Scrap Everything

by Leslie Gould

  Rebekah pulled out the whole-wheat bread. “I’ll make you a sandwich while you go pack.” Rebekah still needed to pack too. “Where is your mom?” she asked Mark, looking around.

  “Outside.”

  “With the horses?”

  He nodded, a little vaguely.

  “I think I heard the cougar!” Pepper jumped up, knocking the stool over.

  “I didn’t hear anything.” Rebekah bit her lip. Please, no drama tonight.

  “Shh.” Mark righted the stool.

  The unmistakable scream of the cougar filled the air.

  Rebekah dropped a slice of bread on the counter. “The horses are in? Right?”

  “Yes. No. Sky isn’t.” Mark stood arrow straight.

  “What?” Pepper asked.

  “Mom is riding Sky—out in the field.”

  Bear began to bark. Rebekah flung open the back door. The cougar screamed again. “It’s in the field.” Rebekah snatched the flashlight off the shelf and grabbed her fleece. “Go, Bear!”

  Pepper ran into the dining room. “Michael! Reid! The cougar!”

  Mark followed Rebekah out the door and jumped over the fence.

  “Don’t go any farther. The cougar could be coming this way.” The moonlight illuminated the pasture. Still Rebekah waved the beam across it. She could make out a figure running toward the forest. “There goes Bear.” The cougar screamed again, this time farther away.

  “Mark, check the barn. Your mom is probably in there.” Pepper flew out the back door with Michael and Reid close behind.

  “Where is it?” Michael yelled.

  Pepper rushed to the fence. “Did you see it?”

  Rebekah shook her head and pointed the flashlight near the trailhead. “I think Bear chased it into the woods. Our excitement is over.”

  “Rebekah!” Mark slammed the barn door. “Mom and Sky aren’t in here. I bet she headed up the trail. She was upset. Dad had just called from Germany. He thought he could get home by tomorrow morning, but his flight was delayed again.”

  “How long ago—”

  “It was dusk—over an hour.”

  Rebekah reached for her cell phone and started to call Patrick but stopped. What could he do? Chances were that Bear would protect Elise and Sky from the cougar. Still, what if something happened? She glanced from Michael to Mark and then to Pepper.

  “I’ll ride after her.” Mark flipped the hair from his eyes.

  “No.” Rebekah started toward the barn. “I will.”

  “Mom.” Reid followed.

  “Let me go too.” Pepper caught up with her mother and tugged on her sleeve.

  “Pepper, don’t be ridiculous. You have surgery in the morning.” She turned. “All of you stay here. I’ll be back with Elise in no time. Mark and Reid, you’re in charge. Make sure everyone stays in the house.”

  “Let me go, Rebekah.” Mark stepped forward. “Please.”

  “No, Mark. Your mom will be fine. She’s probably riding into the pasture right now.” She headed to the barn and then turned. “You obey me, all of you. Do you hear?”

  They nodded in unison.

  Rebekah swung bareback onto the mare, the flashlight tucked into the pocket of her corduroy jacket. She thought of her own night ride last summer. Elise had heard her talk about it. Had Rebekah’s story encouraged Elise to ride tonight? Or had Sky spooked and taken off with her? Had she fallen? And now the cougar was headed her way.

  The moon rode high above the treetops. Rebekah sucked in the brittle night air. The four kids stood by the back door. “Get in the house!”

  Pepper and Michael ducked through the door. Mark and Reid stood like statues. The mare galloped into the field and headed up the trail. The bare branches of the trees and boughs of the evergreens stirred like an overhead web as Rebekah urged the mare forward. At least Elise was on the fastest horse, as long as she could handle him, as long as she was still on him.

  The mare lunged forward, up the rocky incline to the plateau. Pine branches, knocked down by the wind, littered the trail. An owl hooted in the distance. “We’ll find Elise and Sky before the lower meadow,” she whispered to the Appaloosa. Why tonight? Why did the cougar come now? Why did Elise go riding alone? Why had Ted’s flight been delayed again? Rebekah blew out her breath into the icy air. The temperature was dropping.

  The mare shied at a crash below them.

  “Easy, girl.”

