“I didn’t know that. What about my hands? The palms are very sore.”
“That’s because you’re putting so much weight on them as you move around. They aren’t used to that. Whenever you can, while you’re sitting down, rotate your hands around and around. Pull your fingers back as far as they’ll go, then push your hand forward toward the inside of your wrist. Massage your palms. And, if you have it, put hand lotion on your palms, because all the friction from your crutches will make them rough.”
Cathy continued working with Emma, helping her to get more comfortable with moving around on crutches. Before she left, they were interrupted by a rapid knocking at the front door.
“I’ll get it.” Ann moved to the door, giving Emma the room she needed to continue working. “Barbara! I’m surprised to see you back here!”
“Ja, I wanted to apologize for my behavior this morning. Please forgive me.”
Emma, who was sick of Barbara’s antics, spoke. “It’s not only Mam you should apologize to. Missus King needs one as well.”
Barbara’s smile was small, as though she truly felt repentant. “Ja, I know. I’ll be going to apologize to her later on as well. But... I made some cookies as well—to say that I was stupid in being so resistant. It won’t happen again.” Barbara thrust the cookies toward Emma, as though her sister could hold the box and move around.
“Sister, I can’t hold them and walk at the same time!” Emma’s voice was uncharacteristically sharp—she had smelled the aroma of the cookies and felt her resolve weakening by the second.
“Oh, I’m sorry! Of course.” Barbara placed the box in the kitchen. Walking slowly back into the living room, she waited for attention to return to her. Instead, Emma had begun to work again with her therapist.
“Remember how I showed you to sit down and get back up. That requires a lot of upper-body strength. We’ll be working with that for the next few sessions.” The work continued, with Barbara swiftly becoming bored as the attention in the room was focused on Emma, what she was learning, and her efforts to stay upright.
“Turning on your crutches. Plant your good foot into the ground and lift the crutch on your bad side. Raise up on the ball of your good foot slightly and pivot to whichever side you need to move. At the same time, put your raised crutch back on the ground and...whoa!” Cathy reached out, bracing her legs as Emma’s crutch tip caught on the leg of the coffee table.
Emma felt herself falling and instinctively raised her bad leg so it wouldn’t hit the ground. As she did, she felt Cathy’s strong arms close around her.
Bracing herself, Cathy felt Emma’s full weight falling onto and into her. Grunting, she slowed Emma’s fall to the floor and slowly raised her back up. “You okay? Did you hit your leg or anything?” Her heart was pounding from exertion and a fear that Emma may have hurt herself.
“Nee. I’m okay, I think. Just scared!”
“Yeah, same here. Okay. Are you steady on your foot and crutches?”
“One crutch. The other slipped.”
Barbara, frightened by her sister’s near-accident, rushed forward, picking up the fallen crutch. “Here it is.”
“Denki.” Emma grabbed it and fitted it under her arm. “Okay. I think the tip got caught on something.”
“That makes sense. Let’s move away from the coffee table.” Cathy kept her arms close to Emma’s torso as Emma crutched forward slowly. “Okay, now raise the crutch on your bad side up and place it over here. Now, pivot your good foot in the same direction and turn around.”
Emma did so slowly, fearful of another fall.
Barbara felt ashamed. She had been trying to get attention focused on her, becoming bored until Emma nearly fell. Once Emma had finished doing what Cathy had told her to do, Barbara turned to Ann. “Mam, I’d better go. I’m only in the way and I need to pick up the kinder.”
“Okay. We’ll see you at meeting on Sunday.”
“Emma, bye!” Barbara walked out of the room, feeling small and selfish. Even when she passed Rachel outside, she didn’t react except to apologize to her and say she needed to pick up the kinder.
***
“Denki.” I think—until you do something again. Rachel’s thoughts were uncharacteristically sharp toward Barbara. Shaking her head, she knocked on the door.
“Rachel, come in! Emma’s just about done.”
“Yes, I’d better go.” Cathy said. “Emma, I’ll be here tomorrow at ten in the morning. I’ll have another therapist with me as well. Is there anyone else who can help us out? I want to start working on stairs.”
Emma’s eyes widened in fear. “Ahh... I don’t know.”
“I don’t think Jacob has any morning appointments tomorrow, but I’ll have to check that to be sure. If he’s free, he can help out,” Rachel spoke up.
“That would be wonderful. I would prefer males because they have superior upper-body strength. If Emma falls, he can help her avoid being hurt.”
