Free A Blessing for Miriam by Jerry S. Eicher Page B

to my parents’ place and ask them to call me in an hour? I’ll be at the same number they called me at before.”
    “Sure.” Betsy’s voice was kind. “I wasn’t going that way, but I have the time.”
    “Thank you so much.” Miriam hung up the phone. She waited a few seconds before she stepped out of the phone shack.
    Leroy met her with an expectant gaze.
    Miriam told him, “The car my sister Shirley was riding in last night hit a deer. I haven’t talked to my parents yet, so I don’t know how bad it is.”
    “A deer,” Leroy muttered and turned to go. A deer wasn’t much in Oklahoma, and how much damage could a deer do?
    To Miriam, Leroy’s attitude was clear, and hopefully he was right. But why had her parents called instead of written? A phone call wasn’t warranted for a mere fender bender. And Betsy had said Shirley was taken to the hospital. That could mean anything from a few scratches to…Miriam gasped as possibilities expanded in her mind.
    As she made her way back to the house, Miriam wished she’d said thirty minutes instead of an hour. She could have waited at the phone shack for that long. But that would leave Aunt Fannie and Uncle William up in the air. Better to give them the little information she had.
    Aunt Fannie met her at the front door with a concerned look. “Serious, is it?”
    “I don’t know.” Miriam swallowed the lump in her throat. “Shirley was involved in an accident last night and was taken to the hospital. I sent someone to tell Mamm I’d be back at the phone booth in an hour. After that I should know more.”
    Aunt Fannie gave Miriam a quick hug. “It’ll be okay, I’m sure. Shirley makes it through these things in one piece. Who was she with?”
    Miriam met her aunt’s look. “I didn’t ask, but I suppose Jonas Beachy. Who else?”
    “Maybe the Lord is speaking to her,” Aunt Fannie ventured. “I know Shirley was encouraged to live a godly life while she was out here last year.”
    Uncle William stuck his head out of the kitchen doorway. “Would someone fill me in on the news?”
    Wayne joined them. “I want to know too.”
    They were both dears, Miriam thought as she repeated the details of what she knew.
    “Maybe you should plan a visit home,” Uncle William suggested when she finished.
    Miriam drew in a sharp breath. “Then you think something serious has happened?”
    “Not necessarily.” Uncle William gave a quick laugh. “But I thought you might need an excuse to get away from us.”
    “Don’t tease her,” Aunt Fannie scolded. “Not at a time like this.”
    Uncle William sobered. “Sorry, but you still might consider a trip home, what with the wedding and all. You could use the time to plan things, even if Shirley’s condition doesn’t warrant a trip all by itself.”
    “That does sound like a good idea,” Aunt Fannie said.
    Miriam’s mind spun. “I’d have to take off from teaching school for at least a week—and more likely two. I couldn’t do that. It wouldn’t be fair to a substitute.”
    Wayne spoke up. “Sarah Mullet, the young woman who taught last term, might substitute. Sarah had her baby around Christmas. This is about the time she might want to get out of the house for a while, isn’t it?”
    “Don’t talk like that!” Aunt Fannie scolded him. “But maybe that would work. I’d even offer to babysit Lester for Sarah. I hold him sometimes at the church services, and he’s a little darling.”
    Miriam took a long breath. “I think we’d best slow down. We don’t know how bad the accident is. And you can’t do this for me anyway. It’s not right.”
    “You’d be doing it for me too.” Wayne had a slight grin. “I want our wedding to go off without a hitch.”
    “There you go.” Aunt Fannie was all matter-of-fact now. “The issue’s settled even before you talk with your mamm .”
    Miriam still hesitated. Visions of her schoolhouse and studentsfilled her mind. “I don’t know. I like my teaching job,