  Bear leaped onto the trail. “Oh no, big guy. Did you chase the cougar straight to Elise and Sky? Or is he in a tree over my head?”

  Bear barked and took off up the trail. Rebekah pressed forward, urging the horse through the tunnel of trees. The boughs of the red cedars hung low as if in mourning. Branches from the fir tees creaked and groaned as moonlit shadows fell across the path. A horse whinnied in the distance. Rebekah urged the mare forward; they were nearly to the meadow. The mare sidestepped, and her ears twitched. Bear barked as he raced back and forth. Ahead, Sky came into view, rearing as the cougar’s piercing scream cut through the night. Elise bent over the gelding and held on tightly, her head against his neck.

  Bear, a blur of black, brown, and white—his fur flying, his teeth bared—burst past Sky. The cougar landed behind them and ran up the hill with Bear close behind.

  “Elise!” Rebekah shone the flashlight, waving it across the meadow. Sky snorted. “Are you okay?”

  Elise tried to nod.

  Rebekah raced to Elise, slowed, and jumped off the mare. Bear’s barking grew fainter, stopped, and then grew louder. “I think he treed the cougar.” Rebekah shone her flashlight up the hill.

  “I’m sorry.” Elise shook. “I was only going to ride up the hill and then go back, but when the moon rose, and it was so bright, and Sky was so sure …”

  Rebekah laid her hand on Elise’s arm. “You’re not hurt. That’s what matters.” Sky jerked his head toward Rebekah.

  “What do we do now?” Elise asked.

  “Go home. Carefully.” Rebekah swung back onto the mare. “I’ll call the game department—and John.”

  Sky took a few steps forward. “Rebekah, I’m so sorry. It was a really stupid thing to do. I risked everything.”

  “Well, you’re okay now. Right?” Rebekah tried to sound confident, but doubt crept into her heart. Elise was afraid. Would she go through with the surgery?

  “Yes, I’m okay.” Elise’s voice sounded scratchy.

  Rebekah pulled the mare to a stop. “Elise, are you going to be able to go through with this?” she whispered, scared to hear the answer. She wanted assurance so badly that the brief pause felt like a century. Is Elise trying to back out of the transplant? Am I pressuring her into doing something she doesn’t want to?

  “Don’t worry, Rebekah,” Elise finally said. “We’re doing this tomorrow.”

  I’m more afraid than she is, Rebekah realized. I’m afraid to let go of control. If Elise didn’t want to go through with donating her kidney, then Rebekah didn’t want her to. She turned toward her friend. “Are you sure? I mean, whether Ted is here or not, maybe the surgery isn’t the right thing for you to do.”

  “Rebekah, stop!”

  “This is too much for you. It drove you into the forest in the dark—”

  “I may be afraid, but that’s not why I went riding.” Elise looked Rebekah in the eye. “I took off on Sky because riding makes me feel strong. I want to do this.”

  Relief washed over Rebekah. “I guess the main thing is that we don’t give way to fear, that we trust God,” she said, aware she was talking mostly to herself.

  Elise nodded and bent down against Sky’s neck.

  Rebekah took a deep breath. “Thank you,” she whispered as Elise and Sky started into the night. Rebekah urged the mare forward until they rode side by side along the trail—the two horses and two friends in unison, pounding out a rhythm through the forest.

  Hey, baby.” Ted’s face floated above Elise. His brown eyes sparkled.

  She was cold, freezing. �
�When did you get here?”

  “Just now.”

  “Is Pepper okay?”

  “Yes. She’s already doing better. Your kidney went to work right away—while she was still on the operating table.”

  It wasn’t Elise’s kidney, not anymore. It was Pepper’s. Thank you, God. Elise took a ragged breath. “You must be exhausted,” she whispered.

  “I’m fine. I’m just happy I’m here.”

  “I’m queasy.” No wonder she hated hospitals; they were worse than she remembered.

  “That will go away soon.”

  “Have you seen the boys?” She felt as if it had been weeks since last night, since she had reassured them that she was fine, that she really hadn’t lost her mind.

  “Yes. They’re in the waiting room. Dad brought them up, and Reid too. He said all three boys were a mess this morning; he couldn’t get any of them to go to school.”

  Elise shivered.