“Oh, I don’t think I’m ready for that,” Emma’s voice was little more than a squeak, which Cathy heard.
“Emma, I don’t know your community’s meeting schedule, but do you want to miss church service? You need to be able to get there and to your doctor’s office,” Cathy reminded. “It’s not that hard. The fear is worse than the actual practice.”
“Cathy, after nearly falling just on a turn—”
“I know. It scared me, too. But that’s how you learn. Missus Lapp, Emma, I’m going to ask you something and I hope I’m not out of turn. I felt...distracted by your sister’s actions after she dropped the cookies in the kitchen. Did you?”
Emma thought. Barbara had been hemming and hawing, moving back and forth as she tried to divert attention... “Ja, I was. She was trying to draw attention to herself again.”
“I will tell her she can’t just stop by at certain times when you’re here,” Ann said. “Because I also felt the same thing. I was thinking of how I could make her stop when you fell, Emma.”
“Yes, I think that’s best. My—our—focus should be on Emma’s work, nothing or nobody else. Emma could have hurt herself again. I see her boarding her buggy. I’ll tell her.” Cathy hurried out. “Barbara! Please, I need to speak with you.” She ran toward the buggy as Barbara tried to vault her heavy body into the seat.
***
Barbara, unsuccessful in getting away, resigned herself to the inevitable. “What is it?” Her voice was a flat monotone.
“Barbara, we all saw Emma nearly fall inside. I barely caught and held her up, and she could have suffered another serious injury. I felt that your actions in your mother’s house were distracting me. If they were distracting me, they were probably distracting your mother and sister. I have a specific job with your sister. My employer has tasked me with helping her to learn how to get around, strengthen her upper body and work with her bad leg. She has to have one hundred percent focus because these exercises aren’t easy at first. During the times I’m working with her, would you please stay away? I know this is your mother’s house, but your sister is my client. I feel complete responsibility for her recovery and progress in therapy. I’ll leave a weekly schedule with your parents and they can let you know when I’m not here. Thank you.”
Cathy left, feeling the heat of Barbara’s anger burning a hole between her shoulder blades. “Oh. I’ll be here from ten to eleven tomorrow morning, just so you know.”
Barbara felt unwanted and pushed out by all of the attention on Emma’s injury and Emma’s physical therapy. Well, just by falling in a stupid gopher hole, Emma manages to get all of the attention for herself! And she’s the fat, ugly one. Fine. I’ll stay away! Flicking the reins on the horses’ backs hard, she pulled out of the yard.
“Barbara! Barbara!”
She ignored her mother’s calls and raced home. It would serve everyone right if I had an accident and ended up with a broken neck. Barbara’s angry, selfish thoughts continued in this vein all the way home. Seeing Ben trudging in from the field, she entered the barn and remembered to unhitch the horses, and feed and water them. She only gave them a cursory brushing, and then hurried inside, ignoring Ben as she went.
Ben swiveled around. She looks like a thundercloud. It can’t be that my instruction to her this morning still has her angry. Looking toward the barn roof, he sighed, raised and dropped his hands and shook his head. I wish she was easier to live with. In the barn, he realized that his wife hadn’t brushed the horses. Exhaling angrily, he did the job himself.
***
After supper, Emma did her best to ignore the sweet snickerdoodles Barbara had brought over earlier. She tried to satisfy herself with the apple her mam had given her after supper.
“Emma, would you like some of Barbara’s cookies?” Ann was completely unaware of her daughter’s struggle to resist.
Emma munched the crunchy, tart sweetness of the apple, determined not to have any cookies. “Nee. Thank you, I think I’ll just stay with my apple.”
Jacob knocked at the front door. After being admitted by Ann, he looked at Emma, who was trying her best to enjoy the nutritious fruit. “Emma, one or two cookies won’t do any harm. Moderation is the trick.”
“So I’ve heard, but if I start eating her cookies, I’m afraid I won’t be able to stop!”
Jacob realized why Barbara had brought the cookies over. She wanted to jeopardize Emma’s efforts at weight loss and becoming healthy. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you one, maybe two, cookies, and then I’ll put them so high there’s no way you can get to them. Along with this milk, it’s a snack that will hold you through the night.”
Emma sighed, giving in. “Two cookies and some milk. Denki for hiding them from me, too.”
“Emma, I’m going to be in my quilting room. Holler when you’re ready to go to bed.”
“I will, Mam. Thank you.”
