “Well, I’m glad that you
were so successful in providing for her Aunt Agatha. You and Vera make an invincible duo. And I’m sure you were both praying about it.” Jane picked up the pile of sheets and towels. “I’ll take these downstairs.”
Jane heard the phone ringing as she descended the stairs. She hurried, but Louise had picked it up before she got there.
“Oh dear. All right, I’ll tell her,” Louise said into the phone. “Take care of yourself and get well.” She said goodbye and hung up. “That was Eleanor Renda. She sounds awful. They had a track meet out west of Harrisburg. She said it was cold and foggy. She caught bronchitis, so she won’t be able to run today.”
“Poor Eleanor. I’ll have to make her a batch of chicken soup as soon as we’re finished cleaning.”
It was still dark outside when Louise entered the kitchen Friday morning. Jane was standing at the sink, washing vegetables.
“Good morning.”
Jane set a zucchini on the drain board and turned to her. “Morning. How come you’re up so early?”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“I never can before a trip either. What time will you leave?”
“Not until this afternoon. Am I crazy to do this? We have a full house this weekend.”
“Alice is here. We’ll be fine. I wish we could go with you.” Jane reached for two coffee cups. “Want some coffee?”
“Yes, please.”
Jane poured two cups and handed one to Louise. “What time are they coming to load the pumpkin?”
Eyes on the Prize Page 19