  “Could we get another blanket, please?” Ted’s voice was low and calm as he talked with the nurse. He spread a shiny space blanket over Elise.

  She closed her eyes. “I did something really stupid last night.”

  “It wasn’t stupid, baby.”

  “You heard?”

  He nodded.

  “Do you know what happened to Bear?” He was still gone when they had left for the hospital.

  “He came back to the house this morning. Dad said the game department came out, but they couldn’t find the cougar.”

  The beautiful, fierce cougar.

  Elise reached out her hand to Ted. “Stay with me,” she whispered.

  “I will,” he answered.

  Elise opened her eyes to the morning light pouring through the hospital room. Where was Ted?

  “Elise?” Rebekah pulled up a chair. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I’ve been hit by a truck.” Elise turned her head.

  “You had quite a night. Ted asked them to increase your pain meds three times.”

  “Really?” She remembered Ted sleeping on the chair with his head on the side of the bed. “Where is he now?”

  “He went to see Pepper. Then he’s going to get a hotel room and some sleep. He said he’ll be back this afternoon.” Rebekah held Mark’s album in her hand. “Do you feel up to looking at this?”

  Elise nodded. She leafed through the pages. Mark as a baby, Mark in Germany, Mark playing soccer and T-ball. The layouts were clean and simple with no embellishments, no stickers. Mark with Ted when he came home from Kosovo. Mark and Michael in Georgia while Ted was in Afghanistan. Mark in Colorado, snowboarding. Mark punching Michael. Mark and Pepper under the falls. Mark at the skating rink. Mark in Seattle and at Cascade Pass. Mark mounted on Sky.

  Elise closed the book. “Tell Sandi thank you. It’s wonderful. And more my style than I could have ever done.”

  Rebekah smiled. “Sandi didn’t do it. I did.”

  “Rebekah, you’ve been so busy.” Elise shook her head.

  “I wanted to. I had to.”

  “Thanks.” Elise wrapped her arms around the album. “How is Pepper?”

  “Great. She’s walking in the hall and asking for white bread.” Rebekah laughed.

  “You trusted God with her, with your baby.” She reached for Rebekah’s hand. “You risked letting go.”

  “I did.”

  “Rebekah, do you remember when we first met? When you said we were going to be good friends?”

  Rebekah blushed.

  “How did you know?”

  Rebekah shook her head. “It makes me look bad.”

  “Tell me.”

  Rebekah grinned sheepishly. “God always hooks me up with people I don’t li—with people I don’t think I have anything in common with.”

  Elise started to laugh. “Ouch.” She placed her hand against her side. “That’s okay. At the time I couldn’t imagine us being friends, either.”

  Rebekah smiled. “I’m so glad God has a bigger imagination than we do.”

  “Why can’t I see Pepper? Do I look that bad?” Elise asked.

  “What do you think?” Ted asked Rebekah.

  “I think you look fine. Pale, sure. But as long as you stay in bed and don’t limp around, Pepper won’t know how much pain you’re in.” Rebekah fluffed Elise’s pillow. “I’ll go get her.”

  Elise raised the bed to a reclining position and closed her eyes.

  “Baby, the boys are here.” Ted touched her shoulder.

  Mark and Michael stood at the end of the bed. Reid and John waited by the door.

  “Come closer.” Elise motioned to them. Her boys sat on either side of her.

  “Hi, Mom.” Mark touched her hand, and tears filled his eyes.

  “Honey, it’s fine.”

  “I didn’t know it would be this hard for you.”

  “I’m fine, and I get to go home in two or three days. I’m sore, that’s all.”

  Michael cleared his throat. “How’s Pepper?”

  “She’s fine. She’ll be here in just a—”

  “Here I am.” Pepper hurried through the door. She wore her own pajama bottoms and a blue hoodie.

  The boys stood. Pepper poked Mark’s arm as she walked by. “You’ve been crying.”

  “No, I haven’t.”

  Pepper sat down beside Elise. “Thanks. I’m taking good care of our kidney, I promise.”

  Elise was getting tired, but she was glad to see Pepper. “I need to thank you, sweetie.” A week ago she thought she was doing a wonderful thing for Pepper, but now she knew that God had done a wonderful thing for her. By giving up a little of herself, she had learned a measure of compassion, learned to follow Jesus a little more closely. She looked from Mark to Michael and then whispered to Pepper, “You taught me how to give.”