Jacob sat down next to Emma, relishing the sweet and cinnamon-y taste of the cookies. “Emma—”
“Jacob, this milk is different.”
“Ja, it’s two percent. It has less milk fat in it and is healthier for you. You’ll get used to the taste. I promise. Listen, I wanted to tell you something I just realized. Mam told me that your sister brought over a batch of her cookies. Delicious, ja?”
“Ja, she knows they’re my weakness.”
“So, you know she’s figured out your weaknesses. Are you aware she’s trying to sabotage your efforts at becoming healthy and losing weight?”
“What? Why? Nee, Jacob, she’s not!”
Jacob thought of all the recent events in which Barbara had tried to discourage Emma from losing weight. “Do you remember how she responded to the extra vegetables in the roast your mam made last night? Think about it.”
Emma swallowed her snack and set her milk down. She remembered Barbara’s negative attitude to the changes in how the food had been cooked. “You mean it was less the taste and more the way it was cooked to be healthier?”
“Exactly.”
Emma thought for a few minutes. “Now that you mention it, I think you could be right. She and the kinder came at breakfast this morning. Your mam had showed Mam how to make the eggs with canola oil, I believe. And she brought the turkey bacon over. It was delicious. We all liked it, even the kinder. But Barbara was...”
“How was she?”
“Negative again. She didn’t like the turkey bacon and she thought the eggs would have tasted better with bacon fat.”
“Are you getting used to the way food tastes now?”
“It’ll take time. I’m ready to lose all this excess baggage I’m carrying, so I have a motivation to learn to like the new ways of cooking. I did love the peppers in the roast, though. And the cobbler was delicious!”
“You know, you’ll get to the point that if you eat food cooked the old way, you won’t like it.”
“Hmm.” She finished off her milk, leaving half of the second cookie on the napkin in front of her.
“You’re not going to eat that?”
“Nee. Now that I know why Barbara made them, I don’t want them as much.”
“Gut!” Leaning over, Jacob picked up Emma’s crutches. Give me your hands.” Taking them, he helped Emma stand and position the crutches under her arms. “Where’s your cape?”
“Over there.” Emma pointed to the wooden hanger in the wall. She accepted his help in positioning it over her shoulders.
“Let’s sit outside.” Jacob had a very specific action in mind. Helping her to sit down, he held her hand as he began to speak. “Emma, I’ve always liked you from the first day we became friends. You’re a wonderful woman, and you have such a gut heart. Now, you’re working to change something about your physical self that endangers your health. You are determined to lose the weight. Have you decided how you’re going to tell your parents about that surgery?”
“Nee. It scares me. I think I should talk to the bishop first, so he can reassure them I’m doing it for health reasons only.”
“That’s gut. If you would like, I’ll take you to his house on Saturday. I don’t have any appointments.”
“Would you? Denki, because I don’t know how else to get started.”
Jacob pulled Emma into his arms. He positioned her head on his shoulder, then gave into the urge he’d felt for months—he raised her face to his and brushed his lips gently across hers.
Emma inhaled, completely shocked at the kiss. She thrilled to the sensation and the experience of her first kiss. Wrapping her arms around Jacob’s torso, she closed her eyes and smiled. Feeling Jacob kissing her nose, she giggled.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that, but I’ve wanted to kiss you for months.” Jacob’s voice quavered, telling Emma he was, indeed, nervous.
Emma allowed her head to rest on Jacob’s shoulder. “I like the idea of this, and I look forward to the time we can be together openly. But I want to lose more weight, please.”
Jacob was stunned. He felt time slowing down as he considered Emma’s words. “Why?”
“Think about it. I need to lose over one hundred pounds. I am fat, Jacob. People will laugh at you—and I care enough about you to want to wait until we can openly be a couple.”
Jacob sighed. “Okay, but only because you’re concerned. But I hope you understand that from this evening forward, I intend for us to be a couple. Do you know why I’ve never married?”
Emma had wondered, but had never been able to find a way of asking without sounding stupid. “I wondered why. Did you ever go out with anyone?”
“Nee. When I date a woman, it’s going to be because I know there’s the potential for a serious and permanent relationship.”
Emma’s breath slowly left her lungs. Shaking her head, she sat up and looked at her old friend. “So you mean...tonight was your first kiss, too?”
Jacob chuckled, thinking about it. “Well, now that I think about it, ja, I guess so.” He sat back, holding Emma’s hand.