Page 13 of Hope’s Enduring Echo
Leo
When Leo reached the familiar meeting spot along the pipeline, he noticed something different about Jennie. She always smiled and waved when he arrived, but today her eyes shone a little brighter. She stood a little straighter. Waved a little more enthusiastically. It seemed a burden she’d been carrying had fallen away, and he sent up a silent prayer of thanks to the One he’d been asking to lighten her heart.
He pulled himself up on the pipe behind her, then placed his hands on his hips and arched one eyebrow. “Good afternoon. You seem in fine spirits today.”
She beamed at him. “I suppose I am.”
He wanted to ask the reason for her cheerful mood, but she was still on duty. His question should wait. He adjusted the straps on his knapsack, then gestured up the line. “Lead on, Miss Sunshine…er, Mountain Goat…er, Linewalker.”
She set off, her laughter ringing. Leo grinned and followed. Her joyful spirits lifted his, and he found himself whistling as he trailed behind her for the remainder of her inspection.
At the end of the line where the pipe seemed swallowed by the hillside, she whirled around and exclaimed, “Guess what?”
Leo held his hands out in defeat. “Can’t guess. What?”
“Aunt Delia and Uncle Prime came out to visit yesterday afternoon, and they brought us a puppy.”
He gave a jolt, surprise nearly toppling him from the pipe. He caught his balance and gaped at her. “They did?” Why hadn’t they told him they weren’t going to keep the dog? He slapped his forehead. And why hadn’t he thought of giving the puppy to the Wards? She’d talked about her daddy’s dog, Rex, dragging home the dinosaur bone, so he knew they’d once owned a dog. He could have been the one to make her light up with joy. Unexpectedly, jealousy struck.
She nodded and flicked her braid over her shoulder. She sat, then slid down from the pipe. “Daddy named him Rags because one of the hotel workers found him near the rubbish bins behind the hotel.”
“Rags, huh?” He envisioned the skinny pup with floppy mismatched ears. The name fit. He slid down to the ground. Why hadn’t the Flankstons told Jennie’s family he’d found the pup? It would sound like he was trying to steal the credit for Jennie’s happiness if he claimed responsibility now. “And your daddy was open to having a new dog?”
Jennie started up the rise, angling slightly southeast. He’d begun to think of their excursions as systematically following the ribs on a giant opened Chinese fan. On their first Monday, she’d led him as due west as possible. Each day, she ended a few yards east of the preceding day’s exploration. Her leading gave true meaning to the phrase fanning out. He admired her ingenuity. She applied her penchant for intense examination of the pipeline to seeking out fossils. God couldn’t have provided him a better guide.
“At first he wasn’t sure.” Jennie swung her arms as she went, a bounce in her step. “After all, the puppy is nothing like his old dog, and he loved Rex so much. He was brokenhearted when he died.”
Leo searched his memory but didn’t think Jennie had ever mentioned what happened to the dog. “When was that?”
“About a month before Daddy fell.” Jennie’s pace slowed as she talked. “We’d noticed Rex sleeping a lot more that last winter, but we just thought he was getting older. That the cold affected his joints. Mama even let him stay in the house instead of putting him in the shed. But spring came, and he didn’t perk up the way he had in years past. He stopped following Daddy and me on the route and stayed at the cabin with Mama instead.” Her feet slowed to a stop, and her tone turned pensive. “Then one day he wandered off and didn’t come back. Daddy and I went looking for him and found him curled up underneath some bushes, like he was taking a nap. But he was gone.” Her shoulders heaved in a mighty sigh. “I’d never seen Daddy cry before. It was a hard day.”
Leo closed the distance between them and put his hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry I made you think about it. We don’t have to talk about Rex anymore.”
She gave him a sad smile. “It’s all right. Like Mama told both of us when we buried him, Rex lived a good life. He’d loved and been loved, which was more than some people can say at the end of their lives.” She tipped her head, her forehead puckering. “I think remembering the hurt of losing Rex made Daddy hesitant to take in another dog, but in the end, he said yes. And then”—unshed tears brightened her eyes—“we hugged. I can’t remember the last time Daddy and I hugged.” She laughed. “It felt like Christmas and my birthday and having a three-layer chocolate cake to myself, all at once.”
He couldn’t resist giving her shoulder a quick squeeze. “Good, huh?”
“The best.” She set off again, her gaze sweeping the landscape as she went, and he followed, his gaze fixed on her happy face. “I’ve been praying and praying for Daddy to be Daddy again, if you know what I mean. I was ready to give up. But yesterday I got a peek at who he was. And not just because we hugged.”
She shared all of Sunday’s events with him—about her father sitting with them for a worship time, visiting with the family when her aunt and uncle came, and choosing a name for the dog. Gratefulness for those happy moments swelled in him, and he sniffed to hold emotion at bay. But worry also teased. According to his studies of mental diseases, melancholia was an unpredictable illness. Sufferers could experience temporary lifts followed by deep plummets into despair. Jennie’s heart might break if Mr. Ward fell into a sudden dark decline after she enjoyed such a hope-filled day.