  Rebekah flung open the door to the Scrap Shack. “Sandi!”

  Sandi leaned over the railing of the balcony. “What are you doing here?”

  “Patrick is with Pepper.” Rebekah ran up the stairs. “Elise is coming home today. I want to get her house spruced up—you know, have dinner in the oven and flowers on the table.”

  “How is she?’

  “Better. Her pain is finally under control.” Rebekah shook her head. “I don’t know if I ever would have let her go through this if I had known how hard it would be.”

  Sandi ran her hand through her spiked hair. “According to John, you couldn’t have stopped her. He’s so proud of her.”

  Rebekah smiled. Ted had told her the evening before that Elise’s goodness ran deep, that people just had to take the time to get to know her. Had it taken John twenty years? “I have a vase up here, from the last Midnight Madness. I stopped at the flower shop and bought a bunch of tulips.” Rebekah rummaged through the closet. “Here it is.”

  “We’ve had a ton of business today.” Sandi straightened the rack of sports stickers. “Teachers from school have come in, and more people from church.”

  “Great!” Rebekah headed down the stairs.

  “I think it’s their way of helping.” Sandi followed.

  “Wow, no matter what their motivation is, I’m grateful.” Rebekah leafed through the mail. “I’ll be back this evening to pay the bills.” She put the mail back under the counter. “Sandi, thanks.”

  Sandi nodded.

  “Patrick is taking next week off, so I’ll be here. I need to see to the shop and to Reid.” She started toward the door and then turned. “Not that John isn’t doing a good job. What would we do without all of you?”

  “What would we do without each other?” Sandi shooed her out the door. “Go get things ready for Elise. And tell her hello. Tell her we’re all proud of her.”

  Elise opened her eyes as Ted pulled off I-5.

  “We’re almost home,” he whispered.

  She smiled.

  They rode silently. The trees budded under the late winter sky. They passed a herd of horses huddled together under a grove of pine trees. Elise ached for her boys; sh
e wanted more than anything for all of them to be in the same house together. It had been so long.

  “Pepper looks good.” Ted slowed for a hairpin curve.

  Elise nodded and smiled.

  “The boys are excited to see you. Dad’s going to be with Mark at the house when we get home. I’ll pick Reid and Michael up after practice.”

  She had no idea of all the logistics that had gone into caring for the boys. She had Sandi to thank for that, she was sure. Her back began to hurt, and she adjusted the seat.

  “We’ll get you more pain meds when we get home.” Ted slowed as a farm truck turned in front of them, and then he quickly passed it.

  “Careful.” Elise sat a little straighter. “This is where the deer ran into the road in front of me.”

  Ted smiled. Did he think she was being superstitious?

  “Look, there’s some acreage for sale.” Ted slowed for a curve and nodded to the right.

  Elise took a deep breath. “Maybe we could come back in a few days and take a closer look.” Something stood motionless across the field, a dusky gold against the dark pine. “Ted, look.” She pointed toward the trees.

  Ted whistled as he slowed the Volvo. “It’s the cougar.” He pulled to the side of the road.

  The majestic cat, just fifty feet away, looked directly at the car. “He’s not afraid.” Elise opened her window. Ted leaned forward.

  The solitary cougar turned, took a few steps, and then, with an elegant leap, raced toward the forest. He gracefully soared up the hillside, through the trees, away from her, away from Forest Falls, away from the horses and the children. She breathed in the earthy scent of pine and dirt, mixed with the promise of spring. She searched the hillside, the trees, and foliage for movement, but the cougar was gone.

  “Let’s go home.” Elise closed the window. “Home to Forest Falls.”

  Many people helped bring Scrap Everything to life. First, I want to thank my husband, Lt. Col. Peter Gould, a member of the army reserve, for his all-around faith in me. My thanks also to our children, who, through our own deployment experiences, provided insights to this story. I’m grateful to Mary Varian and Kelly Raby for providing details about the lives of active-duty families; they shared from their hearts and encouraged me with their stories. My thanks to Danny and Kathryn Perez for connecting me with these dear women.