Free Love Still Stands by Kelly Irvin Page A

her hands in a motion that
     surely said, Go!
    He wavered, hands on his hips. Finally, he climbed into the wagon. She didn’t move
     until he drove away. Her face warm with perspiration, hands slick on the crutches,
     she once again returned to her seat. She sank gratefully into the chair and picked
     up the clipboard. Embarrassed to imagine what he must think of all this, she peeked
     at Shawn.
    He sat with a magazine in his lap, head down as if it were the most interesting article
     ever. An unlit cigarette dangled from two fingers. His lips moved as if he were reading
     silently.
    Bethel had to clamp her mouth shut to keep from speaking to him. She’d only met him
     minutes earlier. So why did he suddenly seem like her closest friend?
    He understood. That’s why. This Englisch man might not know anything else about her
     life in a Plain world, but he understood the desire to run. To hop. To skip. To stand
     alone.
    Shawn McCormack understood her.

Chapter 10
    B ethel sat on the end of the tissue-covered examining room table, her cold, sweaty
     hands clasped in her lap, waiting. She’d been sitting there, in the skimpy cotton
     gown with its gaping back, for almost thirty minutes. Inhaling the astringent scent
     of cleanser, she contemplated sliding from the table and hiding behind the curtain
     where she’d been instructed by Georgia to change into this silly gown. Her bare feet
     didn’t touch the floor, which made her feel like a child in a high chair. She wanted
     to put her clothes on and go home. She’d had enough of the crinkly noises of the tissue
     paper under her. She’d also had enough of the fluorescent lights glaring overhead
     and of the refrigerated air that made goose bumps pop up on her bare arms and legs.
     Not to mention the tinny music wafting from an unseen source with its lyrics that
     spoke of love lost and broken hearts and angry retorts. She longed for fresh air and
     sunlight and the chatter of the birds. Lord, have mercy. Let me go home .
    No. If she ever wanted to teach again, she would stay. The thought held her on the
     table as tightly as a belted restraint. If she ever wanted to care for a home and
     children, she would stay. She could take it, embarrassing and shameful as it felt.
     She’d gotten this far. No turning back. She sighed and studied the enormous posters
     hanging on the green walls. A skeleton stared back at her, his bones and muscles exposed.
     An explanation of spinal cord injuries. The bones of the human skeleton. The muscles.
     A litany of strange terms that meant nothing to her. Big words that might as well
     have been in a foreign language. For all she knew, they were.
    There was a knock on the door, and it swung open with a high-pitched squeak. Bethel
     jumped. Her hands flew to the back of her gown where she tried to close the gap with
     shaking fingers. Her heart pounded against her ribcage. She drew a deep breath. In
     strode a dark-haired woman in a white jacket that covered a bright purple pantsuit.
    The doctor—Doctor Karen, Bethel presumed—looked at the manila folder she held in her
     plump hand. Her gaze warm behind rectangular, silver-rimmed glasses, she smiled and
     extended her other hand. “Miss Graber. Pleased to meet you. I’m Doctor Karen Chavez.
     Everyone around here calls me Doctor Karen. How are you today?”
    “I’m Bethel and I’m fine.” Well, not really fine. As she shook the other woman’s hand,
     Bethel struggled with what she could truthfully say. “It’s chilly in here and I really
     need to put my clothes back on. The gown is…well, it doesn’t…I mean, I’m uncomfortable
     in it.”
    Doctor Karen laid the folder on a desk next to a computer. She plopped down on a wheeled
     stool and tapped on the keyboard. Words filled up the screen. “Hmmm, don’t worry about
     the gown. Everyone feels that way, I promise. I’m sorry about the air conditioning,
     though. It seems to have a mind of its own. We’ll get you out of