Maybe Leo should tell her about the possibility of his mood swinging in the opposite direction. Surely, it would be better if she was prepared for it, just in case. But how could he mention an abrupt disposition change without telling her why it might happen? Besides, he couldn’t be certain Mr. Ward suffered from melancholia. The symptoms seemed to fit, but only a trained psychiatrist could make such a diagnosis.
Jennie breathed out another sigh, this one carried on a note of joy. “I felt like God lifted the curtain of sorrow that’s hidden Daddy from us all these months and let us see his real soul again. He wasn’t out of bed yet when I left the cabin this morning, so I don’t know how today is going for him. But I pray the curtain will stay open. Maybe Rags will be the one to hold it that way.”
Leo shrugged, pondering her final statement. “We never know what God will use to work His will. But we can say for sure that living behind a curtain of sorrow isn’t what He wants for any of us. He sent His Son so we can have abundant life. My father calls it the fullness of joy.” Leo would have his fullness of joy when the man he admired most in the world finally offered his blessing on Leo’s calling. “Your daddy’s misplaced his joy, but it’s still there, waiting for him to discover it again.”
Jennie nodded, her mouth slightly open. “Yes. Yes, that’s how it felt yesterday. That he’d forgotten how to be joyful but suddenly stumbled over it.”
He liked the word picture she’d painted in his head. Maybe God would let him stumble over a dinosaur bone. That would bring a joyful explosion in his soul. He smiled. “I’ll pray that yesterday’s reach for joy will become your daddy’s new habit and he will be fully restored to joy.”
“Thank you, Leo.” She crinkled her nose. “Someday I’d like to hear your father preach. He’s obviously very good at what he does, considering how many of his teachings you find important enough to share with me.”
Leo scratched behind his ear, pushing his hat askew. “To be honest, it sometimes surprises me when I hear Father’s words come out of my mouth.” But why should it surprise him? He’d spent his entire life listening to his father expound upon truths found in God’s Word. Had Father not said again and again that God’s Word does not return void? Of course the Scriptures would take root in Leo’s soul. “I suppose whatever we take in will also come out.”
Her eyes widened. “Yes.” A smile split her face. “Yes!”
Leo stared at her, confused and curious. What discovery had she just made?
She aimed her face skyward for a few seconds, her brown eyes glowing, then met his gaze. “I’ve been taking in too much of Daddy’s hopelessness and not enough of Mama’s hope. But no more. I’m going to stand firmly on hope. And if I join Mama in a firm stance of hope, it’ll be two hopeful souls against one whose hope is lost. Won’t Daddy then be swayed to our side?”
What Leo knew of melancholia didn’t necessarily support what Jennie said. The illness went deeper than mere mindset to an imbalance somewhere in the brain. But even if Mr. Ward did suffer from melancholia, positive attitudes exhibited by others wouldn’t do the man any harm. He nodded and offered a smile of encouragement. “Remember also to pray. Pray for your daddy to be fully restored to joy and for yourself to avoid the temptation of letting hopelessness take hold again if he slides into sadness. As Jesus told His disciples, the spirit is often willing but our flesh can be weak. So bolster yourself with prayer.”
Her wide, attentive eyes never wavered from his face. “I will. I promise, I will.” She drew in a breath. “And, Leo, I’m going to pray for your father, too.”
Leo raised his brows. “Mine? Why?”
“So he’ll be happy to have a son who is a paleontologist.”
A knot of intense longing filled Leo’s throat. Oh, for Father to be happy with him. He swallowed hard, then again, before he could speak. “Thank you, Jennie. Nothing would please me more than to have my father’s support and approval.”
“Not even finding the dinosaur skeleton of that…that…” She scrunched her lips into a scowl of frustration and rolled her eyes upward. “What did you call it?”
He hid a grin. “Allosaurus.”
“That’s right. Allosaurus. Finding it would make you happy, too, wouldn’t it?” For a moment, a hint of uncertainty shadowed her expression, but she gave her head a tiny shake and her joy returned.
Happy, yes, and validated. He’d talked over the telephone with Mr. Figgins on Saturday afternoon and assured him he hadn’t yet given up locating the remainder of the skeleton and correctly identifying it. Fortunately, the museum director hadn’t given up on him. Mr. Figgins shared the name of a local businessman who might be interested in joining Leo on his explorations. Leo had written down the man’s name, but he wasn’t ready to involve someone else. He preferred to stick with his current guide, who was standing in silence before him, waiting for him to say something.
He chuckled, embarrassed at having drifted off into thought for so long. “Indeed it would. And I appreciate your assistance in making it happen. But even more, I appreciate your prayers for my father to accept this vocation I’ve chosen. As you know, it isn’t pleasant to be at odds with someone you love.”
She released a little half laugh, half huff. “No, it isn’t. But remember what you keep telling me.” Her fine eyebrows rose, and a teasing grin appeared. “What do you keep telling me?”
He pinched his chin, pretending deep thought.
Jennie laughed. “You aren’t fooling me. I know you know.”
He laughed, too. “Hold on to hope. I promise…I’ll practice what I preach.”
“Good.” She set off, tossing a smirk over her shoulder. “Let’s go, college boy. We’ve got a skeleton to find.”